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.

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.

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

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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