Title Sequence Timeline

Doing this task has helped me learnt many things that will help me make a successful opening sequence myself. I learned things such as the pace of music seems to follow what action is actually happening in the sequence, though I know this isn't always the case as sometimes it is the opposite, this is known as juxtaposition. I have where specific job titles go in the sequence, the director being at the beginning at the end. I also learnt that there is not much high intensity action and is quite calm when titles appear showing us that they want the audience to know who is responsible for creating the film.

Film Ideas and Feedback

Idea 1:The absurd actions taken by a family disillusioned by death of "Sister Abigail" creating havoc for themselves and others around them.
Feedback:
A lot of awareness can be explored within the film.
Good knowledge of the codes and conventions to create a good thriller.
People would go to watch it.
However, can be improved by making it clearer why the family are so disillusioned, hasnt got a clear motive. Also it is difficult to achieve with what we have

Idea 2:
Man escapes mental institution and sets out to get revenge on his ex girlfriend who is the reason for his mental state of mind.
Feedback:
The revenge on the ex girlfriend is rather realistic.
Gives a sense of mystery as you dont know what the girlfriend done, which adds a twist.
However, the film may not be achieveable due to the location.

Idea 3:
Mothers child died causing an obsession with other peoples children leading her to take ungodly actions towards the children. Is your child safe?
Feedback:
Great idea as mothers have a connection with their children, so it is relatable.
Simple yet effective.
People would watch it because of the reasons above.
Not difficult location and prop wise.
Would attract an audience of a wide range.
However, to improve make the children seem very young and innocent to make it seem disturbing.

Idea 4:
A group of university students move to their summer home takes an unexpected turn when they stumble across "Mr Jefferson" then things start to spiral out of control.
Feedback:
The film is relatable as it is about young people and university life, this would engage the audience.
The film would attract an audience of young adults.
It would work as it a typical, cliche thriller.
However, it sounds like a comedy so it needs to be made to seem more serious.

Moodboard and Explanations

 

Film Similar To Mine (To Kill A Mockingbird)

This film is similar to mine as it has a reference to children right from the opening scene, and has an emphasis on children's toys and things they enjoy as it has close ups of marbles, crayons and dolls. It also has a child humming at the start which has gave me an idea for my opening sequence as sometimes you might not even need background music, a person humming perhaps a children's song could be even more effective, as it would give quite a creepy feel as well. It also has gave me an idea to have close ups of the children's stuff as it creates an emphasis that a child is central to the story, and it creates a creepy feeling of abandoned toys being in a room. It has also gave me an idea from the drawing in the opening sequence of To Kill A Mockingbird, as drawing is something people do to relax but the use of crayons make it seem a child is doing it as they just scribble all over the paper, then in my opening sequence we could do something like that with the child's mother doing drawings to try and feel like she still has her daughter with her.

Final Idea

Abigail

 

A mother’s child passes away due to cot death and this causes the mother to fall into deep obsession with other people's young, innocent children. This leads to her undertaking ungodly actions towards them. Is your child safe?

 

Reason Why We Chose This Idea.

 

 

The reason we chose this is because with the audience feedback, it received the most positive feedback and the least to improve. For example one person said "It is a great idea as mothers have a connection with their children so it is relatable "Another person said "Its good because it’s simple yet effective and can be achieved as it’s not difficult location and prop wise" This being a main reason we chose it as all other ideas were said to be difficult location wise. One improvement to the film that was said was "Make the children seem very young and innocent" so we changed an idea to that as before it just said children which doesn't set a clear idea of age as that is from anything below 16, using young innocent children is more effective as it is much more disturbing. We had another idea which got good feedback, the disillusioned family but we did not choose it because as someone said "It hasn't got a clear motive and is difficult to achieve with what we have" So we chose the mother idea as it is achievable, can create a connection and understanding with the audience and people would also go to watch it as every person in my group said if they saw this in the cinema they would go to watch it.

What Is An Independent Film Distributor? How Are They Different from The Major Film Distributors?

Independent film distributors, distribute films outside of major studios. Independent film distributors have a lot lower budget than major distributors, such as Warner Bros. They release a wide range of films from short films, documentaries to films in different languages. Independent films are usually shown at film festivals to get the opinions of audiences and critics before being sent off to cinemas.

