Opening Sequence - Goodfellas (1990)

The opening sequence of a movie is vital to setting the scene and tone of the film. it gives the audience an insight into what their about to watch and whether it's something they'll enjoy or not. During a lesson we looked through a few opening sequences; each one with something different to offer. We listed out the functions of one movie - 'Goodfellas' by Scorses (1990).

From watching the opening sequence of this film we found out a lot about what to expect and also what they wanted to show most; whether it being the theme, tone, character introductions, plot. in this case it was introducing us to mainly the characters and who will be the main. 

Here is a list of things from the 2 minute opening sequence and it's functions:

(source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8pQJOeTkFs)

• Opening titles starts with the above the line talent. This consists of the producer, director, production company and actors. The people who will sell the movie to the audiences.

(source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8pQJOeTkFs)

• 'This film is based on a true story.' This sentence straight away is a 'hook' but not a obvious one. It's something to make the audience think 'Wow, this really happened?' and perhaps relate to. If something is true it makes the audience feel like it's more authentic and want to find out more. It offers more information.

(source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGs-yzWrjdI)

• The scene starts with a car ride in the middle of the night lasting 10 seconds. From this the audience can already sense some sort of build up occurring.

(source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGs-yzWrjdI)

• At 0:44 the audience is given a time and place for the movie, this being New York, 1970. This automatically sets the theme for the film and the audience already know from the year what codes and conventions to expect to see.

(source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGs-yzWrjdI)

• 0:46 seconds we're introduced to the first 3 characters. They don't have much dialogue but from what they do say it causes a dramatic build up, their questioning what the banging noise is and we, the audience, are immediately 'hooked' into finding out what it is.

(source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGs-yzWrjdI)

• 1:15-1:20 seconds the director uses a tracking shot to slowly zoom into the boot of the car, creating emphasis and dramatic tension as to what's inside. This is almost like a second 'hook' on the audience.

(source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGs-yzWrjdI)

• This is where the audience start to figure out some characters personalities and the suspense reaches it's peak. In the above image (a)you can see one of the three characters quickly pulling out a large knife, this tells the audience that this person is very hostile and whatever is in the boot of the car is perhaps dangerous or innocent resulting in this particular character to be dangerous himself. Referring back to image (b) we see another character, this one much quieter and some what nervous, hastily open the boot. 

(source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGs-yzWrjdI)

• Inside the boot is where the shock factor hits the audience for the first time, the 'hook' is in place for a third time leaving the audience to question 'Who is this man in the boot?' 'Why is he inside the boot of the car?' 'Why is he badly injured' and 'Who are these 3 other characters?' This also tells the viewers that the theme/tone/genre of the movie they are about to see is an action based movie in the form of violence. 

(source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGs-yzWrjdI)

• At 1:40 we see the shortest character violently attack the man in the boot with his large knife. Immediately the second shock factor hits the audience and we automatically create persona for this character. We see that from his use of offensive language "f***ing" and "look at me, look in my f****ing eyes!" while stabbing the 4th character we assume he is a angry, violent and dangerous man. This also gives off the sense he could be a villain. As well as character building it also sets of a solid theme for the movie and that it consists of graphic violence.

(source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGs-yzWrjdI)

• Immediately after the 3rd character comes into shot and shoots the man with a gun. His approach is some what of a quick killer like an assassin and this makes the audience see that he is perhaps the intelligent one or sly character when compared to the forceful, close contact 1st character.

(source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGs-yzWrjdI)

• We then hear a voice over and this tells us that the person speaking is the main character. It shows the man above with the over voice and he says "As far back as I can remember, I've wanted to be a gangster." This is the setting stone and official point in the opening sequence that this film is in fact an action movie as gangsters are a connotation of violence. Music then starts to play of a cheery tempo and it gives off a comedic value to the opening scene, also putting an input into the idea that this movie may be action but also comedy too. The genre of the music is the 50's which symbolizes the prime time (1930 - 1960) of gangsters and crime.

Ident

What is an 'IDENT'?

ident  (ˈaɪdɛnt)
— n
	a short visual image employed between television programmes  thatworks as a logo to locate the viewer to the channel (source:http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ident)

What is their function?

The purpose of an ident is simply to identify and advertise the company behind the film/television show or radio station. It's there for the audience to see and notice who the companies are.

Here is an example of an ident:

(source: http://youtu.be/xLY2rx5gk5c - Youtube video of Channel 4's October 2012 Pylon ident.)

Our task was to create our own individual idents for our opening sequence brief. I started of by thinking about what my opening sequence would be, what genre it would take. Originally I planned on a drama/comedy and so my first ident idea reflected this.My first original idea was to take my last name, Knight, and use it in the production title and revolve the imagery around my name. I played around with some sketches of knights in armour, shields and swords. I finally came up with something. Below are the two images I originally planned to use for my ident:

(Burn tool from Photoshop)

(Dodge tool from Photoshop)

I chose this sword from Google images as it greatly represented the picture I had in my head of a knight's sword. I opened it up on Photoshop and edited a tiny bit to make it my own. I changed the colour and tone of the handle to black and use the 'dodge' and 'burn' tool to define and highlight the parts of the sword that I felt appropriate to make it seem more realistic.

Above is the shield image I picked, also from Google images, I decided to choose this one because it matched again my visual perfectly. I edited the colour of the shield to a teal blue/green and these are my favourite colours, reflecting back to the use of my last name. Once again i chose to use the tools 'dodge' and 'burn' to define the image.

After a long while of trial and error on Final Cut Pro; I decide to pick another route. The downside to my original ident was the complications it held. My idea was too complicated and didn't fit what i completely pictured it to look like. So I took to Youtube for inspiration. One of my favourite things is the moon, and so I began looking for scenic short clips of such. I ended up finding an very beautiful video which I chose to use for my ident. After viewing this video my genre for the opening sequence had hanged and I knew straight away I wanted to create a thriller.

Below is the original video:

(source: Youtube - http://youtu.be/5kskqFLjeaU-Elcaminoss31316)

After viewing this I was immediately inspired to create my ident with similarities but originality. Using the skills I have on Final Cut Pro I managed to take from the video the selected amount of time and crop the moon to use for my advantage - As you will see in my final video. Here is a screen shot of my work on FCP (Final Cut Pro) when I was complete:

As you can see from the screen shot I decided to change my production company name. I wanted to keep my name involved but not have the actual spelling. In the end I came up with 'Nightfall Entertainment'. I felt this suited my ident very well as it's related to the moon, it also captures my second name too. The font style I found particularly easy to find and pick. I had an image in my head of something defined yet simple. I choose the font Palatino. To me it symbolises the traditional cinema look, as my ident is some what of a 'thriller' one it gives the final video a classic yet sharp horror look. The white on black text/font I chose also because of it's 'crispness'. I didn't want anything to look tacky or to have too much going on. I think the white on the black background gives it the perfect balance for what I wanted to achieve. 

Below is my own ident

(Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtDHnBh3ikE by Youtuber IUseTwoKeyboards)

The music I used was from Youtube. I chose this because it was the right tempo for the animated moon and I felt it gave it a little edge. I think it fits with my ident perfectly in the aspect of horror thriller. I changed the colour tone of the moon to a more 'blue' hue. It gives it this cold feeling and sets the tone for what to expect. I particularly love the passing clouds slowly sweeping across the moon, it gives it that little more detail and feels more professional.