Film Opening Storyboard

Film Poster

This is the teaser poster, which includes the title, production company name and a few of the credits for example, the directors, cast and producers. 

The reason why the font is white is it too make it stand out as it is on a dark background which draws attention to the title and the credits. The fact the title is in the middle of the poster draws the viewers eye to it. We also put the production company logo on the poster as it tells the audience who created this film and to give them acknowledgement. 

We decided that the main feature in the poster would be the picture. This is why the information on the poster is either at the top or bottom of the poster as we wanted the image to dominate. The image we chose is a screenshot of a scene during the film opening which shows the main character  running through a subway. We think this is the most interesting shot as it doesn't expose the genre and narrative too much but gives enough of a clue to intrigue the audience and hopefully make them want to watch the film. The fact that he s running out of the dark towards the light suggests he is trying to escape from danger and hoping to reach salvation, though the glare of the light is so strong it is impossible to make out what, or who, he is trying to reach. 

Production Company/ Name/ Logo/ Ethos

We decided that the name of our production company would be BW Umbrella Productions. The reason for this is that it is gives a sense of an all encompasing and wide ranging outlook.

We have decided to be an independent company as we wanted our film to have a unique and different feel. This wouldn't be possible from a main stream studio. We also decided to not do a logo as we believe that the title and our film can speak for themselves, so it doesn't need a logo to be recognised, our name alone will bring the necessary recognition.

We decided that the text would be white over a grey, cloudscape background. However it has black outlines so that it is clear to see. From this we go straight into the credits. The white / black text combined with the grey, almost colourless background of the urban landscape gives a bleak feeling which fits with the murder mystery/ thriller genre of our film.

Institution/ Film Studio

We decided to included Universal production company in our film opening as we feel it would be a good company to help release and distribute the film due to how well known it is, it's good reputation from other films they have released and that they would be good with helping to get our film publicity. Also from it being a big, successful production company it would be able to help with funding for the making of the film as we would not have the budget to do it ourselves, especially as our production company is a small independent company.

Script

We did not need a script for our film opening as we decided dialogue wasn't needed. We made this decision as we felt our opening would be more effective without dialogue, where the audience could just focus on the action taking place in the scene and the soundtrack we chose to go with it. We didn't want to over complicate what was happening in our opening and just having the slow motion running and mysterious music playing suggested the genre and gave the effect we wanted, so having dialogue could have ruined that.

Pitch/Brief

We both decided that the tone of our film is a murder mystery/ thriller as the mix of these two genres would be the best way to intrigue and hold our audience. The opening shots reflect this and our idea was to have someone being chased while running through the underground pathways in Southend. We decided this location would be effective as the audience are unsure of where the pathway leads, which reinforces the mystery and tension. The graffiti all over the walls suggests crime and the fact that it is dark and dirty also indicates danger and the thriller genre. We used a dark place during the day so any light coming in would create shadows, which is another convention of a thriller. 

     We wanted to keep the audience guessing, this is one of the reasons we chose to film the chase in slow motion as for a long time the audience don't know why or who the main character is running from. Another reason we chose to film the chase in slow motion is because we wanted the audience to feel more involved and engulfed by the story-line, doing this made each moment longer creating a mysterious effect.

The main character is just a normal boy. we thought that if he looked like 'anybody off the street' the audience would believe that this could happen to anyone including themselves, helping the audience identify with the character. This is obviously beneficial as the impact on the audience could result in the audience getting more involved in the narrative as well as making them think about it during the film.
    
     The title is 'On The Run' we decided on  this because the film starts with a chase. We figured that we should make the title relevant to the narrative so the audience knows what it is about and what they are getting. However its the mysterious side that intrigues the audience as they don't know who it is that's running, who they are running from and why. 

