Lighting

The lighting for my opening sequence was totally different in two parts in the two different scenes. One being the opening scene, set at night in the a very dark setting, was hard to film as if we had no light at all you would not be able to see anything on film. So therefore some of the shots were filmed in the night where the darker shots were needed, some (when shot from inside the building) would have some kind of background light to help highlight what the camera is focusing on but still letting the set look dark. On one day we did film in the daylight and what we did there was edit the lighting on the macs, by editing the colour scheme on the actual clip. On some clips it looked really good and others it either washed out the whole clip or did not look like it was set at night at all. The jump cut at the beginning was from a mixture of shots that were set at daytime and at night time and watching the clips together, you would not notice. It was very hard to make sure that where in some shots some areas were highlighted or there was light coming from a certain direction, in the following shots this same light had to carry through. 
As you can see in the following shots below;

The light starts off coming through the door and then in the next shot....

You can see the light coming from the same direction, this was from where we were shooting in the daylight as you can see we have just edited the clips to change the clip colours. Below is how you do this...

 In the last scene, in the girls bedroom, it is set in daylight which was all natural light and as you can see from the image below the light is coming through the window on the left.

Costume

The costume that was used was casual clothing in both scenes for the girl, to make her seem normal to add to the fact that the story has a sense of reality to it. It was nothing to bright or fancy as that would distract the audience's attention to look at what the character is wearing rather than what is actually happening within the scene. So the colour scheme for both scenes were, blues, blacks and creams which worked well. We also had to make sure that Emma was wearing the same clothing as we filmed the first part of the opening sequence on two different days, but it was essential that she was wearing exactly the same clothing so the audience would not see any difference betweent he clips that were showing and they would flow from one to the other.

Writing the Script

Most of the dialogue will be included within the storyboard but there is one main piece of dialogue which will be repeated throughout the piece as well as the title being included within this riddle.

Trust that the worst is yet to come,
Horrors and terrors-- and then yet some;
Be aware of the curses that await your mind;
For the master is coming soon. Turn and face behind.

Through the first set of clips i have created a voice over in a whispering voice to spook the audience, the words alon are scary words but when this is paired with images it adds more tension and emotion to the journey of what the audience is viewing and feeling then to reach the climax of what is then going to happen.

Time Management

Our first idea we had in mind was to do video but create an intro for a chick flick genre, basically a 'London themed Sex in the City'. We had plans for this idea and shot locations buit this meant we had yto travel and go to a number of different places, we couldn't film anything unless we took a train to london centre or till we went to a concert as that was one of our main ideas for filming. We then had second thoughts about this idea and how it would plan out, so we started to look at horror and decided that it would be better if we went with another idea of a Horror/Thriller film. We started our planning and research all over again even though we had already planned a lot for the chick flick genre.
In order for me and Emma Smith to get our main task finished before the deadline we created a plan so therefore we would not be wasting our time doing nothing when we could be using that time doing something relevant to the task. These were;

• Research into the Horror/Thriller genre
• Watch a selection of Horror/Thriller DVD intros
• Create and draw up a story board
• Write a script for the opening sequence
• Look and research locations and places to make sure that they are suitable
• Look and research different shots and angles
• Look at certain types of editing to make horror look realistic
• Start recording footage
• Upload footage to iMovie and begin to edit
• Go back and film more footage when needed
• Finish editing piece
• Edit to get the intro of the film to a two minute mark and include everything we have researched

if we then have extra time this is what we could do;

• Create a DVD cover for our film
• Create posters to advertise our film

Titles

The title of the film can show what the film may be about or even just give a small insight of what will happen during the film. This can be due to images included, fonts, colours, words etc. All of these add to create a sense of what the film would be. A title should never show everything on what the film is going to be about, it should have a little mystery to draw in the audience and make them want to know what is going to happen next.


SCREAM

As you can see in the title it has a very dark background in the colour 'Black' which you can then get the feeling that the film is going to be dark, scary and spooky. Black does not usually represent happy things so this may be able to give you an insight of what sort of theme will be going on during the film. It is essential that you should make sure that the title, fonts, images and colors that you use all relate back to the genre of the film. The font is white which is a huge contrast to the black background which makes the title stand out even more so. With the title being plain it is straight to the point and does not give off a lot of information to what the film will be, a sense of mystery is then formed.
THE GRUDGE

I
n the picture above it yet again has a black background to add mysetery as you cannot see or will now know what is next going to happen. The font in the top left hand corner is scary as if scratches have been make through the letters which may mean somethiong has done this to it. The colour is red, which may realte back to blood or death and stands out well against the black background. The image is peeping out and you can hardly see much of the girls face just an eye, which also adds mystery as you know that the image must relate to the film but you have little to see so the mystery of the film starts.

180 Degree Rule

In filmmaking, the 180 degree rule is a basic guideline that states that two characters in the same scene should always have the same left/right relationship to each other. If the camera were to pass over the imaginary axis connecting the two subjects then this would be called 'crossing the line'. The new shot which is from the opposite side will be known as a 'reverse angle'. 'Crossing the line' means shooting consecutive shots from opposite sides of the line. The 180 degree rule is a huge aspect within film grammar, the director's template has a tool of drawing and to get used to it, it is worth while to draw it out to understand the concept.

