We needed to plan our storyboard, shot list, as well as do location, props and ideas research. To help us do this we looked at films openings such as Shrek, as shown below:
We examined the credits sequence and how the 'Dreamworks' company went about presenting them.
We found they put their trademark first, then introduced the basic story of a princess, then the main character. We took from this, how to present our story book idea.
However we wanted more on the credits so we then looked at Napoleon Dynamite. Unfortunately we couldn't find the actual footage but found work done by another student from a different school, which has the same fundamental idea as we do for our title credits:
Storyboard:
Sarah designed the storyboard as we worked together as a group to discuss the story and produce initial ideas on a piece of paper, then put them into the story board.
We decided to do the credits first and incorporate them into our film, so they are physically part of the mise-en-scene. We think this will engage the audience more and draw them in. We also decided to then move on to an establishing shot of the class room, which will show the audience that she is an ordinary school girl; which will then be contrasted against the fact she's gone to another world and has changed, in appearance.
We have inserted effects such as Fade in from black and Fade out to white to introduce the film, and to show that she has gone from her world to another.
Props:
We arranged to bring props to the first filming lesson, in which we aim to film the first sequence of credits; we hope to do this by being organised and efficient with our time limit.
We split up the props by who is doing what, for instance, since Chloe is playing the main character, she will have to bring her own costumes, so a flowy, flowery dress and shoes, along with make-up. Sarah will be bringing the jewellery, flowers for the background to make it look more like a different world, as long with a few dresses to use for the first scene. Hannah is bringing the make-up, notebook so we can film the doodles, the crown (possibly made from flowers) as the story is about a princess.
The location is easy to do as we will be using the 'pond space' behind the school, which is quite secluded and looks like a dream world, which we will be using to film the other scenes in, when she gets transported. We discussed how we would go from the credits to the other world; ideas such as having her be a normal secondary school girl being taught in class and closing her eyes and waking up in the other world. However Hannah said this didn't include the credits so Sarah showed us an opening sequence from a film called 'Napoleon Dynamite' where the credits are actual part of the mise-en-scene (look at the video of the note pad above). So we all agreed on having the initial idea of the main character in the class room but she would be doodling the credits and we would have a voice over of her, explaining the beginning of the story and then she would close her eyes and be in the other world.
We thought this was the most effective way of incorporating the credits in to our mise-en-scene. Here is an example of the doodled 'Fleur' title:
