What was good about my work and what could be improved?

This is my own final edit.

After showing my own title sequence edit to the class they gave me feedback on what was good and what I needed to be improved.

The Good Points were:

·         Good use of split screen.

·         Good range of shots.

·         My title sequence told a story (it was not confusing).

·         The shots lasted the right amount of time to keep the interest of the audience (they were not too long or too short).

·         Narrative put together.

·         The soundtrack was well suited to the story, especially the drums at the end.

·         Good use of heartbeat sound effect.

·         The title sequences were in good positions.

The recommended improvements were:

·         Maybe not focus on the brain so much.

·         Title sequence could be spaced out more.

My teacher thought that my title sequence was definitely in the higher levels (level 3-4).

Shooting Schedule

For our title sequence we had to make sure that we made a shoot schedule as we wanted to be on track. So here is a rough copy of our shooting schedule:

(Sorry that it’s vertical and the last page is meant to be blank).

Mostly all of our shots were in the same room, so we managed to get it all done within three hours. This meant we had more time to edit our work and make it look good. So we didn’t really go by the schedule.

Special effects

The illusions used in the film, television, theatre, or entertainment industries to simulate the imagined events in a story are traditionally called special effects (often abbreviated as SFX.  Special effects are traditionally divided into the categories of optical effects and mechanical effects.

Optical effects (also called photographic effects) – are techniques in which images or film frames are created photographically, either "in-camera" using multiple exposure, mattes, or the Schüfftan process, or in post-production processes using an optical printer. An optical effect might be used to place actors or sets against a different background.

Mechanical effects (also called practical or physical effects) – are usually accomplished during the live-action shooting. This includes the use of mechanized props, scenery, scale models, pyrotechnics and Atmospheric Effects: creating physical wind, rain, fog, snow, clouds etc. Making a car appear to drive by itself, or blowing up a building are examples of mechanical effects.

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

For our film we don’t really need special effects as it will be inside and not much will be going on. If we was going to use effects we wouldn’t need effects such as blowing up a building or creating psychical wind because if we were going to use then it would change the genre and we don’t want that to happen. I think that it’s best not to use special effects in this type of movie genre, unless it’s necessary. 

FunkDigit

One day last week our school organised a media conference where other schools were invited to join in with us.  During the conference we met someone who worked for a company called Funk Digit.  This company produces videos and adverts for other companies who want to advertise their products.  This link shall explain in more detail of what the company does.

 http://funkdigit.com/FD%20Showreel/page6.html 

During his speech he explained to us in detail how important it is to plan as it helps structure what you are going to do so that you do not get confused.  From this I realised I need to do a lot of research so that our title sequence was the best it could be.  

Beachcombing

I don’t really know the correct definition because I can’t find it anywhere but from my knowledge I know it’s about getting ideas together and expanding on it. This video shall explain in more detail of what it is:

From seeing this I can see how ideas are found and developed to be much better. If I do this then I shall get enhanced ideas to contribute to my group to make a better title sequence.

Camera shots

These are the different shots needed for our title sequence:

Shot 1 – We wanted a medium shot of a box being lifted by the antagonist but just the hands because we wanted to create many enigmas.

Shot 2 – Next we wanted a medium shot of box being put down on a table, again not showing the antagonist.

Shot 3 – Medium shot of box being cut open slowly, for this we needed the antagonist to be aggressive but slow as we don’t want to change the mood. We planned for the antagonist to aggressively open the box by stabbing it but then to slowly drag the knife across.

Shot 4 – Same as before a medium shot of box being cut open slowly but this time with white powder on it. We wanted to see if having the powder would make a good effect or not.

Shot 5 – There shall be a close up of knife being slammed onto the table to show that the antagonist isn’t messing around.

Shot 6 – The next shot shall be a long shot of antagonist taking newspaper out of the box. We shall being having the newspaper torn up so that it looks like there is loads of paper. We also had to make sure that the antagonist didn’t just take the paper out normally because it would of changed the mood, so when filming we had to decide how it was going to be done.

Shot 7 – After this we wanted a medium shot of antagonist taking items out of the box, to show the audience what was in there.

Shot 8 – We decided to have a close up shot of the antagonist holding a specific object with liquid in it, by having this shot will allow the audience to get a clearer picture of one of the objects.

Shot 9 – 12 –We wanted the antagonist putting objects onto table so we decided to have a medium shot of this. We would have a cut between each item being put on the table in case it didn’t look good to put it all in one shot.

Shot 13 – Next we wanted a medium shot of food colouring being mixed with water by the antagonist. Hopefully this would create enigmas as the audience would wonder why the antagonist is making a mixture.

Shot 14 – We then wanted a close up of antagonist taking lid of container by twisting it. This would allow the audience to get a better see at one of the items.

Shot 15 – Straight after we wanted a close up of antagonist taking the blue powder out of the container this would make the audience question on what the powder is for.

Shot 16 – We wanted to show the blue powder being added to the blue liquid by the antagonist, so we decided to have a medium shot for this.

