Locations 2

This is a location that we will be using in our opening sequence. We have chose this location because it is new and it is Government like and it makes the audience feel that it is a real MP. We chose this because there is a part of the road which is closed of and it only for the Sutton life centre. This would be good to use as it will make it seem he is an important man it will make the audience think that the MP works there.

Audience Research 2

The first question on the questionnaire was asking the user what gender they were. The results showed that more men answered the questionnaire, but not by much. This tells us that men are the main demographic we are appealing to.

The next question asked the user for their age, the results showed that 11 of the users were aged between the years of 16-24. And 2 came from the 46-59 age group. And only 1 came from the 35-49 age group. This shows that our target audience are 16-24 year old males.

Next, we asked the users what their favourite film genre was. The highest percentage said that their favourite film genre was action/adventure and comedy. This tells us that whatever type of genre we use we may have to include elements of action/adventure in it as this is what the majority like.

How much information should be revealed in a good opening sequence? This questions told us that people prefer to be shown minimal information so that their left guessing and are on the edge of their seats.

The next question asked how would you like the titles to appear in the opening sequence. The results showed that most preferred the titles to be played over a black screen. We may have to keep this in mind when creating our opening sequence, however it will be hard to have the titles over black and stay in the time limit of 2 minutes. This means that we may have to go against the majority and put the titles over video.

This question was about what type of music should be used in the opening sequence. The majority chose music that was creepy and added to the eerie atmosphere.

What type of locations should be used was this question. There were fairly well spread answers to this question. Some wanted both, and some wanted other settings, however they were vague with their definition of different. But, the majority of the people wanted isolated locations, so this is what we are going with.

Research Teacher Assessment

This is an assessment from my teacher on the research section of my blog. I received 16 out of 20, which equals an A-, even though this just meets my target grade there is more that I can add to make it a stronger A and overall make my blog better.

This shows the different levels that I received for each section of the assessment. The majority of the sections received a level 4, however two of the sections received a level 3. The things I can do to improve my blog is to add some images to my blog post on the opening sequence of 'Se7en'. I also need to add more detail to this blog post also.
Also, I could have a larger sample for my research, to overcome this I will hand out a few more questionnaires to further broaden the results. 

Planning Peer Assessment

 This is a peer assessment of the planning section of my blog. As you can see I received a mark of 18 out of 20 for this section which is equivalent to an A grade. This shows that I am working well towards my target grade, which is also an A.

I recieved level 4 for all of the different sections of the peer assessment. The only thing I needed to do to improve the planning section was to write some more information for the list of props, locations and costumes. This was because in some cases I only wrote one line for a picture, so to improve this I am going to add more information to each picture and go into more depth as to why we chose these items for our opening sequence.

Location Permission

Below is an image of our permission letter, it has been signed by the house owner as we are planning to film inside a house.
This is very helpful as now our opening sequence ideas can be carried through and we don't have to think of another idea as we have received permission.

Titles

Below are some examples of fonts that we may use for our titles in our opening sequence:

Title 1:

Title 2:

Title 3:

Title 4:

Title 5:

  

Title 6:

All of the fonts above are fairly similar as they are all rough and edgey, which is the kind of font we were looking for as we want the font of the titles to match the atmosphere and mood of our opening sequence. These fonts also put across the point that this is a very serious film, and helps the audience to realise it's a thriller, so they can get ready to watch it and anticipate what may happen.

The most effective title is title 1, as it looks the most rough due to the all the scratch marks on it. This font  puts across the message that this is a film with violence and hurt in it, as the scratch marks has connotations of violence and foreshadows to the future of the film, which is very effective in drawing the audience in and getting them engaged in the film.

The positioning of the titles will vary in our opening sequence as we are going to place the titles over the video as it's playing. So the placement and angle of titles will be different from each other as we need to have spaces in our shots so that the titles can be placed there. We will place the titles over spaces with minimal colour so that the audience can clearly read the titles.

The order of the titles will be as followed:

• Actors...
• Casting by...
• Costume design...
• Music by...
• Edited by...
• Production designer...
• Executive Producer...
• Written by...
• Produced by...
• Written by...
• Directed by...
• Then the title of the film...

Shooting Schedule

Below is an example of our shooting schedule.
A shooting schedule helps you to keep track of what days you will be shooting on, what shots you will be filming and who will be needed for each day and what props will be needed for each day.
We have created one so that we know when to film and to help structure our shooting times as now it is spread out so the workload is manageable.

Here is another shooting schedule we have created as we changed the idea of our film therefore we had to reschedule our filming.

Casting

Below is a presentation showing the actors that we have chosen to play each character, and the reasons for our choices:

Casting on Prezi

Below is a short video of us working towards the presentation above. In the video you can see us taking the photos that can be seen in the presentation. We decided to take photos rather than draw a picture of the actors we were going to use as it shows better what the actors look like.

 

Character Descriptions

Below is a presentation showing the different characters in our opening sequence:





Because we have slightly changed the idea of our opening sequence we have a second presentation of the characters we will be using.
Some characters have been added, some removed and some stayed the same.

