Inspirations from watching other title sequences

Heat: The titles were white on a black background which made it very contrasting - creating a isolate atmosphere straight away. The way the titles then fade out so the screen is left black looks very affective because it makes it seem eerie.
We thought this was a good idea because it creates a clear atmosphere before any action happens. This prepares the audience and gives them something to expect in a way.



"Don't look now": In this title sequence the setting is very dull and grey - the little girl is wearing a bright red coat. The fact that the setting is so dull and the little girl is wearing a bright red coat automatically makes the red coat a significant thing to the audience.

The way the spacial editing is used creates an edgy feel to the piece because the movement from inside and outside links. For example - when the mother scratches her nose is it then cuts to the little girl outside also scratching her nose. Because there are so many snippets like this when the red appears on the picture it makes it much more clear to the audience what may have happened (along with all the hints with the little girl playing by the water).
We thought although this was an old film giving the audience little clues throughout the opening sequence is a good idea because it keeps the audience on their seat guessing what might happen.



Carlito's Way: In this opening sequence they had very loud and over emphasized orchestral music. In a way we did not like this but as the whole opening sequence was in slow motion it fitted the action well and did make it much more intense. As the whole sequence was in slow motion, when the main character (the man who is being rushed through hospital) speaks over the top of the action this makes it have a different feel because there is slow motion and then the ma is talking quite fast paced. It gives you a feel that although he may be in agony he is still up beat and confident which gives us a sense of his character.

Action points

Before we go out and film our opening sequence for our thriller we still have lots of things to do to make it work.

• We need to do a storyboard, scene by scene - leaving us with a clear structure of our opening sequence.
• We need to do a shot list - this will have all of the shots we are going to use in our opening sequence, why and where.
• We need to make a script so that we are clear what people are saying and where. There may not be a lot of speaking in our opening sequence but there still needs to be a script.
• We need to make sure the location (Papworth woods and Hollies;s garage) are suitable for what we want our opening sequence to look like.

Has the feedback make us consider things that we hadn't before?

The feedback has made me think about if we had long flashbacks then this may look cheesy with the way that it made be seen obviously romantic - perhaps making it look fake. We had not thought about this before the pitch so with this it had made use see how having long flashbacks in our opening may ruin the atmosphere as it may not seem believable.

With the feedback that spoke about suspense it made us consider the way that we could slow some action down (for example making the ex walk much slower up to the girl) as this would create suspense.

What we are going to do after we have recieived the feedback

With the idea that the flashbacks we have in the opening sequence being short I think we should follow this through. I think this because there is a risk, if the flashback is longer that it may be cheesy. An example for us to follow was give, this being that in 'The Road' there are flashbacks of a husband and wife together playing the piano and their hands meet as they are playing the piano. This shows that they are together and in love but does not make it cheesy as it is not anything that seems too over the top. I think we will take this idea on but changing the setting - perhaps with them playing the card game 'snap' and their hands meet that way. This would show that they are young because they are just having a laugh playing 'snap' as it is not really a serious card game. It would also show that they are together without them having to obviously kiss as this may look cheesy. Other feedback to go with the flashback scenes included not having any diagetic sound. I think this would be much more affective than having the characters speaking because this may ruin the atmosphere and if the flashback's are going to be really quick then there would not be enough time to have any diagetic sound that would give the audience any information.

We were given the idea that when the ex boyfriend is creeping up on the girl when she is trying to get signal on her phone to make the ex walk very slowly. This would create suspense as the audience have the information that something bad is going to happen, but the girl character herself does not have a clue. I think this would work and we should make the ex walk very slow behind the girl because it would make it look like he really does not want her to see him before he can capture her. This tells the audience that she would have a very bad reaction, suggesting that he may take her. Suspense is also a very conventional aspect to thriller films so this would be following convention and would make the title sequence much more exciting to watch as there is some mystery in the fact that the audience do not quite know what is going to happen to the girl.

We were not sure about whether we should have a point of view shot to show that the ex is watching the girls camping. But from getting feedback and suggesting this I think we should definitely do this as this is a convention of thriller films so we would be following convention. It would also make it completely clear to the audience that the ex is posessive and really wants her back in the way that he is not meant to be there so he is having to spy on her. to be even close to her. I think this would add much more suspense too with the fact that the audience know that someone is watching the girls but the girls have no idea.

Feedback recieved from the pitch

Once pitching our idea to the group this is the feedback that we received:

• We could create a lot of suspense with our opening sequence (when the ex boyfriend is approaching the girl on the phone) he could approach slowly so the audience knows something that a character in the film does not.
• With the flash backs where happier times are shown when the girlfriend and boyfriend were together we could make them really short - almost just snippets. This would not run the risk of the flash back looking cheesy.
  
• There are a lot of point of view shots in our piece which is conventional to a thriller meaning that it is likely to work.
  

Our idea for our thriller sequence

Idea For Entire Film

-Narrative
Our first scene is of a dark figure in a garage filling a bag with tools. Then it will cut to three girls in a forest sitting around a bonfire talking about one of their ex boyfriends, then it will show a flashback of when they broke up, next it will cut back to her looking deep in thought about how happy they actually were, then it will show a flash back of them together when they were getting on well before they broke up. The next scene will be point of view shot from the person watching them as if they are hiding in the trees. Then the girls are smoking around the fire, and the main girl flicks her fag butt away into the trees and the person who is watching them picks it up and takes a drag and coughs and the girls hear it. This causes the girls to become on edge.Then when the main girl gets a phone call and she answers it and can't hear very well so she walks of to try and get better signal as she does this the person watching her follows her and then it cuts to a shot in front of her trying to hear on the phone and the person who was watching them is walking behind her on the phone also, and suddenly he grabs her round the mouth and then it cuts to the titles.
-Character

Three girls, Main girl- Georgia Phillips
Friend 1 - Hollie Upton
Friend 2 - Kiera Roseberry

Ex Boyfriend, Josh Jones/Andrew Fox

Stalker (Ex BF) Played By Francesca Hazel

-Mise-En-Scene

Setting:
In Papworth Forest and Hollies Garage.

Lighting:
Low Key, mostly filmed at night with light from the bonfire.

Props:
Tools
Bag
Fire
Phone x2
Cigarettes

Costume:

Ex Boyfriend in Black
Girls in Stereotypical teenage fashion

Colour:
The main colour theme of the film will be dark colours to convey mystery.

Pitch of an idea for thriller sequence

By Next Lesson:

• Idea for entire film: Narrative, Character, Atmosphere, Sub Genre and Title

Sequence: -Narrative
-References to the rest of the film(Key Events, Characters flaws etc)
-Mise-En-Scene, setting, lighting, props, costume, colour etc.
-Sound
-Camerawork
-Edting (Special Effects)

Personal Response

The Orphan starts off seeming like an innocent film which makes you feel sympathy towards Ester as she is an orphan and different to all the other girls that she is at the orphanage with. When the mother starts to realise something may be wrong with Ester, the beginning of the film makes you think that it is not true what she is believing.

You find out why the Mum and Dad want to orphan a child through a dream sequence where you see the Mum bleeding and losing a child but it shown in a very gory way, emphasising that it is infavt a dream sequence.

Many things happen in the film that are signals to the viewer that Ester is not right, and is in fact evil. The scene where Max and his little sister have hurt a pigeon by accident and they are trying to save it and Ester comes along and throws a rock on the pigeon making sure it dies; she claims that 'it should be put out of it misery' but it shows that she is not right

The best bit of the film is when the ending is revealed. Ester is actually a dwarf woman, not a child, who tries to make a move on the Dad. When the Dad rejects Ester she murders him. This was our favourite bit of the film because it is so unexpected and this bit of the film has the most tension.

Marking of negative.

We thought that this opening thriller scene deserved a level 3.
We thought the camera work done well but occasionally was not steady this is one of the reasons why we didn't give the opening a level 4, although we thought the mise - en - scene was done well as the objects and costume were appropriate.

Now we have seen the marking criteria for the opening sequence we now know how to make our opening sequence to get the highest mark:
We will use mise-en-scene appropriately and follow the generic conventions of a thriller e.g a villain may wear dark color's or something covering their faces to create mystery.
We will make sure that the musical score creates tension at the right points and links in with the images at that point.We will also make sure that the meaning of the piece is apparent to the viewers.

Marking 'The Reckoning'

We thought this piece deserved to be given a level 4.

• The sound score and images were edited to an excellent level, as they went together perfectly in the way that when the action speeded up, the music did too.

• The mise - en - scene was chosen really well, as most of the background and characters were in black and white apart from the main characters tie, which stood out as it was a bright red colour, symbolising danger.

From being informed on the marking scheme for this thriller project we now know how to make our opening sequence to the best it can be
We are going to do this by:

• Thinking about our mise-en-scene fitting with conventions of thrilers. For example, if we have a character in our piece that is going to play the villan we may dress them in black or red as these are both colours that represent danger or evil.
• We will make sure that our sound (the musical score) matches with our images and editing. For example, if there are lots of short duration shots and the sequence is moving fast we will make the musical score faster and perhaps louder to add tension.
• We will try and make sure that the meaning of our piece is apparent to the viewer through our editing, also that we use a variety of shots. Although, if we want to create a certain effect we may not have to use this all the time as using the same shot more often can be more effective in some cases.
  

Analysis of Human Factor

The fact that the opening sequence of Human Factor is animated gives it a sense that it may not be as intense as other thrillers that Saul Bass has created, such as Vertigo. There is a black for a longer period of time than usual which creates a sense of mystery in the way that the music is playing but as there are no graphics or images on the screen you do not know what is going on.

When the images on the screen do appear the background is continuously red, this gives us a sense of danger. The sense of danger and mystery is added to when the image of a phone hanging off the hook appears. As the viewer you feel on edge as you do not know why the phone is hanging off the hook, but as the background is red it immediately makes you think that something bad has happened or is about to occur.

