Questionnaire

Development of ideas

Initial ideas:

Thriller

Our original idea consisted of elements from the Black Swan. As a group we thought about using props such as a jewellery box for the musical element as well as the possible use of the spinning ballerina at the top of the jewellery box. We also chose to focus on one particular character that would have the psychological difficulty of split personality.

Whilst focusing on material we wanted within the opening scene we also wanted to add the aspect of dark thriller through the use of dull lighting – recorded during evening in surroundings that seem supernatural (eg, underground tunnels)

After thinking through the idea based on Black Swan we then thought it seemed too similar, so we decided to highlight effects of thriller through the use of characters in mime which adds a aspect intensity through hidden identity and the use of black and white colour.

Overall, we chose to follow the path of thriller as we found that after researching other people’s thoughts on film through the use of our questionnaire, the greater population engaged more with that genre. We then realized after viewing Black Swan that a psychological prospective would also be effective, however will be harder to portray. Statistical research found that 64% of people asked preferred some sort of intensifying thriller which would get them hanging off the edges of their seats.

Further development

In the end we decided to scrap the idea of ‘mime’ as it didn’t follow the psychological route we aspired to follow. We therefore stuck with the idea of the main character suffering from an illness or the idea of her being stalked by herself (split personality)

We researched different music and the type of tracks we would use if we went along with the ‘ballerina’ concept. We came across a variety of intense soundtracks found on Apples, Garage Band. After finding the sounds we chose to edit them to make them more original for our own work.

The ballerina concept was also then scrapped, due to the fact that we wanted more originality instead of relying on the storyline of Black Swan.

Because of this we’ve decided to carry on our research into the thriller genre by doing surveys and watching other movies for inspiration. Such as Jaws, Bewitched, Dracula, etc.

Final Development

Finally we removed the idea of psychological thriller and developed an idea focusing mainly on the aspect of crime and suspense; of a bunch of teenagers on a night out who come across a crime scene.

Firstly, a group of friends meet up and head towards the park. They start drinking and joking around, however two of them get into an argument and one walks off – wanting nothing to do with the rest of them either. Everyone else continues to enjoy themselves. As the sun begins to set everyone hits base and becomes familiar with their surroundings. As they do so, some of them hear a scream in the distance, however they avoid it and think they’re just hearing things. A few minutes later some more of them hear it again and begin to act upon it and start running in different directions as they start panicking and realising it could have been they’re friend they abandoned at the start of their adventure -  begin to get in touch with her and other friends…

SCREEN GOES BLANK

Zoom into the distance…

Quick flash of a body lying on the grounds

SCREEN BLANK AGAIN

- Show a final switch between body and everyone else’s reaction to increase the intensity.

…Title arises:            

New Type-up:

Starts of with everyone gathering at the park entrance – becoming familiar with who is there. Then everyone begins to walk a park trail into the distance – everyone laughing and having fun. Then two of the girls start having an argument and one of them walks of without making contact with any of the others and no one interferes – therefore no one stops her and makes her stay – at this point the sun is beginning to set and its becoming dark. Everyone else continues to enjoy themselves; drinking and playing games (eg, spin the bottle/true or dare…etc) they then begin to set base and get comfortable with their surroundings as they do so some of them hear a scream in the distance but don’t take any notice as they think they are just hearing things. But then a few minutes later some more of them hear it again and react to it – thinking it may have been they’re friend. The focus is now taken back by the flashback and the main focus is now on the girl. The flashback ends with various possibilities of what could have happened to her. Finally the camera is taken back to everyone panicking and running in different directions as they start to wonder where they’re friend could be; some are captured on film with their phones trying to get in contact with either the girl or a friend in general. The camera now starts to blur and lose focus on the main event; this emphasizes the way in which the actual characters may feel. As it does so, the camera begins to zoom into the distant darkness – Screen goes BLANK! …Then the camera begins to flickers between the darkness and a body lying on the ground; the body of their friend they had left at the start of their adventure. …Screen continuously flickers between the two, then goes BLANK again and finishes on the body and ends with a shot taken from the deceased ones view - up onto the faces surround her body and looking down on her.

