When discussing our project in lesson we came up with what we think is a really good idea for the opening sequence. We thought of having a continuous scene throughout of someone getting ready like a normal person, we'd only have close ups of each action that is performed as we don't want to show his face during it. Some of these images could be buttoning up a shirt, tying up laces, putting on a suit jacket etc. So if he was tightening up his tie we would have a shot of his shoulders down to the middle of his torso so that the audience is focused on the individual actions. However, after a couple of day to day actions have been done we want to quickly cut in some split second images of weird quite disturbing things like a hand covered in blood sliding down a wall, a distorted image of someone being injected with something and other creepy images which will take the viewer by surprise. We thought this was a good idea because it indicates and gives clues as to what will happen in the film, for example he has just come out of a mental hospital all recovered and is getting on with life normally, which is where the normal day to day getting ready clips come in. It then goes on to the disturbing images which flash up really quickly which can indicate that something horrific is breaking through his memory and that he is in fact not a normal man getting ready for work.
From this idea we decided to think about what sort of costumes we would need, we researched the things that people in mental hospitals usually wear and also the stereotypical interpretation of what mental people wear. We found that they are nearly always very plain and pure clothes and the obvious straight jacket is used when patients need to be restricted, so we decided to go with this and have a plain white straight jacket for our main actor to wear. While sorting this out we also agreed that we would use Fred in out group as the actor because we preferably wanted a man to be the main character and he's quite tall, and its easier to use someone in our group than only being able to do filming outside of lesson if our actor was in a lesson at the time. We knew we wouldn't need anymore actors than that and we were also aware of the fact that we shouldn't show the face of the main character during our opening titles because it keeps up the tension of not knowing who the person is yet and adding mystery.
As a group we thought about what sort of music we would have playing in the background as well and came to the decision that a classical sounding piece of music would work well as it can reflect the main characters mind. The classical calm music playing whilst horrible images flash up on screen creates a strange sense of not belonging and hints that this character isn't all right in the head.
For the actual credits we thought of having some appear during the normal getting ready scenes but then also having some appear in the space of a few shots that have a pure white background with something in the corner thats in clear focus, and the names of actors and editors etc. will be quite jolty and distorted much like the opening credits to 'se7en'. We thought that this would put across the genre of the film a bit more and make it look quite good and creepy. For the ending we have decided to have a shot of the back of the man opening his front door, but instead of seeing the normal outdoor life of streets and roads etc. a big white light will fill the screen and the title of our film will appear then. We quite like this idea because it's like him opening the door to his mind because he's trying to get on with his life but the pure white light indicates that memories from the mental hospital will come back. It can also suggest him starting a clean slate because the colour white is associated to be quite pure and new.
Wednesday, 16 December 2009
German Expressionism
After going through our ideas about having images that will reflect the main character we were advised to research German expressionism, which we found out was a way of using different images or sets to symbolise certain things and create a deeper mood amongst the audience.
German expressionism started shortly after the first world war due to the lack of money, this lack of money meant that the theatres and creative side of Germany could not afford all the nice sets that places like Hollywood had. So they came up with a way to get these things across without having to spend lots of money. They decided on using quite peculiar mise-en-scene in the sets which were very non-realistic and had quite geometrical designs which were all different so that each one could show the different shadows and lighting for a performance.
A good example of this used in opening titles for a film is 'The Cabinet of Dr. Calligari'.
German expressionism has influenced a few film genres like horror along with certain films like Dracula, Frankenstein, The Cabinet of Dr. Calligari, Psyhco and Citizen Kane. It's a way of expressing the psychological turmoil of space by characters and because of it's themes of madness and insanity we thought that it would fit in with our ideas perfectly.
German expressionism started shortly after the first world war due to the lack of money, this lack of money meant that the theatres and creative side of Germany could not afford all the nice sets that places like Hollywood had. So they came up with a way to get these things across without having to spend lots of money. They decided on using quite peculiar mise-en-scene in the sets which were very non-realistic and had quite geometrical designs which were all different so that each one could show the different shadows and lighting for a performance.
A good example of this used in opening titles for a film is 'The Cabinet of Dr. Calligari'.
