During this weekend (14/11/14 – 16/11/14) I am away in Scotland therefore will not be able to continue filming until I arrive back. However, I will aim to draw how my DVD front cover will look so that I have a clear idea of how to design it and gain an idea on what computer programme’s I need to use.

The Final Title Design

Font Questionnaire: Results

I asked 20 participants (both male and female) who were aged between 12 and 16 whether they would kindly complete my questionnaire based on the font type of my title. I did this because I wasn’t certain what my target audience look for when considering the font of a title to a programme therefore from this questionnaire I hoped to conclude my decision and begin editing the final draft of my title.

From the graphs it is clear that I will use ‘CF Jack Story’ font and will be in the colour black.

Font Questionnaire

Considering the Title Font

I have been looking at different fonts that I could use for my two ancillary tasks (a magazine front cover and a DVD front cover). My target audience are aged between 12 and 16 however when considering my actual audience it may be younger than this therefore I wanted the text to be easy to read and easy on the eye. Additionally, I wanted the name to stand out which is why I have decided to use bold lettering and also be recognisable so that children can relate the lettering with the programme. I hope that my title will look child friendly by having curved edges around the lettering and also look welcoming and inviting showing that the TV programme is not upsetting but more joyful as they see Jimmy’s epic adventure.

I first looked at the range of fonts that www.fontspace.com offered me. Originally, I looked under the subheading ‘popular’ but I did not think any of the fonts were suitable for my programme apart from one which is named ‘Luckiest Guy’.

 This then led me to look under the subheading ‘Sans-serif’ where I found the following fonts:

CF Jack Story:

Filbert Colour Personal Use:

CF Rise of National Regular:

Another idea I have decided on is to use an image of footprints above the ‘I’ in Jimmy. I believe this will decrease the maturity of the bold lettering and make it much more child friendly. The reason why I have decided on footprints is because I personally associate walking with a journey/ adventure.

My next step will be to create a questionnaire which asks my target audience which of the fonts shown above they like the most and think is most appropriate. I will also ask them to consider the colour of the title.

The Name

When considering what I wanted to call my programme I thought about the whole programme’s synopsis instead of just the opening title sequence. I believed I needed to include the main characters name and also a word that simply describes what the programme is focused on. This idea was concluded by researching existing products. 

Here are a few examples of the existing products I researched:

Casualty (BBC)

This name is very simple and straight to the point; this allows the audiences to gain an understanding that the TV drama is based on a health care profession.  When I researched the definition of ‘casualty’ all the definitions included aspects of health care, for example “the casualty department of a hospital”. (click here to see definitions)

Scott and Bailey (ITV)

The name of the TV drama only includes the names of the two main characters. It focuses on their home, work and social life. This gives the audience some impression that it is based on two characters but gives very little away about the programme itself. I believe this is effective as the audience will want to learn more about the characters and the programme synopsis.

From this I have decided to combine the two ideas together and create a name which includes the main character’s name and a very simple idea on what the programme is based on.

Having said this, I have come to the decision that the programme will be called “Jimmy’s Journey” because the main character is called Jimmy and the programme’s synopsis is based on his adolescent struggles.

Editing Update

Over the past 3 days I have been choosing what pictures I want to use in my title sequence from the two scenes I have shot. These scenes are when Jimmy visits his biological father’s grave and when Jimmy moves to Manchester. When I was looking over the pictures I took on Friday 7^th November and Sunday 9^th November I was really pleased with them. However, I have decided to change the order of my title sequence. My initial idea of lighting was to use the lighting to reflect Jimmy’s life events. Basically, natural/ bright lighting when Jimmy finally feels contempt with his life and to have natural/ dark lighting when Jimmy is dissatisfied with his life. The images I collected from Manchester City Centre were very bright and pleasant images therefore I believe these images should be used when Jimmy leaves his mother and the abuse from Blake behind him and lives life on his own. Below is a video showing the new chronological order of my opening title sequence:

This is a table showing which scenes will be in natural/ bright lighting and which will be in natural/ dark lighting:

Natural/ dark

Natural/ bright

The first 4 scenes: Jimmy visits his biological father’s grave – he feels empty and heartbroken Jimmy and his mother (Maggie) cry together – devastation over the loss of their beloved family member Maggie meets Blake (arguing) – clear that it is an abusive relationship and Jimmy is devastated over this Blake is introduced to Jimmy – Jimmy isn’t happy about Blake trying to act like his new father, Jimmy feels worthless from the way Blake treats him The final meeting: Jimmy meets Jerome and Burdine – he doesn’t understand why they are bullying him when he has done nothing wrong, that feeling of worthlessness is still there

The last  scenes: Jimmy leaves Maggie and Blake – Jimmy is excited and curious about starting fresh (walking across field) Scenes of Manchester (Jimmy’s new home) – Jimmy is happy to start his adventure Starts at Wellington School – excited about finally starting education (his dream) Jimmy meets Arthur – he has a trusting and caring best friend, he has never had this connection with someone before Jimmy meets Sadie – they have both had a troubling start to life so they can talk to each other about everything

In lesson time I have now begun editing the images I have taken and considering which transitions to use. Again, I want the transitions to reflect that mood of Jimmy/ the scene. My first decision was whether use a transition called ‘lens flare’ or ‘bloom’ between the scene where Jimmy leaves him mother and Blake to introducing the images of Manchester. I wanted this transition to reflect a new beginning for Jimmy and both of these seem suitable for representing that. After much debate with myself I have decided to use ‘lens flare’ as ‘bloom’ showed orange coloured markings and therefore did not look good between the two images. Another transition I have decided to use is ‘cross dissolve’ throughout the scene where Jimmy is visiting his father’s grave. I have used a total of 7 images from this scene which are:

• Long shot (showing the sunset and a shadow of a tree)
• Long shot (Oliver walking down the path) x2
• Mid shot (Oliver knelt beside grave) x3

I will use ‘cross dissolve between the images from Oliver (Jimmy) walking down the path until the final image of him praying beside the grave.

This transition is very slow moving making it easy on the eye and symbolising Jimmy is feeling empty and dissatisfied. Furthermore, it gives a real sense of continuity between the shots which is beneficial for making my title sequence look exceptional. 

My next step is to decide what length of time each image should be shown for. I originally though 5 seconds but this may change depending on the music time and the tone of the music as each image is shown. I am still yet to decide on a piece of music. When considering music I want the tone to reflect the mood of each scene, for example Jimmy visiting his biological father’s grave will have slow and opera like music whereas when the images of Manchester are shown I want the music to be upbeat and sound adventurous.

Finally, when looking at the picture I took on Friday 7^th November I was pleased with the majority of them. However, when editing the long shot of the graveyard followed by Jimmy (Oliver) walking down the path there was no sense of continuity therefore I added in an image of the surrounding headstones. This made it a lot better but the lighting of the headstones of the right of me was brighter than those I took on the left of me. This means I will have to go back to Hale Crematorium and retake those images at approximately 4:30 so the lighting will be similar to those already taken. I plan to do this on Thursday 13^th November.