Half Term Production Update

Half Term Production Update This Christmas I updated my blog by writing about the soundtrack and what song we picked, explaining how effective the track would be.

Soundtrack

Soundtrack
For our opening sequence we used the same track used for the TV show American Horror Story's opening sequence. Our opening sequence is of the horror genre so this track would compliment it entirely as American Horror Story is also a horror series. The track is quite eerie and mysterious which is what we want our opening sequence to be presented as being, which is why we feel the track is most suited to this type of opening sequence.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqJGHL3lnSM

Production Diary - 12/12/14

Today we filmed more of our opening sequence. This consisted of a pentagram being made out of red tape and candles being lit. This is used to represent satanism and contributes to our genre of our opening sequence which is horror.

We then put our shots together and edited them in premier. After this we put music and effects along with it to add suspense and create an 'on edge' feeling for the audience.

Production Company

Production Companies
The production company we used was Universal Studios because we wanted to make the film look more legit and like it was made in Hollywood too. This would give the audience the impression that the film is going to be good quality too because its used a highly popular and well known company too. We also used another production company called Twisted Pictures to emphasise the horror aspect of our movie, as this company has also produced many other horror films such as the Saw series and Texas Chainsaw Massacre. 

Updated Shot List

Production Diary - 08/12/14

Here is where we first started shooting for our chase scene in the Nature Reserve. unfortunately, due to the cold weather the battery life was affected by this, causing us to change our location because of the bad weather. We have now moved into a warmer environment. We have changed our idea because of this so there is no longer a chase scene.  

We filmed a couple of shots which will go at the end of our opening sequence. The remaining shots that we have to film will be close ups of the tarrot cards being dealt and shuffled, candles will also be used as well.

Costumes

Here are the costumes that our characters will be wearing for some of our shots.

Grace who is played by Lucia is represented as a young vulnerable girl, who is worried about her brothers safety because he has dragged her to a tarrot card reading.

Jake who is played by me is represented as a teenage boy that wears casual clothes to represent normality. The white on the top symbolises purity, this is then later on changed in our film (although we do not see it).

Presentation and Feedback

The devils task from Aaron Persico

We had to deliver a pitch for our opening sequence in order for it to go ahead.

Horror - there are good generic conventions suggested

Story-line - we got asked what will be the location for the therapy session?

• the location of the therapy session will be in Aaron's house, also we will represent that Jake is possessed by using different color contact lenses to represent that he has changed.
• Ben and Grace come into the scene by talking and telling Margaret what is happening with Jake.
• We decided to go with a therapist as this relates to the paranormal/horror theme, this is because a therapist would know about possession and other weird things.

Production Update!

Here is a picture of some of our editing footage

However....

Filming update: After we looked at our footage on Premier, we have decided to change our story line because we felt that the story line wasn't strong enough, and the location wasn't very reliable for us to use frequently.

Now we have produced a new story line, this will mainly be based on the Tarot card theme of the opening sequence, but the therapist scene will be removed as we feel that it reveals too much information for just an opening sequence as well as the location being unreliable for us to work with. The opening sequence will include the camera focusing mostly on the tarot cards with a range of different angles, with the credits over these shots and suspenseful music over these shots as well.

Characters

                     

These are the actors and actresses used in our opening scene:
Jake will be played by Aaron
Ben will be played Max
Grace will be played by Lucia 
Margaret/Sabrina will be played by Lydia

Locations

These are the locations that we will be using for our opening sequence. The locations used in our opening sequence is Aaron's living area.

Production Schedule

Here is our production schedule of our plans. This lays out exactly when we will be doing any tasks. 

Task	To Be Completed	Notes
Planning	5th November	We started to create our initial ideas for our animatic
Storyboard	10th November	We will create a storyboard for our production
Animatic	20th November	We will turn our storyboard into an animatic
Shot List	20th November	We will write a shot list for our opening sequence
Filming Schedule	24th November	We will arrange with the subject of our scene when we can film.
Filming	27th November	We will film the first scene
Filming	28th November	We will film our second scene
Filming	1st December	We will film our third scene
Filming	2nd December	We will film our fourth scene
Filming	3rd December	We will film our fifth scene
Editing	3rd December	We will edit 1stscene
Editing	5th December	We will edit 2ndscene
Editing	8th December	We will edit 3rd scene
Editing	10th December	We will edit 4th scene
Editing	12th December	We will edit 5th scene

Animatic

Here is our animatic.

Script For Production

Script For Production

(Muffled Dialogue in shot 5 as the camera looks trough the window)

No dialogue until shot 11: 

Shot 10:
        - Margret: So tell me when it all started?
Shot 12:
       - Sabrina: These cards will predict future events....
Shot 13:
       - Sabrina: Who wants to go first?
       - Grace: Oh, I'll go then.
Shot 14:
       - Sabrina: Pick a card....

(Grace picks love card....)

