Dead Silence

We got the idea for our backing track from the theme tune of 'Dead Silence'.

final cut

opening sequence board

Q3-73 OPENING SEQUENCE FINAL

Feedback

Our feedback showed the following strengths;

• greyscale was effective.
• camera positioning and a good range of shots (including match on action)
  
• font was appropriate to genre.
• music was appropriate to genre of the film.
• uses colour to add emotion - happiness in the past is in full colour whereas the present is in greyscale.
• home video was effective to setting the scene.
• strong storyline.
• good use of various settings.

Our feedback also showed the following weaknesses;

• needed more dramatic music during particular scenes, ie. the drowning scene, to add tension.
• more of a frightened reaction needed during the mirror scene.
• some scenes not fluent with the music, some scenes need more/less tension as appropriate.

Everyone thought our target audience should be 15/16+.

Below is an image of our feedback sheet, which was filled in by our class.

Sky Shots

We did most the filming in Witcham, we have some print screens of above shots, showing the graveyard we used and Hannah's house which we did most the shooting in.

Soud Track

This is our garage band sound track, for our opening sequence. We had a few problems with this as the time line across the top, it measures beats and not seconds so it took us a few attempts to get the 'Booms' in the right place. We also had to rearange and take out other parts that seemed 'tacky'.

Deadline Day

FONTS

For our titles we didn't find any on the computer appropriate so we went on a website and found one we liked that would fit our theme of the film opening.

Things That Need Changing

Looking at our rough cut over, we have picked up a few things that need changing.

For example the laugh at the beginning, may not make people take us seriously, in a way it seems very sinister, however in another it seems very tacky.

We also think the title appear for too long, its dragging on our piece. We put them over our film, as we feel we need the short breaks, it stops jumps and breaks up the film giving it pace and suspense. Also we added more titles where we felt they were needed.

We are adding some scenes of her leaving the house, and walking back into the house as she appeared in certain places, not linking scenes, therefore making no sense. however this made the film very long so we decided to take out other scenes, the ones of her walking around outside, and some of the camera shots that were shaking and tacky, for example the scene of the jumping back and forth as she walked down a long path.

At the very beginning we added a small clip of a home video of when the main actress was younger, this shows the character when she was happy and this will lure the views into a false sense of security.

Finally we changed the sound track to make the 'Booms' when the titles appear creating a powerful and dramatic effect.

soundtrack research.

We used glockenspiels and bells to create a childlike feel. We also used a piano and flutes to make the soundtrack more surreal and the occasional drum beat to add tension and make it more dramatic. The drums will play when the titles appear, and everything else will play the whole way through. We got our inspiration from the soundtrack from the film Dead Silence as this has a similar feel, and was written by Charlie Clouser.

MONDAY 9th MARCH - 9am - EVALUATION DRAFT TO MOODLE

MONDAY 9th MARCH - 9am - EVALUATION DRAFT TO MOODLE

Evaluation Questions

The following questions must be answered in your evaluation PowerPoint:

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
4. Who would be the audience for your media product?
5. How did you attract/address your audience?
6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing the product?
7. Looking back to your preliminary task, what do you feel that you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

ROUGHCUT

New Titles

We have redone the titles for our new opening sequence to make them more appropriate to the film. We downloaded a new and appropriate font from 'dafont.com' to make the opening sequence more interesting. We used the same credits and used a font size of 72 for the main names and roles and size 60 for the descriptive words in between. We are planning to have the titles appear suddenly on a black background, cutting through the action, and then the words will drift and the title frame will fade into the next sequence of film. We will do this by using the opacity tool.

Shot Locations

One - location --> living room for example. very empty and bleak apart from the TV.
Two - location --> living room for example, very empty and bleak apart from the TV.
Three - location --> living room for example, very empty and bleak apart from the TV.
Four - location --> staircase.
Five - location --> bathroom with a white bath.
Six - location --> bathroom with a white bath.
Seven - location --> empty field.
Eight - location --> staircase.
Nine - location --> bedroom with a large mirror.
Ten - location --> bedroom, not much background needed.

Performers - Harrie Rose & Debs Brennan.
Props - TV (analogue), bath, hairbrush, white nightie/dress & large mirror.
Equipment - tripod & dolly.

Shot Lists

One - mid/long shot, girl stood in room - cannot see her face and therefore creates mystery. over the shoulder.
Two - panning, closes in on the TV which is showing childhood home video. suddenly loses signal as camera stops moving.
Three - panning, girl sat crying in corner of room, shot pans out to get the whole room in the frame.
Four - tracking, girl being abused - pulled up stairs by her hair. this gives information on her background.
Five - mid-shot/close-up, girl drowning in bath, shows vulnerability.
Six - mid-shot/close-up, girl drowning in bath half filled with blood. however, she soon sits up with no apparent injuries.
Seven - tracking, girl walking across misty field in white nightie/dress.
Eight - tracking, camera follows girls walking upstairs and across landing.
Nine - close-up/panning, woman brushing her hair and then sees image of girl in background of mirror.
Ten - close-up/panning, zooms in on mouth screaming and title appears from the darkness.

Performers - Harrie Rose & Debs Brennan.
Props - TV (analogue), bath, hairbrush, white nightie/dress & large mirror.
Equipment - tripod & dolly.

