The use of Foley

Foley has been an important factor in the improvement in sound on a wide array of media since the 1930s. The art of foley recreates sound effects for television, film and many more using a range of different objects from shoes for enhanced sound of footsteps to glass plates to enhance the sound of broken glass. Foley produces a smoother more crisp sound to the production and is used in almost every movie that you have seen. The best forms of foley are the ones that go unnoticed by the audiences with the expert alignment to the original created sound. Foley helps to add back a controlled background layer of sound to produce a rich and realistic effect to productions.

Foley is the combination of three key sound elements which are:

- Moves
- Feet
- Specifics

Each of these elements is added in stages to the production and slowly creates a natural sounding scene with no dialogue or what's known as 'soundfx'. The props or accessories on set do not create the enhanced sounds acoustically that Foley can offer and adds an overall quality to the production, which is why it is widely used by the whole of the film industry especially. I believe that Foley is an extremely beneficial device in the improvement of the production of our title sequence 'Ultimatum' and my group shall be using this to improve overall sound quality and potentially improve the technical side to our production.

Ultimatum: Production

For the past few weeks we have been constructing the production of our opening title sequence 'Ultimatum'. We have used various locations in our production in which some of the pictures below display. I have had a variety of roles in the production of our title sequence which include both primary actor and lighting director. All of these roles have taken a large amount of dedication to produce our title sequence and I believe that the overall production outcome should reflect the dedication and time that we have put into this production.

Skype call with Mike Harrowes and evaluation

Here is the interview that we conducted with film editor Mike Harrowes.Mike's responses to our variety of questions helped to give an insight to what we needed to do in order to create and produce a successful opening title sequence. He made it clear that it was extremely important that the audience understands the fundamentals of the film and that they have a clear idea about what is going on in the production. Even if the audience maybe does not understand everything that is going on, they still feel the necessary emotions that are trying to be implied by the creators of the sequence. Mike also explained how it was important for our particular opening title sequence that the audience understands that the man is clearly an assassin and is good at his job as well as, showing that he clearly is stressed at his currently position of work and despises it to represent the dynamics of why he has to take this job required.

Mike gave us overall tips in order to improve the quality of our opening title sequence. He listed that the 'pace' of the sequence was a key aspect and how some opening title sequences want to give away very little about the film to try and question the audience, on the other hand, others give away a lot of information about the film if the story is attempting to run quickly. He explained how we should not shy away from cutting quickly if a lot of information is needed to be shown.

Overall, Mikes advice has helped us to expand on our opening title sequence and improve the overall quality. We will take his suggestions into consideration when it comes to the development of our sequence, most importantly, his ideologies about cutting and how the speed of cutting is a key factor to generate the right interpretation from the audience.

Analysis of 4 opening sequences

During our visit to the BFI London, we were shown a variety of different opening title sequences by Pete Frazier, in which we then had to analyze with the guidance and assistance of Pete himself. We came up with some characteristics that an opening title sequence should posses to make it both a memorable and successful one. Here i will show you the opening title sequences which we were shown  on our visit to the BFI.


                                               Catch Me If You Can - Steven Spielberg

Napoleon Dynamite - Jared Hess

Zombieland - Ruben Fleischer 

The main features we looked out for in these opening title sequences when analysis were Genre, Narrative (also known as enigma), the ability to question the audiences thoughts, Atmosphere and character. Analyzing these sequences closely with Pete defiantly helped improved my knowledge in what makes a successful opening sequence as well as what doesn't work as successfully when it comes to making our own opening title sequence. With the help of Pete and the rest of the members at BFI London, I feel confident that I can create an opening title sequence that reflects my knowledge and understanding of opening title sequence and believe that I have a wider aray of experience in the area

Film Marketing and Distribution

Marketing a film

When a new film is made, it has to be marketed like any other product in order for it to attract its audience to go and see the production on the big screen. The advertising of a film is known as film promotion or film marketing and the people who are responsible for this are the distribution companies who distribute the films to cinemas across the world.

The way in which a film is marketed can have a large impact in how well the film does and ultimately determining if it is successful. Films are expensive to make and if the films target audience does not go and see the film and the film does not to well at the box office, the companies who produce the film will lose out on a lot of money.

When companies have spent millions of pounds on making a movie, the studio spends millions more on letting its audiences know about its production. Film marketing can be a very expensive business, especially when films are only in the cinema for a limited period of time. The first weekend that a movie is released, often referred to as the 'opening weekend', is the time in which the movie has to be a big hit or else will tend to disappear quickly off the scene and the companies can make a huge loss of investment.

Distributing a film

The distribution of a film is the process whereby a movie is made available to watch by a film audience by the film distributor.

A distributor is generally an organization who handles the theatrical release of a film in particular country as well as the marketing and circulation of films for home viewing such as DVD, On-Demand and download. Often feature films have different distributors representing them in different places and different distributors handling the home-viewing production.

Often distributors will source new films to represent in their distribution showcase at films festivals and markets around the world at prestigious places to rival other distribution companies that attend these highly executive events.

Ultimatum: Shot List

Character Names

Jack Stockman: Jack Stockman

Daniel Bruce: Daniel O'Connor

Connor Crosby: Unknown Caller

James Ellis: Roberto Rodriguez

Connor Crosby’s younger Brother: Zack Stockman

Below is a Shot List that our group have created which includes all of the angles and sizes and editing techniques in which our opening sequence will include.

