The Genie is a fictional character and a protagonist from the Disney animated movie Aladdin, as well as related series and sequels.
Like most popular depictions of genies, Disney Genie was originally a slave. Though he possessed "phenomenal cosmic powers", he was bound to an "itty-bitty living space" and could only use his powers when the owner of the lamp (his master) made a wish; he occasionally does things without granting a wish, but never anything that greatly affects the world around him. He is also bound by 3 laws; He can't kill anyone, he can't make people fall in love and he can't revive the dead. It is possible, however, that he can do the third one, but that, as he puts it; "It's not a pretty picture. I don't like doing it!". Each master has three such wishes, and cannot exceed this amount by wishing for more wishes. The lamp came into the possession of the character Aladdin during the course of the first film, and he remained in servitude until Aladdin used his third and final wish to grant Genie his freedom at the end of the film.

This character is similar to Jewel the genie in our sequence.

Lucy Pevensie - is the youngest Pevensie child. She is the first of them to discover the land of Narnia when she slips through the magical wardrobe in the professor's house. When Lucy tells her siblings, Peter and Susan refuse to believe her and are convinced that she is just having a game, while Edmund persistently encourages and teases her about it. After the restoration of Narnia, Lucy is crowned Queen of Narnia with her sister Susan, and becomes known as Queen Lucy the Valiant.

- This is a character from Narnia that is similar to the character Ben in our children's film sequence.

Feedback About Opening Sequence

We got feedback from the rest of the class:

Was there a variety of shots?
The majority of the class answered yes, that there were a wide variety of shots in the opening sequence. The shots were consistent and

Mise-en-scene considered enough?
Genie could of been dressed up to make it obvious.
Box was a good prop

Editing? Were the transitions good and was the editing continuous?
Edited well, apart from camerawork at beginning.
Continually editing, dissolves, cannot hear voice over at start.
Good editing , slick transmissions.

Sound appropriate? Voice-over? Sountrack? Atmosphere?
Narrator is a calming presence.
No sound at all when from 1:13 to 1:33. Good voice over.

What does the sequence tell you about the whole film? i.e.characters, narrative, genre
Narrator is a calming presence.
Happy adventure, Ben main character.
Nice, happy. Fun childish adventure mixed with music.
Very jolly.
Start is like a normal film then changes into a childrens film.
Is not clear that will happen in rest of film.

Evaluation of Opening Sequence of Hercules

Camera Shots:

• Establishing shot shows us a pan across to a long shot of the temple

• Shot is then zoomed closer into the pot

• Fade to close up of the pot where you can see the five women.

• Then have a medium shot of all of the women at different points.

• Quickly to long shot of them women climbing down the stairs and of the Titans.

• Quick flashes between medium and long shots of Zeus, The Women and The Titans.

• Close up of the flashing faces

• Long shot of the women in the plate and of pot of Zeus.

• Medium shot of all the women at same time.

• Quick flash to long shot of them beside the pot.

Lighting:

Because this film is an animation, the lighting is all done digitally, so it is a bit harder to pin point where the light is intended to be like that. Some bits of lighting that stand out, are at the very beginning when it is all very dark apart from one shaft of light on the pot of Hercules. Other main points of interest with the lighting, are when the bad characters come in, e.g. The Titans, the light goes very dark as if to emphasise the point that they are the villains. The main colour of lighting is a violet colour for the women. This can sometimes change but is mostly the same colour. One time when it is different, is when there are the disco lights on the faces of the women and there are lots of different colours. One final point of the lighting is when the story is being told, there is a more orange/brown light, as if the story is being told off of the pot.

Costume:

The costumes that are designed by the animators fit perfectly with the role of Ancient Greece, as the women are dressed in robes, traditional to the time period that the film is set. The characters that are on the pot, e.g. Zeus, are made to look like drawings, so they have no real costume to comment on. Apart from the heroes are drawn in a white stencil, whereas the villains are drawn in black stencil.

Actors:

All of the characters in this film are voice-overs. The opening narrator is made to have a deep booming voice, to make the film look like a traditional tale about Ancient Greece. When the women come in, they are made to sound much livelier and to make the story seem more fun and entertaining. This is because the opening narrator would soon bore children, but with the women singing, it makes the film much more entertaining for the younger viewers.

Hercules uses a lot of iconography, as the story is based on an ancient myth from Greece. The sequence contains a lot of material related to the original Ancient tale, to make the film seem like it fits perfectly with the period that it is meant to be set in. Also, by making the opening sequence lively and full of fun, the audience will instantly be hooked, as they want to see if there will be anymore songs etc. and what will happen in the film that, to a younger viewer, would seem very imaginative and exciting.

Ben's Mystical Box Video

This is the final video of our AS Childrens Film
We are pleased with the video, given the amount of time we had to make and edit it.
There are a few minor faults with the video, that we would improve if given more time;
-Some of the voice over/soundtrack is not always 100% in sync with the video.
- We could have edited the brightness and contrast if given more time
Overall we are all very pleased with the outcome of the video and have enjoyed making it.

BEN'S MYSTICAL BOX

TO CLARIFY THE TITLE OF OUR CHILDREN'S FILM SEQUENCE IS 'BEN MYSTICAL BOX'.

