Pre- production documentation

Synopsis of whole film
A scout group go on a trip to a mysterious forest for a weekend of survival skills, they do not know that the forest has some very strange attributes; all unaware that it is haunted by an angry demon in which killed a young school girl many years ago. The story continues and the scout trip is going fine, until the 3rd day when one of the children go missing, bringing tension to the camp. In this case, the leaders hunt the forest day and night until the boy or a clue is found, yet none of the four leaders return. Luckily one of the scouts phoned their parents because of suspicion and all of the remaing scouts escaped from the unbearable fear.


Synopsis of opening sequence
Two schoolgirls are walking home from school when they see a strange path leading to a mysterious forest. Daring eachother, the girls stupidly go and explore the forest when strange things begin to happen.

One of the girls disappears and the other girl starts to panic; as she begins to run out of the forest she trips over a log and then the demon drags her back into the depths of the forest before the visual blacks out.

Treatment

Shot List

Risk assessment

As the setting is in a forest location the health and safety is very important, there is a barb wire fence surrounding the path, we will have to be careful when filming near the path to ensure that the actors do not collide.

There are large logs on the floor in the deep forest so we will also have to watch when the actors are running so that there is not an accident.

We need a risk assessment so that we can see what risks there are during the filming and how we can avoid any injuries.

Shooting schedule

Our shooting was organised in a lesson and we decided as a group that we would start shooting on the 23rd of february during the school half term. The location was organised previously and we agreed that the forest was the best location for our horror genre.

Mise-en-Scene

Lighting:

The lighting in the forest is very mild as we are filming in a night-time enviroment the only light being provided will be that of the moon, we hope to film on an evening where the moon is bright to ensure there is enough to capably see the characters.

Props:

We will only be using a small number of natural props which are in the forest, the first being the log that the character trips over in the opening sequence. The other prop will be a small rotted cabin, this will be used for effect in emphasizing our horror genre.

Costume:

GIRL A: School trousers and white shirt, in school uniform with shoes.

GIRL B: School trousers and white shirt, in school uniform with shoes.

DEMON: It will be wearing dark clothes to camoflage its appearance to the girls.

With these costumes it fits the theme of the characters and makes the sequence more authentic and realistic.

Hair and Make-Up:

GIRL A: Hair will be messy, face will look excited as she enters the forest but sharply changing, this is to represent that she is a school girl and also she is young and excited..

GIRL B: Hair will be curly, maybe glasses to emphasize character that she entails which is a young school girl.

DEMON: hair will be unseen due to hood to make the audience see that he is a dark demon.

Set Design:

The room is spacious and sets a good atmosphere for a horror dark forest. The bright light coming from the moon will give the set a futuristic look but at the same time it will be dark and evil. We will film by the rotted cabin to emphasize the gothic genre we have given the film. The path will also be used which will lead the girls to the forest.

Character Movement:

The two girl characters will be walking towards the camera whilst in dialogue, one of the girls then goes and explores the forest, the girls continue walking and they come to a shed, they then move away from the cabin and move deeper into the forest. The girls are then seen running through the forest, one og the girls begins to slow down as she realises she has lost her friend, she then begins to run again and falls over the log on the floor she is then dragged back by the demon.

Storyboard

Location Recce

Our chosen location is in Chipperfield, and being a natural exterior environment we have nothing to manipulate. We will be using the areas of the forest as photographed for the main section of the shoot, alongside the shown abandoned shed. Among the areas of the forest that we have captured in the photograph is a small pathway, which will also be used as a location in our opening sequence.

Script



Title Timeline

As a group we decided to watch the title sequence to the thriller film "Wrong Turn". The film started with narrative, therefore we began analysing the titles in terms of audio and visual at the timing of 3.00 minutes when the title sequence itself began.

From looking at the timeline one can see that the credits themselves are superimposed over the top of the visual shots, therefore they are gradually integrated between the duration of the sequence. Between each credit a close up shot of something is shown, either newspaper headlines, or establishing close ups of a forest. Simple shots like close ups of disorientated hands look successful in gaining effect, therefore we took this into consideration when looking at our own title sequence.

