Group Discussion

Today we consulted with our media teacher about our opening sequence. As we were discussing our idea, we were told that our first opening shot was effective and that it would be a good idea to concentrate on that being our main focus, and our opening credits would come after.
We realised that it would be too long showing the daily routine shot after the credits, so we decided that we would include this aspect into a jump cut edit with our credits. This is similarly done in the film "se7en".

Screenplay of "Crimson's Eye"

INT. Bathroom

Crimson enters slowly, face down. She walks forward with a dark figure behind her.
Once she is right at the front of the lens she panics.

Crimson: (angrily)
"WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?!"

Credits Roll

EXT. Outside View Of House, Warm Sunny Day

Hear alarm clock outside of the house.

INT. Bedroom

Crimson and Derek are sleeping while the alarm clock is going off. He nudges her.

Derek: (groaning)
"OHH, hun, can you turn it off?"

Crimson turns the alarm clock off an walks towards the bathroom.

INT. Bathroom

Crimson is doing her face and Derek walks in and hugs her from behind.

Derek: (merrily)
"Morning babe."

They kiss.

EXT. View Of House

Looking through the open window, Crimson is coming the down the stairs.

Crimson: (in a hurry)
"I'm going to be late, see you later sweetie. Love you."

Storyboard of "Crimson's Eye"

Below is a rough outline of what we would hope our opening sequence will look like. We hope to expand our ideas and create a more exciting opening sequence.

Storyboard of "Crimson's Eye"

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Production company logo and name

Our group thought of different ideas for our production company name and logo. We wanted it to be authentic for the genre yet subtle and realistic.

Firstly we thought about our production name. We wanted a word that associated with our film. We thought of words such as: Riot Production, Revolt Production, Smoke Productions and Twisted Productions as it is fitting for our film and our audience. We then eliminated the names we thought seemed less relevant so we decided to call our company ‘Riot Productions ‘. Riot Productions represents and emphasizes our film genre we want to target, also it attracts the target audience we are looking for too.

After choosing our company name, we then had to discuss how we would want to display our themes. One of our ideas were tap pouring blood, with the blood coming from the tap, it would spell out the company productions name. We also decided that the company name would appear in a special effect with fire behind the name and there being fire crackling noises. We also came up with a smoke bomb or grenade being thrusted onto the screen and the smoke appears behind the bomb. And finally we came up with a swirly smoke effect in colour which fades out, letting the company name appear in smoke and then dispersing whilst the name appears, crackling fire is heard; we decided to go with this theme as its subtle and creative, it also leads to a mystery which is resembles in our film.

This would be in the background underneath the title

This would be on the foreground ontop of the background with the title name ' Riot Productions' instead of smoke

Analysing Texas Chainsaw Massacre Opening Scene

As a group we looked at different opening scenes from a various range of horror genre films which our opening scene could relate to. We came across the film "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" from the year 2003.


In the opening sequence begins in black and white showing that the real life historical event was set in 1973 making the audience feel and understand what is going on. The naration in the background tells the audience whats happens and sets the scene and the plot. It is different to any other horror film as it is based on a true life event and retells the tale in modern life.


The opening scene uses jump cuts from various different pictures and handheld video recordings that have all been put together to create a sense of suspense and mystery. This is shown with slow paced instrumental strings and by using non-diagetic camera shots are shown through jump cut shots showing the change of each image and aspect of the film.
The minimal lighting in the film and the dark, dingy settings leaves the audience feeling tense and suspicious. The audience also questions the character itself as we never see a figure of him, yet we know his past and the cruel actions he has performed. 


The scene fades out and then in with modern day life, this brings the audience back to real life and keeping the audience guessing of what might happen and why this early preview is necessary.

Target Audience

Our group decided that our opening sequence is aimed for females under 25 years old and it will be shown through a Co-production Company. 

Our belief for this choice of choosing females under the age of 25 was due to these following aspects:

In our opening sequence our lead character is a mature female within the age range, which makes it more desirable for our viewers.

We have made a unique style of scenarios for the genre, horror/thriller making our audience  feel more involved and keeping them in suspense. 

Our female lead represents women in a strong-willed, brave and courageous manner, which we want to re-invent in a horror film. 

Although it is a female based film, men may enjoy the horror aspect of the film as they are under constant threat, suspense and twists. 

Our main demographic is aimed towards 16+ this is because the location, music and aspects of the storyline, scenes and the action that will take place will make it thrilling, exciting and relatable. 

If you like this genre theme, you will enjoy our film because it fits with the horror conventions. 

Our film is shown by a Co-production Company because of these following aspects:

Our script is not written by a famous award winning director, screen play artist or producer which makes it more creative and realistic.

Our cast is neither award winning or famous too which makes it relatable and modern. 

Our budget is fairly high so we can afford to use high quality music and equipment to successfully achieve this. Our camera shots and edits will be hard-hitting and attention grabbing with the use of having high standard equipment.