Our influence has been a murder mystery TV programme, 'Death in Paradise'.  We wanted to have a similar narrative and effect but transfer to a film, giving it a more cinematic look. As in every episode of 'Death in Paradise' a murder takes place so that is what we have decided to do with our film opening, start it off with a murder and the rest of the film is a journey to find out who did it and just as importantly, why.  We were also influenced by the film 'se7en' as the story-line is similar. We liked the fact that the film is so gripping, we aspire to make our film opening as engaging with the audience, inspiring them to conjure up their own theories about who did it and why.

Shutter Island Film Opening Textual Analysis- Ella

Firstly, when the main character is coming out of the door the zoom and pan moments cut between the foreground and the background, shifting the focus. First the focus is on the handcuffs dangling from the ceiling, it then shifts to the main character walking across the room. The camera then zooms and pans around him as he moves to the other door, indicating that we're following his every move. Through the use of colour, music, montage shots and quick cuts it distinguishes between the reality and flashback. This draws the audience into the main characters reality. 



The film starts with an establishing shot of a boat in the middle of a mist covered sea. The lighting throughout the boat sequence is low-key/ gloomy creating an eerie atmosphere that hint towards a thriller genre.

When the main character is first introduced in the bathroom, the light comes through a single window and is stark. The light is cast on the left side of his ace where as the right side is lost in shadow. This use of lighting indicates a personality split, a dark side and a light side, reinforcing the idea that the genre of this film is a thriller. This type of setup is a typical convention in thrillers. However during the first scene there is no dialogue implying that the director is unwilling to definitively expose the genre right away, so keeping the audience guessing.

During the first scene with the boat there is a low orchestral sound which sounds like a steamship horn. This also helps create a mysterious and tense feeling right from the start and throughout the begining.

During a flashback scene the steamship horn sound is still there but is complemented with a lighter soundtrack which could resemble a woman's voice. This intrigues the audience as they haven't been introduced to a second character, this scene could also give a clue to the women's character. Later on in the opening the second character is fully revealed and is the main characters wife.

In the background of one of the flashbacks there is a record player, shown playing a song however, you cant hear it, at this point the audience is only allowed to see it.

Right at the beginning the company logo of Paramount Pictures is prominent. The font used has been identified as Agency FB Bold, with white text on a black screen behind. They have continued to use the same font for the opening credits, the font looks quite old suggesting that the film is set in a different period of time. Using different coloured text highlights the credit and due to the fact that it is red signifies that the film is to do with danger or maybe death. however it only chooses certain credits to be in colour as the rest are in one reinforcing the importance of the people.


The very first moment you're introduced to the main character you see him from the distance however you only see the bottom half of him, which still leaves the audience guessing. Seconds later you see his face reflected in the mirror giving you a clear idea who the main character is.

During the flashback  you see two characters, one woman, one man (the same man, main character). They are both lit up by directional back light creating a surrealistic look compared to the dampened light of his reality in the film opening.

The women's face is frozen in a freeze frame, this is the only freeze frame throughout the whole opening, emphasising the focal point of the plot, allowing the audience to acknowledge her role in the film.
The camera tilts with the waves, provoking a feeling of seasickness from the audience side as well, connecting us to the characters physical state.Camera angles play an important role in convincing the audience of the characters reality from the start.

During the freeze frame (of the woman's face) it is the first time you hear the water and it carry's on into the freeze frame linking the water and the woman together.

The main character is talks to another man on the boat. When the other man speaks the camera is usually static, however when the main character talks the camera tilts reinforcing the audience to his physical state.

The scene on the deck consists of medium shots resulting in the ramping up of tension and at the same time making it difficult for the audience to grasp a sense of location, adding to the sense of mystery.

The colours out on the deck are monochrome with a blurry background creating a flat space, contrasting with the cold blue and green atmosphere in the scene. The flash back scenes are  colourful, made up of mixed colour temperatures; yellow, green and red. creating an almost sickly feeling.

Marketing

We could make accounts for the film on social media sites such as, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. With these accounts we could share updates about the film, for example actors that will be starring in the film and when the trailer is released. Using social networking sites to advertise the film could help get it a lot of publicity as so most teenagers/ young adults use social media so would be able to share and see all the advertising for the film, which is what we want as they are the target audience.

