Final Draft

Our final draft of our opening sequence.

Question 7

Looking back at your preliminary task. what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

In comparison to my preliminary task, I felt that i have come a long way in terms of video filming and production. My technical media knowledge has increased on a very large scale throughout the year and I feel that this is evidently shown through my work, such as my opening sequence.

When it comes to editing, I feel that I already had quite a broad knowledge to ensure that I included a variety of editing skills by the time that I created my preliminary task. This is shown within my work by including filming qualities such as a shot/reverse shot, match on action and also sticking to the 180 degree rule. I also added a fade in and fade out to my preliminary task, as well as separating the audio from a clip and ensuring that it carries on playing whilst another shot is on screen.


Shot/reverse shot


Detached audio played over two clips


I feel that I took my editing skills to the next level throughout the post-production of my opening sequence. This is because I included a non-diegetic score to my filming as well as including a title sequence. The technology I used to create my title sequence (LiveType) was completely new to me and I also managed to customise the titles by changing the fonts and adding transitions to the text.

A desktop screenshot of the process of customisation to my title sequence

How that specific title was placed on screen

However, I feel that I made the greatest improvement when it comes to my camerawork skills. Within my preliminary task, I had a great deal of shaky shots with very bad angles and placement within the screen. For example, the bird's eye view of myself and George is very uneven and poorly placed, as well as us both being loosely framed.

Badly placed bird's eye view shot

In contrast, I ensured that every shot was very well framed within my opening sequence, due to the fact that it was essential when it came to the post-production of laying out the titles that the placement was spot on. i.e. ensuring that the tap was centred within bathroom shots so that everything looked evenly balanced. The rule of thirds was also continuously practiced and followed within my opening sequence; such as the very first shot within the opening sequence or the kettle within the graphic match sequence.

Centred tap shot

Overall, I feel that I have learnt that a lot of preparation needs to go into each individual shot throughout the planning. A lot of time and focus is needed too to ensure that all of your work looks professional and polished. You also needs a clear incentive throughout, so that you are always focussing on what needs to be done within the post-production as well as during the process of filming.

Director's Commentary

Focus Group

After the focus group, we evidently learnt that we had reached many of our goals and aims which were previously set by us, prior to the actual creation of our opening sequence. This included aspects such as:

• Making our audience want to watch on
• Ensuring that we met all the conventional features found within an opening sequence
• Ensuring that our editing and title sequences looked professional and that they were well placed within the frame
• Appealing to our target audience
• Ensuring that our overall opening sequence flowed well together

We also recieved some great criticisms and feedback such as making sure that the dynamics within one of our takes is well balanced and even, in comparison to the rest of the opening sequence.

Audeince research powerpoint

Feedback Questionaire Powerpoint

Question 6

Question 6 by sterzamw

Question 5

Question 4

Feedback

Question 3

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

The genre that we decided to put our film under is a psychological thriller. Psychological thrillers mainly focus on the unstable mentality of characters with a protagonist who the audience can focus on, relate to, and also empathise. Mixed with this, aspects of mystery and of course thriller are included. These type of films often try to make you have a different outlook on things and really make you think.

We decided that the distributor of our film should be Vertigo Films. This is because they are an independent company who have gone very far in the decade that they have been running. Furthermore, some of their films such as ‘It’s all Gone Pete Tong’, ‘Bronson’ and ‘The Football Factory’ are all dark in some way or another as well as really getting you thinking. The studio is based in London, consequently making it ideal for when our product is being distributed as our main audience will be within the United Kingdom. It would also be realistic as they’ve distributed low-budgeted films such as ‘It’s All Gone Pete Tong’. This is beneficial for us as we are currently a small production company who are about to debut our first independent film. Within the film industry, Vertigo films has recently exploded by distributing huge films such as ‘StreetDance 2’ (2012), the sequel to the chart-topping Brit film ‘StreetDance’.

 Our production company is called Thrillseekers Productions. We chose this as it suits with our genre as well as seeming original. Our name is also an obvious clue to what our films will be about, giving our target audience a clear reason to watch them.

Question 2

Feedback

Things we need to change:

-  We found that some of the clips could be shortened, the bath plug and the shot of him getting out the bath.

-  The shot of Sterling at the end sitting on the coach needs to be slightly longer so that we get to see Sterling's feet and the edge of the coach.This is because otherwise he looks too inclosed and cramped in the little space we get to see.

-  The font style needs to be changed as you cannot read some of the words well as the font characters look like different letters.

-  We also need to change the music as the speed and tempo is too repetitive. We could add lower tones to create a more tense atmosphere.

-  One last thing we need to look at is finding a different production company that suits our film and genre. We also need to check that the titles are in the correct order. ( Production x2 )

Question 1

1) In what ways does your media product use, develop or 

challenge forms and conventions of real media products? 

Within our film we developed numerous conventions as well as 

occasionally contrasting them too.  

Firstly, we ensured that our film looked professional and 

naturalistic by following the conventions of the order of the titles. 

Titles are essential for an opening sequence as it gives the audience 

a little bit of background detail on the production of the film they 

are about to watch. 

Also, the layout, names and background of the 

production/distribution companies often set a mood for the film. We 

ensured that this was the case for our film by creating a production 

company called ‘Thrillseekers Productions’ which clearly integrates 

with the psychological thriller genre that we decided to be the 

category we’d put our film under. The titles are written in a sans-serif 

font, which challenges the usual serious tone, which is found in 

thrillers. However, the font we used is unique and has quite a 

scratchy sort of sense to it as if written in a rush, which could possibly 

imply panic and fright, which are occurring moods within our film. 