Examples of film age groups:

   

Analysis of Opening Sequence

The opening sequence begins in complete pitch black darkness with the audience hearing only diegetic sounds of barefoot footsteps, a slammed door and the flick of the lights switch. With the camera shot being blurred, the audience sees a young lady approaching towards a mirror, this will be shot from behind the mirror. As she comes closer, the audience notices her head tilted downwards with a mysterious figure behind her. A sudden, dramatic flick of half her head upwards, the audience is shocked by her infected and flaky eye. With the only line being said angrily "What do you WANT FROM ME?!" The scene cuts to black and an eerie, slow piano tune lullaby with echoes of mumble voices is played through non diegetic way in the credits; within these are the production company presenting the film, "Crimson's Eye" with the cast,  director and producer. This will be on a black backdrop with a white coloured chiller font in a fade in special effect, indicating the importance and balance of the dark and evil and the innocent and pure. It fades out into a normal routine day of our female lead, Crimson,  before the events that occur after. 

Developing the Idea

After a dramatic, unexpected opening scene, the film begins 5 days before our female lead, Crimson’s, 21^st birthday. Day by day, the audience starts to see her daily lifestyle and persona disintegrate. This is done through a series of long shot edits. We also notice her physical and mental state diminish, through a series of close up shots, shocking and disturbing the audience, explaining her appearance at the beginning of the film. A day before her birthday, she visits the doctor due to her condition. She is told some unfortunate news by the doctor, hearing this she begins to question her past and decides to confront her ‘parents’. Through a series of flash backs of her past, it is gradually revealed she is an orphan. While finding this out, she is being tortured physically and hearing voices of certain facts she has to follow by undetermined people who can’t be seen. Determined to find out she sets herself the task to break tradition of dying on her 21^st birthday and being the last orphan and to break the curse. However, will she be able to do this in time?

Mantra- 25 Word Pitch

As we had come up with our Opening Sequence, we had to think of a possible outline of our film.

"A woman's curse comes to life, as her past is revealed when she discovers she is an orphan. Her future depends on these next few hours."

"A psycho horror aimed towards females under 25 years old.

This will be shown through a co-production company."

We have included some examples of inspiration that helped us gather these ideas with the genre we have gone for: 

Our Opening Sequence

"Crimson's Eye"

Our opening sequence begins in darkness with the audience hearing only barefoot footsteps, a slammed door and the flick of the lights switch. With the camera shot being blurred, the audience sees a young lady approaching towards a mirror. As she comes closer, the audience notices her head tilted downwards with a mysterious figure behind her. A sudden, dramatic flick of her head upwards, the audience is shocked by her infected and flaky eye. An eerie, slow piano tune is played through the credits; within these are the production company presenting the film, "Crimson's Eye" with the cast,  director and producer. It fades into a normal routine day for our female lead, Crimson,  before the events that occur after. 

Group Discussion

During class, we were asked to brainstorm potential ideas about what we could produce as an opening sequence for our film project. We had to take in to consideration that the sequence could only be around 2:30 minutes with a specific film genre in mind that we could generate ideas from. Our group decided to each gather thoughts, inforamtion and inspirations from a specific type of genre it will be, characters we want to use and types of films that has been similarly made. The genres we chose to mind map were: Drama/Romance, Comedy, Crime and Horror/Thriller. Together we produced themes that are associated with that genre. After that, with each genre we tried to come up with a likely storyline, still thinking about the timing, good actors, location, our audience and if the plot could continue after we had cut our own scene. After much deliberation, we decided to go for the theme of Horror/Thriller, as the concepts we brought out were more intriging and fun. Once we had told our teacher of our opening sequence plot, we were told it would far too long and it would actually be about 5 minutes. So, we decided to to change the whole story plot, which we thought in the end made it more dramatic and it stuck to the theme much better. Below is our brainstorm diagram for our initial ideas and our initial ideas of possible scenarios:

Mood Board

Eva's Mood Board

My mood board is a vision of what I could convey in my design for a film project. My ideas reflect a sense of femininity, love and empowerment of women. I am hugely inspired by the 1920s era and vintage culture. I have included my icon Marilyn Monroe who represented each of these qualities spectacularly. I wish to bring forward a sense of power, womanhood and romance in my opening sequence.

 

Meliz's mood board

Mood board

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Other Influences

"In Her Shoes"


In the film, "In Her Shoes", the clips starts off with the opening credits by the production company Scott Free and straight after, the production company Fox Pictures starts to let the plot run. The non-diagetic music "Stupid Girl" doesn't give away the plot of the film or what the characters may be like. It also doesn't give away the film is a drama. As there is no dialogue at the beginning of the clip, the audience is left wondering what the film may be about; we also, don't prejudge the characters. However, towards the end of the clip, we notice the music compliments and influences one the confident character's behaviour so the audience understands and realises her personality. With the other ordinary character, the audience is aware she is the opposite to the music and the music doesn't illustrate who she is. The credits are in different colours; yellow and red on a black back drop, these are the names of the main actors so the audience can appreciate their efforts. The actors' names are written with a special effect; the surnames of the actors appear back to front and are then arranged to normal. The jump cut edits between the opening credits and the scenes are a clever and engaging idea because within the scenes, they are showing two different scenes consecutively and at the same time, they are introducing our main characters. It comes to the audience's attention that both characters are polar opposites, one being serious and unlucky whereas the other is promiscuous and casual. This gives a clue as to what the characters will be like. Here are video clips of the special effects during the credits and the jump cuts of the two consecutive scenes with the credits:

"Rounders"

The opening sequence in "Rounders" is very different compared to the other films we studied in class. The beginning of the film starts off in silence; intriguing the audience to the plot until it thickens with the main male character taking money from random locations in the house; the mise en scene is very ordinary and relatable yet mystery and suspense is found in his secrecy. This is generated by jump cut editing; these include a book, frame, box and videotape, which we find very bizarre and secretive. This is done by eye line match which is clever as it makes the audience understand his secrecy. This heightens a possible criminal aspect of the film and genre. This is when slow paced instrumental strings which are reminiscent of 1920s crime music; this is done in a non-diagetic way which in turn creates suspense and an eerie atmosphere so the audience become suspicious of the character. The minimal lighting in the film and the dark, dingy settings gives the audience a sense of mystery which surrounds the plot and adds to the film's genre of crime. The audience also questions this crooked character as we never see is face. When the character leaves the room in all darkness, the character is also the narrator and his first line is "Listen, here's the thing, if you can't spot the sucker in the first half hour of the table, then you are the sucker". This is said approximately a minute into the film, it also introduces us to the character; we sense his shadiness and a running theme in the film is game and gambling.  The audience questions his motive due to a previous lengthy silence. The fact this is told in narration and not actually from his mouth, we question his character and we are intrigued by him; we are not revealed any clue as to his identity. The scene fades out and then the credits fade in.The credits only show the movie title so the audience is finally introduced to the film. The all black backdrop with the small title in a white font  brings the audience's focus to the film. Black results in mystery giving an essence to the film's genre. The simplicity of the credits is clever as it doesn't detract the audience's attention from the film. What I find very alluring and fascinating is the fact that we don't see the main character's face until the very end of the clip which adds intensity and mystery. As we don't see his face, we distance ourselves from him guessing his identity. It is not until the very end where we are faced with a close-up shot of the main character when he takes off his cap; the suspense built up int he opening minutes is finally at its climax when he takes off the cap. 

What is an Opening Sequence?

"Office Space"

In the opening sequence of "Office Space", the audience's attention is focused one of America's leading production company, 20th Century Fox. We are then lead to focus on a black background with a blue teenage cartoonish font which gives the idea that the film is aimed towards that age group and that it will have a comedic effect. Throughout the sequence, we see the names of all the major leading actors and production team in the same font, making the audience realise and appreciate their work. The playful music in the background reflects the atmosphere of the opening sequence reinforcing the comedic effect of the film and allows the audience to get an insight of what to expect. At the beginning of the scene we are shown a long traffic queue and three characters who are trying to get to work, due to their smart clothes. During the scene we see one of the lead actors swerve in and out of the traffic lanes to move forward, without any success- we assume he is the unlucky one- we then see another actor who is portrayed to be a idiotic, geeky guy but ironically rapping to a song on the radio- this is brought in by non diegetic sound which is breaking the stereotypes, however, once a black guy walks past he turns the volume down, showing the comedic elements, and lastly the actor who portrays an impatient and easily frustrated guy. The mise en scene give the audience an introduction of the characters and what they will be like, making it more comical.

"Trainspotting"

The opening sequence in "Trainspotting" is very different style to "Office Space".  The audience is not shown any credits, but the names of the characters instead- which makes us question what the film may be about with the use of this information and what type of people they are. It also makes us not prejudge the film. It is very creative how they make the music and the action very fast paced so it seems as though they can't fit in the credits. We are narrated through the whole scene by a main character, giving us an insight in his life and of his friends too. When he is speaking about each friend a freeze frame appears to show us who they are, their name and a bit of background information; this is to make us understand and to be comfortable with them as if we had known all along. The fast, upbeat music compliments the action that is happening and the lifestyle and location it is set in, making the audience engage immediately. However, the music does contrast the main themes of the film.

"Sweeney Todd"

The haunting music gives the intensity and eeriness of what the film may be about with the use of non diegetic sounds. The style of the font adds to the creepiness and mystery of this thriller. The credits at the beginning shows who will play who in a white font,this stands out from the dark back drop and makes the audience appreciate and give credit to the cast, although no characters are present unlike the other two films. the use of the colours; grey, black, white and red gives an essence of the film and amplifies the horror and spookiness. The use of red to there to symbolise the importance of blood in the film and then it writes the words "Sweeney Todd" to make us aware he is the main character. Also, the blood reference is travelled around the whole film taking us to each major location such as, the barber's and the pie shop, telling us where the story stars and ends. In comparison to the other two films this is the first one to use CGI or animation effects at the beginning of the film, however it is not used in the rest of the film.