Storyboards

We created a storyboard as it can help us to visualise what our sequence should look like. It also helps us to keep in mind our shot types and movements and the timing of each shot.

We made a short animatic of what we think our opening sequence should look like. We used the timings of each shot to show the pace of the sequence, it works well as it helps us to picture what the opening sequence looks like.

Below are the hand drawn storyboards, (click on images to enlarge).

            

        

      

These are our new storyboards, we had to create new ones as we slightly changed our opening sequence idea so made new ones so we could follow the new idea.

                     

   

List Of Props, Costumes And Locations

This is a list of the props, costumes and locations that we will be using in our thriller opening sequence. There are many reasons for the choices we have made, which can be seen below.

Props, Costume and Location


Below are images of the different props and costumes that we will be using in our opening sequence, this will help to picture the props that we want to use.

This is the TV we will use in our opening sequence. This is just a regular TV which shows to the audience that the character is just a normal person, so the audience can relate to them as they will be similar in personality and character.

This is the glass we will use, again like the TV this is just a regular glass, which shows they are normal people just like the audience.

These are examples of the clothes that the mysterious hooded man will be wearing. They are much darker than the clothes of Mikey and Phillip, as dark colours have more negative connotations, and will suggest to the audience that this is a violent and viscous character due to the dark clothing he will be wearing.

These are examples of clothes that will be worn by the characters of Mikey and Phillip, they are much more lighter in colour which shows to the audience that they are just a pair of normal teenagers. This will suggest they are much more vulnerable than the hooded man and will foreshadow that something bad may happen to them due to this.

 

This is the phone we will use, it will be used when Mikey receives a mysterious call. This will create a sense of panic and make the atmosphere more uneasy. Again, like the previous props it is just a normal phone which shows their normality, which the audience can relate to.

Below the picture of the phne is a picture of the package that will be delivered to Mikey, this will also add mystery to the sequence as the audience won't see what is in the package, this will make them speculate and ask questions. This is a normal package which gives the hint that it is just an ordinary package and nothing bad will happen, but we know that something bad is going to happen.

We have now slightly changed the idea of our opening sequence, so some of the above will slightly change.

• The main character is now an MP so his costume will now be a suit of some kind instead of normal clothing.
• We will also be filming the majority of the sequence in school as it will make the setting seem professional.

Script

Below is an example of the script for the dialogue/voice over in our opening sequence. (Click on image to enlarge).

There is not much dialogue in our opening sequence, as we want to try and conceal the personality of the characters, as this will make the characters seem more mysterious and will make the audience speculate and ask questions to what the characters could be like.
The dialogue that is used however shows that the characters are just normal people that you wouldn't expect anything out of the ordinary to happen to.
Also, the dialogue reinforces that something bad has happened as one of the characters screams which shows to the audience that something has happened, however we won't show what has happened which will again make the audience ask questions to what has happened.


Now that we have slightly changed the idea of our opening sequence:

• There will be even less speaking, the only dialogue will be of general chatter as the MP is walking down the corridor, and also as he receives the phone call the MP will say things like "Hello?" and "Who is this?", which will create a sense of panic.

Sounds

This is a loud wind sound. We would use this as the character opens their front door, as it will signify to the audience that something bad may happen and also that the package that will be lying on the floor is very important and is going to play a big role in the film. The sound itself is very cold and chilling which will help add to the atmosphere and mood.

This is a sound of someone running up some stairs. This will be used when our character runs up their stairs in panic at what is inside the package. This will tell the audience that the object inside the package is scary as they won't actually see what is in it, but will have guess according to the characters reaction. 

This piano music is again very creepy and eerie, it will also help to add to the atmosphere and can be used to the build up to the character finding the package. This music will foreshadow to the audience that something bad is going to happen, which will be the character finding the package.

This sound is of some leaves being crumpled, this will be used when a character is walking outside. it will be a hyperbolic sound that ill emphasise his loneliness as it will be the only sound that we can hear.

This is a sound of a cellphone ringing. This will be used when the characters cellphone rings, this will be a hyperbolic sound and will be contrasting to the fairly quiet atmosphere. It will also foreshadow that something bad may happen as it again contrasts with the mood and will be a very important object in our opening sequence.

This sound, similar to the leaves sound will again be used when a character is walking outside. It will give the same effect of loneliness as it will be a very prominent sound that will highlight this. Again, it will be a hyperbolic sound.

This is the ambient sound, you can also hear cars going past. This sound will tell the audience that the setting is normal and ordinary, which will contrast with the situation that is about to happen. This will be used at the beginning of the opening sequence.

This is a sound of a doorbell. This sound will be used in a similar way to that of the cellphone sound. It will be used to contrast with the fairly calm atmosphere and will hint that something bad is going to happen. This will be used to tell the character that something/someone is at the door, when he opens the door he will see the mysterious package laying there.

Research Peer Assessment

This is a peer assessment of the research section of my blog. I received a level 4, with a mark of 17 out of 20, which equaled an A. This shows that I am working well towards my target grade which is also an A.

The WWW for my research was that my material was very visual and had good examples. However my EBI was that the titles needed to be explained better, this means that I will go back and add more information to the titles.