Guerrilla advertising could also be a good way to advertise the film as it is a bold statement and a cheap way to get the message out about the film being released. This is because of social media where people would see the advertising and starting filming it or taking pictures that they would then share on their social media.

Using posters and billboards to go up at cinemas once the film has been released and in public areas will get people noticing the film and draw them in to then go on the watch the trailer for it and then go to watch the film.

We can also have the trailer for our film shown before films in cinema of similar genres as the people watching would most likely be our target market as they would be watching other films of the same genre, so this would be a very good way for us to get the trailer seen by our target market.

Focus groups

To ensure that our focus group feedback is useful, we need to construct a focus group that is made up of our target audience which in our case it is for teenagers/young adults. We will ask questions and collect their feedback ; which type of character do they like, why they like the genre etc. We will also use that feedback to decide what we are going to do for our film opening.

Question 1 : 'Which character do you feel more emotionally involved in, the protagonist or the antagonist'

We asked this question because we wanted to see if we should highlight or make the antagonist known, however the results showed that everyone in our focus group felt more emotionally involved with the protagonist as they relate to the character more. Therefore we didn't really include the antagonist just the idea of one, this also helps keep the audience guessing who they are.

Question 2 : 'What makes you want to watch murder mystery's'

This question was asked as we wanted to include the reasons why people want to watch murder mystery's. The question would help us because the reasons why our focus group watch it are the reasons our audience will. The outcome of this question was that they like to become a part of the narrative and guess who the murderer is as well as finding out who it is.

Question 3 : 'If you were to film your own murder mystery, what location would you film in an why?'

We decided to ask this question for the reason that we didn't know where to film and wanted to get their opinions on where they think is best to film a murder mystery. Due to the fact the locations that were suggested in our focus group were too far away to film, we couldn't take those on board. However we both liked the idea of the caves so we found some local underground footpaths which would give it a similar effect.

Question 4 : 'Do you prefer murder mystery/ thriller films age rating 15 or 18?'

As we were both unsure of what age rating the film should be for our film opening we asked this question. It was a split opinion from our focus group, two people preferring a 15 when the other two thought its should be a 18. We came to a decision and chose that the age rating would be a 15 as we would receive a wider audience and it would be better for our target audience as younger people would be able to see it.

Editing Diary

The software I used to edit our film opening was iMovie as I am are not used to using any other forms of editing software and know people who are familiar with this if I was unsure of anything. Also, from editing our preliminary task it gave the chance to practice using the software effectively preparing for when we had to edit our final film opening.

Firstly, I imported all of the footage we filmed off of my iPhone, onto the Macbook using the phones USB cable. Once all of the footage was imported I went through each shot filmed deciding which were best to use and roughly putting the clips in order of how I wanted to add them together and cutting any that were too long or had bits in them that were not needed. I did this first to see how well they would transition from one cut to another and if it all fit together showing the genre well. From looking over the shots this way and getting feedback I decided to re-film a couple more times for the beginning of the opening and the final shot for it until it was filmed in a way that looked best all together to look realistic and give the effect we wanted to achieve.

Once I was happy with the order and shots we had in it, I then went through to make sure all transitions ran smoothly by adding transitions where they looked needed and cutting clips anymore if necessary to make the match on action join up right when the character is running and the positions he is being filmed in change. I also muted the sound on all of the clips as it wasn't needed and music would be added to play as a soundtrack later.

Then I went through all of the clips in the opening and changed the speed of them so they were in slow motion, which I felt looked a lot more effective and would help to build up tension as it puts the audience in suspense, anticipating who the character is running from and wanting to find out what is happening in the scene.