The musical score is in a way jolly music as it is a guitar, often in conventional thrillers more orchestral music is played as this usually adds to the tension. But because this contrasts this convention it still gives the same affect because the red background and the phone hanging off the hook makes you know as the viewer that something may be wrong, making the music not so happy after all.

As the title sequence comes to end you see that the other end of the phone is also off the hook, this almost confirms to the viewer that something is not right. The images used in this title sequence are all very negative. The extreme close up of the phone at the start of the title sequence adds to the atmosphere of mystery as you do not even know what the object is, as the image becomes clear you feel more relaxed as it is just a phone, but the camera focuses on the phone chord for most of the opening sequence making it clear that no-one is on the phone, and as it is off the hook something is not right perhaps.

The Man With The Golden Arm title sequence by Saul Bass

The Man With The Golden Arm - Otto Preminger
Title sequence - Saul Bass



The title sequence is simple, made entirely of a plan black background, with white lines across the frame creating a cut out effect. The white against black makes a dramatic impact, perhaps giving the impression of a dramatic film.
It creates an eerie effect, giving the sequence a tense mood from the beginning. Also, at first the lines appear to be random, with no sense or pattern to them, creating a confusing design that may confuse the audience and hints that the rest of the film may be strange and confusing.
Right at the end of the sequence the lines blend to make an arm, showing that the lines are actually symbolising veins within someones arm, giving hints towards a character in the film whose arm is involved, generally connotated with the idea of injecting drugs into the veins.
This instantly creates a darker mood and gives the impression that the whole film will have a slightly darker atmosphere.
The soundscore for this sequence is highly contrasted to the images as it is quite an up beat jazzy piece. However, this could be quite ironic as it shows the way that a heroin addict feels as though they are happy and feels great when they are on the drugs, when in reality it is ruining them.

Dark Knight - Analysis

How does it follow generic conventions?
The masks that they are wearing makes the atmosphere much more mysterious, also you cannot see the expressions on their faces which adds to the mystery - leaving the audience question if the characters are actually evil or if they are being forced to carry out the crime. Clowns are generically used as scary images.
Violence is a generic convention of an action film, in the opening of the dark knight a lot of gun crime is carried out which is one of the main conventions of violence.
Right from the beginning the characters are put into a dangerous environment with the fact that they are at the top of a tall office building - this creates suspense and this sets up an expectation for the rest of the film.
The musical score is fast pace, this is a generic convention in the way that it creates suspense and tension.

How does it make you feel? How does it achieve this? (techniques).
The musical score being fast paced makes you feel tense and on edge as you cannot guess what is going to happen next. It makes you feel as if something big is going to happen throughout making you feel slightly excited.
The masks (clown faces) make you feel scared as the clown faces are creepy. Also with the fact that you cannot see their facial expressions means you cannot really relate to the characters - this makes you feel much more on edge.
The violence in the opening makes you feel sympathy towards the characters in the bank as they are shown being innocent. It makes you relate to the characters in the bank much more as the characters with the masks on you cannot see their expressions.

Dark Night Opening Scene

Research on Vertigo

Vertigo by Hitchcock

close up of woman's face, introduces a character, makes it intense.
then moves to an extreme close up of different parts of her face, starting with lips, then moving to eyes, builds suspense
zooms in even closer to one eye, and eye opens wide suddenly implying fear.
as the camera zooms in, strange shapes appear, rounded shapes with black holes in the middle, spinning out and getting larger creating the effect that they are spinning out from the eye and coming towards the viewer. as the background becomes black it gives a sense of falling into darkness, making you feel dizzy - linked to the feeling of vertigo.
the shapes come from the characters eyes and shrink back into her eye towards the end, giving the idea that it is something going on inside her head, maybe implying that her mind is confused, perhaps slightly crazy.

Analysis of Cape Fear

Cape Fear (scorsese)

loud music
-tense atmosphere/certain sounds appear when figures appear
character
-mystery/distorted image
water
-drowning /death/suffocation- this links with 'cape' being water/a lake
(perhaps part of the narrative- DANGER)
the bird
-predator from low angle- a hunter
the eye
-vulnerable part of the body/horror/fear is shown within the eye
sound
-musical score/disturbing/suspene
-the pitch of the music is low
-the pace of the music increases slightly with the combination of images

Conventions and examples of thrillers.

Thriller
Thriller has different conventions to the conventions of a children's film.
It is important to look at conventions because you use them as a guideline for your own project, however you can go against convention. To go against convention the piece has to be very strong and be justified otherwise it will not work.
Conventions of a thriller:
- Enigmas (mystery) for spectator.
- Suspense is key to making a thriller work.
- Low key lighting.
- Often oblique/ canted angles. Distorted images may be used to add to the mystery.
- There is usually always a protagonist (main character/ hero) and an antagonist (a villan or force working against the hero).

Exmaples of thrillers:
-Taken.
-Bourne Identity.
- Momento.

Sub genres and examples:
- Action thriller (James Bond films).
- Conspiracy thriller (JFK).
- Disaster thriller (Stormy weather).
- Spy thriller (Mission impossible).
- Psychological thriller (The good son).
- Crime thriller (seven).