Credits

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opening_credits 

When putting credits onto our opening, I used this link in order to know which order the credits went in. As well as think webpage, I have also used the research we did earlier in our research and planning process.

As we have a screening coming up for the first draft of our opening, i had to rush the credits and they are therefore not the font we would like. We would also like them to last for longer in our final opening which we will go back to after modifying and editing our new and final footage.

Health and Safety

Location:

With a new location of the derelict barn, potential precautions needed to be addressed. Any rocks or sharp materials were swept out of the way of filming so no one got injured. There were sheets of metal to one side so these needed to be carefully avoided. The barn also needed to be kept secure once all the filming was complete so after we had finished, we locked up the barn. 

Props:

As a hammer is a key object in our film opening it creates health and safety issues. Our actor was very familiar with using such an object so held it in the correct manner and used it sensibly. It was placed inside the toolbox when not in use, and the toolbox was then zipped up securely out of reach.

Weather:

As we were filming outside it was cold and wet as it was raining during the time. Therefore, our actors and ourselves needed to be equipped with coats, umbrellas and welling-ton boots as it was muddy in the field in which we filmed. Our equipment also needed to be kept dry so we had bags to carry it and keep it out of the rain. 

Foley Sound:

As we are using foley sound in our film opening, this requires us to smash plates in order to get the sound effects we need. We made sure that we were outside when smashing plates and did it on a hard surface as well as being a considerably far distance from the contact zone so we did not get hit by the remains of plates.. Once finished, we swept up all the remains of the plates and put them in the bin so that it would not cause any injury. 

Location Update

On the day of filming one scene for our opening (the grown man and his hostage) we had a change of location. Our location changed to this isolated and derelict barn situated in the middle of a field. The barn was a perfect location because from the outside it looks shabby and run down. From the inside the barn was well lit, so we had no problem with lighting, it also had hay and dirt all around which helped add to the atmosphere and build a more psychopathic look.

 The barn also had an extra cove which was where we filmed our hostage. Inside, the cove was full of hay and dirt which helped make the setting more realistic to the genre, we also managed to light the corner of the cove using a torch, held by the psychopath, which gave us some interesting shots and helped heighten the mood of the film.

We changed our location because on the day of filming, it began to rain therefore we were unable to film outside for many reasons (for example the actors makeup would smudge and the film equipment would be ruined). We overcame this obstacle by finding this barn very close to our original one, this location was easily accessible as it belonged to a family member of the group and overall worked better than our original location would have. 

Preparation

This is the preparation for our film opening initial filming. Here we are applying make up to the actors on their wrists, neck and eyes. We prepared the actors costumes of basic attire. We also applied water to our actresses hair to make it seem wet due to the rain.

Justification

Our film opening included some aggressive language and props, therefore we needed to justify why we included them to make them appropriate. We included aggressive shouting in our opening, which may have been offensive to our youngest actor of age eight. Therefore, we recorded the shouting afterwards and overlaid the sound in editing, so he didn't have to hear it.
We use violent props, such as a hammer, which we used to suit our genre of psychological thriller better. Extra care was taken when we were using these objects, and we have created a separate health and safety post to explain these.
We consulted our teacher before using these features to see if they were allowed on the syllabus and it said that we could use violent language and objects to an extent. The parents of the youngest actor and all other actors gave full consent to this.

Foley Sound

Foley sound is the term used for sound effects added during the post production of a film. Common examples of these are footsteps, crashes, doors slamming of creeping etc... Foley sound gives more control over the quality, volume and timing of the sound effects allowing the movie to sound more realistic and professional.
Foley sound is normally performed by a Foley artist, this person will stand in a post production room with a variety of props and a TV screen in front of them playing the film clip. As the clip runs the Foley artist uses the props in front of them to replicate the sounds associated with the actions on screen.



Films are normally filmed with the sound recorder only picking up the dialogue so that a Foley artist will be able to add in the other sounds afterwards. Almost all films use Foley sound in order to prevent them from sounding hollow and empty.
In our film opening we will be adding Foley sound, some sounds we wish to include are plate smashing, footsteps, door slamming, lighter flicking, shouting etc...

Practising Make Up

  

After researching how to make eyes appear darker using make up, we decided to test it ourselves. I used white eye shadow and powder to make my skin seem more pale, and then used dark coloured eye shadows, such as purple, brown and black. I then used to lighter coloured powder in the corners of my eye as the website did say. 