Then once I was happy with the editing on all of the clips, I added the music that I had chosen for our murder mystery that I feel fits the genre, making sure it faded in quite quickly at the start after the production company logo and I felt this fit with the fact it goes straight into action and then I also made sure the end of the song played at the end, so had to alter the length, as I felt it faded out nicely going well with the final shot that is panning up to the sky.

Finally, once I was happy with how the film opening looked I just needed to add our production company name, the credits and film title at the end. When adding the text I went through all the options for where I could position it putting in places where I felt it looked best with the shot it was appearing over and I went through many of the font types choosing one that I feel looks professional for a film opening and is clear to read.

Questionnaire Results

1) How old are you?

65% of the people that answer our questionnaire are in the age range 15-17 which is helpful as our target age for our opening is teenagers/ young adults, so getting responses from more younger people will mean the responses should relate more to what the audience want.

2) Are you male or female?

Half the people that took the questionnaire were male and half were female which is helpful as we will be getting a mix of responses from both genders as our film will be targeted for both.

3) Which is your preferred sub-genre for a murder mystery?

The answer that got the most responses was 'thriller' which is the sub-genre we have chosen for our film opening.

4) Do you like murder mystery films that have a double crossing of a character?

The majority of people answered yes (85%) meaning if we made our idea into a full film, this idea would be included at some point.

5) Do you like to relate more to the protagonist or antagonist?

78.95% of people answered that they like to relate more to the protagonist, so this would be considered and if we made this into a full film we would make sure the protagonist has qualities and features that makes them easier to relate to.

6) What do you prefer as the age rating of a murder mystery?

70% of people answered that they prefer a 15 age rating of a murder mystery and that is the rating we have chosen for ours so it is suitable for the audience we are targeting.  

7) What do you think is the most important convention of a murder mystery?

These are all of the responses we got for what people would consider important conventions of a murder mystery, we can use some of these suggestions to help us develop our film opening and make it something the audience will want to watch for the reasons given in our questionnaire.

8) Do you prefer the protagonist to be male or female?

It was almost half and half with the responses to this question, maybe showing that audiences aren't too bothered what gender the protagonist is. 

Our Film Title

We found it quite hard trying to think of a film title that we felt suggested the genre and went with the story line we envisioned. At first we thought a one word title would be effective as lots of films have titles like that making them memorable and being a word that sums the film up. However, after thinking long and hard we struggled to come up with a one word title that we were happy with so decided to think of other length titles too. That is when we came up with the title 'On the Run' which is still a short effective title, sounding quite mysterious, and also it relates to what the film is about with the character in the opening on the run from something that the audience is unaware of, then the film would go back following him on that journey as the crime is solved.

After deciding on a title we then needed a font for it, and I found the font by looking through a lot of the fonts on iMovie until I found one that I liked and thought went with the film well. There were two fonts that stood out to me that I chose between.

The first font was 'Wanted LET' which I thought was effective for this film as the font type is like the writing you would see on 'Wanted' signs, suggesting crime, and it is a clear, thick text that stands out.

The other font was 'Zingende' which I also thought would be good to use as it is a very clear, bold text and how the text has pointed, sharp looking edges on parts makes it look more edgy and suggests the crime/ violence from the murder that takes place in the film.

In the end I decided on the font 'Zingende' as I feel it looks more professional and stood out better against the end shot of the sky, which the text needed to do as it is the title of the film so needs to be clear to see. I made the font colour white as I felt a simple colour would be suitable for a mystery where not a lot is given away about the story line until the film progresses and things are gradually revealed, which this colour choice portrays. 

Interviews with Actors, Directors, Cinematographers and Editors

Actor

Why did you agree to be in the film opening?

I agreed to be in this film opening as I love murder mysteries and thought it would be a really good experience getting to act in part of one myself for this film opening. 

Were there any problems as an actor that you faced?

As an actor I faced the problem that as I was having to run down a walking round a corner where I couldn't see if anyone was walking round from the other way, I had to be really careful that I checked if I could see anyone coming first, and if there was wait, and then when I was running I just tried to not run too fast at my full speed so there was less chance of a collision with someone walking by.