FINAL IDEA: Our final idea was based on critical analysis on paranormal activity. It started of with three girls coming in to the alleyway and park. Afterwards one girls foot starts to hurt and she stops on the lamp post. After she has stopped her other two friends have started walking ahead and suddenly they turn back and she's missing. We will use various shots such as pan, medium shot, match on action and reverse shot. Another girl will come from behind and she will grab the girl who's foot was hurting.

Questionnaire on opening sequence

My group decided to conduct a questionnaire based on the effectiveness of using certain techniques. The reason of this questionnaire was to help our group gain perspectives from the audiences' view so we understand what is needed in order to have a successful scene, in portraying our plot and genre. From our earlier research we found locations and music to be an important factor in portraying genre and as we wanted to find out more about how the viewer's see it we wanted to get their opinions and use it to our advantage.

• A recorded questionnaire was also conducted in which the audience were able to expand on their opinions further , this video is attatched to the next post.

1. Which location will fit our thriller opening scene best?

School park alleyway/subway park/alleyway

2. What time of the day is it best to record our opening scene?

Night sunset evening morning

3. Which gender is more likely to be effective in our opening scene?

Male female does not matter

4. What should the villain/ bad character wear?

Dark clothes hooded colourful clothes

5. Is there need of a lot of dialogue?

Yes no a bit

6. What kind of facial expressions should be on the characters faces?

Normal sad happy

7. Is it important to have music at the beginning of the scene?

Yes no does not matter

8. Is it necessary to add various shots and camera angles? 

Yes  No

9) Initial Script - Development

I looked into different scripts online and also looked at material received in class and by this i realized my faults so using my research as a template i changed my script to make it seem more on a professional level.

1- Ext/ Evening-night. Group of friends go out to camp in forest.

2-Ext/ Night. Start getting drunk.

Scream in distance.

3-Ext/Night. Everyone runs. Variety of shots (long shot; showing forest)

4-Ext/Night. Body is found. 

This was the script for our previous plot , after considering alternatives we changed our plot along with our script .

Shot List

First shot- Match on action of kidnappers feet.
               -Shot from kidnappers point of view & the journey


Long shot- girls entering the alley
(effect used: sped up into fast mode)


Medium shot - Girls walking


Pan shot- Of whole field


Pan shot - Around main character 


Tracking shot - From kidnappers point of view

10) Research into Camera angles, lighting and effects

Camera Shots

• Long shot
• Medium shot
• Point of view shot
• Track shot
• High angle shot
• Low angle shot
• Birds eye shot
• Reverse shot
• Over the shoulder shot

 Lighting technique and aesthetics

• Background lighting
• Cameo lighting
• Fill light
• Flood lighting
• High-key lighting
• Key Lighting
• Lens flare
• Low-key lighting
• Mood lighting
• Rembrandt lighting
• Stage lighting
• Soft light

Special effects (FX)

• 3-D computer graphics
• Bluescreen/Chroma key
• Bullet time
• Computer-generated imagery
• Digital compositing
• Optical effects
• Stereoscopy for 3D
• Stop trick
• Stop motion

Lighting

In cinematography, the use of light can influence the meaning of a shot. For example, film makers often portray villains that are heavily shadowed or veiled, using silhouette.

Techniques involving light include backlight(silhouette), and under-lighting(light across a character form).

Sound

• Diegetic sound: It is sound that the characters can hear as well as the audience, and usually implies a reaction from the character. Also called "literal sound" or "actual sound":
  • Voices of characters;
  • Sounds made by objects in the story; and/or like heart beats of a person
  • Source music, represented as coming from instruments in the story space.
  • Basic sound effects, e.g. dog barking, car passing; as it is in the scene
  • Music coming from reproduction devices such as record players, radios, tape players etc.
    
    
  • Non-diegetic sound: It is sound which is represented as coming from a source outside the story space, ie. its source is neither visible on the screen, nor has been implied to be present in the action. Also called "non-literal sound" or "commentary sound":
    • Narrator's commentary;
    • Voice of God;
    • Sound effect which is added for dramatic effect;
    • Mood music; and
    • Film Score

  Non-diegetic sound plays a significant role in creating the atmosphere and mood within a film.

  
  
  
  
  -This information was mostly retrieved from wikipedia and the rest from classwork notes.
  