Crew List

Ciaran O'Brien - Sound
Debs Brennan - Camerawork/ Actress
Emma Grayland - Camerawork and blogs
Hana Rose - Editing
Harrie Rose - Actress

The crew may also include some extra's and different members of the group will help in different areas of production.

Ginger Snaps evaluation

Here is the opening sequence for Ginger Snaps. This is similar to what we want to achieve. Lots of short scary scenes, filmed in a very abstract way. Both our idea and this film feature a young girl as the main character and victim, although ours will be less violent and more surreal. We will use a wider range of locations whereas this film uses scenes mostly from around the household. Our opening will also be faster-moving to grab the viewer's attention, but similarly to Ginger Snaps, our opening will not give much information about the rest of the film.

Film Credits

These are the credits we have decided on for our thriller opening;

Clockwork Productions present
a Warner Sisters film
(Cast One) Jim Mackanan
(Cast Two) Michelle Longstanton
(Cast Three) Sarah O'Brien
Costume Design by Tom Day
Art Direction by Malcolm Brennan
Production Design by Ian Davis Baker
Casting by Maya Johnson
Film Editing by Nick Cameron
Cinematography by Aylin Joselyn Lane
Original Music by Gordon Summers
Produced by Brooklyn Page
Directed by Blake Westfield

(Main Title) rise and fall

Overall Story Board

anamatic opening

Mood Board

This is our mood board for our film opening, following the theme of a psychological thriller with a strong female lead. There is a recurring theme of darkness, and also images of characters from similar films, such as The Grudge, Gothika, The Ring and many more.

Mood Board

View more presentations or upload your own.

Initial Ideas

We have decided to use the idea of a supernatural thriller with a strong female lead for our opening sequence. We have come up with some initial idea's which will form most of our animatic sequence - however, we may not use some of them in our final opening sequence depending on time and equipment/settings available.

We would like the overall feel of the sequence to be very dark and sinister to match the theme of the film. The main character will be a young girl to put across the idea of stereotypical innocence, but this girl will actually turn out to be completely different. We are not completely sure on the storyline at this point but we are aiming for a very dramatic, fast-moving and attention-grabbing effect. No detail will be given about the girl's background in the opening as this will create mystery and would potentially make the rest of the film more appealing. We would like to shoot some of the scenes outside in a mysterious remote location, and some inside in a very blank, impersonal environment.

We will have to carefully consider the four main aspects (mise-en-scene, editing, camerawork and sound) to make the film as realistic and professional as possible.

We would like the soundtrack to be very haunting; a piano may do this well.
Mise-en-scene is very important; we will have to carefully consider locations and sets, costumes, hair and make-up and also any props.

This Is Our Final Logo.

In Our Clip We Have The Logo Spinning And Coming Out Of Nowhere.
And The Text Over The Top Fades In.

Logo Production

This is one of our logo ideas that we did not develop further, therefore we never applied any movement or transformations. Although we were pleased with this idea, we thought one of our other logo's was more suitable.

If we did add movement to this image, we would have rotated the cogs at the top, faded in the writing and added a 'whirring' soundtrack to create the idea of a camera working.

The Notebook

The opening sequence for the Notebook is very calm and peaceful. It shows the setting and plays gentle music over the top which describes the mood of the film very well overall. We chose this sequence as although it lacks any real action or storyline, we all really like the film itself and there are many aspects of camerawork, editing, conventions, sound, mise-en-scene and titles present that can be commented on.

Editing;
There is a strong emphasis on transitions during this opening sequence which creates the idea of change. However, the sequence is mostly simplistic and subtle, and therefore not many editing techniques are used.

Camerawork;
The are a variety of shots from the present and shots from the past. There is a range of shots used, for example mid-shots and aerial shots. Each different shot is held for quite a long time which adds to the relaxed feel. The camera often follows the action; for example, it follows the birds and also the boat when the man is rowing on the water.

Sound;
There is a non-diegetic soundtrack playing over the entire opening sequence, which suits the mood of the film. Towards the end, the music begins to fade out and you can hear the sound of the birds which are very symbolic throughout the film. Also, the nurse in the home starts talking, which replaces the non-diegetic soundtrack with a diegetic sound.

Mise-en-scene;
The setting is consistent throughout the film. The costumes are appropriate to the time the scene was shot in, and so are the props. For example, he is in a simple old-fashioned wooden rowing boat and not in a modern yacht. The birds are also very appropriate to the storyline of the film.

Titles;
The titles are small, always displayed in the corner of the screen, white and in a very plain font. This creates the idea that they are insignificant. However, they are still very noticeable and sometimes draws the viewer's attention away from the action. They still look effective despite being plain. They fade in and out slowly which matches the feel of the opening scene.

Conventions;
The characters are not really established in the opening sequence. We are introduced to an old lady and her carer. We also see a silhouette of a man rowing a boat, it is not clear who he is. The location is a peaceful lake with a sunset, this is one of the main settings of the movie. The soundtrack is a very soft piano, this sets the very soft tone of the movie and creates a slow pace to start the film, this is representative of the genre. Altogether the opening sequence is very beautiful and calm, this successfully creates the romantic atmosphere.

The Notebook

Film Poster

The Notebook

Q3-73 FILM OPENING PROJECT

Welcome