This is useful to practise before filming starts as the costume and make up are key for our main character. 

I also put the picture in black and white as that is what we aim to be filming in in parts of our opening. It might be the case that more make up will be needed in order for it to be more prominent or the contrast may need to be enhanced. 

In these photos, I have experimented with using different shades of eye shadow in order to create a bruised effect. To do these bruises I have blended grey, black, purple and green to make them look more realistic. I started with the lightest grey to form a base for the bruise then built up colour with different, darker grey's in the middle blending outwards, once the bruise was dark enough, I added subtle hints of greens and purples to the middle to make them look even more realistic. In our opening we might need to apply more eye shadow as we are filming some parts in black and white therefore it will be more noticeable.

Black and White

This is an important part of our research as we were inspired by the use of black and white in films such as the Human Centipede 2 (See Film Inspiration Post), therefore we are definitely considering using black and white in parts of our film opening. It was then important to research why films are put in black and white and the effect that has.

Certification of Our Opening

We have previously looked into certification bands during our research and after completing our storyboard and expanding on our initial narrative outline, we have encountered some features of our opening which we have to take into consideration when giving our film a certain certification.

In our film opening we would like to include swearing when the little boys parents are arguing, we will include this because it will make the fight seem more genuine and realistic, it will also enhance the tension and sense of drama, therefore creating a more authentic and traumatizing atmosphere.

We also need to imply violence in our film opening, it will not contain any gore or actual violence but it will include the implication of violence, including the man carrying a hammer towards his hostage, bruises and cuts on the hostage, plates being thrown during the argument scene etc...

After taking these things into consideration, particularly the implication of violence, we have decided to certify our film a 15, this is because according to the British Board of Film Classification (bbfc)  "A work which has a very dark or unsettling tone which could disturb the audience would be less likely to be passed 12A even if the individual issues in the film were considered acceptable under the BBFC guidelines"

Storyboard - 1

This is our first draft of our storyboard. It includes the camera angles we plan to use, sounds (diegetic or non-diegetic) included in the shot, the length of time we plan to hold the shot and dialogue. This may not be exact when we come to film our opening but these are the initial guidelines to keep on track.

 

Location - Smashing Plates (Foley Sound)

These are our two location options for where we are going to smash our plates. We asked our parents of places that they thought would be acceptable to smash a plate as well as being safe. The Foley sound is going to be used for dramatic effect when the parents are arguing at the beginning of the opening. Me and Mimi wore goggles when smashing , but we have done safety checks for smashing the plates on a separate post.

 

This is our first option for plate smashing. My mum, Amanda Hedger, thought this would be a good place as it would be easy to contain and clean up afterwards.

This is our second option of where to smash the plate. This is the location we chose, as my parents gave concent for us to smash it on their patio, and it was easy to sweep away safely.

Location -3

Location 3 (not used)

This is the location we chose for our 21 year old actor. This was going to be used for him to sit down onto the bed, as if it was in his bedroom, and then in darkness, flick a lighter. Due to the shot mainly being in almost pitch black, we realised we didn't need to think about how the location looked too much, however, we wanted to use an ordinary and messy bed, to make it look more realistic and to reflect the characters messy life.
We liked theses shots very much, but didn't add them in to our final opening as we decided they made the opening more confusing.

Location - 2 (second option)

Location 2 - Tonbridge

For our film opening we need a scene inside a house. This will be for the child actor's scene who will be positioned on the staircase. The setting has good composition and enables us to see both the kitchen (where the incident will happen) and the staircase, its very spacial so will allow us to include panning. This will be very beneficial as the group can easily access the setting as it one of our groups house. 

This is the location we chose for the inside our house scene as it was far more spacious than our first option.

Location -2 (First Option)

This was our second option for the scenes inside the house. It is set by some stairs for our youngest actor to sit on, with the possibility to pan from a door nearby. This location was suitable for what we are filming because it is an ordinary house, like any other. However, we agreed that this location was very cramped, and would be hard to film everything that we wanted in the same shot. Therefore, we looked at other options.

Location - 1

Location 1 - Weald, Sevenoaks

Near to where one of our group members lives, there is an open cricket pitch surrounded by a woodland area and we believe this would  be a perfect setting for sections of our film opening. It is very isolated and is a large open space so that could work well or on the other hand we could use the woodland to our advantage. 

Basic Narrative Outline

After researching what is included in a thriller, we found out that some of the key themes are perception, isolation and violence. We based our narrative around these themes.