German expressionism has influenced a few film genres like horror along with certain films like Dracula, Frankenstein, The Cabinet of Dr. Calligari, Psyhco and Citizen Kane. It's a way of expressing the psychological turmoil of space by characters and because of it's themes of madness and insanity we thought that it would fit in with our ideas perfectly.
Friday, 11 December 2009
Main Task Ideas
Over the past couple of lessons our group have been coming up with a range of ideas we could use for our main task. We came up with four different routes we could take and these were Vampires, Criminal/Murder, Ghosts or a Crazy Teen Horror.
Vampires
A brief idea we had to do with vampires was to have a vampire who goes on a killing rampage after having his heart broken. So we thought we could use alot of black and red throughout the titles and different images which look quite eerie and scary. We decided shortly after that this idea would resemble "Twilight" too much and it's too typical which would make it boring.
Criminal/Murder
A man who has recently come out of a mental home fully rehabilitated but things start triggering off the hurtful past.
We didnt really think too much about the Ghost or Crazy Teen Horror idea as we already quite liked the idea of the man who comes out of a mental home. We started thinking about a very rough story as we didn't want to get too narrative in the titles but we needed a rough idea so that we knew what sort of images to put in it. We agreed on something along the lines of, a man gets released from a mental home and thinks he's okay but something triggers off a horrific memory that brings everything back and he then becomes an insane man on the loose who starts killing people. We also though that it would be good if he had bad OCDs because it would make it quite twisted if everything around him and in his house was overly organised perfectly.
With this idea in mind we discussed a vague idea of what we could sort of images we could use during the opening titles. Having very jolty camera work was an idea that we liked alot because we think that it would make it look really disorientated and weird which would partly reflect the main characters mind. We also decided of having alot of weird images flashing up really quickly throughout like creepy shadows, sharp objects, someone struggling in a straight jacket and maybe someone restrained to a table. We thought of these because we thought it would get across the genre of the film quite well. For the main colours we thought we might use white and red because the white would symbolise something like a clean sheet for the man and also like a padded cell which are pure white. The red will obviously symbolise anger and blood.
Vampires
A brief idea we had to do with vampires was to have a vampire who goes on a killing rampage after having his heart broken. So we thought we could use alot of black and red throughout the titles and different images which look quite eerie and scary. We decided shortly after that this idea would resemble "Twilight" too much and it's too typical which would make it boring.
Criminal/Murder
A man who has recently come out of a mental home fully rehabilitated but things start triggering off the hurtful past.
We didnt really think too much about the Ghost or Crazy Teen Horror idea as we already quite liked the idea of the man who comes out of a mental home. We started thinking about a very rough story as we didn't want to get too narrative in the titles but we needed a rough idea so that we knew what sort of images to put in it. We agreed on something along the lines of, a man gets released from a mental home and thinks he's okay but something triggers off a horrific memory that brings everything back and he then becomes an insane man on the loose who starts killing people. We also though that it would be good if he had bad OCDs because it would make it quite twisted if everything around him and in his house was overly organised perfectly.
With this idea in mind we discussed a vague idea of what we could sort of images we could use during the opening titles. Having very jolty camera work was an idea that we liked alot because we think that it would make it look really disorientated and weird which would partly reflect the main characters mind. We also decided of having alot of weird images flashing up really quickly throughout like creepy shadows, sharp objects, someone struggling in a straight jacket and maybe someone restrained to a table. We thought of these because we thought it would get across the genre of the film quite well. For the main colours we thought we might use white and red because the white would symbolise something like a clean sheet for the man and also like a padded cell which are pure white. The red will obviously symbolise anger and blood.
Monday, 7 December 2009
Start Of The Main Task
As a group we've started discussing a range of ideas that we could use to create the opening title sequence of a horror or thriller film. We first looked at some examples of opening titles to film that have already been made.
The first minute of this clip is very basic example of an opening title sequence. The aim with the titles is to give some clues as to what will happen in the film. In this clip the film is called Detour so they've put the image of a car driving down the road with the camera facing out the back so the viewer can only see whats going behind the car. By having this very basic clip in the background it indicates to the audience that someone is likely to take a wrong road and going somewhere they didn't originally plan. This however is too basic for us to as our project.