Insted of the standard 'Coverage' showing the iner-relationship of characters, another method of shot/reverse/shot can be utilized where the characters Point of View is seen, this effect is mainly used to create a connection with the character, and the basic format for this would be;

• to show that the character is looking
• to show what the character is looking at
• to show the characters reaction to what he is seeing

An example of a 180 degree rule would be;
Between two characters, if the first character is on the left, the second one on the right should be facing right at all times even when the first one is off the edge of the frame, just like how the first character should always be facing to the left.

Another example would be within a sequence of an action scene, like a car chase if a vehicle were to leave the right side of the frame in one shot then it should enter the shot again from the left side. Leaving from the right and entering from the right will create a simular sense of disorientation as in the character example.

In this diagram you can see the two chairs, the line that shouldn't be crossed and the camera. The camera can move anywhere within the half circle, but it shouldn't stay across the red line. Otherwise, cut shots between talking characters would have them facing the same direction.

Research on Lighting

Lighting can also have as much affect on what the audience feels from the film as well as what is happening in the clip and what you hear, the three different types of lighting are;


SOFT LIGHTING: makes a scene look more real, help to ease the audience.
HARSH LIGHTING: makes a scene look more artificial, give the audience more discomfort and make everything look ugly.
BACK LIGHTING: make someone look more powerful.


I will think about how I will film my piece and the lighting that will be considered as the beginning part is in the dark but needs to have certain parts of the character light to help it to stand out. Then the second part of the film being in a very bright location creating a 'happy, normal' environment. 

Research on Sound

Sound plays a vital role in film and helps shape the way in which the viewer reacts and watches a motion picture. Sound influences and enhances what we see on the projector screen. It is able to influence what we see and affect its images by bringing to life the images on the screen. For example, the sound of a grenade making a huge explosion magnifies it effects on the scene at hand. The noises make the scene and actions come alive and seem more and more real. Sound can help to capture the viewers attention and wraps them into the scene.

DIFFERENT TYPES OF SOUND THAT MAY BE INCLUDED;

• Music - can enhance emotions, suggests a particular type of film and sets the theme to the film.
• Voice-over - The pitch and tone of the voice will affect the way you imagine your character and you will create an image of what the character looks like.
• Sound Effects - (e.g. door closing, footsteps, screams, laughter)
  Types;
  Diegetic - sound who's source is visible on the screen or whose source is implied to be present by the action of the film (voices of characters).
  Non-Diegetic -  sound who's source is neither visible on the screen nor has been implied to be present in the action (mood music).

SAW

As you can see in this clip which is the opening sequence from 'Saw' it constantly has included sound to affect the audience. To make them feel a certain way or keep them hooked on what will happen next. There are both sounds that are diegetic and non-diegetic. 

Shaky Camera Technique

A technique that is known as either, shaky camera, shaky cam, handheld camera or free camera is another cinematographic technique which is simply created by filming which holding the camera which filming or at least giving the appearance that the camera is being hand held. This technique suggests unprepared, unrehearsed filming of reality, and can provide a sense of dynamics and nervousness. However a bad use of sing this technique would be that too must shaky camera motion can make the viewer feel dizzy or sick. I used this in my opening sequence to create a sense of reality, as well as feeling like you were in the shoes of the main character that is running away from 'The Unknown', because the camera is hand held this means that yu can see everything that the person who is holding the camera can see as if you were looking out of their eyes. So you get the whole feeling and start to think of the emotions that may be involved if you were the character. The way it was filmed was by the main character 'Emma Smith' running from the first long shot towards a building. It was very easy to film and did not take much time to plan however it still added a creative feel to the film when this clip was included.


 I used this in a few clips at the beginning of the opening sequence. The clips at first are very short and have fast transitions between them so the shaky camera breaks it up to help you to see the situation from her perspective too. I really like this movement of camera, i believe that including it within my work it has added the right atmosphere to my film and worked well amongst all of the other clips. 

Camera Angles and Shots

As you can see in the image above there are many different techniques that can be used through the way the camera is angled or shot from, this may affect the scene and how it will be portrayed to the audience. All different shots, movements and angles will create a different feeling and add something different to the entire shot this is why is it very important to make sure you are making the right decision when choosing in what way and how you are going to shoot your piece of film.

One of the main shot sizes that i will be using is;

CLOSE UPS 

Close ups are one of the standard shots which are regularly used with medium shots and long shots which are all known as cinematic techniques.. Close ups will display the most detail however you will not be able to see everything that will be going on in the scene, just the person or object that you are focusing on. The most popular way of changing you shot into a close up would be by zooming from a shot that is far away. The many different reasons that could be for using close ups could be because they are used as cutaways from a more distant shot which will then show the object of person in detail; this is good for expressing emotion. Another effective way of capturing the audience would be to make sure that you do not include close ups for the audience to feel an emotional distance from the subject matter that is being expressed.

I will include close ups in my own horror opening sequence, mainly because of the genre so the audience can feel and see the emotion from the characters and it may help them to feel to reality of the shot. Also short fast cut clips will help to build up tension which will also help if you can see the characters emotion when it is shown to you in detail.