Vertigo Films

Vertigo films is an example of a independent film distributor, The London based company prides itself on being the forefront for new talent and that is their key production strategy. There are responsible for Street Dance 3D which was the most successful independent DVD of all time. They are also responsible for three classic films in Bronson, The Business and the Football Factory.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Entertainment One

 

Entertainment One (E-One) is another independent distributor, Entertainment One distribute over many countries such as Canada, USA and the United Kingdom. Entertainment One are responsible for bringing us The Twilight movies, and Insidious. In order to succeed the company keeps long standard relationships with other companies, which the company has been doing since once which has enabled them to be this successful.



 

 

 

 



What Is Film Distribution?

Film distribution is about releasing and sustaining films in the market place . The usual path that films take to get to the local cinema is this;

 Someone has an idea for a film, they then create an outline of the movie and use it to promote interest in the idea, then a studio or independent investor decides to purchase rights to the film, once the rights to the film is sold, people are brought together to create the film, such as screenwriter, producer, director, cast and crew. The film is then completed and sent to the studio, the studio then makes a licensing agreement with a distribution company . The distribution company determines how many copies of the film to make, then the distribution company starts screening the movie to prospective buyers representing the cinemas. The buyers then negotiate with the distribution company on which movies they wish to ease and the terms of the lease agreement, then the prints are sent of to the cinema a few days before the opening day of the film, the cinema then shows the film for a specified number of weeks (engagement), which leads the audience to buy a ticket and watch the movie, and at the end of the engagement, the cinema sends the print back to the distribution company and makes payment on the lease agreement.

One of the most successful film distributors is Warner Bros, which was founded in 1918
Warner Bros have created many thriller movies, such as Blood Diamond, The Green Mile, Se7ven and more. The companies current revenue is at 12 billion dollars. Warner Bros produces and distributes between 18-22 films per year. Warner Bros is responsible for distributing movies to more than 39 000 screens across North America, but they also distribute to non theatrical markets, including the Armed Forces, airlines, cruises and colleges.

Another successful film distributor is 20th Century Fox. 20th Century Fox has created many thriller movies such as Taken, Chronicle, In Time and many more. The companies current revenue is 7.2 billion dollars. 20th century fox is owned by Rupert Murdoch, the man responsible for many other media products, such as The Sun, The Times and many more.

 

Who Watches Thrillers?

Who Watches Thrillers? from JoeCFCDavies

Own Ideas Mind Map

An idea I have for my own opening scene of a thriller movie is for a psychological thriller. I want something that really creeps out the audience, something that will make them very disturbed. I have an idea of a disillusioned family, a creepy family who are strung up on the death of a particular family member, I come up with a name that the person would be referred to such as “ Sister Abigail “ as this has a connection with religion using sister, and sister Abigail sounds creepy. Have an idea that they could be so strung up on the death that they often see her face, or hear her voice, like they could answer to her saying “ yes sister Abigail “ even though no one can see her, and it is like they are talking to themselves which would appear very creepy to the audience. Would also include a variety of close ups, including drawings of a woman, random masks, and other objects, making the normal seem creepy, in the background have very creep music that sounds unearthly to make the audience even more disturbed.

James Bond Goldeneye: Opening Scene Analysis-Action Thriller

Goldeneye Analysis

Camera is used in Goldeneye which shows that the film is an action thriller. Camera is used in a variety of ways. For example to first shot is an establishing shot of the mountainous area with the mountains, this sets the scene of a really open deep space which makes the audience feel like anything can happen as the space is so open and deep that the possibilities are endless as to what can happen, it gives an idea of no escape for the character as everything is so open. The director also uses a worms eye view of James Bond running this makes the audience feel as they are very close and are watching secretly him running, which gives off the idea that what he is running from could be something very secretive and we aren’t supposed to know. There is also an extreme long shot of James Bond running which makes it seem like there is no escape as the place is so large and he has so far to go when running. It then goes to a long shot of the person running so you are a bit closer but still fairly far away so it still has that feeling of no escape. You then see a rope drop and you get a close up of bungee rope on the floor, this creates a sense of mystery to the audience as it makes them wonder why he has this rope and what he is going to do with it. There is then a close up of a harness hooking on to the fence which gives you an idea what James Bond is going to do which is bungee off the edge of the mountain, which creates a sense of excitement amongst the audience as bungee jumping is an exciting and exhilarating thing to do. There is also a birds eye view where you can see straight on top of Bonds head and what he can see and how steep the mountain drop is, this makes you feel adrenaline for Bond as it is exciting yet also creates worry as it is such a steep drop if anything happens to the harness he would be dead, so it creates both excitement and worry. There is then a long shot of Bond falling which creates a feeling of tension as you see him falling such a long way and it makes you worry if anything will happen as the fall is so large that if he does fall he would die. There is a pan of him falling as the camera is following his fall, this makes us feel like we are following him and makes the audience feel like they are going on the exhilarating journey with James Bond.