• Our film opening will start with an extreme close-up of our protagonist's face, with no sound. (Black and white)
• The film will cut to the production title, after a blackout.
• We will have our child actor sitting on the stairs with violent commotion in the background. "You're a cancer to this family"
• He runs to his room, shuts the door and turns off the light. This action leads to a sudden black screen.
• Then we cut to a close-up of a woman's face, in a canted view, of her screaming and crying. (Black and white)
• Then we cut to a close-up of the woman's hands tied behind a tree. This then cuts to black again. (Black and White)
• We then have a sudden close-up of our young adult actor's face. The light in this shot is only from him struggling to, then switching on a lighter.
• We then have a close-up of our main character's hands imaginarily trying to flick the lighter with the same action as the previous shot. (Black and White)
• Cuts to a close-up of a woman's neck, muddy and clearly struggling. (Black and White)
• Close up of the woman's face again. "I've got a..." and "You're a cancer to this..." (Black and White)
• Extreme close up of main characters eyes opening suddenly. (Black and White). Heavy breathing and sobbing is the only sounds you can hear with a few birds also. "...Family"
• Longshot with main character in the foreground out of focus, and woman in the background in focus distressing. (Black and White)
• The main character is then rummaging in a tool box, and pulling out a hammer. (Black and White)
• The woman is in the background, in focus, screaming. You can then see his hand in the shot, but it's out of focus. He then becomes in focus, and she goes out of focus, as a focus pull. Then as he walks closer to the woman, you can see he's holding the hammer and eventually the majority of his body can be seen. (Black and White)
• Cuts to a extreme close-up of his mouth and he just smiles with no guilt, very much like a psychopath. (Black and white)

There is a build up of sound as the opening progresses that stops at the point of the main character opening his eyes.

Below is our rough storyboard plan.

Make Up

These are examples of the make up we will use on our actor(s) and the links to the websites in which we found the research.

 

This is the main character from 'The Machinist' who suffers from insomnia, the make up used on this character (pale face and dark/red eyes) gave us the inspiration to do the same on our own actor who plays a man with psychological illness.

We researched into how to create this look with make up but failed to find any videos to visually show us, but a group wesbite (linked below) gave us the results we wanted.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080428171706AAWwVJz

http://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/2631962

For our film opening we also need to create the impression of sweat on our actor(s) face.

After researching this, we found a photography wesbite which uses fake sweat on their models which gave us an insight into the techniques they used.

Thriller Character Costuming

We researched into successful thriller films such as the ones listed below, in order to gain an insight into the types of costuming and types of character most commonly used; gender, age, physical appearance.With the exception of a few female psychological thriller actresses, such as black swan, the majority was clearly middle aged, physically able men usually with facial hair. 

This is definitely something to keep in mind when creating our narrative and casting as we need to develop a mature and relevant feel about our film opening so that will include choosing an actor(s) suitable to fit the typical character requirements.

Halloween Opening vs. Amelie Opening

This is our comparison between two opening scenes from completely different genres. This has helped us to look into different genres more and think about what each type of genre uses in the opening sequence. This will also help us to decide what genre we would like to use for our own film opening.

Opening Credits Research

We explored the opening credits of several different films completely contrasting in genre. We did this to find out the order of credits, what credits are included and how they are presented so that we can use this research on our own film opening.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo:                          Monsters Inc:

- Production Company                                            -Production Company

- Second Production Company                               -Second Production Company

-Director                                                                 -Third Production Company

-Main actors                                                           - Title (1:17)

- Title (0:21)

- Other actors

Catch Me If You Can:                                               The Notebook

-Production Company                                             -Main Actors

- Second Production Company                                -Title (0:29)

- Third Production Company                                     - Other Actors

- Director                                                                -Casting, Costume Design

- Main Actors                                                         - Editing

- Title (0:44)

-Other Actors

Pulp Fiction:

-Production Company

-Second Production Company

-Third Production Company

-Director

-Title (0:23)

-Main actors

The research suggests that, although these films differ in genre, they are similar in the opening credits. Usually the film opens with two or more production companies and then introduces the director, the main actor or actor's are the next to feature and then after around 20-40 seconds the actual film title is revealed. 

What Makes A Fictional Psychopath

As we know that our narrative and film opening will be based around the life/experiences of a psychopath, we decided to research the typical qualities and expectations of a fictional character of a psychopath. This will help us when we decide in further detail what our main character's portrayal and features will be like in order to make it as accurate and mature as possible.