Shot 16: 
       - Sabrina: You are lucky, as this card means good fortune and you will find the one.
       - Ben: Okay okay me next!
       - Sabrina - Pick a card then Ben.

(Ben picks death card...)

Shot 17:
         - Ben: Ouch! 

Shot 18:
(Ben pricks his finger)

(Awkwardly)

Shot 19:
         - Sabrina: Moving on swiftly
(Jake picks spirit card....)

Shot 20:
        -  Sabrina: I don't know what to say... I've never seen this card before...
Shot 21: 
(Muffled dialouge as looking in on Jake)

Roles
Lucia (Me) - Grace
Lydia - Margaret/Sabrina
Aaron - Jake
Max - Ben/Demon/Director

Shot List

Shot List

Shot 1 - Haunted Movies
Shot 2 - Black Screen with Fuzz
Shot 3 - Title Name
Shot 4 - Establishing Shot of Thunderstorm
Shot 5 - Point of view/establishing shot
Shot 6 - Close up of Lydia writing notes
Shot 7 - Back to shot 5
Shot 8 - Close up shot of the door
Shot 9 - Max walking into the house - point of view
Shot 10 - long shot of the back of Margret and facing her
Shot 11 - Black screen saying 6 weeks later
Shot 12 - High angle shot of everyone sitting in a circle with the tarot cards
Shot 13 - Point of view of Lydia laying out cards
Shot 14 - High angle of Lucia's hand taking a love card
Shot 15 - Close up of Lucia's card
Shot 16 - Point of view of explaining what the love card is
Shot 17 - Point of view of Max picking the death card
Shot 18 - Close up of Max Cutting his finger with blood dripping down
Shot 19 - Close up of Max laughing
Shot 20 - Close up of Jake picking the spirit card
Shot 21 - Close up of me laughing nervously
Shot 22 - Back to shot 10
Shot 23 - Close up of the clock turning to 6 o clock 
Shot 24 - I stare into the camera
Shot 23 - Black screen

Opening Sequence Target Audience

Target Audience for my opening sequence

Target audience:
We aim for our opening sequence to those aged between 16-mid twenties. This is because this age group normally tend to watch horror films. We aim this production at both genders. The social class that our opening sequence is aimed at is B-D. This is because people in the social class A do not tend to enjoy these films and those in social class E may only be children and would be too young to watch  the film. Because of the targeted age group, the employment of our audience will be primarily full time education, part time jobs, or just starting to do full time work. The movie will be a western film.

Our primary audience is going to be people age 16-mid twenties. Due to the movie being a horror film, most people usually come with friends or boyfriends/girlfriends for the comfort and so that they do not get too scared. Therefore, our secondary audience is the people that accompany the person who wants to see the film. We aim this at a mass audience excluding anyone below the age of 15 but aim it at anyone who is above the age of 16 and who love horror films.

Here is a collage of some of the interests of the target audience

Opening Sequence Analysis - 21 Jump Street

21 Jump Street (2012)

21 Jump Street is a 2012 American action comedy directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. The movie is about two underachieving cops that are sent back to a local high school to blend in and create a synthetic drug group.
The movie stars: Channing Tatum, Ice Cube and Jonah Hill.

The first shot is a title written 'THE YEAR 2005' in a blue font. This immediately introduces the audience to the year that the movie was set.

The next shot is a high angle shot of students getting off a typical American, yellow school bus. This highlights the setting and genre of the movie.

 The shot then skips to a zoomed in version of credits and then zooms out. This is part of the editing as the titles appear from the left and slide to the centre. The transitions are straight cuts and are incredibly fast. This creates a rapid pace, which can make the audience feel very tensed and wanting to know more.

There is then a medium over the shoulder shot of one of the main characters. This creates a narrative enigma as we can only see the back of the character. This introduces the audience to the character but also illustrates to the viewers, more of the setting. The mise en scene is also used appropriately and effectively as the character is wearing casual clothes which make's him look as if he is one of the students at the school. This is believable as they are undercover and need to remain in disguise.

 Next, there is a close up shot of the character from the front and an over the shoulder shot. This allows the audience to be introduced to the character.


Music
During the first few seconds of the opening sequence, the movie begins with non-diegetic music of the song 'Slim Shady' by Eminem. This music represents the mood of the movie and the setting in which the movie is based upon.

Our plan for our opening sequence

Planning for our opening sequence film

Genre: Horror
Group: Lydia, Max, Aaron
Location: Aaron's house/Ware
Music: Loud, Screams, Sound effects, Insidious music
Characters: Jake, Grace (Brother&Sister)

Preliminary Task

Here is our preliminary task.

The short video is about a student that finds drugs in her classroom.

Opening Sequence Analysis - Dear John

Dear John

Dear John is an American romantic drama about a soldier who falls in love with a college student while he is on leave at home. The movie is directed by Lasse Hallstrom and stars Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried.