Shot 17 – We then decided to have an extreme close up of liquid being sucked up into a syringe by the antagonist. This was to make that the audience was able to see clearer as any other shot and it would have been harder to see.

Shot 18 – Next we wanted another extreme close up but this time of liquid being squirted out of syringe.

Shot 19 – Afterwards we decided to have an over the shoulder shot of the antagonist looking at the protagonist chained up. In this shot we wanted the antagonist holding the syringe in their right hand while the protagonist is looking scared.

Shot 20 – We then wanted a closer shot of protagonist chained up so we thought a medium shot was a good option.

Shot 21 – After this we decided that we would have a close up of protagonist’s face. By having this shot the audience could see how the protagonist is feeling.

Shot 22 – We thought an extreme close up of protagonist’s hand shaking was a good idea next. This is because we wanted to show how much distress the protagonist is in.

Shot 23 – Same as before an extreme close up of protagonist’s hand shaking but this time with flashing light. We wanted to see if it gave a better effect or not.

Shot 24 – Same again but this time we wanted an extreme close up of protagonist’s hand trying to break free.

Shot 25 – Close up of protagonist’s feet in distress and light flashing.

Shot 26 – Next we wanted an extreme close up of protagonist’s eyes looking around. This would create enigmas as the audience would be wandering; why is he looking around? Is he looking for an escape?

Shot 27 – Afterwards we decided to have a close up of antagonist’s feet taking a step, from the side. This is to show that the antagonist is getting closer.

Shot 28 – We then thought of having a medium shot to a long shot of antagonist’s back walking away from camera. Again to show that the antagonist is getting closer and also it would look better than following the antagonist because the camera may get moved around so that it may be hard to see. So we thought having it still would be much better.

Shot 29 – Medium shot of antagonist’s arm quickly coming into shot.

Shot 30 – Next we decided to have a close up of protagonist’s face whilst antagonist holds knife to neck. By having this it kind of changes the mood to an action as there is a weapon used to show that there may be some sort of violence.

Shot 31 – We then thought of having a two shot showing the antagonist shaking around the protagonist. To show that the protagonist is getting restless and the antagonist is trying to calm him down.

Shot 32 – Close up of antagonist putting syringe in protagonist’s mouth. In this shot we wanted the protagonist to try and struggle to get the syringe out of his mouth.

Shot 33 – We then wanted another close up but this time of the syringe squirting out liquid by the antagonist, we wanted to seem that the liquid was going in to the protagonist’s mouth.

Shot 34 – We wanted a shot of the protagonist passing out slowly, so my group and I decided to have a close up of this because having it this way meant that the audience could see it better.

Shot 35 – 36 – We decided to have a medium shot and an extreme close up of protagonist looking dazed and confused. After looking dazed and confused we decided to have the protagonist faint as well, this was to show that the potion that was given to him has taken affect.

Shot 37 – In this next shot we wanted the audience to have a shock. A close up of antagonist’s face quickly turning around. What the main shock about this shot is that it’s a woman’s face, as most people would think that it’s a man. This is why we didn’t show much of the antagonist (We got this inspiration from Se7en's title sequence).

Shot 38 – 41 – Close ups of writing in magazines and books, these shots are going to show what the antagonist maybe planning.

Shot 42 – Close up of book opening from above.

Shot 43 – 45 – Extreme close ups of writing in book and finger going through certain words, same again, to show what the antagonist maybe planning.

Shot 46 – 50 – Close up of Google searching ‘psychological manipulation tactics’. For this we wanted to show the audience hints of what may be happening.

Shot 51 – 54 – Again the same as before but this time close up of Google images searching ‘live brains’.

Shot 55 – For the last shot we wanted a close up of turning on a radio. We wanted this because after the protagonist was given the mixture we wanted him to be triggered by something and one of our ideas was music so this is why we used a radio.

From this I realised that we have used most of the shots. This means the audience won’t get bored watching the same shots used as they is a selection.

Film Actors and Costume

Since the theme of the film was thriller we wanted one of our actors to play as a mad scientist. So I researched this in more detail.

Mad scientist -A mad scientist is a stock character of popular fiction, specifically science fiction the mad scientist may be villainous or antagonistic, benign or neutral, and whether insane, eccentric, or simply bumbling, mad scientists often work with fictional technology in order to forward their schemes.

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

From reading this I had to make sure that the actor was able to play the role of the mad scientist otherwise it would not have gone well. I researched different scientists / mad scientists to get a better picture; women and men.

The Nutty Professor - At the fictional Wellman College, thousands of hamsters are overrunning the entire campus, causing general chaos. This is due to Professor Sherman Klump (Eddie Murphy) accidentally releasing them by grazing the switch that opens the hamster’s cages. Meanwhile, Sherman has constructed an experimental formula that reconstructs the DNA of an obese person in a way that will allow them to lose weight more easily.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nutty_Professor_(1996_film)#Plot

I have not watched this film before, neither have I watched the original but a member of staff from school has watched it and she told me about the professor in this film. ’Sherman Klump was a friendly, scatter brained overweight college professor, who was made fun of by students and staff’.  After being told this I realised this was not the right kind of mad scientist that I wanted, Sherman Klump was humorous and a figure of fun. We wanted a more sinister and evil character.