Editing is something that is also used in this opening scene of Goldeneye to show that it is a crime thriller. For example at the start of the scene there is a wipe from the white circle image wipes across the screen to the mountainous establishing shot, this shows us the transformation from the credits to the actual scene starting, which makes the audience get excited as the movie is about to properly start. There is also a lot of long takes throughout the opening scene especially of the mountainous views, these long takes build tension and it makes the audience think why is this mountainous area being shown so much? What is the significance of this area? What is going to happen in this area? It also makes them think that there is no escape as the area is so large and open there is no where that they can hide. There is also quite a long time in between cuts, so it makes you more focused on where the action is happening and doesn’t keep your mind ticking between different things, making the audience more intrigued on the action building up in the opening scene. There is also a use of slow motion in the bungee jump, when he is falling. This makes the jump look even more dramatic, also, it makes it seem like time is going really slow to James Bond as the jump is so steep and scary, to Bond it seems as if the jump is going really slowly.

Sound is also used throughout the opening scene of Goldeneye, both diegetic and non-diegetic. An example of non-diegetic sound that is used is the theme music right at the start, as the theme music is famous and the James Bond movies are very famous it will often attract the same audience who know the theme song, so hearing the theme has the effect on the audience that this is a James Bond film and it’s about to start. There is also many example of diegetic sound, for example the aeroplane noise at the start of the scene when it is driving in the air, this sets the scene for the audience and they it centralises the plane, which makes the audience wonder the significance of this aeroplane, and what it is there for. You also have the footsteps when James Bond is running, this makes the audience feel close to the action as you can even hear his footsteps and that’s how fast he is running, making the audience wonder why he is running that fast? What is he running from? Also, throughout the whole scene there is a soft tambourine noise in the background, which is non-diegetic, this builds up tension as it is such a soft instrument, it is like it could be building up to something big, creating tension for the audience and making them excited to see what happens next. There is also a fast paced tension building music as James Bond is about to jump off the edge, this makes the audience have their hearts in their mouths as he is about to jump and then it hits his climax and he jumps off the edge, filling the audience with adrenaline and excitement. You can also hear the noise of the wire when he hits a certain point of the jump, this fills the audience with fear as it sounds like the wire could be breaking and may be weak, which creates fear for Bond as if it does break he would be dead. It also centralises what he is doing, as the sound of the bungee wires make you draw focus to nothing but the wire as he is falling.

Mise-En-Scene is also key in Goldeneye determining that the film is an action thriller. For example the set is a mountainous area with one bridge in the middle, this sets the scene for the audience as the open mountainous connotes no escape, which makes the audience worry for the characters in the movie as they feel as if they have no escape. The bridge in the centre makes the audience feel like the bridge is significant in the scene as that’s centralised, so it seems as if it is important to the scene, creating questions such as why is the bridge important in this scene? Costume is very simple in this opening, James Bond is wearing all black combat gear, which begs the question why is he in combat gear? Is he ready for a fight? Is something dangerous about to happen? All these questions connote fast paced action which the viewer would want to watch, so this simple costume creates these questions and attracts its target audience. The lighting used is all natural lighting, a normal day in life, this has a good effect on the audience as it makes the audience feel like this could happen in normal everyday life, even though they know that it can’t but it helps them think that, showing the Blumler and Katz theory of diversion. There are few props used in this opening scene, but the most important would be the bungee equipment, when you first see the bungee equipment it makes you think straight away he is going to jump off the high mountains, which creates a sense of adrenaline and excitement to the audience. Also, it shows the audience straight away that the movie is going to be filled with action as there is high pulsating action right from the start where it is building up to the climax of the bungee jump.