With "Wrong Turn" when watching it in terms of the audio, we thought the simplistic audio of scratching and sharpening knives added a gothic effect; then hearing the low menacing music that is introduced at about 03.28, giving the overall element of fear. We took this as inspiration for our own opening sequence, where we will attempt to find music along the same lines of this peice, so that it will post no distractions to our visual yet ading a mysterious effect.

Focus Group

Above I have attached a feedback video that we received from a group of students in our target audience. We read the script to them and made them aware of our film and recorded their responses and advice for improvements.

History of your chosen genre

Horror films within history have included some of the most popular and well known films of all time. They have varied through time, however, in the sense that within previous decades the term "horror" was associated with ghosts, vampires, curses, cannibals, haunted houses and the supernatural in general. Although over time, "horror" has now transferred into explicit gore, jump scares alongside the supernatural content in some cases.

Early horror films are based on classic literature; for example "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde", "Frankenstein" and "The Phantom of the Opera". Many of the earliest feature length horror films in the early 1920's were created by German filmmakers, during the German Expressionist Films era. Little did they know, later on in time these would influence the Hollywood horror films. Early Hollywood horrors included "The Hunchback of Notre Dame"; then later on in the 1930's Universal Pictures Co Inc. popularized in the horror genre, where the popular "Dracula" and "Frankenstein" were produced, beginning to gain an audience for this genre. In this case, many actors such as Boris Karloff used horror as their speciality genre. Horror was becoming widely known.

Advances in technology then saw a change in the genre; where the gothic based focus changed to a more modern approach that would relate to the later century audience. This was the stage at which more gore was seen; which again met a hugely popular target audience. The 1980's saw the financial successes of low budget gore films from previous years; which lead to the release of films such as "The Excorcist" which through time has proved one of the most well known horror films of all time. Sexual overtones and the use of children were frequently becoming more popular and thhe subject of these films became more and more relevant to the target audience; increasing the amount of fear within the reaction hence giving a big word of mouth. At this stage, the audience of horror genre is at its peak.





Group Meeting

We held a group meeting in the intention to gather our ideas to produce an effective opening sequence to a film. Through independant research towards deciding a genre of the film, as a group we decided to choose horror.

Liam thought the intial setting of the opening sequence would be effective within a frightening woods in the local area, immediately setting a gothic tone to the rest of the film. Liam then also thought of some ideas for the main plot of the film; where we settled on his idea of a scouts weekend trip in the forest. As a group we agreed with Liam's idea, because we thought it would me more frightening knowing that the film would be about children.

Lucy then thought of the physical characters within the production; where we would use the gothic idea of a demon to create an unknown atmosphere. She thought adding another character that isnt seen throughout the opening sequence would create a sense of mystery and tension for the audience.

Jack then gave his ideas on the editing part of the production. He thought the credits should appear slowly at the bottom of each shot in a scrappy, handwritten font. He then discussed his ideas with music; and how gothic, high pitched music would add tension and thrill to the piece as a whole.

Then as a group, we thought we needed to post some type of link to show the danger this forest without introducing the scouts in the opening; which is where we came up with the idea of two young school girls.


Our Final Plot for the Opening Sequence

Two school girls are walking home from school when they begin to dare eachother to explore a strange looking forest. When they enter, strange things immediately begin to happen. When one of the girls disappears, the other panics and attempts to run out of the forest before tripping over a log and falling face down. With the constant feeling of being followed throughout her experience in the forest, the girls' body is dragged backwards by an unknown person.

Further look at Opening Sequences

To merely gather a further understanding of opening sequences to assure that our opening sequence includes as many conventions as possible, I watched a few opening sequences of different genre of films. I attempted to analyse what works within a sequence and what doesn't.