How did you find the whole experience?

I really enjoyed the experience of getting to take part in filming a film opening and helping with this media project, the only parts I did not enjoy as much were when I had to be on the floor for the final shot as it was being filmed in not a very nice area and was not the nicest to be laying on the floor in. Despite that, overall I would definitely still take part in this experience again if I could.

Director/ cinematographer

Why did you decide to film the opening the way you did?

We decided to film the opening the way we did as after brainstorming a few different ideas and then re filming some more new ones we came up with on the days of filming we felt that what we came up with would look cinematic and have the mysterious effect we wanted the opening to have, establishing the genre from the off set. 

Were there any problems you faced while filming?

As we were filming in a public area, we had to re film some of the shots a few times as sometimes people would walk/ cycle through in the middle of us filming.

How did you find the whole experience?

We found the experience really interesting getting to see what it is like filming our own film opening and seeing the different problems we faced, finding ways to overcome them.

Editor

Why did you decide to edit the film opening the way you did?

I decided to edit the film opening the way I did as I felt having it all in slow motion and how I transitioned the cuts between shots made it look most effective, seeming mysterious and giving the audience a chance to take all the action and setting in with the slowed down shots.

Were there any problems you faced when editing?

When editing I faced some problems with matching up the match on action, getting them timed perfectly but after spending a long time working on it I'm happy with how well they all match up together. Also, I wanted to have a longer cross fad between the final two shots, however when it came to adding it I couldn't work out how to make it longer even after googling how to, so sadly I was unable to do this.

How did you find the whole experience?
I really enjoyed the whole experience, getting to develop my editing skills and bring our film opening idea together making it something I am very proud of doing.

Changes

We originally planned for the genre to be thriller/ horror however we changed it to thriller/ murder mystery. We did this as we believe that this genre is more interesting to watch as the mystery element means the audience can get more involved by trying to guess whats going to happen, what is happening and who the murderer is. The thriller/murder mystery genre also means the story line is more likely to intrigue the audience more than a thriller/ horror genre would do because it isn't so predictable.

Another element that we changed was the location for the opening credits. Initially, we envisioned putting them over  foggy/ eerie shots of the beach early in the morning, with the sound of the waves in the background. We decided to change this because the rest of the film is in an urban setting and we thought it would be a bit confusing if we were to suddenly change from a seaside location to someone running through a council estate. Therefore we filmed the shots for  the credits in the same location as the rest of the film opening.

Right at the beginning we decided on having multiple characters instead of just one. However, we both then thought that having one main character would be more effective as it makes the narrative and  camera shots clearer. If we were to have more than one character we would have the same broad story-line but there would a group of people being chased, and instead of one getting killed they would each be killed one after the other. We thought this wouldn't be as effective and could be slightly confusing. We did use a second person but they were only shown as a shadow to portray the murderer, and they were only in one scene.

Dark Knight Film Opening Textual Analysis- Rebecca

The usual conventions of a film opening are; company name, a piece of music, credits, title of the film, setting, the genre being shown and main character being introduced. The opening of Dark Knight includes some of these conventions, however is does not include all of them as they did not go with the scene and help with the impact that the opening gives.

The company names, The Warner Brothers, Legendary Pictures and DC logos have been stylised to portray the films style, which is dark and action filled. They are all black and dark blue to link with the fact that it is a Batman film and those are the colours that are associated with the character. Also, the sound played before the first logo appears is quite mysterious with sudden drum beats to build the tension from the off set.

Dark Knights is unusual in that it doesn't have music during the opening as a soundtrack could take the audience's attention away from what the characters are saying and important details shown, for example the mask that is shown at the beginning is what the antagonist is wearing throughout the first five minutes of the film.

It is quite unconventional that the opening scene of the film doesn't have any credits or the title of the film appear, this is because it starts quite fast pace showing action straight away so credits wouldn't really fit with that and could take away from the atmosphere and some key points that the action is highlighting. There is also no point where the film title could appear without breaking up the scene and ruining what is being achieved by going straight into action and the main story line.

