Research - Kidulthood Trailer

Research for our Opening Sequence - Kidulthood Trailer:
When you want to accomplish bringing a tough opening sequence to life and be able to branch it using three personalities in an opening sequence only worth two minutes, you've got to look at the roots of the opening sequence first and that's exactly what we, as a group, had done as we looked at the introduction of Kidulthood (which "Split" heavily takes inspiration from) and also seen important elements that we had included in our opening sequence and, more importantly, this opening sequence had elements that were also included in ours that we did not even know about so watching this was also beneficial for us knowing that we're on the right tracks with this thing right here.

Firstly, the first thing you'd notice is how there are school pupils all doing their own thing and this element had been added into our opening sequence as Bradley Keano, the main protagonist of Split, is a teenager just like the characters in Kidulthood are so school elements are also added into our sequence and a football scene is also added into the introduction which is particularly interesting because we had also included a football scene in our opening sequence meaning that football must be a popular activity for youth teenagers as "Goal", which is another movie Split takes inspiration from, also features Santiago Munez, the main character, as a teenager who manages to get in to Newcastle United so this is super beneficial for us since we wouldn't want an opening sequence with a teenager who really doesn't seem to emulate how an ordinary teenager would live such as taking hobbies, going school and also socializing with others as the Opening Sequence needs to relate to our target audience so it was important so that it could fulfil its primary purpose.

Definition of a Synopsis

Synopsis - A synopsis is basically a summary of the entirety of the plotline/storyline as it is even described as and seen as shorter pieces of work in comparison to the actual work which would be much longer. The synopsis, being the entire summary of an entire storyline, would try its best to describe in specific detail as it is a summary so it must fulfil its purpose in just a few short sentences to be able to make the reader fully aware of what it is the synopsis is and is based on as the synopsis is even explained in visible detail in terms of the events and scenes that take place in the storyline.

Example of a Typical Synopsis:

“Transported to a surreal landscape, a young girl kills the first person she meets and then teams up with three strangers to kill again.” — The Wizard of Oz

From the synopsis, it is obvious that the reader would understand that the surreal landscape is the subject as the person is transported there meaning that the rest of the storyline will take place there; the young girl is the main protagonist who kills the first person, which will be referred to later on, and it is obvious that the three strangers will be the deuteragonist, tritagonist and supporting character as it is clear to the reader that the three strangers will also play a major part in the rest of "The Wizard of Oz".

Background Sounds (Not Final Yet)

We had decided to use this as our background sound for the first few seconds of the opening sequence as it would blend well with our current production name/logo (which is "Eagle Eye Productions"). Despite this being a hawk screaming, it was the best sound effect that we could find as other videos were endless loops of sound effects which wouldn't merge well with the production name as it didn't sound like a realistic or natural sound effect that a hawk would make when genuinely screaming.

Also, this sound effect was used to bring more life to the production name and logo since we had the idea of adding an animated production logo, taking inspiration from widely-known production companies such as the Warner Bros. Company and 20th Century Fox, but we couldn't make the logo animated so we thought that it would seem more professional to add a sound effect to give it its own identity (a great comparison is how the "Metro Goldwyn Mayer" intro usually finishes off with the lion majestically roaring; straightaway, the MGM company has brought its own identity in its introduction and is now used in every movie that it is the production company of).

However, the background sounds are not final because of the struggle to find a motivational song that would suit the three personalities and also suit the pacing in the opening sequence since we realized that grime beats wouldn't blend well with the school scenes but the gang scenes whereas some types of motivational music wouldn't have suited well with the gang scenes but be more suitable for the football scenes. There will be blog posts explaining our decisions on background sounds in the meantime.

Camera Angles for our Opening Sequence

After merging video clips and being able to take a look at them during the editing process, we had realized the specific camera angles that we had used for our "Split" opening sequence as these camera angles are also significant to the sort of mood and feel we want to achieve with our opening sequence since being able to include three personalities of one main protagonist in the duration of an opening sequence worth of two minutes is no easy feat.

