Children's Film: Timeline for our Sequence

We are now beginning to create a final idea for our sequence. Here we will be detailing the timeline of events that will take place during the sequence. You will notice that the ideas have developed from the initial plot ideas which are here.

The sequence will begin with a superhero character, who is also the protagonist and main character, chasing/being chased by a villain character in an action chase scene. This 'chase' will follow the conventions of a comedy sequence by filming in the style of "Benny Hill" style chase sequence. In these shots; the music will be up-tempo and quite comical to fit in with the "Benny Hill" style, we will also have diagetic sound of fast moving footsteps to make the chase more realistic. This comic opening and upbeat music will quickly engage the audience, which will then lead them into the film as it will keep them interested. Below is an example of a "Benny Hill" style chase sequence.



In the next part of our sequence we see the chase come to an end, as the characters have reached a dead end. The two characters are now forced to have a showdown following the conventions western style showdown.The music will have a having a building tempo to build intensity in this part of sequence. The costumes used in these parts of the sequence will be bright for the superhero but dark for the villain so the audience can see who is the good-guy and who is the bad-guy. The props used for this sequence will be food, for the super-hero will be carrying a "magic apple" whilst the villain will be carrying a "evil burger" this make it easy for the audience to draw contrasts between the characters. Whilst this is quite comical, it brings the importance of healthy eating to the audience. The superhero will be pinned in a corner by the villain, he will be shouting "no, no, no..." as the villain tries to force him to eat the "evil burger".

The next scene takes place in a classroom, where the main character has been dreaming everything that the audience has seen before. As he is woken up my his teacher we see that he is an unconfident, outcast who is picked upon by other students. This is a large contrast from his dream of being a superhero, this could possibly be because he wants be more popular etc. This part of the sequence will have the diagetic sounds of a classroom with no non-diagetic music in the background. We see the villain we saw in the dream turns out to look just like the boy's teacher. We see the main character walk out of the classroom and into a corridor, from this we can tell he is an outsider because he is being pushed around and appears different to the other students. He stops at a window-sill to retrieve an apple from is bag when another student knocks it out his hands. This brings the moral issue of bullying to the audience's attention. the very last shot will be the close up of the apple on the floor which will tie the whole of the opening sequence to a close.

We are able to see several morals that the opening sequence is going to teach a young audience. They will learn about justice, good vs. evil, healthy eating, that bullying is wrong, but also the difficulties of an outcast. A person on the outside looking in.

This may seen very detailed and a lengthy sequence, but many of the shots we have described will be only a few seconds long. You can see a thorough shot-by-shot explanation of our sequence in the storyboards post here.