STARRING : LONDIE NCUBE AND BEN SHIMMENS

CAMERA WORK : LEWIS SHEPHERD

SOUND EDITING : ALEX IRVINE

DIRECTED BY : BEN SHIMMENS

EDITED BY : BEN SHIMMENS & LEWIS SHERPERD

SOUDNTRACK MADE BY : LONDIE NCUBE & ALEX IRVINE

Voice Over - Ben's Mystical Box

We decided to do a voice over for our film as it didn't have a lot of narrative in it and this would make it easier to understand. We used a microphone to record the voice over. We had no difficulties doing this although when it came to editing it was hard making sure everything was in sync. The purpose of the voice over was to tell a story to the audience and to connect with the viewers. It was also so the audience were not confused by the sequence and they were up to date about what was happening. There is not a lot of speech in the sequence because it gives a sense mystery and we thought it would relate to children more. Overall we were happy with the voice over but we cut it at some points because it was lengthy and we thought it was too dominant.

Analysis of Flushed Away

The opening sequence starts with an introduction to the main character. The mood and atmosphere is cheerful. You can tell from this opening sequence that it is a children's film. The film is created using stop motion but is continuous and maintains a flowing sequence throughout. In the sequence there are quick shot changes and some techniques are repeated throughout the sequence. These include pan shots and zooming out of a shot. All events are in chronological order so it is not confusing to the audience which is ideal as it is a children's film. The audience is introduced to a setting at the start of the film and it is maintained throughout the opening sequence and we get to know it quite well which indicates that it is a key setting for the film. It's a short opening sequence but very effective. I think it will help our group with our sequence because it gives away that it is a children's film and effectively introduces the key setting and characters to the audience which is what we need to do. It is a fun film to watch, with voice casts including Kate Winslet, Hugh Jackman, & Ian McKellen, it is nice to see the little touches for the adults to

Link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5N_TnsREXo

Analysing an opening sequence of a film.

The film sequence I have decided to analyse is Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging. I chose this particular film because I think it has a lot of camera shots and angles throughout. I analysed the opening titles.

Camera shots
It starts off with the main character walking down the road with the camera looking at her dad driving so all you can see of her is shoulders to middle; through the driver’s window. This shot is called a two shot because there are two people in the shot, even though you can’t see her face.
As it moves on, she enters a house where a fancy dress party is happening and as soon as she walks in, the other characters perform a reaction shot because of what she is wearing.
She walks through the room on a medium shot, this way you can see her reaction as well as the people around her’s reaction.
When she is by her friends there is a mixed range of shots: over shoulder – when there is a disagreement between the friends and then there is a close up when the main character gets upset. She runs out of the house and it flashes from a medium to long to extreme long shot, as she runs the whole way home.

Sound
There isn’t really a lot of sound, apart from when she is running home and as she is doing so, a song is played. There are the odd sound effects like people talking and laughing, or cars honking. Also the setting as she is running home is a seaside so you occasionally hear bird noises or waves etc.

Mise - en –Scene
The setting of the opening, is a row of houses, this is when she is walking along side the car. The lighting for this scene is natural, because it was outside, although there may have been a bit of editing because the weather might have been bad.

The setting of the party is a room in a house. There are people sat on sofa’s/ stood up in fancy dress; which means there would be a multitude of different costumes, there is food and drink on tables so the lighting could be either artificial or natural depending on if there was a light on. It wasn’t very clear.

As she is running home along Eastbourne pier in an olive costume, there are old people sat, staring and laughing at her on benches. The lighting is bright and sunny therefore natural.

Editing
I think throughout the entire film there would have been editing, because the weather wouldn’t have always been bright so they might of edited colour into the sky.

At the end of the titles there is a shot where Georgia (main character) storms off to her room upset, and it flashes back and forth to her dad clearing up the stamped-on olive costume. This is called parallel editing.
I also think that there is a lot of continuity (invisible) editing because the title sequence is very linked, there is no obvious editing done, that you can immediately see of.

In conclusion I think that the range of techniques used in this film sequence, really interlinks well with each other, therefore creating a smooth, straight run through of the opening titles.

Script for Childrens film - Ben's Mystical Box

Beginning -
Ben was 11 years old and clueless of the world. He was a happy boy. Ben loved the outdoors, he loved the fresh air, the blooming flowers, full of life and the sound of the wind blowing through the trees. Ben's woodland walk was his favorite place.

Woodland Walk - Ben was curious of the wonderful treasures of life. He was determined to learn something new every day. This day Ben was sure that he would discover something new, and he was right.

Finding of the box - Ben's discovery of the the box would take him on an adventure he never thought possible. Part of him was just being a kid when he got into the box, but another part of him was sure that there was more to it. When he found the box to be magical he was astonished but more confused and everything seemed a blur. Ben was left with no answers.

Corridor - Ben just wanted someone to explain what had gone on. He was stranded in a deserted school. This is where Jewel comes into the story.

*This was a draft script and we used as a guideline for the voice over and it helped us know what we needed to say but the actual script is quite different and more continuous and flowing.