SAW: Opening Scene Analysis-Psychological Thriller

SAW Opening Scene Analysis

In the opening of the first SAW movie camera is used in a variety of ways, which shows the audience straight away that the movie is a thriller movie. For example one of the first shots used is an extreme close up of the characters face under water, this creates many questions for the audience already (showing the Blumler and Katz theory of surveillance) such as why is the character under water, and why is only part of his face showing, this makes the audience want to carry on watching to find out the answers to these questions, not only this but as the first shot of a character is an extreme close up it makes the audience feel fairly uncomfortable as you are only just introduced and feel like you are so close to them already which helps show the idea that the film is a thriller. There is also another shot near the beginning where the character wakes up and gets his face out from under the water  and there is an extreme close up of just his mouth, this is clever by the director as it shows us straight away the characters struggle for breath and it makes you fear for the man’s safety, as you wonder if he will be okay as he is struggling with his breathing, it also strikes us with a bit of fear, as it shows he was near death which would worry the audience. There is also a close up of the plug hole of the bath and something going down the hole, this creates a variety of questions, such as why is there so much focus on the whole, does it mean anything? Is there a reason the director wants us focused on the hole?  Then it also creates the question of what the thing going down the whole was? Is this significant to the film? Is it dangerous? One shot creates a variety of questions which makes the audience want to carry on watching, it is also quite spooky and creates the feeling of mystery as you don’t know the significance of what the thing going down the hole is. There is also a long take and long shot when the character is falling out of the bath this creates intensity as you are focused on the same character for a substantial amount of time and it makes you wonder why this character is getting so much specific attention and it makes you realise he is one of the main characters, then it poses the question what his role is in the film, why he is in that place, why he is chained up, and why he was under water in the first place? We are then introduced to a new character when the lights are switched on, when the lights are switched on they use a pan shot so we see each individual light come on, this creates an effect the lights coming on separately sets the scene of an old abandoned place as they go on slowly, we then meet a new character with a medium shot, we are not as close with him as we were the first character which suggests to us he isn’t the main focal point like the first character was, but he is still important as we are introduced to him and see him waist upwards so are still fairly close to him which still creates an awkward feeling to the audience. We also get a close up of the first character we meet eyes squinting when the lights are turned out, this suggests to us he has been out of light for a long time and isn’t used to it, this makes us wonder how long has he been out of the light, why has he been out of the light? After that we get a close up of the dead body that they see, this creates a huge amount of terror and disgust from the audience as you are straight away close up to a dead rotting body with no face, it then goes to an aerial shot where we see the whole body and blood surrounding him and the room, which sets the scene and makes us ask questions like how did he get there, why is he dead in that specific place, and how did a die in such a gruesome way?  We then get an extreme close up of a gun in the dead person’s hand, this makes the audience think why has the dead person got a gun? Is that what got him killed? It also creates a feeling of fear amongst the audience as they see a weapon in his hand and it makes them scared to see if he had a gun and died, what did the other person have?

Editing is also used throughout the opening of SAW to create the idea of a thriller movie, an example of this is at the start of the opening the shots all have quick cuts, going from different parts of his face, to different parts of the bath, the quick cuts creates the effect of chaos and makes the audience think the film may be chaotic as everything is so quick, which may strike fear into the audience as they will be worried about the chaos that might be about to unfold in front of their very eyes.  There is also a montage in the bath, there is a series of shots whilst he is in the bath it creates a feeling that the bath means something and this makes the audience feel intensity as they don’t know why the bath has a meaning but they feel like it must have some sort of meaning, this creates the feeling of mystery as the audience want to know but don’t know why the bath is so significant. Though the quick cuts are stopped once the character gets out the bath as there is a long take of the character getting out of the bath, this feels like we are just staring at the character which connotes intensity as we wonder why we are spending a long amount of time focused on this one character.  They also use a spinning effect to an aerial shot of the dead body, this creates an effect of chaos as the quick spinning makes you feel like your head is spinning and something chaotic is happening then you are left with an aerial shot of the dead body, this strikes fear in to the audience as the quick spinning leaving your head spinning leaves the audience in fear as it connotes that death can happen quick.

