The document summarizes the opening sequence of a student film called "Erik the Viking." It includes conventions like a title sequence, credits, introduction of the main character Erik fighting down stairs, and establishing the fantasy-action genre through music. Different shots, sounds, and editing techniques were used. The target audience was lowered to ages 6-12 for the fantasy and action. Film distributors like Pixar may be interested since it's an action film. Feedback from a preliminary helped improve shots, flow, and cuts in the final product.

1. By Jake Cotton

2.  In my children's opening sequence, I ensured our video
contained all the conventions of a real media product.
An opening sequence will usually contain;
 Title Sequence
 Credits/media company
 Introduction of main character
 Establishment of location
 Theme tune/sound track
 Introduction of film narrative
 Introduction of film genre

3.  In Erik the Viking, it starts off with a title sequence
showing viewers the title of the video. The following
clip shows viewers which media company produced
the video. The first clip of any characters is one of Erik
The Viking himself, the main character fighting his
way down the stairs. It then also shows the location in
which the video is filmed in. Whilst all these
conventions are happening, the main soundtrack is
being played over the back ground, this music shows
what kind of film it will be as it is a fast paced
soundtrack. Eric the Viking is a fantasy-action which is
clear at the beginning of the film.

4.  In Erik the Viking different sound is used, two
soundtracks are used and character voices are used to.
Also, sound effects have been used to create effect.
 Different camera shots are used, high angle, low angle
and zoom are mainly used and we ensured the 180
degree rule was used to ensure it made sense to the
audience
 Whilst editing, our main feature was slowing down the
battle between Erik and his imaginary friend. We also
used jumpshots and cuts in order to allow the video to
run smoothly. No additional lighting was used when
filming either and Final Cut was used to edit.

5.  We aimed our video at younger children aged
between 6-12 as I feel it will appeal to them because
of the music and the action involved. There is also
some comedy in the film which young children will
find quite funny. Its clear our video is a fantasy as
having an imaginary friend which you can see is not
possible. This shows that the video is fantasy based
 This age group will end to like the fantasy-action
based video because at that age they will act in a
similar way, have imaginary friends and play fight
with friends. The swordfight at the start of the play
will really appeal to 6-12 year olds because they
enjoy acting in very similar ways.
 There is no real stereotyping in our video, no
character is represented in a particular way.

6.  The most well known children film distributors
is Disney. Many high quality films are
distributed by Disney and have since become the
most well known childrens film distributors
around. Disney have made films such as Bolt,
Meet The Robinsons and Chicken Little. Pixar
have also distributed some top selling childrens
films such as Toy Story, Wall.E and Ratatouille.

7.  Film distributors interested in my product
would be the likes of Pixar because like many
films they distribute, Erik The Viking is an
action based film.

8.  The audience we originally wanted to aim our
product at were teenagers. We wanted to combine
comedy and action but as we got further into
filming we realised we needed to change our
target audience as we set our age group too high.
We lowered the age to 6-12 and we feel we have
met the aim well. The fantasy for the younger side,
the action for all and the comedy for older side of
the age group.
 Our classification would be a ‘U’. The film is aimed
at the younger generation so there is no swearing,
no real violence and no sexual scenes. A child aged
4 and above would be able to watch our film and
enjoy it.

9.  The specific areas in which our film attracts
our target audience is the sword scene in
which Erik The Vikings imaginary friend is
training Erik to become the most powerful
Viking around. The clip has an intense
soundtrack over the top and involves
slowed down footage to add effect. This
particular part attracts viewers because it is
fast paced and includes some quality action
footage which the audience want to watch.

10.  During the making of Erik The Viking, we had to
use certain equipment we have not used before for
example, the first piece of technology we were
given was a video camera. It was hard to find all
the corrects buttons we were looking for but after a
while we knew what we could do with the camera.
 Also, to make audio, we used a program called
Garage Band. At first it was difficult to navigate
our way through the program but after a while we
adapted and got some quality sound effects and
music for our Video.

11.  In our preliminary, there was not much change in
footage, all camera shots were similar and the clip was
very boring. We learnt from this and made sure we had
lots of different shots and ensured the audience
wouldn't get bored. Other improvements include
editing as in our latest video there is more of a smooth
flow where as in our previous video it looked bad and
cuts were done poorly.
 The preliminary helped up produce a better final
prouduct as we know which areas we needed to pay
specialist attention to, in order to improve our final
video. I believe Erik The Viking was a success, it was
funny in areas, the audience seemed to enjoy it and it
came together well after a slow start.