Practice titles

When deciding what style we wanted to use for our opening titles, we referred back to the research post we did earlier in the course about opening titles. We decided that the font 'Felix Titling' was the best font at creating a spooky and ominous effect. We wanted it to be a white font on a black background to stay within the conventions of a horror genre. When editing our actual film, we will add in effects to make it more thrilling but for the moment we find the look of our opening titles successful. In the future we could consider different transitions when editing such as dissolving the font, or fading the font into a new shot to make it look professional.

Anamatic Storyboard

When developing our storyboard it was quite a simple process, for example I started by importing the pictures onto Adobe, once they were all imported in order I cropped the lengths to an equal amount making the pictures change quickly in a seamlessly movement. This allowed it to be an animatic story. The shots show a clear range of long, medium,close up and over the shoulder shots that are going to be used in the filming. To improve our anamatic story we could have added in music in the background to help provide more of an atmosphere suiting our genre which is horror.

Online Tutorials

Our actor playing the victim will need to look the part, in order for her to become the role, looking at makeup tutorials will help make our opening film look more realistic. I think it would be better for the victim to look as natural as possible as her character should not be expecting what is to come in the opening scene. I don't think i will be too fussed about curling the hair as i would want the character to look as natural as possible, even though it may enhance the actors appearance i don't think, having a stand out appearance is something we need to worry about. products that i am most likely to use are: foundation, powder, bronzer, blusher and mascara to create natural everyday look.

For our antagonist we have not found a make up tutorial that fits our perspective of what we want him to look like. However the products we are most likely to use is foundation to give him a creepy look and lightly put black eye shadow around his eyes to express his antagonist figure.

Influences on production

While creating our opening scene we have been influenced by other opening horror scenes and what the director has used to show clearly that this genre is horror. The Conjuring was directed by James Wan and he is widely known for directing the horror films Saw And Insidious 2. We looked at the Conjuring as it is an extremely popular horror film that creates lots of tension at certain parts in the movie such as waiting for something to jump out unexpectedly creating suspense for the audience. This is important to us as this is something we would like to integrate in our film. The eerie music in The Conjuring opening scene give off a creepy atmosphere which is what we aim to do, as our setting is in a forest. The type of shots James uses are clever and effective as the long shots gives the setting away and shows the audience where the horror will take place. This helps create suspense as with the music building up the audience will know something is about to happen, making it more thrilling and exciting for them to watch.

Representation and Stereotyping in our film

In our opening scene we followed the representations and stereotypes by following the conventions of a horror. For example,we have used a vulnerable girl who will play the victim and a scary man to play the antagonist.We have done this because it makes it clear to the audience what characters are what. A teenage girl is known as vulnerable due to her being slightly stupid and oblivious to her surroundings at times ,as well as them being classed as less powerful in society and more as a target for men. We have then used a man to be the bad guy as he will been known as the terrifying villain who creates tension for the audience as he approaches the vulnerable girl and grabs her aggressively.

The setting that we have used is a forest,we have done this as forests are known as stereotypical in horrors because with low key lighting they are seemed as more frightening and the silence builds tension with the leaves crunching on the ground and the trees blowing in the wind with the forever walking trail.

Research and Planning Targets

I am really very proud of the achievements you have made in this area of the course - well done! To achieve the maximum band for research and planning make sure you complete all tasks in detail - which can be done by delegating responsibilities and working to deadlines you set each other. You have between now and the end of term to finish your research and planning - and to film. So close to amazing attainment in this part of the course, and we are very proud of the hard work you have put in. Well done! Research Genre Research Soundtrack research (non copyright music) Costume and location research – google earth and pictures you’ve taken. Actors and props photos and interviews Audience Research and Profiling (typical audience member and similar films) Uploaded YouTube videos of openings - analysed Opening titles analysed in detail – font researched Analysed Film Openings from from your genre in particular Institution research (Paramount etc) Certificate research Planning Own film idea brainstorm Own film treatment Relevant Online Tutorials and Comment Documenting of influences on production Shot lists Consideration of representation in your film and stereotyping – use theory from G322. Questionnaire (and feedback) Get some feedback on your initial ideas! Diary of filming/editing etc with photos and screen grabs Mood board Script Practice titles created and uploaded Storyboard – animatic.

Shot Lists

For our opening two minutes we will be using a variety of shots; this will help enable the audience to get a clearer understanding for our film.The main shots are long shot, medium shot and close up. This is because long shots will help show the setting, providing an extended view around characters which in our case would be a  girl in a dark forest. This could build up suspense and create fear due to the low key lighting and frightening forest. Medium shots are effective as it shows the characters body language as well as their facial expressions which medium shots are not meant to focus on. Close ups create the biggest effect on the audience. This is because from a close up you can see the characters facial expressions and reactions to what is going on. This can create tension for the audience. In our film we will be using quick close up shots reversing from the antagonist to the victim enabling us to see the difference in facial expressions and making it clear who the good and bad are.

Long shot:                                                             










Medium shot:

Close up shot:

We will then be using more subtle shots that have a big impact on the audience such as extreme close up, over the shoulder shot and two shot. Extreme close up is used so the audience can focus on the character alone and not get distracted by any action in the background. Over the shoulder shot allows an insight of what the main character can see from his view adding realism to shot. Two shot is a medium shot where 2 characters are put in a frame. This is important in our film as we want to use this when the antagonist approaches the victim which will have a larger impact on the audience.

Extreme close up:

Over the shoulder shot:

Two shot: