Lauren AllardIG1 Film Opening Title Sequence Evaluation

Film Opening Title Sequence

Evaluation

This report is an Evaluation for The Film Opening Title Sequence Project, during this project I had to complete seven different tasks to complete it. These tasks included Analysing three different film opening title sequences, analysing film reports/reviews from a magazine completing some secondary research analysis, generating ideas for my own opening title sequence, the pre-production, Production and Post Production.

Pre-Production:

Mind Map: For the start of my pre-production I had to start my ideas generation by creating a mind map. I had to create many different sections for each genre that I would be interested in doing for my film opening title sequence, I had to label what I would include for each genre, such as locations, types of characters, props, costumes, shots etc. This would be based on what I would like to include and also what would typically be included in that type of film. The picture at the side is an example of how the mind map would look like, with barely any images and mostly text. Each section states what is included in a film opening title sequence and the labels coming off it shows each genre and what is included for each one. For most genre’s I wrote notes based on what I would include or what is typically included, for others I wrote paragraphs to give more detail when it came to describing what I would be including and why. For this task I do feel like I could have included some more detail when it came to describing what I wanted to include.

Mood Board: The next step of the pre-production was deciding on a genre and creating a storyboard for that chosen genre. The mood board had different slides based on what would be included, each slide contained many images, and the images would be from different movies that are in that genre. I had chosen a Supernatural Horror for my film opening title sequence, I thought that choosing a supernatural horror would be interesting because connects to the target audience’s deepest fears. For my mood board I had focused on movies like Annabelle, Paranormal Activity and Insidious. These were the main films I chose to look at when it came to including images for my mood board; all three are supernatural horrors and are all different attracting different audiences. I had to look at the different kinds of shots included in this genre, locations, costumes/props, characters etc. Everything that is included in horror films that I can generate into my own idea. This is an image taken from my mood board; this slide showed the

Lauren AllardIG1 Film Opening Title Sequence Evaluationdifferent types of characters that are included in supernatural horrors. On this slide I included ghosts, murders, psychopaths, possessed children and also possessed dolls. I wanted to use some of these kinds of characters in my own idea. Maybe even bring a few characters into one.

Secondary research Analysis: For this part of the pre-production stage I had to choose a media magazine from the library and find an article regarding a film, it could be review or talking about past or upcoming films. I had chosen an article about the film Attack the Block that was released in 2014, the film is a British Sci-Fi drama and focuses on London’s youths. I had to read through the article and look at what the author had written and whether his/her main question had been answered. The main question for this article was “Attack the Block: B-movie or Blockbuster”, it turned out that due to the tight budget of the company, the film failed to get the support from any Hollywood blockbuster studios. Another question was asked to whether the film should have stayed as a low budget British film or have been a Hollywood blockbuster. It came to the conclusion that the film should remain a low budget British movie because it turns out that if it would have gotten the attention of any Hollywood Blockbuster studios, most of the script would have been changed to lower down the age rating, they would have taken out a lot of the swearing and drugs that are originally included, this would have changed most of the film and even the plot and personalities of a few of the characters.

Ideas Generation: The final part before continuing on with the final stage of Pre-production, was to write a proposal for the main idea, I had to include what genre I had chosen, the content, Target Audience, I had to explain how my opening title sequence would attract my target audience and how it will interest them and also what the film credits will look like.

I had chosen a Supernatural Horror as my genre; I had chosen this genre because I find an interest in those types of films and TV shows, I find them interesting with how the writers come up with the ideas and how they make them work for their target audience. For the location of the sequence, it would be filmed inside of a forest, around autumn/winter time, this gives a really creepy effect especially when the sun is going down and when it’s getting closer to getting dark, the branches blowing in the wind gives a creepy effect, like a child’s nightmare. It gave the idea of branches looking like thin fingers in the shadows. The props would be mirrors and old creepy dolls, the mirrors

Lauren AllardIG1 Film Opening Title Sequence Evaluationwould be placed on the floor as if they had been smashed and been there for decades, the shot for this prop would show the trees in the mirrors, and the dolls would be hung from a tree kind of making a recreation of the hanging doll tree in Mexico. Our target audience would be aimed towards teenagers and young adults, with the age group being around 15+ it would give a wider audience, it would be aimed at both males and females making it fair and equal, and anyone that has a like/love for horror/thriller movies. I wanted the sequence to appeal to the audience, I want them to be intrigued, and for them to want to continue watching to find out what happens next. For the title credits the original idea was for the title to be in a font called “October Crow” the font looked creepy and branch like, but with the effects that I wanted to be included with the text the font couldn’t work for the sequence. The credits were all meant to have a static effect added to each of them. In the end the main title was the only piece of text that had the static effect included. The Plot was that decades ago people started walking into the forest but they never came back, ever since the forest’s only resident died, people have gone missing and their bodies would appear months later at the forest’s entrance.

Presentation: The final stage of the ideas generation was to present the idea to our teacher, myself and my partner for this project Megan had to create a presentation that would describe and show off our Film Opening Title Sequence idea, the presentation had to not include that much text, more images. This is an example slide from the presentation; there were only four images included and only a little amount of text. This was to show the chosen locations and props that would be included in the sequence. The presentation lasted a few minutes and it went pretty well, but I think that I could have presented my work without looking down at the script or looking back at the board during my presentation.

Lauren AllardIG1 Film Opening Title Sequence EvaluationStoryboard: For my storyboards I had to draw out each of the shots that I planned to film during the Production stage. I had to include what type of shot this was, add a description of what is happening in the shot, any text included, and effects. The image at the side is a page of the storyboard that I created. The description was added in on the computer as well as all of the details. I then printed off the storyboards and then drew the shots onto the page, I had to scan the pages onto a computer and place them in a folder ready to be uploaded onto my blog. The image at the side was for shots 3 and 4. The first shot featured a large tree that would have dolls hanging from the branches, the recreation of the hanging doll tree in Mexico. The second shot was an extreme close up of one of the dolls faces, the original plan was to do a pan shot of the doll, the idea changed when we decided that it would create a better effect if we filmed the doll on a green screen, then add the tree background in later on. We did get a shot of the large tree we just didn’t include the dolls after deciding to do it by green screen. Most of the shots were planned to only last for 5-9 seconds.

Risk Assessment: The risk assessment is something we had to try to stick to, this involved us going out of college and into our chosen location to check on what risks there would be during filming in that chosen location. The main risks were:

● Weather – Too cold for the cast and crew, rain. ● Slips, Trips and fall (Injury) – due to us filming very close to a river and in a forest. ● Production could be delayed – No access to equipment, or extremely bad weather.

When figuring out what risks there could be during filming, I had to rate the risk from low to extreme. The only extreme risk was injury and the production being delayed. I think this part of the pre-production went very well, we knew what risks there would be filming outside and especially in that chosen location, we knew what to do to prevent that risk from happening or being prepared for that risk, if it happens during filming.

Location Recce: During the time we took checking what kinds of risks there could be in our chosen location, we took pictures for our Location Recce. The Location Recce was to show what we would be filming, when we will be filming and how this would feature in the opening title sequence. This image is one of the pictures that we took when filling in the Risk Assessment and the Location Recce. This shot was going to be used as the hanging doll tree, it would be a wide

Lauren AllardIG1 Film Opening Title Sequence Evaluationshot and the dolls would be hung by their necks and one doll would be sat at the bottom of the tree. The Location Recce included maps of where filming would take place, the images showed what shots would be taken and where, this also helped out with giving evidence for our Risk Assessment, because the pictures gave evidence of where we were filming and the risks that could happen. This part of the pre-production went smoothly and I wouldn’t change anything about what we did during this part of the project.

Production

On the day of the production we looked through the Risk Assessment and made sure that none of the risks would happen so far the weather was fine, the sky was grey which made it creepier for filming.

We started off outside of the forest, to capture the first shot of the entrance; the first shot would be the introduction of the opening title sequence. We were prepared for the terrible weather it didn’t rain but we had to make sure we were careful with the equipment due to it being muddy in the forest that we were filming in. During the production there were parts when we decided to add shots into the video.

Lauren AllardIG1 Film Opening Title Sequence EvaluationFor example one added shot was just after filming the shot of the dead body, I decided that it might add a more creepy effect. In the previous shot the body was lay down on the floor and I got a tracking shot of the arm and a camera was located next to the hand. For this added shot I got a camera POV, the shot will look like the victim’s camera was still recording and a pair of feet appear in the shot (Villain). We filmed a lot of different shots as backups for shots that didn’t work out in the sequence in the end. The image at the side is a screenshot of the added shot that we decided to add last minute. For this shot I had to crouch

down onto the floor, with the camera placed low down, I had James walk in front of the camera and face it, this shot makes it look like the villain is looking down at the victim’s body. This shot was an original idea slightly changed; we couldn’t get a hold of many mirrors like we had planned, so I gathered a few of my older phones that are no use to me anymore. Made it look like there had been a struggle with a victim and placed it on the floor and got a tracking shot of the phone, I did a pull focus

technique to show the reflection of the trees and also the cracks in the phone to show signs of a struggle.

With this part of the production I do feel as though I could have gotten some better shots that I could have included in my Film Opening Title Sequence I feel as though I would have had larger option of shots.

To film the doll scenes we had to set up a green screen and film the doll that way, our original idea was to set the doll in front of the green screen and do some panning and tracking shots of the doll in a close up. In the end a member of staff suggested that we take a pole and hang the doll from there with string. We hung the doll from the poll and spun the doll, when it slowed down we started filming from the tripod and also free

handed. We got different shots from wide shot, to extreme close up. This picture was taken before we started spinning the doll.

Lauren AllardIG1 Film Opening Title Sequence Evaluation

This shot is from of the many shots we got off the doll, this one was done free handed. The filming went well, even though we couldn’t get some of the props that we planned to get. But we managed to make a compromise, and use other props instead which gave the same effect. For the green screen shots I think I could have gotten some better shots from different angles, some worm’s eye view shots and some birds eye view shots.

Editing: I started my editing for my Film Opening Title Sequence on Adobe after Effects, I had chosen the shots that I wanted to edit, and I imported the footage into after effects, I wanted to make each shot dark and black and white. I clicked on the shot I wanted to edit and went to the colour correction option and selected Black and White, this option automatically sent the footage into black and white, I wanted to make it even darker so I selected Brightness and Contrast. I increased the contrast and lowered the brightness slightly. This made all of the dark parts in the footage stand out a lot more. When looking for effects I managed to find an effect called “Old Warp TV” this effect made the footage look like it was being viewed through an old TV screen. I added this effect in a couple of shots, those shots being the Dead Body POV, and the main title. I thought of only adding this effect with these two shots because for the first shot it gives that video camera look, and for the main title it works for the whole creepy and edgy feel of the sequence. The image above is what the footage looks like with the effects, black and white and brightness and contrast.

After editing the footage on after effects, I created a second project on after effects to create the credits, the credits would be added onto the premier with the

Lauren AllardIG1 Film Opening Title Sequence Evaluationfootage later on. I used a simple font and then added a shaky/static effect this would make the text shake.

For the baby doll clip I had to use the Keylight option, this contained an option to select the background colour. Before doing this I had to select the footage of the tree and place it above the

baby doll footage. I then clicked on the baby doll footage and clicked the tool on the Keylight

effect. This removed the green background and replaced it with the tree footage. I then selected the black and white, brightness and contrast colour correction option for both pieces of footage. I then set modes on the tree footage to “Scene”. When the footage played together this made the tree merge into the doll's eyes and half of the doll’s face when the doll spun around. The images above is a comparison of the two. The first one being after the effects had been added and the second being before.

For the start of the sequence I wanted to make it look professional, so I managed to get a clip of the Warner Bros. logo, I then took it to after effects, made it black and white and increased the contrast slightly. I then went to affects and found a rain effect. I got this idea from the start of the Harry Potter films.

After finishing the credits and the footage I had to render it all, I clicked on one of the clips and went to the composition button, I clicked on the “Add to render queue” I changed the video settings to “Quicktime” made sure that the settings were set to RGB, I then went to “Format Options” and changed it from Animation to H.264. I then selected “Output to” selected where I wanted the edited footage to go and then clicked render. I repeated this for each clip.

When it came to rendering the text credits, I had to change the format options to Animations, then I had to change the RGB to RGB+Alpha. It took longer or the footage to render than it did the text, due to the amount of different effects are included in the footage.

Adobe Premier Pro: For this next part I had to open up Adobe Premier, I had to name my sequence, then I had to select how many frames the footage had. I had to go to my footage in my documents and then right click, go to properties and then look at the details to find out how many frames there are. I went back to premier and selected the correct option that matches the amount of frames from the footage. I then created two different folders in Premier to separate the footage from the text. I imported them into the right folders and started dragging in the edited footage into the order I

Lauren AllardIG1 Film Opening Title Sequence Evaluationwanted them in. I then started to look through the footage when they were all placed in the right order, I used the Razor tool to cut down some of the footage making the video shorter.

For some shots I slowed down the footage, to give it a more creepy and edgy effect, I slowed down the clips that featured the hanging/spinning baby doll, I slowed down those clips to around 70%. This made the effects more noticeable and it also made it a lot more intense. I added one of the extreme close ups of the baby doll into the second shot, the second shot being the entrance to the forest. I cut some parts of the baby doll shot using the razor tool, and did the same with the forest entrance shot, and I filled in the empty parts of the forest entrance with the doll footage. With the music that I had chosen it fits perfectly.

When each piece of footage was in place, I needed to add in the text. I dragged the text that I needed and placed them above the footage that I wanted it in.

Text:

❖ “An Allard and Turner Production”❖ “The Forest”❖ Kieran Jackson❖ Reece Mechan❖ James Pearson ❖ Directed By❖ Lauren Allard❖ Megan Turner❖ Edited By Lauren Allard

I placed the text that said “An Allard and Turner Production” in the centre of the screen, I then placed “The Forest” in the same place. The other pieces of text were placed in the corners of the footage, each text was placed in a different corner where it would stand out more in the chosen footage for that text. I had to make sure that the text wasn’t too close to the edges so that it wouldn’t get cut off when it had been exported. I made sure that all of the text for each one was the same size so that each shot didn’t look odd.

I had chosen the music off YouTube, the person who uploaded and created the song said that it was available to be used by viewers so then I knew that it wouldn’t be an issue when it came to using it for my opening title sequence. I converted the music to an MP3 and then added it below the footage. When it came to finding the music it was quite hard because I didn’t know if it would work

Lauren AllardIG1 Film Opening Title Sequence Evaluationwith the sequence, the computer that I was working on had an issue with earphones I something was stuck inside the computer so I couldn’t put my earphones in, I had to use my phone and play both the audio and the sequence at the same time to make sure it worked. Luckily it did and it was ready to be exported into a media file. I exported it and then uploaded it onto my YouTube channel and straight to my blog.

Final Edit Feedback: When my final edit was uploaded I sent the link to a few people to get their feedback on how it looked.

“I think it's great, i don't think you have to improve anything really, but just a suggestion on the last part why don't you actually put like the actual ending of that song like so that it sounds like it's actually ended just that”

Looking back on my final edit I am happy with how it turned out, but I do agree with the feedback and it would have a better effect if I did add something into the audio

at the end to finish the sequence. I do think that I could have chosen a better font for the sequence, possibly something that would match the genre and plot of the “Film”. My favourite part of

the sequence is the baby doll shots, I love how both shots merge together making it look like the doll is burning. And how the eyes suddenly look black like a demon. It makes the sequence, it makes the entire idea.