Comparing a Trailer and a Title/Opening Sequence

A trailer and an opening sequence are different because a trailer shows a montage of various clips from different parts of the movie or TV series. This contrasts with an opening sequence which shows the beginning of the film or episode. A trailer lasts between 30 seconds and 2 minutes whereas an opening sequence may last between 2 and 5 minutes. In the trailer of Merlin Season 6 and the trailer for War Horse, there are voiceovers of one of the characters speaking. The shots which have the voiceover are significant to the voiceover such as Joey galloping across No-Man's Land when the voiceover is saying, "Can you imagine flying over a war?"



A trailer is used to encourage people to watch the film or TV show that it is advertising by showing the audience various dramatic parts of the film to briefly explain the plot, whereas, an opening sequence is used to make the audience ask questions about the plot or characters. These are questions that they will want answered so the audience will continue to watch the film. In an opening sequence, there are titles to tell the audience who was involved in the making of the film such as "Paramount Pictures and 20th Century Fox Presents" at the start of Titanic whereas in the trailer for Merlin, the titles are very short such as "A New King" and "A New Era". This shows that the titles are used for different roles in trailers and opening sequences. In a trailer, they are there to give the audience and idea about what is going to happen in the film or TV show.

Foundation Portfolio Brief

For our foundation portfolio, we are going to make an opening sequence of a fiction film. Our opening sequence needs: Titles, Two company logos-One is a Distributer logo and the other is a Production Company logo which we create, To be a maximum of two minutes long All video and audio material must be original with the exception of music or audio effects from a copyright free source

Still Image Shots

This is my still image photo of some of the coat racks in the classroom. I took the photo at an angle to make the framing more interesting. However, the shot is blurry and out of focus, possibly from a slight movement from the camera.

This is a still image photo of one of the Macs in the classroom. This shot was interesting because it was taken at a slight angle and has light cutting across the keyboard.

This is a still image photo of the clock in the classroom. This has been taken as a low angle shot and at a slight angle. However, the photo could have been a close-up of the clock to make it look as if there is more detail to the clock.

This is a high angle shot of the computer in the classroom. This is effective because it is a medium close-up of the computer and you can also see other objects around the computer. However, to make it more effective, the framing could ave been tilted slightly.

This is a tilted image of the door in the classroom. This shot is effective because it is at a slight angle which makes the shot more interesting.

10 Shot Story

This is our 10 Shot Story where I find and take a wallet.

Jobsite Advert

This is our advert for Jobsite.

Push A Little Button

This is our 'Push A Little Button' Advert.

Preliminary Task Evaluation

WWW: Our filming of the preliminary task went well because we used a variety of shot lengths and types such as a long shot and then close ups. We also used different types of continuity editing such as Shot/Reverse Shot, an eyeline match and we stuck to the 180 Rule. This made the editing smoother and the cuts less noticeable.
Our editing went well because we made the cuts very smooth which was helped by the uses of continuity editing. This would have made the sequence easier for the audience to watch and they would not have become disorientated or confused.

EBI: Our filming could have gone better because we had to reshoot a couple of shots due to the lighting. One of these shots were of Megan talking and she was sitting infront of the light so we were not able to see her face as it was in shadow. This would have been different from other shots where you could clearly see Megan's face. There was also one moment where we slightly broke the 180 Rule when Jacob walked into the room. This would have made the audience feel slightly disorientated.
Our editing could have been better by making the cuts even quicker and smoother. This would have let the sequence flow a lot better, making it look less like the audience were watching a movie.

Preliminary Task

This is our preliminary task which showed a meeting between Megan and Jacob where Jacob had to break some news to Megan.

Donnie Darko Recreation Analysis

This is a scene from Donnie Darko that we recreated by filming as a whole class and editing in pairs. I have analysed the scene by explaining the shot types and editing.

Using ScreenCast O' Matic and embeddin into your blog.

This is a video that I made to show how to make a screen cast using screen cast o' matic and how to embed it into your blog.