Why opening scenes are important

Pulp Fiction;

• Quentin Tarentino
• Definition of 'Pulp' in opening scene = relevant. Foreshadows upcoming events, hints at what to expect.
• Mise en Scene:

1. Dinner- Cafe on side of road = cheap
2. Male leans towards female- insisting something upon her
3. Female- Bad haircut, lowerclasss

• Puts alot of sugar in tea= lowerclass
  - An act that wouldn't viewed as idealistic by upperclass
• Swearing= link to certification
  Swearing wouldn't appeal to every age group e.g. elderly
• Light is only on one side of the mans face= sinister look
• Big bold title - yellow and black
• Music and title similar to 'Kill Bill'
• Freeze on characters and then music kicks in
• Impersceptible (title getting smaller)
• Music switches, like someone fiddling with a radio
• Good to have 2 people at start at movie because grabs viewers attention and is realistic.
  Suggets realism - straightforward and story telling
• Boring shots because their just in cafe - more realistic
• Title and information right at the end

LA Confidential

• Non digetic= voice over sound
• Star persona= Danny devito
• Still images= Shots e.g. newspaper, photo of images
• Bold yellow titles
• Titles & intro first
• Old 50's images
• When talking about death an image of champagne is shown= Death is associated with 'style' - Not as hardcore as pulp fiction
• Typewriter with non digetic sound

Road to Perdition

• Silent whilst names are appearing. Tom hanks - Star persona
• Opening shot fades
• Voice over = non digetic
• Zooming in and disappears
• Shots - fades into eachother (impersceptible) 
• Isolated place to a populated place = contrast
• Protagnosists = Chasing him

Brick Lane

• Subtitles
• Bright coloured
• One camera shot
• Fade shot
• Close up
• Non-digetic voice over
• Her journey is shown before the main body of the film
  Why are the opening sequences so important to the film industry? 
  During the opening sequences music, setting and lighting can give away what type of genre it is going to be. Which is one of the main reasons why opening scenes are important as it is best to convey genre right at the beginning and make sure it remains constant throughout the movie to make it a success. Also there are a few usual things that occur in the opening scenes of a movie -
  - Protagonist. Movies either start of with 1 or upto 3 characters.
  - Music, camera angles, shots, lighting and mise en scene typically convey the genre it is to be which is why it is so important to get it right.
  - An invent is likely to happen in the opening scene or perhaps some hints are given of what is to come, this is done to keep viewers engaged.
  -Dialogue is hardly used or to a minimum
  
  
  
  Opening scenes are important as they give the first impressions of a movie. This is why it is significant for the genre to get across so the audience knows what to expect and also it will engage them. Being clear on genre means use of successful music, shots , lighting and locations. Once these are all put together they become an advantage as they easily convey upcoming events and ofcourse, genre. By using the right techniques it sets the tone of the movie as well as the atmosphere as it lures viewers into the plot. By doing so viewers are introduced to the characters and are then in their world.
   
  After doing research on opening scenes it has allowed me to generate ideas on what my group can do in order to achieve similar outcomes to other successful movies. For the opening scene my group has decided to use a maximum of 4 characters , by having more we'd feel like it'd all be too much to take in one go. By using 'Garage Band' a professional music maker, i have made upto 3 different background tunes which are filled with suspense. Using music to manipulate moods is a very clever concept which is what helps hypnotise viewers, so to me this aspect of the clip is very significant. Mesmorising music seems to be most successful to me as it remains in the viewers heads after , hence making the movie a hit. Due to this reason only little dialogue will be used. After watching a variety of opening scenes to form ideas and further understanding of why certain techniques are used i decided to do research into a particular film's opening scene, in which i felt best grabbed attention.
  
  
  The Dark Knight
  The bank robbery that kicked of at the start is what had viewers on the edge of their seats. A great concept used was that there was no opening title just a batman figure in blue fire - keeping viewers curious.Furthermore, the action kicks off straight away ; a window cracks, gunfire, crashing school bus all within the first couple of minutes. Due to all this action the movie is filmed at a fast pace as it switches from scene to scene which undoubtedly has the viewers restraining themselves from blinking. Also, we find out so much about the neighbourhood and the area where its set, Gotham city. A violent moral-less city where crime rates are high, highlighting a dangerous area. 
  The joker is a notorious individual yet both insane but addictive. He is one of the main characters of the movie, a man which viewers WANT to see on their screens and to find out more about his past and his motives for being so evil and twisted. This one character is enough to rein in viewers by the masses as we all simply want to know more about this cunnish individul.