The document discusses various creative decisions made in developing an opening sequence for a teen drama film. It was decided to place the title at the end to allow time for audience interpretation. Scenes were shot in an exposed corridor near a train station to establish the urban setting typical of teen films. Costumes and makeup were used to portray the characters as teenagers, including dark colors and facial bruising. Camerawork included low angle shots to set the scene and close-ups of a bloodied face to convey seriousness. Elements like jump cuts, music, and text styles were chosen to effectively establish the genre of teen drama and draw the audience in from the start.

1. The title of the film
We decided that we should insert the title of the film last. This was due to the fact that a still image would
erase the audio and visual bombardment of all the prior shots which would then lead to a magnificent piece
of art work in which we created via the programme Photoshop and which we inserted to final cut pro. This
allows for the audience to have time to interpret what has just happened in the opening sequence allowing
them to understand what happens later on in the film. Positioning the title at the end of the sequence was
heavily inspired by the film kidulthood and although their production team may have not positioned the title
at the end of the opening sequence for the same reason we thought it was clever to interpret their idea in
order for our own objectives as fore mentioned above.

2. A realistic setting we decided would be in an exposed corridor near a main road which we
located near Kenton train station. We thought this would be particularly effective due to the fact
films such as anuvahood and kidulthood share the same conventions and therefore it would be
foolish to ignore due to there success in doing so. This combined with the fact that our plot
needed this particular location of where someone would stereotypically be assaulted led to this
decision. Therefore the setting also allows the audience to interpret a teen drama due to the
fact that urban locations are stereotypically associated with teen characters.

3. Costumes and props
Also inspired by the fore mentioned films was costume and props. However this time we believed that we
would adopt it accordingly towards our plot. We specifically done this by incorporating the dark and natural
colours a teenager would normally wear by selected a navy blue t shirt and navy blue jeans along with black
plimsolls. The use of a t-shirt was fundamental in the understanding of the character being exposed to the
natural environment as he is seen shivering and using a worn old blanket which is also taken from a navy
bag. Also make up in red cheeks and white dry lips portrays the characters danger as he may be leading into
hyperthermia. Which the make up shows clear symptoms of. All of this helps in the construction of the genre
teen drama.

4. Camerawork and editing
As far as camera work was concerned we identified that it played a vital role in portraying the genre in two parts. This was a low angle long shot
of the sky at the beginning to portray the area that the scene was established in and at another point where the white male is assaulted a close
up of his face portrayed the genre and the seriousity through a high angle close up of his blooded and bruised face. The darkened area and dull,
stone-built building portray the streets teenagers roam about and the dark sky portrays the time of night in which teenagers stereotypically are
outside. Then we see later on in the scene how the teen has been badly bruised and status has dropped down immensely as the high angle shot
portrays he is on the floor and the extravagant make up of his bloodied face further enforce the fore mentioned point.
In our opening sequence we used a variety of editing but we felt our most reliant piece of editing was jump
cut. We did further on of course use cross cutting but we believe it was essential in our narrative to begin
with jump cut. This was as we had to engage our audience through a combination of editing and camera
work. As you can see above the camera a close up of the male portrays a disturbed face and quickly cuts to
him walking into unknown territory evincing him attempting to discover what is happening in the narrative.

5. Genre and how the opening suggests/establishes it
The genre of teen drama commonly has a teen in it which is played by me. I incorporate the
conventions of a teen through my use of costume and make up in particular referring to my
spiky hair and dark casual clothes. In relation to the story I have been bruised heavily and this
is portrayed through the make up on my face which is shown through an extreme close up.
The make up consisted of a dark rouge colour which was spread across my face accordingly.
Furthermore my lips are coloured in light transparent white powder to portray the rough
challenges of a teenager’s life in the streets. In addition it also portrays a teenagers life as
being heavily violent and also additionally heavily aggressive. Furthermore the intimate scene
also portrays how a teenagers instability in life is proven as the still sleep with drug dealers etc
without caring for their own safety. A combination of these factors hence effectively portray
the genre of a teen character in a teen drama.

6. Title font and style
The use of white text and especially the white coloured font is key in highlighting whatever title there is whether it was the
title of the director or actors etc. This was also incorporated in the title sequence of the film where we have red text to
portray stereotypical love and blood of love which is in an italic esque form. This is to portray the seriousity of the issues in
the story but it is surrounded by an urban setting common for teenagers. We inserted various text in our movie to portray
the titles of the film. This was done successfully as it incorporated the use of white text over a dark background to make the
text clear to the audience. This was also inspired from kidulthood however we changed our font to create a sense of higher
professionalism and to show the seriousity of the film. Furthermore the dark colours also represents the seriousity of the
teen drama hence also portraying the genre quite effectively also representing these type of issues are actually occurring in
real life.

7. Narrative and how the opening establishes it
The narrative consists of a teenage boy trying to discover the reason for the constant disappearance of his
girlfriend and the confrontation of him and her boss. She works apparently as a local prostitute and drug
dealer whilst at the same time having an intimate relationship with the male who is attempting to save her.
The opening of confusion desperation and depression is combined with a voice over and various camera
angles, such as POV to portray the dismay of the male as he appears to be in trouble in which we see when
he gets beaten up later in the scene. We also see an intimate scene where the girl appears to be stroking the
male after spending the night together. Furthermore, we can then understand how close the two are and
track back to how the teenager is brutally assaulted and what led to the confusion which is shown in the
beginning.

8. How characters are introduced/established
I am introduced through a close up of me running out of the station then combined with a
medium close up when I am resting then a POV of me whilst running away from the station after
my rest. The other character Oshin Anderson is slowly introduced into the scene later on with a
close up of her hand sliding down my one to portray love and affection which juxtaposed with
her walking out creates drama for the audience through conflicting objectives.

9. Special effects that you have used.
Slow motion in this particular case in order to portray a detailed picture of the character Oshin
Anderson (pictured above) highlighting how she thinks she is superior according to her actions
where she appears to be cheating on her partner. The use of slow motion is used in various
music videos by artist who want to portray, beauty, power or wealth. In the first scene where we
see the male get assaulted we had a slight issue with the lighting as it was not a public alleyway
but a mere footpath leading to an estate, hence there was very poor lighting and extreme low
brightness. We combated this issue by using special effects and added a lightening filter as well
as a combination of increasing the brightness slightly. This was to ensure that the audience can
fully view what was happening in the scene as well as making the shots realistic to the audience
as well.