We decided to put the titles over the first few shots of the film so 

that they could intercept the mood we were trying to portray whilst 

acknowledging the titles. Our shots had graphic matches of smoke 

and metaphoric symbolisation of isolation. We did this because 

smoke connotes emotions such as isolation as well as panic, fear 

and eeriness. By doing so, we clearly portrayed an establishing 

mood/theme that will be continued throughout the film.

To add to this, we also added music containing extremely high 

and low pitch synth sounds to keep the audience on edge as well 

as ensuring that the film looked and sounded even more 

professional. We decided to make our soundtrack from scratch so 

that it’d suit our film perfectly and frighten the audience at the right 

time. This exaggerated the mood even more to ensure that it came 

across to the audience. By using these specific sounds to create a 

build-up of tension, we developed another convention found in 

thrillers.  

Within the thriller genre, there are often aesthetic conventions 

found too. For instance, there is usually a female protagonist. This is 

because women are stereotypically known for being vulnerable 

and weak whilst a male villain creates the disequilibrium within the 

film. Refreshingly, we decided to make the protagonist who faces 

life-threatening problems within the film male and to cast the 

hallucinogenic villain within the film a female. This sticks with the 

conventions of having a distressed protagonist, but contrasts the 

genders of the conventional characters to be unique.

Opening sequences also the convention of giving the audience 

an equilibrium so it can set the scene so that the audience know 

what is the norm within the specific scenario. Films then carry on 

with a disequilibrium followed by a new equilibrium. We opposed 

this convention by containing all three within our opening sequence 

as well as following it up with another disequilibrium. This is shown 

within our opening sequence by seeing our protagonist take a bath 

(an equilibrium), have blood drip on his head whilst in the bath 

(disequilibrium) followed by him running out of the bath to take pills 

so that everything is back to normal (a new equilibrium). This is then 

followed by a hallucination that has come to life and risen out of 

the bath after him (another disequilibrium). This creates a cliffhanger 

effect ensuring that the audience will want to carry on watching 

after the opening sequence. Although this contrasts with the normal 

convention of giving the audience an equilibrium, it follows another 

which is leaving the audience with questions. 

Low key lighting is another convention within our genre that is 

used to hide visual elements causing the audience to ask questions. 

We opposed this convention by using high key lighting. This is used 

so that we can shock the audience as we are not trying to hide 

anything and this will consequently frighten them even more. It is 

also an effective contradiction to the smoke theme shown at the 

beginning of our opening sequence. 

Vanish - First Draft

Moving smoke prodouction logo

Logo final production company - still image

Teacher assessment

Production company logo

Animatic - second draft

Casting Decisions

This is an imaginary Director's Cut created to depict why we have chosen our cast for specific characters.

Character Description

These are snapshots portraying details of our characters.

Costume - dress design

This is the design for the dress that the Spirit will wear. It is black as this colour connotes death and evil. The fact that it is ragged and torn emphasises her age as well as reflecting her personality.

Animatic

* Spelling mistake on distribution

This is a brief animated version of how our opening sequence will be shown on screen. As well as this, we've added our soundtrack to it to give a brief idea of how it will actually look. Some parts of the music are out of time with what is on screen, however whilst actually recording, we will ensure that it is perfect for our final product.

Storyboard

 

 These are our ideas set out in a storyboard. This depicts a sort of timeline of what will happening in our opening sequence and how it will all be set out. These show each of our clips in detail including the type of shot, how long they are there for and the sound/camera movement. This is so that we know how long each shot should be on for so that we have a simple plan of what to do to help us whilst shooting and editing.

Props/Location

PROPS

The props are an important part of our opening scene as they are used a lot throughout. Below are the following props we will need:

Pills; For when the man takes them to stop/calm his hallucinations down so he can continue with what he is doing.

A simple black dress; This will be what the girl is wearing when she appears out of the bath. It is black to con notate evil; which the person is as she is a dark character/illusion. 

A towel; This will be used when the man is coming out the bath as he will need too cover himself up as otherwise it would be inappropriate. Also he will need to be able to grab it quickly so that he can take his pills.

Fake blood; This will be used when we see the blood dripping from the ceiling in the mans hallucinations. It will only be seen a few times so we only need to use a small amount as its only a couple of drops each time.

A cigarette; This will be used when we see the ECU of it when it is lit. The smoke from it will be used to do a graphic match on another item that contains smoke. 

A kettle; This will be used to connect with the smoke from the cigarette. It was also be seen in the kitchen as its a homely prop that is usually seen.

                                      

Location

We will be setting our opening sequence in an urban setting. We have chosen this as people can relate to where this may be going on, as they may also live in such an area, this then makes it more personal for the audience when watching. When we are in the house we are going to be using low key lighting, we will be only/ trying to use the light that is produced the the light sources within the house. We will be filming this during the night, this well all so create a scarier atmosphere when watching this, as when people see something black/ dark they think it is automaticly scary. Will will also use a wide range of different camera angles, types of shots to create a more scary/ tense atmosphere.

Soundtrack For Our Opening Sequence

This is the idea we have for a souondtrack that we created ourselves for our opening sequence. It contains eerie synths which bring mystery to the film as well as water drips which is an aural match to the mise en scene when our protagonist is in the bath. It also makes the audience feel cold and isolated as well as water drops being related to torture. Of course, within the soundtrack you can hear the clear disequilibrium within the track leaving the audience feeling on edge and in suspense without even having to watch anything.