"Earlier today it was reported that Keith Roberts, recently convicted of murdering Sarah Walsh in his north London home, has escaped while being transferred from Coldingley prison in Surrey to Castington in Northumberland. He was last sighted boarding a train heading for London on the 16th of March. If you think you have any information regarding Roberts’ whereabouts call the London crime stoppers hotline on 0800 555….." We decided to use a news report instead of music because it meant that we were able to subliminally add messages into the opening sequence in a short amount of time. Although the audience doesn't know anyway in which the criminal and the girl in our sequence are linked, the enigma caused by his mention suggests that she is in danger.
I've put the news report on my individual blog because I wrote it and recorded it with our voice actor.
This is our final idea. We decided to change our original final idea because our group was finding it hard to stay within the genre conventions, and make the footage seem realistic enough.
The full film synopsis:
The film begins with the sudden kidnap of one of our main characters, Dannie, who was at home alone waiting for her boyfriend, Josh.
Josh's dad recently died in a tragic car accident, meaning that Josh inherited his wealthy fortune. What Josh doesn't know is that the money was won out of a corrupt business deal between his dad's company and a rival firm in Italy. The owners of the rival firm actually murdered Josh's dad, and are hunting Josh down in order to reclaim the money. They help an old business partner out of prison and send him to kidnap Dannie: a trap to lure Josh.
Josh searches for Dannie with the help of Dannie's best friend Charlotte, and they eventually find her after a difficult search. However, after a brutal fight when they try to escape unharmed, Josh is killed. The girls manage to get away unscathed, however the baddies have won back their money.
We feel that writing an opening sequence for this type of film will be more realistically done than our previous idea. I didn't regret that we did that initial footage, because we gain invaluable knowledge about filming outside and experimenting with the manual focus.
The story focuses on a 16 year old schoolgirl, who appears to be innocent and composed. However, she once accidently killed someone after having an argument with them, and after realising that she enjoys murdering people, now kills anyone who annoys her. She hides her psycho killer personality under her innocent school girl appearance. The opening scene to our film is a flash-forward, and ends with the text ‘two years earlier’ on the screen at the end of the sequence. We then go back in time to when the girl first began killing, and as the film goes on she murders more and more people. The film ends when she frames another girl for the murders. She leaves free, ready for her next conquest.
GENRE AND THEMES
The genre of our film is chick-flick horror, which will appeal to a wide audience.
Everyone in our group enjoys chick flicks and horrors. As a genre hybrid, it is very original; however there are similar films that we can draw from.
Our film will be horror based, and will feature almost all conventions of a horror film, verging on parody to audiences familiar with the genre. However, for people who do not know much about horror films, it will seem quite gruesome. We will also include references to other films of the genre, to develop the element of parody further.
Our idea has been accepted by the media teachers, so we will start to plan our storyboard now.
How to create suspense and make an effective opening sequence using Hithcock as an inspiration.
Written text is a prominent narrative device used to pull Hitchcock’s viewers into the story openings through captions on the screen, signs on buildings, and newspaper hea dlines.
Movement of the camera through geographic space is one way that Hitchcock signals to the viewer that a new story is being uncovered.
Probably the most obvious example of a bright opening is in Trouble With Harry (1955), showing beautiful autumn scenery of orange leaves, rolling Vermont hills, and a church. Then an innocent child skips along and stumbles onto a dead body lying on green grass.
a majority of his suspense films opened in the bright daylight accompanied by playful music.
In the early part of Hitchcock’s career he wrote about the need for shifts in tone throughout a film, and that a comic opening is essential to suspense.
If we decided to use the thriller genre, this information would be useful to refer to.
Evaluating the popularity of our chosen genre; Thriller. In preparation for our final idea, we decided to look on some websites to see what genres were the most popular. The thriller/horror genre was definitely a popular choice. The third link describes it as being in the top 6 genres for ROI, with Paranormal Activity drawing in the most profit. From this research, we have decided that this genre will be a suitable one to make an opening sequence on.
1. I worked with Odelia, Jess and Robbie. We decided that Odelia and jess would alternate primarily on the camera and sound while Robbie and I were to act, with us both doing our close-ups of each other for the experience of using a camera.
