Uses
In my research and planning, I looked at a couple of famous 80’s opening sequences such as Clueless and An Education. In those opening sequences, there are certain elements and important clues that would be useful later on in the film.
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Although, we have used the costume inspiration and the concept of, “a couple of teenagers discovering something they wouldn’t believe what they’ve discovered” from the new famous ‘Coming of Age’ series called Stranger Things and also a little concept idea from the new modern series called Humans for our opening sequence. The genre and the time set matched with our opening sequence idea which was an 80’s Sci-Fi ‘Coming of Age’ film.
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From Clueless, I have used the idea of where the first scene of the opening is going to take place and what actions are going to be shown to help build up the narrative. As seen in lots of other ‘Coming of Age’ film, the opening location mostly used are schools and houses (bedrooms) to represent their social groups.
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Also, I got the idea of using different types of shots, angles and movement from Clueless. It makes the opening itself alive with the use of different camera angles and movement which could engage the audience interest.
The typography used was plain white, simple and clear which then it would not distract the scene as seen in An Education. The font used was also suitable for Sci-Fi genre and consistent throughout our opening sequence which would make it look more professional.
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When listening to the music used in ‘Coming of Age’ films, they mostly sounded playful, up-beat and has that teenage feels in it. For our opening sequence, we used an 80’s themed, up-beat, synth music because it fits with the Sci-Fi genre and it gives a clue that the film is going to be adventurous and uplifting.
The idea of using high-key lighting on the scenes came from An Education which gives the film a fun, comical elements, and also gives the idea that the characters are protagonists.
Challenged
In our opening sequence, we have challenged a few forms and conventions of a ‘Coming of Age’ film.
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First, we have focused on how the set should look like and what objects need to be shown on the scene. This would give the audience a better feel of the opening sequence being set in the 80’s and better understanding of the main character. This idea comes from An Education, where they show the activities happening in school which gives better understanding and may generate different opinions of the characters.
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We decided to film it in a house as it gives more clues than a School or somewhere else. I got this idea from Clueless as the main character getting ready in her bedroom and walk down to the kitchen. This is also effective to build up the narrative.
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We also thought that the use of indirect narrator – news reader voice over – would be different to the way typical ‘Coming of Age’ tell or reveal the narrative. It helped the audience to know more about what’s happening and generate questions as the news reader only tell the breaking news which is not revealed on the scene yet.
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The concept that we go for also slightly different to most of the famous ‘Coming of age’ film which could engage the audiences’ interest to watch it. Keep in mind that Sci-Fi is not a genre for everyone, we think the concept we have will attract our target audience and secondary ones to watch it.
Developed
I tried to develop the idea of using lots of different types of shots, angles and movement to clearly show the audience of what’s going on and also creates other feelings, such as; the film somehow relatable with everyday life, happiness, curiosity, tensity and enigmas. I think the shots in our opening sequence is really effective as it does create those feelings.
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I developed this idea from the film Clueless and the series Stranger Things. In Clueless they used tracking shots and short cuts showing the life of the main character, and in Stranger Things there’s this scene where 3 boys cycling down the road; and that’s where we get the idea for the cycling scene.
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Another element we’ve developed is the editing – use of modern technology editing software. As where in 80’s films they would use real props, in our opening sequence however – when the clone’s eyes opened it was red – we edited it out rather than using the real coloured soft lens.
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We also developed the way we tell the narrative in our opening. We put an indirect narrator to the opening using a voice of a news reader over the radio (keeping the theme consistent) where he would read a news about what’s going on. We think it’s an interesting way to tell the narrative, and it also help creates enigmas and audiences’ curiosity.
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The characters personality; Michael who’s curious and brave, and Joseph who’s more scared and rather stay away from problem personality really reflect the typical ‘Coming of Age’ films characters.