                                   

Long shot (Full shot):

We used the 'long shot' camera angle significantly to express the three appearances of the main protagonist, Bradley Keano, in the opening sequence as he dons a Nike football kit, a black bomber jacket w/ casual jeans and school smartwear and because of the fact that Nile O-Meally Newell had used the mirror to show him wearing these types of clothing prior to the scene that would follow up after it (e.g. Nile wearing a football kit - next scene - Nile dribbling with the football), it was important to actually use a 'long-shot' camera angle as it also shows how these three personalities differentiate from each other as being an academic student is completely different from being a notorious gang member and living the lifestyle of a gang member fighting for survival and a good-natured lifestyle is completely different from being a globally-known football star. We had really tried to express that contrast in our opening sequence despite the fact that it is two minutes so we knew that these scenes would have the chance of clashing with each other since the sequence may feel a little out-of-place.



Extreme long-shot:

We had also decided to use the 'extreme long-shot' camera angle during the football scene in our "Split" opening sequence where Nile O'Meally-Newell (Bradley Keano) dribbles his way past the seven football cones before taking a definitive shot at an empty net (which he missed once). The reason we had decided to use this specific camera angle is because it fulfils the purpose of expressing thrilling action and the fact that football scenes usually have exhilarating and swift pacing means that the 'extreme long shot' angle would have been the best decision as the 'extreme close-up' angle of the feet being used to shred its way past the obstacles (which was my initial idea at one point) would be quite difficult to execute.

In addition to that, it would be more beneficial this way as it would also show the hard work and determination that Keano is putting into his football life so that he is able to deliver with a top-notch performance which then leads him onto greater things later on in the movie so it gives the audience a sense of understanding since they would think, "Okay, yeah, this guy's training for either a school football team or trying to get into a big team" meaning that they would see the potential possibilities for the main character and they would also not feel confused with the opening sequence since even the opening sequence has to be to-the-point and addressing the audience straightaway so that the rest of the storyline is then played out in visible detail later on.

Over-the-shoulder shot:

We had decided to use this specific "over-the-shoulder" shot for the scenes where Nile O'Meally-Newell is dressing up in his costumes (being the smartwear/hoody/football kit) because it would have been a better camera angle to utilize rather than a simple shot of the main protagonist wearing the clothing and then moving onto the next scene as an 'over-the-shoulder' shot felt more immersive to us and we, as a group, feel that it would be more immersive to the audience since an over-the-shoulder shot is more of a perspective camera angle than a general camera angle which is simply taken of a person.

Bird's eye view:

We decided to use a ''bird's-eye-view'' in our opening sequence for more general reasons this time since we were experimenting with camera angles to see which specific camera angle would suit what we were trying to go for with our opening sequence as this shot was taken during the scene where Bradley is revising for his upcoming exams before Tyreese (Liban) attempts to pull him away from revision but fails to do so.

It is more clear that we were experimenting with camera angles since bird's eye views are usually taken specifically to express the scope of a setting (e.g. if the intro of a movie wanted to show modern-day LA, it would take a bird's eye view of the palm trees and landmarks/buildings) whereas we used it in different context by wanting to use this camera angle for the conversation that Tyreese and Keano have but it could also be analyzed as the ''downfall'' of Keano if he was to accept to Tyreese's offer and forget revising for his exams hence why the bird's eye view is a heightened perspective looking down at Keano to express that if he were to accept the gang lifestyle in the movie, his overall life would start descending slowly as his success would also start to decrease (so, to put it in simple words, the 'bird's eye view' shot represents how Brad may lose everything and hit rock-bottom if he doesn't leave the gang).

History of the Drama Film Genre

A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addictions, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women and corruption put the characters in conflict with themselves, others, society and even natural phenomena. Drama is the most broad of movies genres and includes subgenres as romantic drama, sport films, period drama, courtroom drama and crime.

This interested me particularly because the "Split" film uses a lot of these dramatic themes and quite heavily too such as drug addictions (as Bradley Keano battles to leave his gang life behind and focus on structuring his future out), poverty as the film would be set in modern-day London and recession would play as an integral theme in the movie as the main protagonist also follows the gang lifestyle to earn money for himself so this means that civilians in London would still struggle from poverty and corruption as the gang he leaves behind to focus on his future and potential careers (e.g. football or career-wise depending on his school grades) so this means that the gang would be corrupt and attempt to play mind games with Keano (this is explained in better detail in the "Split Storyline" blog post as the climax of the storyline highlights the corruption in the movie).

Dramatic films include a very large spectrum of film genres. Because of the large number of drama films, these movies have been sub-categorized.

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If the sub-categories are coloured in red, this means that the following will be added into the "Split" movie and hinted at in the opening sequence:-

• Crime drama and Legal Drama – Character development based on themes involving criminals, law enforcement and the legal system. (This is one of the elements that will be used in the following "Split" movie)
• Historical drama (epic) (including War Drama) – Films that focus on dramatic events in history.
• Docudrama: the difference between a docudrama and a documentary is that in a documentary it uses real people to describe history or current events; in a docudrama it uses professionally trained actors to play the roles in the current event, that is "dramatized" a bit. Not to be confused with docufiction.
• Comedy-drama: is in which there is an equal, or nearly equal balance of humor and serious content.
• Melodrama: a sub-type of drama films that uses plots that appeal to the heightened emotions of the audience. Melodramatic plots often deal with "crises of human emotion, failed romance or friendship, strained familial situations, tragedy, illness, neuroses, or emotional and physical hardship." Film critics sometimes use the term "pejoratively to connote an unrealistic, pathos-filled, campy tale of romance or domestic situations with stereotypical characters (often including a central female character) that would directly appeal to feminine audiences." Also called "women's movies", "weepies", tearjerkers, or "chick flicks". If they are targeted to a male audience, then they are called "guy cry" films.
• Romance: a sub-type of dramatic film which dwells on the elements of romantic love.
• Tragedy: a drama in which a character's downfall is caused by a flaw in their character or by a major error in judgment.
• Drama thriller: a type of drama film with thrilling plots, characters, motives and style.

Costume Planning

The main protagonist will be sporting a yellow Nike football kit in the opening sequence as this would show significance since Bradley Keano starts from the bottom of the ranks at school and attempts to embark on a journey that would get him into football superstardom in Arsenal so this football kit would show his early days as a footballer who works hard to get noticed by football scouts etc. and this would show more significance since, in the football scene (in the opening sequence), Nile (Bradley) dribbles and manipulates his way past the football cones before taking a decisive blast which expresses how hard he's working.



We're also going to include casual clothing such as the black bomber jacket and casual jeans as it would show significance to the main protagonist's "gangster" character and also contrast his other personalities/lifestyles as his other lifestyles distinguish from the gang lifestyle and it would also draw the audience's attention even more as the casual clothing would connote to a dark and moody atmosphere whereas the football clothing above connotes to a vibrant and lively atmosphere as the main protagonist would also benefit more from being a big-name football star than a small-time hooligan/hoodlum.

There will also be school smartwear being used in the opening sequence/movie of "Split" as this also represents the main protagonist's lifestyle being as an academic student who is revising for the biggest exams of his entire life as it would determine whether he is to go to University or spend his days in College (sort of a journey in which he has one chance to ascend to the top or descend to the bottom; especially when the 'gang life' is slowly pulling him back in, it would place him under more pressure revising for his exams and also have an impact on his storyline and path throughout the movie).

Furthermore, this would also attract the audience even more because of the fact that the audience knows he would benefit more from passing his school exams and going to University than following the gangster lifestyle and it would also add that unexpected feel to it as the audience would also not be fully sure of which lifestyle Bradley Keano will end up pursuing but will feel more sympathetic for the character and want him not to follow the worst one (being the gang life).

DVD Analysis

Goal Cover

The Goal cover expresses the thrill of the experience on the protagonist's face as you can see the bright and lively colours that surround him in the atmosphere and this gives you an idea of what we are attempting to replicate in our "Split" movie as we want our main protagonist to be thrilled with the footballing experience as it would make him feel under more pressure with what lifestyle he wants to pursue; especially when the storyline twist of him getting into Arsenal takes place before the big climax (explained in detail in the "Split Storyline" blog post.)

Adulthood Cover

The Adulthood cover contrasts the Goal cover above and this is another sort of atmosphere we are thinking of adding into our "Split" movie as it would also contrast the atmosphere of Bradley Keano being an academic student and a football star too. Furthermore, with our cover, we wanted to use "split" pictures with a picture of the main protagonist in his football kit and in his casual hoodie to represent the personalities and lifestyles he will encounter in the movie and the opening sequence. Furthermore, the colour of the atmosphere in the Adulthood cover is rather uninspiring which links to the character's facial expression of anger which also contrasts the joy of the protagonist's face on the Goal cover. With this analysis, we are willing to contrast each element with our poster but merging these pictures into one poster.