 The opening sequence begins with one of the main male characters on the floor in army clothing. This highlights to the audience how he is in the army and has been shot. During this, there is a male voice in the background. This is the speaker, explaining to the audience some background knowledge which allows them to establish the plot. The mise en scene effectively conveys the protagonists past by the sound of bullets and the camouflage costume. This allows the audience to grasp the concept of his past and helps to set the scene.

The camera then gently zooms out, allowing the audience to have a better insight into the setting.
The male speaker then goes on to speak about coins and how coins are made.

 The sound effect of coins falling then becomes evident and there is a close up shot of a coin. This could suggest to the audience how so much detail has been put into an object, each and every coin being examined. This may indicate how precious everything is and how much we take for granted.

The camera then goes back to a shot of the soldier on the floor and the male speaker goes on to say how 'right before everything went black, you want to know the very last thing that entered my mind? You.' This demonstrates to the audience the genre of the movie.

 The camera then goes black and the audience are then welcomed with a bright long shot of the sun set. This setting is romantic. The beach could indicate a holiday romance destination, having romantic connotations.

The music then turns into a relaxing, tranquil but upbeat pace which conforms to the romance genre. The font of the film credits are a white, soft and italic font which appeals to the target audience and once again reflects the mood of the genre. The long shot of the setting helps the audience to establish the area and helps the plot to unfold.

There is a close up shot of the main female character. This is used to highlight the emotion being expressed and introduces the character to the audience. This is important so that the audience can make a decision to whether they like the character or not.

 The last shot is a establishing shot which highlights the surroundings that the characters are in and at the bottom it depicts the time of year.

Opening Sequence Analysis - Se7en

Se7en

'Se7en' is a mystery thriller about two detectives that hunt for a serial killer by using the seven deadly sins. The movie is directed by David Fincher and stars Morgan Freeman, Brad Pitt and Kevin Spacey.

The movie begins with a close up shot of an open book. The pages turn and there is a shadow reflecting off of the book. This could suggest that the person turning the pages has a darker side to them. We can hear non-diegetic music that is very loud and the pace increases. This can suggest danger and crime to the audience.

 There is then a close up shot of a man holding a razor blade, attempting to cut off his finger prints. This could suggest that he has commit a crime and wants to get rid of the evidence.This immediately makes the audience aware of the genre that it is.

The music then changes to a squeaky sound and then there appears to be diegetic sounds such as heartbeats and electrical sounds.



The camera then jump cuts to a series of different close up shots of various objects. These suggest crime and murder which highlights to the audience what the movie will include.

The blacked out lines on the book and then black marker across the boys eyes could suggest that the protagonist wants to get rid of something. This may mean that the boy in the picture could be his next victim.

This shot shows the colour red and the boys face scribbled out. This could indicate that the colour red symbolises blood and the scribbled out face could symbolise the boy being killed.

Opening Sequence Analysis - The Holiday

The Holiday (2006)

The Holiday is a romantic comedy about two women that are troubled with guy-problems that swap homes in each other's countries where they both meet a local guy and fall in love. The movie is directed by Nancy Meyers and stars Kate Winslet, Cameron Diaz and Jude Law.

 The movie begins with an extreme close up of some tree's which zooms out onto a couple, kissing. The natural lighting can demonstrate the mood that the characters may be feeling such as happiness and joy. However the opening scene of 'The Holiday' is very different to most.

The audience begin to realise that this is not part of the actual movie 'The Holiday', in fact it is of one of the characters, watching a movie.

This is made evident from the zoom out, which highlights to the shot that the character is a music composer as he is playing the music for the film. The music is soft and relaxing which portrays a romantic, cheerful mood, reflecting the movie genre.

The music then changes, to a much slower, quieter piece and a female voice is introduced over the music which is non-diegetic. She first states 'I have found, almost everything ever written about love, to be true'. At this moment, there is a close up shot of one of the male characters. This introduces the audience to the character and highlights the emotion by his facial expression.

 The shot then switches to another close up but of a female character, on the phone smiling. This can convey to the audience ho content she may be feeling.




After this, there is a shot of the male character kissing the female characters hand. The view of the shot makes it look as if we are the female character, looking down onto the male character. This can make the audience feel included.

The credits of the actors and actresses appear at the bottom of the screen in capitals in a white font. This makes them stand out and they change as each shot changes between characters, highlighting the different characters to the audience. 

Once the non-diegetic sound of the female voice stops, fast pace music with a  high pitch starts and then the female voice starts again over the changed music.

The audience are then presented with a long shot of the street during the evening with many cars driving through, highlighting how busy it is. The lights on the trees can symbolise that it is around the Christmas season.

The shot then changes to an old man looking at a picture of a woman in a wedding dress. During this shot the female voice over says 'For others, love is simply lost'. This can display to the audience how the character of the old man may have lost his wife due to death.

The music pace then speeds up and the volume increases, producing a more positive tone. The female speaker follows this by saying 'But then of course, love can also be found, even if just for the night'. During this the audience see two close up shots. One of a different