The first of the opening sequences that I watched was from "Mission Impossible". From watching it for a first time through, although a very short opening sequence, I thought it was very effective. To target the audience it has included elements of the key conventions, one of which is the audio. "Mission Impossible" has a very distinctive soundtrack, in which is the main focus of this opening sequence. The visual shots themselves do not deem as important as the audio in this opening, merely because visually not much happens. The shots are very short and sharp, where the audience do not receive a detailed view of what each element of the shot entails. I thought this was clever in adding effect; perhaps adding a sense of mystery on what the film is about. Through looking at the computers, ID cards, close up shots of the protagonist and several close up shots of objects within the sequence, the audience are aware of the crime genre of the film, yet not much of the narrative has been revealed. This opening sequence I thought was very simplistic, yet extremely effective merely due to the use of audio.

Another opening sequence I watched was from "Catch Me If You Can". An immediate difference I noticed between this and "Mission Impossible" was the fact that this one was all animation and had no live action shots. However it could be argued this one is equally as effective. The audio included in this title sequence is jazz style music for the duration of it; giving the animation a mysterious feel, which when I watched it did grasp my attention. The links between each animated shot are very clever and well produced, however I thought the opening sequence seemed very similar for the whole way through and due to the long nature of it eventually lost my attention. This I thought was the only downfall to this opening sequence. I do think it is effective in portraying the mystery genre of the film, and proves that animation can be just as effective as live action.

Alongside looking at opening sequences from existing films, I went on YouTube and searched for some produced by media students in order to see what looks effective and anything that our group could learn from. I found "Scapegoat: Horror Opening Sequence (AS Media Studies Coursework)" and thought it was a high standard example of the genre of film my group aim to produce. The simple audio of howling wind and a strange atmosphere gives an instant effect, where it is further emphasised through the close up shots. However the element that most impressed me on this video was through the use of editing; shots have been manpulated in the way that some look like they have almost been fast forwarded. This definately gave an eerie effect to the opening sequence and I thought was an extremely effective method of editing. Although the only critiscism of this video I could point out is the repetition of this effect. They have put the fast forward effect in the film throughout the whole of it; hence becoming less and less effective each time. I think it would have been better through using less of these and concentrating on the different types of shots.

Research into Opening Sequence Designs

To get a better understanding of what makes a successful opening sequence, I watched and took notes on the ideas of Kyle Cooper, the acclaimed title designer.

Kyle Cooper Interview Part 1 and Kyle Cooper Interview Part 2

Through watching these two interviews with Kyle Cooper, I have learned simple methods in which create a memorable opening sequence. An opening sequence that will be successful is the kind that sets an expectation for the film; one that makes the audience excited and nothing will distract them from it. Cooper uses "Se7en" as one example of a successful opening sequence. The credits themselves in this sequence are hand written; a tool that is not only a suspicious and eerie effect, but is symbolic to the film as a whole. A huge element of "Se7en" is the way in which the protagonist keeps a journal of the events. The hand written font in this sense links to this; making me understand that an opening sequence should post clear links to the actual film. Cooper said that you should make the typography in the context of the film your about to tell; random sequences will lose interest of the audience.

Something else Cooper taught me from watching the first interview is to use out of the ordinary images to capture the interest of the audience in your opening sequences. For example, Cooper stated he likes using cells, and elements of the skin in horror/thriller films. Thinking of new ideas and being creative within the editing suite is what makes a good shoot.

Typography is seen at it's most effective when simplistic. An opening sequence that made an impression on Cooper was "The Dead Zone"; a key example of simple typography through use of mysterious overtones of music, and effective fonts. Also through watching the opening sequence to "To Kill A Mockingbird", I discovered that linking the opening sequence to obsessions of the protagonist in close up macro format are hugely effective. It allows the audience to gather an insight to the characters without initially seeing them, and making a judgement on them. Comfortable opening sequences are ones in the form of a story; where you could use this opportunity to introduce the metaphors that the film will entail.

Opening sequences are important in giving an opportuinity to advance on the plot of the film. From looking at the advice of Kyle Cooper, our group now feel confident with our ideas. We will use close up shots, perhaps take the form of a narrative opening sequence and link small elements of the sequence to the main plot of the film in the hope to make it effective.