Sound is key in creating the idea of a thriller movie in the opening of SAW. Right from the start before you can even see anything you hear the sound of water bubbling slowly (diegetic sound) which straight away as an audience member makes you wonder where this water is coming from and what is the significance in water in this movie? This also creates suspense and you wonder what it’s for, and then is ended with the climax of the character coming from under the water heavy breathing and coughing. The heavy breathing and coughing makes you realise the character is in some distress and feeling sick and worried, this passes the same feeling on to the audience as you begin to feel empathy for the character as you only just meet them and they are heavy breathing in fear and coughing in sickness. There is also a loud whooshing sound as the object goes down the baths hole, which makes us think that the object is special and significant as the sound of whooshing connotes speed, so the speed of the object going down the whole making that noise makes us think that it must have some significance in the film and makes us wonder what the significance of the object is. Throughout the scene, especially when the dead body is revealed there is non-diegetic music being played, the music sounding like danger, the effect of this music is that it builds up tension as you don’t know what is going to happen but you know it’s bad then it gets to its climax where it is the dead body then you hear screams and it makes you question whether the screams are diegetic are non-diegetic which creates an idea of mystery amongst the audience so they want to carry on watching the film to find out about the screams. Dialogue is key to the sound used in this opening scene, the first words that are said are “someone help me, is someone there? Am I dead?” this makes the audience realise that the character is completely oblivious to where he is, this makes the audience also question where he is and why he is there as the character is just as confused as they audience as to where he is. Then off camera another voice says “You’re not dead” this has a good effect as it creates the mystery of wondering who said that as you can’t see the character who said that, so the audience wonders who it is that said that, it also creates a spooky feeling as the voice is very low, which could make the audience worry about who actually is in the dark in the same room as the other character. The first character also says “What the f**k is going on?!” which is effective as it shows that the character is worried and really confused as to what is going on and this makes the audience feel empathy for the character as he seems to be really scared and worried as he don’t know what is going on, then it also creates questions to the audience like if he doesn’t know what’s going on, then why could he be there? Is he in danger? When the lights are switched on there is a sound of electric coming on, this sets the scene of the room as the sound of electric coming on is very old school and only happens when lights haven’t been used in a long while, so it makes us think when was this place last use light? How old is this place? What is this place? They also use sharp sounds when showing various parts of the dead body, making each part they show seem even worse than they are with the added sound effect which makes the audience feel terror as they are witnessing a dead body.

Mise-En-Scene is used throughout the opening scene and it is used cleverly in making the audience know from the off that it is a thriller movie. This is first seen in the set, where it looks to be an abandoned mental institute, this straight away makes the audience feel disturbed, as an abandoned mental institution connotes that something crazy and bad will happen and have happened in that place, so this make the audience feel worried and disturbed. You can also mention the costume that is being used by the actors, for example both actors have wet hair, and both have shirts that are covered in sweat patches, this connotes that they have been worked hard, or are in a very hot environment which is making them sweat, this makes the audience feel they could have been there for a long time to sweat so much, which begs the question How long in fact have they been in this place? Lighting is also something that is very key in creating the scene, as the lighting is very low key and dark for most of the scene, creating a feeling of scariness as you don’t know what is going on in the whole of the room and you can only see certain parts as it is so dark, creating a feeling of mystery. It does turn very bright though when the lights are switched on but almost too bright as it makes the actors eyes squint, and it is so bright that it makes the audience think that something could be about to be unveiled as it has gone from complete darkness to bright light so the audience feels like something could be about to happen, building suspense. Props are also very important and many props are used throughout this opening scene, there is a chain which the character is tied too, this makes the audience wonder why is this particular character chained up? This also makes the audience feel empathy for the character as he is trapped and cannot move. There is also a bath, this is good as a bath is an everyday project that everyone has, so it seems normal yet it has so much attention drawn to it, that it makes the audience question what is different about this bath and why it has drawn so much attention. The gun is also used and is a good prop as it creates a feeling of danger as a gun is a dangerous weapon, so this makes the audience feel worried as there is a gun sitting in the middle of the room and no one knows what it is there for, creating a feeling of tension, as they want to know why the gun is there.

The Blumler and Katz Uses and Gratifications Theory

What Is A Thriller?

What Is A Thriller? from JoeCFCDavies

Evaluation of Prelim Task

Evaluation of prelim task from JoeCFCDavies

My Prelim Task