Shot	Size	Description
1	Long Shot	Jack and son Zack are sitting on the sofa with one another watching television, establishing Father, Son relationship to audience.
2	MCU	Camera switches to the television program the pair are watching, further establishing the scenario to audience
3	Medium Shot	Jack in the morning putting his suit on getting ready for work, could also show his son Zack putting on school uniform, showing audience occupation of both.
4	Establishing Shot	Jack in a work/office environment representing that he has a well respected job, could be typing on his computer or making a phone call etc.
5	Two shot	Daniel enters Jack’s office handshake establishing friendship to the audience, both dressed in suits and so both have good jobs.
6	Medium Long Shot	Jack sitting in his office alone late a night still working, showing signs of stress to the audience, and potentially making phone calls.
7	Close Up	Close up on Jacks phone, as it appears that an unknown number is calling him late at night in his empty office.
8	MCU	Shot shows Jacks confused facial expressions as he begins to realise the caller is interested in his past life
9	Medium Shot	Jack is getting his instructions and writing them down on a pad and then the printer starts printing a document in a background, as Jack turns to see what the document contains he realises that, its all of the information on the target he must kill.
10	CU	Close up on the document containing information on Roberto Rodriguez who Jack must hunt down and kill if he wants his son to live and if successful means he will be payed 20 million pounds for the job.
11	Long Shot	Jack arrives home greets his son and goes to bed.
12	Long Shot/ Establishing Shot	Both Jack and Daniel are sat on a park bench watching Jacks son Zack play on the equipment, the shot is behind both Jack and Dan to focus on Zack
13	Medium Shot	The camera is now in front of Daniel and Jack as Jack hands the document to Daniel explaining what he was told to do.
14	Establishing Shot	Montage plays of the dark past life of both Jack and Daniel, montage then switches to present with Jack walking home with son and then back to past life montage which is in slow motion.
15	MCU	Jack laying in bed at night looking up at the ceiling questioning his future, possible flashbacks of past lime and interactions with son could appear (pushing son on swings, Long Shot)
16	Long Shot	Perhaps a shot of Jack sitting in the back of a car in the evening on his way home from work, looking out the window thinking about the task he will be performing in the next few days.
17	Medium Shot	Jack enters garage to collect weapons from his past life that he will use on one last job
18	MCU	Camera focuses on garage light which flickers at first, giving off an eerie impression to the audience.
19	Close Up	Camera shows jack dusting off an old case/box which contains a clean box which Jack then opens, containing various knives and guns.
20	ECU	Camera zooms and focuses on individual weapons as Jack polishes them and prepares them for use in the following days, various ECU’s used in a montage focusing on weapons and clothing.
21	CU/MCU	Roberto Rodriguez who is the target then has to be established to the audience, shown in mainly CU’s and MCU in darkness not giving to much away however letting the audience see his cuts and that he is a villain
22	ECU	Used to show the weapons that Roberto is carrying, establishing his role as a target and villain, ECU of his shoes and him walking through deserted dark places also creates sense of fear in the audience.
23	Establishing Shot	Daniel and Jack enter a car to show them on their way to where the target (Roberto) is located
24	Montage, Multiple angles	Daniel and Jack on their way to find the target, montage creates sense of time passing and tension building.
25	Establishing Shot	As the pair walk to the house of the target the high establishing shot which is behind them shows the pair in all black with hoods up and weapons ready
26	Long Shot/ Two Shot, CU	As Jack and Daniel close in on the house the camera shows both facial expressions of anger and concentration, shot then changes to Two shot behind the pair of Roberto running from his house and down a darkened alley way.
27	Multiple long shots, Dolly shot, Tracking shot and Handheld camera	Multiple shots picture Roberto on the run from both Jack and Daniel, various shots show a sense of rush and thrill, all shots are also showing the pace of the chase which is getting closer and closer to its conclusion.
28	Extreme long shot/Establishing Shot	Used to show the sheer size of the barn in the deserted field that the chase has led Jack and Daniel too, the pair walk slowly towards the building with the shot still zoomed out
29	CU	Close up used of both the legs and shoes of both Daniel and Jack to build tension, establishing a sense of getting closer to the end goal as they get closer to the camera.
30	ECU	Emotions of both Daniel and Jack are shown on camera as the camera focuses on both their muddy-scarred faces pictured in the darkness of their hoods.
31	High angle Long shot	As both Daniel and Jack arrive in the abandoned building it then becomes clear to everyone in the audience that all characters are in the final shot
32	CU	Used to show the audience the scars and mud on Zack’s face who has been tied up and kidnapped by the Unknown caller
33	ECU/ Two Shot	Picturing both Daniel and Jack who are now helpless as the emotions rise because Jacks son is in serious danger
34	Medium Shot	Both the Unknown caller and Roberto are pictured with evil grins on their faces as the Unknown caller puts a gun to Zack’s head and begins counting down from 10
35	MCU	Both Jack and Daniel look at each other and nod with mud and sweat pouring off their endangered faces.
36	Medium Shot	In first fast pace which is then slowed down in to slow motion the pair both quickly pull out their guns to shoot down both the Unknown caller and Roberto
37	ECU	The shot then shows the end of Jacks gun as he quickly takes aim, Jack’s face is out of focus however the gun is perfectly shown to the audience, editing added where the gun will ripple and the screen immediately goes black and finishes the opening sequence.