This clip is the opening titles for James Bond Goldfinger which is a very good example of an abstract style for doing the opening titles. The strange image of a women painted gold with the projections being shown on her give a hint that the film with have elements of mystery in them and the projections are mostly of the characters which match up to the right names as they come on screen. Each projection is also on a different part of the womens body which can indicate what the character is like, for example Sean Connery is projected onto the womens head which shows that he is an important character, Gert Frobe who plays Goldfinger is shown over half the womens body which indicates that he has power in the film and is going to be in charge of something.
The opening titles for Seven are one of the best examples for the sort of thing we should be aiming to create. It has lots of images of someone analysing and taking notes on what looks like evidence from a murder case, in none of these do we see the persons face only the main part of action like a close up of his hands turning over a page. The cinematograghy in this is really good because they have mainly used close up shots of items like pieces if evidence, books, photos etc, and have made the background distorted and fuzzy, which i think is useful to our group as its a good example of what our shots could focus on like on items that will reflect the film. The shots are also quite fast cutting which indicates that the film has some fast action in it and this is something we aim to do in our sequence because it creates alot of tension. The credits quickly jolt up and down when they come on screen in turn which gives it a creepy mysterious feel to it. They have also used quite low key lighting which can insinuate that the film itself will be quite dark and mysterious, and the connatations of darkness are usually quite bad and negative. All the shots used are very good indications to the genre and theme of the film which is what we would like to, all the different shots like the bits of evidence, slightly disturbing images, messed up bits of bodies and the case notes all give you the idea that it will be along the lines of a crime thriller type film. For our sequence we want to include some disturbing images and some quite psychotic images so that it will give the idea that ours will be a sort of psychological horror/thriller.
This is the opening to the film Hannibal which is another good example of something we could aim for. All the clips are quite distorted and fuzzy to make them look messed up and reflect the film and part of the main characters mind. Another part of the main characters personality and mind is reflected through the music which is a nice classical piece which is quite calming but also the complete opposite to the images on screen. This contadiction is something we're thinking of doing in our own title sequence. We won't be having an actual scene during any credits though as it will take too long and the task only says to create the opening titles. The writing at the start is in blood red which indicates that the genre is some sort of horror or thriller, they also calmly fade in and out of each other which again puts across the idea that the film will be quite contradictory.
Creep
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peggLQ1fLg8
This is another horror/thriller themed opening sequence that we have taken ideas from. It has very eerie music in the background which creates tension and make the audience feel tense before the films even started. In our openning sequence we want to do something similar with creating tension, we want to have quite eerie music like this but instead we want the music to build in tension along with the shots on screen so that there is a big increase in tension in the titles and in the audience. Another really good thing about this sequence is the effects put on the shots, they're very distorted and blurry meaning you can only just work out what the different things are which can indicate to the audience that some of the people in the film will become very disorientated and un able to focus properly. The blurring and distorting of shots is again something we would like to include because we think that it really makes the genre of horror stand out to the viewer. The titles are on black background and some of them are on the shots which is what we're aiming to do because we think that it looks much better and a little more creepy if the titles are plainly on a black background, because with the music building in tension this will give a good effect. Another idea that we thought was good from this is the way the images become more disturbing and scary as the sequence goes on near to the end because this again creates more tension and gets the audience more interested in the film.
This is the opening sequence for 'Six feet under'. We looked at this because we thought the way the titles have done is quite interesting and we're thinking of using this idea in our own sequence. We like the way that the titles fit onto diffrent parts of the shots and sets, for example when the editors name appears on a beaker filled with liquid and then goes down at the same time as the liquid does, and also when the executive producers name is on a gravestone in the shot. We're thinking of using this because we feel that our sequence will have lots of opportunities to do it, like on the characters shirt pocket for example, and makes the titles more interesting to watch. Another idea we got from this was to do with all the hospital equipment because we want to use some in ours as well and in this they clearly show the association of pure white with being in a hospital which we could use to indicate that our main character isn't completely healthy in more ways than one. The lighting in the hospital is very bright, enough to not let the audienec see beyond that light which we want to use for our ending because we want it to be like he's starting a new life.
The first minute of this clip is very basic example of an opening title sequence. The aim with the titles is to give some clues as to what will happen in the film. In this clip the film is called Detour so they've put the image of a car driving down the road with the camera facing out the back so the viewer can only see whats going behind the car. By having this very basic clip in the background it indicates to the audience that someone is likely to take a wrong road and going somewhere they didn't originally plan. This however is too basic for us to as our project.