Initial Narrative Plan

This is just a rough copy of our first narrative idea. We had the idea of using one character played by different ages and showing brief encounters during his life but not showing the trauma which leads him to become the way he is in modern day life. 

We realised that this would be challenging as finding a variety of actors in different age groups yet all looking remotely similar would be extremely difficult. As well as this, it would difficult to match the era in which each actor is set. On top of this, it reveals too much detail to be considered as a film opening so we would need to cut it down in order for it to be successful.

Film Inspiration

These three films are the basis of our ideas towards our film opening. They each include different aspects as to why we found them inspirational and relevant to our own genre. 

The Machinist

The actor playing the main character is also dressed in such a way that looks normal, yet as he suffers from insomnia he has dark, tiring eyes done effectively by makeup. Using this kind of costuming and make up would be ideal for our own production.

 Human Centipede 2

The film is set entirely in black and white and this has an interesting effect on the feel and mood of the film. Initially it creates a threatening and uncomfortable feel which is ideal for our genre as during research we found that psychological thrillers set out to make the viewer feel an element of distress.

The trailer also includes a very realistic conversation between the parental figure and the apparent son, it is very traumatic and 'normal' in a sense so it becomes unsettling. This is relevant to our own ideas as we would like create a scene between a parent and child in a realistic way which will create discomfort.

Se7en

The cuts are very short and sharp which creates a lot of tension and suspense. 

There are several occasions the screen cuts to black and that builds mystery so this is another key element we want to include.

The positioning of the opening credits is also key for our production. As well as the dark low key lighting, this may be something we want to experiment with.

The use of sound will also play a very key role in our psychological thriller so the detail in sound and background music in Se7en gave us a lot of inspiration.

Dawn of the Dead

Throughout these credits, there are a lot of short, sharp cuts which is a feature we would like to use in our opening in order to build suspense and tension. This would also contribute to making the viewer uncomfortable which throughout our research, we have found is something a psychological thriller does. The opening also uses sound which seems to build up and overlap which is another feature we hope to replicate. 

Our Actors

For our film opening we will have 2-4 characters, the main character being a boy/man as he grows up. To find our actors we attended a casting of drama students held at school however, seeing as only one of the actors was male and didn't fit our description, we later decided to find actors outside of school. For our main character we will need three different actors in order to show his progress as he ages; one will be a child, one a young adult and one a grown man. In our opening we also plan to have one hostage and the child's parents, who will be arguing.

Our actor for the main character as a child is Kian:

We chose Kian because we wanted our actor to have dark hair throughout the opening as he progresses in age in order to indicate that it is the same person. As Kian is our child actor we need him to look sweet and vulnerable in order to evoke sympathy from the viewer. We believe Kian fits our description and as he is a close relative to our group (Amelia's cousin), we are able to fully and comfortably cooperate with him. 

Actor as a grown adult is John:

We believe that John would be suitable to play the role of our main character as an adult as he fits the requirements we need. He has dark hair which will continue the flow throughout the three different ages, he is also middle aged and will be able to wear the correct male asserting costume we wish to use. As he is also a relative of the group (Georgia's Dad) it will be easy to find out when he is available to film and is easy to cooperate with.

Our actress to play the hostage is Debbie:

Debbie is a suitable actress for the part of the hostage, she is the appropriate age to deal with the dialogue and situation. Debbie is also a relative of one of the group (Georgia's Mum) so it will be easy to indicate when she is available to film and easy to cooperate with.

Our actors to play the child parents are Amanda and Neil:

Amanda and Neil are suitable to play the parents of the child as they will be present at the same time the child actor is being filmed and therefore are easy to film. They're of the suitable age to deal with the dialogue and situation and are the parents of one of the group (Amelia) and therefore are easy to cooperate with.

Background

The background of our blog is a photograph I took in winter 2011 of a forest near where I live. I thought it was very relevant to the genre we were focusing on; Psychological thriller. As these types of film often focus on distressing or melancholy themes and situations, a dark, cold, unwelcoming and almost threatening image would be perfect to reflect those themes. In addition to this, the description of the image would adequately suit the mind or behaviour of a psychopath which is something we want to focus on. 

 I edited the picture to make it more visually exciting, I did this by increasing the contrast to create a sharpness and depth in the picture, as well as lowering the temperature of the image and adding a blue tint to it in order to make the environment seem cold and dangerous. Editing our film opening in this way could be something we look into later on.