The opening is set in Gotham City where the previous Batman films are set as it is a sequel so viewers would recognise it from the previous films.

The audience meets The Joker, who is the villain so one of the main characters, in the opening sequence. The Joker is one of the robbers in the clown masks but the audience don't know it's him until the end of the opening. They are still made to realise his character is significant though by the camera zooming in on his mask before the action started and the other bank robbers keep mentioning things about The Joker throughout the scene so the audience got an idea of what he is like and it is a surprise when it is revealed that he had been in the scene the whole time to add to the tension and draw the audience in.

The genre of Dark Knight is action and the tone of the genre is established in a few ways. The film begins straight away with action by having the bank robbery so indicates that it is an action film. Also, the use of props such as guns and grenades, are associated with violence and action, being the conventional sort of things that would appear in an action film.

The soundtrack plays throughout the whole of the opening sequence and fits very well with what is happening in the scene as it is quite tense how the music builds up getting slightly louder as the scene progresses and helps gives a tense fill to the scene, matching with the action, building suspence. There is also a lot of pleonastic sound used to add to key bits of action making the scene a bit jumpy and more exciting to watch. Examples of when pleonastic sound is used in the scene are; when windows are smashed, the sound of the zip wire as the robbers go down it, the gun shots and when the grenades are pulled.

Throughout the opening scene, continuity editing is used as the audiences' attention should be on the action taking place in the scene so they shouldn't be noticing the editing between each shot.

Cinematography has been used very effectively in this opening scene. A lot of close ups were used of the bank robbers masks to highlight the fact that they work for the Joker, and the close of the the Jokers mask before he gets in the car indicates that his could have a bit more significance than the others, which it does as he is the antagonist of the film. There is also an aerial shot at the beginning of the two robbers that went across the zip wire from another building, which could portray how extravagant the whole plan for the robbery is and that the person in charge who planned it all is high up and overseeing it all by having the shot looking at them from above, so even though they're high up on the building, those characters don't have all the control.

Third Day Filming

After going through the new footage I filmed on the second day and editing it all together, we got feedback and decided that the footage of the graffiti didn't work as well as we thought it would and felt that more footage of the main character to begin with would work better. Also, looking back over our last shot the end the scene we felt it could have been filmed in a different, better way to look more cinematic and add the effect we wanted for our opening a bit better.

I decided to film down the along a bridge over a main road and the road leading to the area along where we filmed the rest of the opening in the underground walkways. This was a good place to film more shots of the main character as it was long paths to film down and having the bridge meant I could film some high angle shots too, making the character look weaker and more vulnerable, which is how I wanted him to seem as he is in danger.

Here are some of the shots I filmed:

Props and Costume

We didn't have any props in our opening as we wanted to keep it simple and not over complicated for the audience to follow by having the simple chase which didn't need any props to film.

We got Stewart to wear black jeans, a burgundy hoodie and grey shoes. We wanted the costume to be casual and like something a teenager would wear as an everyday look. The clothes are quite dark to subtly show he's got some kind of dark secret, which would be revealed later into the film. The darker, plain clothes also adds to the eeriness we wanted to be suggested to go with the mystery that should be shown for the genre.

Influences

One of our influences was the TV murder mystery drama, 'Death in Paradise'. Even though this is a TV drama and we are making a film opening, it still influenced us with ideas for what we could include in our opening. The start of every episode of this programme begins with a murder taking place where you see the build up to it happen and then the dead body at the end of the opening, without the audience seeing what actually happened for the character to end up like that. This gave us an idea to do our opening with a similar idea, with the character running away form someone, with no explanation as to what's happening or who is chasing them to build the suspense and tension, making the audience want to watch the rest of the film to find what happened and why.