This clip is the opening titles for James Bond Goldfinger which is a very good example of an abstract style for doing the opening titles. The strange image of a women painted gold with the projections being shown on her give a hint that the film with have elements of mystery in them and the projections are mostly of the characters which match up to the right names as they come on screen. Each projection is also on a different part of the womens body which can indicate what the character is like, for example Sean Connery is projected onto the womens head which shows that he is an important character, Gert Frobe who plays Goldfinger is shown over half the womens body which indicates that he has power in the film and is going to be in charge of something.
The opening titles for Seven are one of the best examples for the sort of thing we should be aiming to create. It has lots of images of someone analysing and taking notes on what looks like evidence from a murder case, in none of these do we see the persons face only the main part of action like a close up of his hands turning over a page. The cinematograghy in this is really good because they have mainly used close up shots of items like pieces if evidence, books, photos etc, and have made the background distorted and fuzzy, which i think is useful to our group as its a good example of what our shots could focus on like on items that will reflect the film. The shots are also quite fast cutting which indicates that the film has some fast action in it and this is something we aim to do in our sequence because it creates alot of tension. The credits quickly jolt up and down when they come on screen in turn which gives it a creepy mysterious feel to it. They have also used quite low key lighting which can insinuate that the film itself will be quite dark and mysterious, and the connatations of darkness are usually quite bad and negative. All the shots used are very good indications to the genre and theme of the film which is what we would like to, all the different shots like the bits of evidence, slightly disturbing images, messed up bits of bodies and the case notes all give you the idea that it will be along the lines of a crime thriller type film. For our sequence we want to include some disturbing images and some quite psychotic images so that it will give the idea that ours will be a sort of psychological horror/thriller.
This is the opening to the film Hannibal which is another good example of something we could aim for. All the clips are quite distorted and fuzzy to make them look messed up and reflect the film and part of the main characters mind. Another part of the main characters personality and mind is reflected through the music which is a nice classical piece which is quite calming but also the complete opposite to the images on screen. This contadiction is something we're thinking of doing in our own title sequence. We won't be having an actual scene during any credits though as it will take too long and the task only says to create the opening titles. The writing at the start is in blood red which indicates that the genre is some sort of horror or thriller, they also calmly fade in and out of each other which again puts across the idea that the film will be quite contradictory.
Creep
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peggLQ1fLg8
This is another horror/thriller themed opening sequence that we have taken ideas from. It has very eerie music in the background which creates tension and make the audience feel tense before the films even started. In our openning sequence we want to do something similar with creating tension, we want to have quite eerie music like this but instead we want the music to build in tension along with the shots on screen so that there is a big increase in tension in the titles and in the audience. Another really good thing about this sequence is the effects put on the shots, they're very distorted and blurry meaning you can only just work out what the different things are which can indicate to the audience that some of the people in the film will become very disorientated and un able to focus properly. The blurring and distorting of shots is again something we would like to include because we think that it really makes the genre of horror stand out to the viewer. The titles are on black background and some of them are on the shots which is what we're aiming to do because we think that it looks much better and a little more creepy if the titles are plainly on a black background, because with the music building in tension this will give a good effect. Another idea that we thought was good from this is the way the images become more disturbing and scary as the sequence goes on near to the end because this again creates more tension and gets the audience more interested in the film.
This is the opening sequence for 'Six feet under'. We looked at this because we thought the way the titles have done is quite interesting and we're thinking of using this idea in our own sequence. We like the way that the titles fit onto diffrent parts of the shots and sets, for example when the editors name appears on a beaker filled with liquid and then goes down at the same time as the liquid does, and also when the executive producers name is on a gravestone in the shot. We're thinking of using this because we feel that our sequence will have lots of opportunities to do it, like on the characters shirt pocket for example, and makes the titles more interesting to watch. Another idea we got from this was to do with all the hospital equipment because we want to use some in ours as well and in this they clearly show the association of pure white with being in a hospital which we could use to indicate that our main character isn't completely healthy in more ways than one. The lighting in the hospital is very bright, enough to not let the audienec see beyond that light which we want to use for our ending because we want it to be like he's starting a new life.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)