Choosing your genre

The above table I found on http://www.the-movie-times.com/, and it shows the top grossing films of all time in the U.S. By looking at the titles of the films, five out of the top ten films are Sci Fi. This includes Avatar, Star Wars, E.T, Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, and Spider-Man. When looking at these films individually and in the context of producing an opening sequence in that genre, Sci Fi would be very difficult to establish the different conventions in order to make the genre clear within the first couple of minutes.

Alot of the above films are adventure, which also would be hard to differenciate because to make it look realistic and effective, the opening sequence would need to be fast paced as adventure and action films are. Aside these genres,  the only other was animation, which for us, would be virtually impossible.

Therefore, I researched genres that I thought would be approachable as media students to address and make look effective as an opening sequence. These included Romantic Comedy, Horror, Comedy, Crime or Musicals. To get a further look at these remaining genres, we devised a questionnaire that we gave out to people of different age groups.

Questionnaire

Our questionnaire consisted of the following questions:
1. What is your favourite film genre and why?
2. What is your favourite film and what genre what you categorise it under?
3. What do you expect to see in an opening sequence?
4. Is there a genre you would like to see more of?
5. What makes you interested in a film?
6. What is your gender?
7. What is your age?

From gaining the results of the questionnaire, a common answer for a popular genre of film was horror/thriller. Therefore we compared our results of the questionnaire to our independant research of genres, and discovered there was a need in the market for thriller/horror films. As a group we took this into consideration, and beyond thinking of initial ideas for this genre, we decided this is the way we would head.

Conventions of an opening sequence

The opening sequence of a film is the key part in initially showing the audience an introduction to the genre of that film. It sets the standards and base of the film that is being shown, and make the audience gain that important first impression. Throughout an opening sequence the intention is to gain an establishing shot, alongside the characters being identified through visual and audio. Therefore I have chosen two films, one being "Austin Powers; Goldmember", an action comedy, and the other being "Juno" comedy, and have taken screen grabs of the opening sequences. Doing this will enable me to gain an understanding of what makes a good opening sequence, a skill that I will need to know when completing my main coursework.

Austin Powers: Goldmember

I had chosen to analyse the opening sequence to this particular film because I feel it drastically portrays the genre of it immediately. The key conventions within this opening sequence are the audio, costumes, props and also the idea that the titles themselves arent included within the very opening.

When watching this opening sequence, the first thing that struck me was the action in the opening. The audience see what appears to be a male skydiving, therefore the audience get the impression that the film they are about to watch is pure action. This changes, however, when as shown in the fourth image, props are beginning to be introduced. The main prop that is seen within this opening sequence is the car, showing the union jack flag and a numberplate that is shown in a close up to give a sense of comedy. Knowing this prop is added so immediately to the opening sequence makes the audience aware that the initial impression of an action film that they perceived is not one hundred percent true, and that this film is also a comedy. Adding to this thought is the drastic, over dramatic action stunts that are included in the opening sequence, such as screen shots 5 and 6. Seeing that they are so overly dramatic gives a sense of being false, which also adds a sense of comedy. This is somewhat confirmed towards the end of the opening sequence, where costumes and actors are revealed. Costumes are of a comedic value and are the same as the traditional 'Austin Powers', however the actor seen is Tom Cruise, which the audience will be well aware is not the actor of this character. When the final clip of the opening sequence is revealed and it is shown as a film set up, the audience are now confirmed of the action comedy genre of this film.

The audio also plays a main part to this opening sequence. There is a slight use of dialogue towards the end of the opening sequence, adding to the 'set up' effect and not distracting the audience from the genre to be focused upon.

Juno

I thought this title sequence would be good to analyse due to the differenciation between animation and live action. It is clever in making it tie in with the opening storyline, and the jittery animation gives a clear account of the comedy genre.

One of the main conventions in this opening sequence is the use of animation. The props shown are in animation, such as the bottle of milk, which you could say represents a sense of childhood. Credits shown in the opening sequence are superimposed over the top of the existing image; which is done because the actions in the sequence is merely a girl walking down a street, therefore credits do not distract the subject. Animation itself adds a sense of childhood and naivety, something that distracts a serious tone to the film. In this case, the audience are clear that the genre is one of comedy. Also within this sequence the audience are introduced to the protagonist of the film, in this case is a young girl.