Even though the opening film 'Se7en' is very different to ours, in the way that our film begins with the murder straight away and ours is less gruesome, we were still inspired by the film in relation to the genre. This film inspired us to change to the murder mystery genre as we liked how gripping this film is and found it exciting following the detectives as they tried to solve the murder and work out what the murders thinking behind it was, as the viewers can follow along with that trying to come up with theories themselves, then finding out the truth at the end.

Title Sequences

        The importance of a title

The title represents what the film is about and can give a clue to  its narrative. Getting the right title can be one of the most important aspects of promoting your film as that is the first thing people hear about the film and will attract your target audience to come and see it as it can give them a clue as to what it is about. Whilst the majority of films use titles that help illustrate what it will be about some films deliberately choose an enigmatic title, for example 'Blue Velvet' to intrigue people and make them want to find out more about it. 

  The importance of opening Credits

The opening credits are also important as it reveals who will be starring and who is directing. A well known star or director will encourage fans of those names to watch the film and will increase the size of the audience. Secondly, many directors and stars are linked with a particular genre (eg Bruce Willis, action adventure) therefore when the audience see that name  in the credits they  would presume to know what type of film they're about to see. The positioning of the credits is also important. Often they're right at the begining of a film but sometimes they happen after the opening action, showing action first ensures that the audience is hooked into the film right from the start.  There are many styles of credits. They can be  text on top of a black screen, for example Psycho, or animated like Skyfall. However credits can be a mix of styles an example of this would be Casino Royale being a mix of discreet, animated/ live action and stylised. At the beginning before the credits start the production logo is shown to credit the company, this can also help disclose the genre as normally the companies only work with a particular genre.       
     
     Narrative (The Shining)    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgCejsyS0t8

    The Shining is an example of a convenient way of rolling the credits while simultaneously beginning the story. At the start of The Shining we see the character driving to his first meeting at the Overlook hotel, however not much happens as the credits roll but the audience is able to see how remote the hotel is while the music sets an eerie tone. The first scene of the film is the main characters interview at the hotel. The audience can assume this happens directly after we see his car journey within the credits, setting the scene for for the rest of the film.

     Still image (Psycho)   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwq1XHtJEHw

     In Psycho's title sequence there is a black screen where the credits roll on the top in a white text. Once the colour fades into the dark screen it creates a sense of mystery, setting   the tone for the film. The most common genre this style is used for would be horror.The fact that there isn't anything really going on during the credits allows this style to highlight the music and font which also helps the audience acknowledge the genre of the film. The contrast from the white text to the black background makes the text stand out and imply the importance of it.

      Discrete (Se7en)   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEZK7mJoPLY

The opening credits of Se7en enables the audience to see the psychotic nature of the main character however the audience are not properly introduced to it yet. This style is effective as the effects used in the title sequence are creative and blend into the opening itself. Discrete film openings are separately edited sequences that are separate from the film, almost a mini film before the film starts. This style is designed to get the audience in the mood for the film without giving too much away.

Stylised (Spectre)    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmIcsr6Q8bU

A stylised title sequences relies a lot on editing to set the mood of the film, the editing is used within the font and text shown. For example, if it is sharp lettering the audience would assume that the film is somewhat to do with danger. Stylised is also a different way to introduce the actors and film makers by capturing the audiences attention straight from the beginning. The 'Spectre' opening consists of swirling dark and light images that slowly mould into the characters of the film and then finally moulds into the 'spectre' symbol.

     

     

    
      

   

    

 

Questionaire

Murder Mystery Questionnaire

1. How old are you?

• <12
• 13-17
• 18-30
• 13-55
• 56<

2. Are you male or female?

• Male
• Female

3. Which is your preferred sub-genre of a murder mystery?

• Thriller
• Psychological
• Drama
• Other (specify)

4. Do you like murder mystery films that have a double crossing of a character?

• Yes
• No

5. Do you like to relate more to the protagonist of a murder or the antagonist?

• Protagonist
• Antagonist

6. What do you prefer as the age rating of a murder mystery film?

• 12
• 15
• 18

7. What do you think is the most important convention of a murder mystery?

• .........................................................