2. We spent time planning our sequence by writing a storyboard which included camera positioning and frame types. We also wrote down a script and shooting list. This was planned so that we knew the amount of filming we would do with each camera position to avoid time wasting in the editing suite. We wanted to make sure that our continuity worked well, so our storyboard was assessed to make sure that the frames would run smoothly from one to the next.
Storyboard:
Script and Shooting Schedule
Theories:
Barthes – Narrative Codes; Enigma – you aren’t sure what is happening at first, but the acting suggests a dodgy deal is going to be made, action,
Levi-Strauss – Binary opposites; buyer vs. seller, boy vs. girl,
Continuity – narrative flow – we made sure that the events flowed in an order that made sense. Our shots were edited so that they flowed successfully from one to another.
Match-on-action
180* rule
Shot-reverse-shot
3. We used a camera with a microphone attached to record high quality sound. There were headphones attached to the camera and microphone so the person wearing them could identify the sound that was actually being picked up by the microphone. There were 3 settings on the microphone: shotgun, ambience and wide which helped vary the sound picked up. We used a clapperboard to illustrate the shots about to be performed which was useful when editing. We also had a clipboard with our script, shooting list and storyboard on.
4. When planning, factors we had to take into account were:
·The space we had available to shoot in
·The time we would have to film and edit
·The actors available
When shooting, factors we had to take into account were:
·the background noise
·the different room that we had to use instead of our planned room
·a computer was in the frame so we had to move it
When editing, factors we had to take into account were:
·the continuity techniques
5. Our sequence was more successful than we thought it would be. The continuity in some of our shots was perfect, but the other frame changes still worked well. People found the video funny, so our plot was successfully relayed to the audience.
In hindsight, we would have made sure that there was no background noise before we chose our place. The noise was slight in our video, but still took attention away from the action. We also broke the 180* rule a few times, so if we had the chance to redo, that would have been corrected. Another problem that we found out post-filming was that there was a colour difference in the close ups to the rest of the video. We were able to change the colour slightly but the colouring was still off slightly. Another continuity error was my legs, and how they were positioned. The first time you see them, my right leg is over my left, and then the second time my left is over my right. Fortunately, this time the error was very minor, but given the chance that would have been rectified.
6. From this task I have learnt that the location of shooting needs to be planned in advance to suit the scene that you wish to create. I have also learnt how to use the editing software, an experience I had not had previously. Some of the equipment used was also new to me so it was useful to find out how to use them so I can implement that into the rest of the course. I also got a chance to understand the care that an actor has to take when mimicking their actions to make sure that no mistakes are made. This will all be significant in completing the rest of my foundation coursework because I now understand how the software works and wont have to waste time having it all explained to me when I am faced with a more stressful and time consuming task. I now also know to be aware of the positioning of actors and props when filming to avoid continuity errors.
·Woman – anonymous character – lack of information – representative of public?
·Priest – represents church – with officer – corruption within church?
·Officer – representative of law as a whole, law will be involved in plot
4. Interpret the cultural codes in the opening. What kind of knowledge is being drawn on? ; Social/historical/political/art and culture etc. Highlight the 3 most important references in the opening that help with audience understanding.
People widely understand that isolation increases risks, so the setting is based on this conception to portray the theme. The snow adds to the ambiguity, and snow is associated with the cold and potential accidents.
The characters all act very quiet, unsure and upset, which shows that something has gone terribly wrong. This portrayal of emotion is therefore the knowledge that the audience will draw upon to decide upon the mood and genre of the film.
The use of the priest will show a link to Christianity – this will be understood as to being a portrayal of normality – Christianity being common for many people in suburban America’s lives.
6. Identify key themes and analyse how they are presented visually/technically.
Key themes:
The supernatural – the moment the priest thinks he sees something outside but then it disappears, the medical examiner’s indication towards an unnatural death
Horror – the setting: bleak, isolated, winter; the death of a character; the lack of communication and noise; the soundtrack of screaming and foreboding music with the credits
Hidden truths – unsure of what the priest sees outside the window, not allowed to see into the bedroom