Albert Einstein - was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of general relativity, affecting a revolution in physics. For this achievement, Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern physics and one of the most prolific intellects in human history. He received the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics "for his services to theoretical physics and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect”. The latter was pivotal in establishing quantum theory within physics.

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

Even though Albert Einstein isn’t a movie or has been in a movie we can still get inspiration from the way he looks. When he was young he looked like any normal scientist but when he got older he looked like a mad scientist and this is what we needed. What really makes Einstein look mad is the hair, this is because it’s sticking up and it’s not usual to normal life. Still not the kind we wanted even though the appearance is good.

Also with our Scientist we decided to have a woman to play the act. One of the reasons of this was because it would have created many enigmas; this would have been surprising to the audience to see a woman.  Our main inspiration for this was from the film Kill Bill vol 1.

 Kill Bill vol 1 - The Bride wakes up after a long coma. The baby that she carried before entering the coma is gone. The only thing on her mind is to have revenge on the assassination team that betrayed her - a team she was once part of.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0266697/

The main character in Kill Bill is a woman and she is seeking revenge; we got a big inspiration from this because of the way that the woman is the main character. Also because she is a woman, girls would be able to relate to her better. 

From this we knew what our scientist had to look along these lines.

We also wanted a protagonist who could relate to our target audience. We wanted someone who is a young male because our main target audience is teenage boys and we wanted them to relate with this character as he will be young, also teenage girls may relate to this character because  since he shall be young he should look good and girls seem to like young men in films. Here are some young males in films who are very popular:

Zac Efron - is an American actor. He began acting professionally in the early 2000s and became known with his lead roles in the Disney Channel Original Movie High School Musical, the WB series Summerland, and the 2007 film version of the Broadway musical Hairspray. Efron has since starred in the films 17 Again, Me and Orson Welles, Charlie St. Cloud, and New Year's Eve, and is due to star in The Lucky One.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zac_efron
I have seen Zac Efron in the film High School Musical while at the cinema. Every single time he appeared the girls in the cinema would scream as if he was actually there. So to attract the female audience I realise that we need someone that girls would be attracted to. Also, it may have attracted boys because since he gets the ‘ladies’ boys may get an inspiration from him.

Taylor Lautner - is an American actor, voice actor, model, and martial artist. After as a child Lautner soon thereafter began his acting career, appearing in bit roles in comedy series such as The Bernie Mac Show (2003) and My Wife and Kids (2004), before having voice roles in television series like What's New, Scooby-Doo? (2005) and Danny Phantom (2005). In 2005, he appeared in the film Cheaper by the Dozen 2 and starred in The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D. Lautner got his big break when he was cast as Jacob Black in The Twilight Saga film series, beginning with the first film, Twilight (2008). Lautner returned for the following two movies, The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009) and The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (2010), The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 (2011) and is set to appear in the final film of the series, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 in late 2012.

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

Unfortunately I have seen Twilight, which means I have seen Taylor Lautner. Again it’s the same as Efron all the girls in the cinema just go crazy when they see him (especially when he takes his shirt off).

(I didn’t film this but by watching it, it shows you how crazy girls go when seeing a young male)

So from this I knew what type of person we needed to attract the opposite sex.

These are all the characters needed for our title sequence. I now have a better insight of what our characters should look like.

These are the characters we used for our sequence.

This is our scientist.

And this was our protagonist.

Soundtrack in more detail

After researching the conventions of a thriller I decided to look into more detail of sound.  From what I found out from before was that ‘sound is a very important convention in thriller openings as the different music themes produce a different mood and feel for the films’. So I had to make sure that I got the right type of music.

We didn’t want music such as this…

…because it’s too happy and jolly because of this it doesn’t fit the thriller genre.

Neither did we want the complete opposite such as…
(sorry if it's bad quality)

…this is because it’s really slow and calm doesn’t really give the right reaction, unless someone has just died then this song is great for reflecting but not what I’m looking for.

I was thinking that a slow piano would suit as it can be good for a build-up.  So I researched thriller type music.

Jaws 

A great piece of music for building up tension as it stats up slow and then starts to pick up the pace. So this is a good inspiration to use.

The Shining 

This piece doesn’t build up tension but it sounds very sinister, this will help us as we have a mad scientist.  

From these I have a better understanding of thriller music, now I shall use this on my own piece. 

This is what out final soundtrack sounded like.

Location

For our title sequence we wanted a dark gloomy setting where a mad scientist was going to carry out an experiment on the protagonist. At first my group and I thought of placing the title sequence in a basement showing the mad scientist making his plans in a dark and gloomy setting. Unfortunately because of my disability I was unable to access a basement and therefore our original plan had to change.

Then we thought of using a drama studio which would be better for me as I could manoeuvre easily. It was also a good because large open space and a lot can be done in the space. This helped us as it looked like a basement, which added a spooky effect. 

Here  are some pictures of the drama studio.

Another good thing about using the drama studio was that the lighting could be changed differently; this helped us as we could play around with the lights and experiment in different ways.