8. Do you prefer the protagonist to be male or female?

• Male
• Female

Health and Safety Risk Assessment

When filming there were some health and safety risks that we encountered and had to find ways to solve to ensure we were being safe whilst out filming.

Firstly, the area we were filming in is fairly secluded, in the underground walkway, to give the effect we were after for filming. We couldn't film at night like we had originally considered for the duller lighting, as it was down Southend in an area that you should be careful around at night with not many people around, so we filmed early in the day instead which actually worked out better for out idea in the end as we could used shadows in the lighting to create the mysterious effect we wanted.

When we filmed the chase part of our opening scene we had to be careful for a couple reasons. Firstly, we had to be cautious if any people walked/ cycled down the walkway whilst we were filming it to make sure we didn't run into anyone and get injured. Also, when filming whilst following the character we had to be careful we weren't going too fast in case we fell over hurting ourselves or dropping the phone/ steady cam breaking them.

We filmed a shot over the side of the walkway from above for a high angle were we needed to be very careful as we were be holding the camera over the drop and having to lean over the railings, so we just had to make sure we didn't lean over too much to avoid the risk of losing balance and falling or dropping the camera on the actor underneath.

Marking Previous Film Openings Examples

The issues we could possibly face while submitting our film opening could be things such as, cuts between shots not being synced for good match on action, poor editing due to small mistakes being unnoticed and a story line that doesn't make sense with too much going on for a two minute opening.
However we have marked a few past examples (using a mark scheme) with a variety of marks so we can look to see what we want to achieve and what we don't, potentially giving us inspiration of different camera angles and locations. This task has also helped us see how and what to do to get the higher marks to benefit our film opening, and things that we should consider to avoid making mistakes.

First example:

Clip: Captive	Level 1 (0-2) Incomplete/minimal creative/technical skills	Level 2 (3-5) Basic creative/technical skills	Level 3 (5-7) Proficient creative/technical skills	Level 4 (8-10) Excellent creative technical skills	Mark
Material appropriate to target audience				Its establishes the genre.	10
Titles conventional/appropriate				Appropriate font and style.	9
Sound/images and technical editing			The music/ background sound fits well within the genre.		8
Camera work/framing/variety of shot types/mise en scene				Good variety of camera shots, establishing location. Appropriate make up and location. Good framing.	9
Editing for meaning/transitions effects			The transitions made were almost trailer like.		7
Overall feel				Good story line, location, makeup, camera shots.	9
				Total:	52

What went well:
This film opening had a variety of different camera shots and made the opening very effective as well as creating the verisimilitude. From the start of the opening you can tell the genre straight away. This is a great example for us to look at as we can see what standard our film opening needs to be at.

Even better if:

The transitions that was put in almost made it feel like it was a trailer. For us to benefit from this we decided not to use a lot of transitions only where they are needed.

Second example:

Clip: They’re Coming	Level 1 (0-2) Incomplete/minimal creative/technical skills	Level 2 (3-5) Basic creative/technical skills	Level 3 (5-7) Proficient creative/technical skills	Level 4 (8-10) Excellent creative technical skills	Mark
Material appropriate to target audience			Establishes genre.		7
Titles conventional/appropriate		Unconventional titles, not many, name we assume to be the actors.			5
Sound/images and technical editing		The music at times was not appropriate.			5
Camera work/framing/variety of shot types/mise en scene			A variety of different camera shots.		6
Editing for meaning/transitions effects		It was quite confusing, transitions didn’t make sense			5
Overall feel		Wasn’t very eye-catching, didn’t make us want to watch on.			5
				Total:	33

What went well:

Again there was a variety of camera shots that help establish the genre

Even better if:

The titles were unconventional, the names that were shown we assume to be the actors however we don't know for sure. The music that was played was not appropriate at some times