Old Japanese , Sci-Fi.- Idea development & Considerations.

Here's a clip for a light hearted Japanese Sci-Fi/horror from 1966 called "Gammara".



The film shares most of its attributes with "Godzilla". A big monster terrorizes the city until it falls asleep, resides or dies. These films seem rather boring to look at now, thought at the time they utilized the best special effects around at the time to captivate the audience. As I look through more and more of these adverts I seem to see very similar things for example they all seem incorporate people screaming (especially women), maybe in my ident I should include this.

The music in this film is quite light hearted at the beginning then gloomy when the Beast strikes (to create tension). This may effect I'l use. At the moment I'm thinking about using moving silhouettes of various well known characters/aliens/spaceships and dramatic music for the ident.

Again the text in this advert very similar to "Invasion of the Body Snatchers". Vintage bold metaphoric texts seem to be important an important attribute to these sci-fi movies . So it will probably be something I look to impose heavily in my ident.

Comedy in Sci-Fi



There's definitely a comedy attribute to this , the voice over been so over dramatic and the funky music at the start. I may well have a quite comedic tone to my advert as old sci-fi should probably be viewed slightly less seriously then modern sci-fi. Though sci-fi often does have touches of comedy in built regardless on the seriousness of the situation . For example Star Wars has had comedy moments all the way through the series. As well as Star-Trek and many other famous sci-fi features.

Ident Research- Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

It is time to start researching old movies(50's) . First up "Invasion of the Body Snatchers".



Look! You fools! You’re in danger! Can’t you see? They’re after you! They’re after all of us! Our wives…our children…they’re here already! You’re next!—Dr. Miles Bennell


This is an advert for above titled film. It came out on the 5 February 1956. Directed by Don Siegel (who also directed "Dirty Harry" and "Escape from Alcatraz"- Quite a good range of iconic films then. In this advert he uses the madness of the main character (Miles Bennell) to try and capture the viewers attention. The shouting and the loud brass instruments are used here to grab the attention of the viewer. Maybe in my soundtrack I should have a mix of old and knew music. For instance as the sequence is old fashioned clips are in view-an old sound track. Then when the Sci Fi channel logo comes up- knew eerie music.
The graphics in this are also something to take note of, the text is very of its time this is something I should look at finding and utilising for it makes the piece seem much more authentic. It should make it stand out to the viewers aswell.

The Plot.

The plot is something I must consider to. The 1950's was very post war. Invasion of the Body Snatchers is based on the fear created by it. The fact that death had been everywhere and could come out of no where(the atomic bomb) . Something that people hadn't really had to deal with before the war.I'd like to base Ident on something political to. I'm going to have to deside whether I should base it on a knew matter or an old one. It may be interesting to create an old fashioned film based on knew events.

Ident- My choice, audience considerations and research plans.

After watching invasion of the bodysnatchers, I've decided to do the Ident for the Sci-Fi channel. The brief sates to create a live action/composite for a brand new UFO series to be aired on the Sci Fi channel. alot of people may jump marketing a knew age Sci Fi series but I'd like to put a twist on it. I'd like to create my Ident for a new Sci Fi series that is almost a spoof of old Sci Fi films. This would be good to do for its something a knew age audience may like as its quite different. To make it more appealing to them I'l probably have to make the Ident have some comedy values . I think it would make it more compatible with the audience as it isn't something you could imagine people wanting to take it serious.

Here are the specifications of the Sci Fi Ident;

*Develop, Design and create a live action/composited ident for UFO.
*Must contain a live action sequence.
*Must contain some form of compositing, either Typographic or Visual effects.
*Must contain the Sci FI channel logo and copy - Weekdays at 8pm.

It also states that the people that choose this brief should consider the audience and maybe research into the channel itself. Which I have done, I've found that they do mostly promote knew series and films but still have done and are showing old Sci Fi, so with that in mind I think it will be good to come up with something slightly different a mix of both.
Th e brief also says consider budget, I'm going to go with quite a medium budget, so that I can create my special effects well in Black and White. I think people would enjoy seeing effects this for in the 50's and 60's (the period I'm trying to recreate) they were very limited in that respect. They had to use mood and music more than flash imagery.

The audience I'm going for is older people and the kind of hardcore Sci Fi fans. So the ident may have a kind of Niche feel to it.

Next I'm going to look at some at some old films and there adverts to see what kind of tactics they use to interest the audience . I'l have a look at the most memorable for if my ident can be compatible with them, the people that loved those films should love my piece.

The first Ident that came to mind.

Olympics 2008.

China.




This is a great Ident. It captures the viewers attention with its lush colors and invigorating sound track. The characters are bright, bold and agile, it grabs your attention from the start as its so different and so lively. I was really surprised when I saw it on T.V.

This video is a good example of what an ident should be. An Ident should grab the viewers attention and make them excited about the subject of the advert. It should get your attention and make you stare at it until you find out what its about.

I've learnt from this video that bold and and vivid colors can grab your attention from the start. Though if it the Ident I create is to do with horror then it may not be a good idea (although you could use bright colors and screeches at times to good effect). Characters can be a good way of grabbing peoples attention and making them stick with it, As you gain an emotional bond with them- you want to see what happens. Characters in the kids Ident would be a necessity.
Music is deffinately very important, it helps emphasize the tone and mood of the Ident. In this piece it's comparatively slow with dramatic vocals which helps create an epic start, then the pace and action comes in and its fast and energetic.

A bit more on the creators and there inspiration for this piece.-

This video has given me allot to think about. If you were guessing- yes it the art is a product of Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett (the people behind the gorillaz). The music score was created by Albarn and some CHinese musicians. The animations based on a classic 16th century Novel, where a Monk makes a pilgrimage, followed by disciples and a Monkey.

For the childrens TV Ident it would be good to re-invent an old story like they have done here.The story is relevant to the Olympics too as it is like a Journey and this Year its in China (steeped in tradition). The re-invention of an old story adds a good basis and source to the piece I think. It makes it more relevant.





More info here ;

* http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympics/monkey/7507054.stm

* http://monkeyjourneytothewest.com/the-opera/characters/monkey/

Knew Term/Knew Brief.

Hi.

The latest brief asks (in fewer words)- to create a 20 second Ident for either a channel one of the following:

* A channel four horror season called "FEAR".

* "POP TRASH" - A music strand for VH1.

* "UFO" An Ident for the SciFi Channel.

* A Children's Sunday Morning Show called "CUSTARD"

At the moment, It's hard to choose which. An Ident (in this context) is a sequence of moving/still images and text that promotes its subject. Animation can also be incorporated. The main software for this brief will be Adobe After Effects. This is a program which specializes in combining moving image with text and adding visual effects to filmed material. The matter of which channel to create it for should be resolved after I've looked at existing Idents and the software itself.

One other thing that shall need to be considered is the specifications that have been set for each channel. There are guide to do with logos and text usage for each channel, to keep the identity of the firm intact.