Friday, 22 April 2016

OPENING SEQUENCE: MISSING


Missing

Here is our final opening sequence


THE EVALUATION: Question Seven

Question Seven



When discussing the different shots and techniques we used, we did not give ourselves enough time to insert evidence of this on our video. Instead, below is some examples of what we were discussing about how our preliminary task influenced us to develop on the initial camera shots we first used. 


180 degree rule in our final opening sequence



180 degree rule in our preliminary task






Match On Action in our preliminary task



Match On Action in our final opening sequence


Over the shoulder in our opening sequence



Over the shoulder in our preliminary task




Close up in our final opening sequence



Close up in our preliminary task



Here is also the link to our opening sequence and our preliminary task to compare




THE EVALUATION: Question Six

Question Six

Below is a PowToon to exhibit the different technologies and softwares that we learnt during the process of making our opening sequence.


THE EVALUATION: Question Five

Question Five

Our actors are teenagers, this made our opening sequence relatable to our target audiance and the way the actors reacted to diffrent situations. As our opening sequence is also about friendship, this relates to a teenage genre as teenage years are the most dramatic when it comes to friendships and shapes the people to who they will be when they are older. Our jump cuts and transitions make our opening sequence more tense which appeals to our target audiance, it is stereotypically known that teens love horror films, love the thrill and watching it with friends. We feel like this really appeals to our Audiance.

We also got a lot of people from our school to watch our opening sequence and feed back to us. We have filmed two pairs in task nineteen target audiance but in general we all got a lot of possitive feed back and comments. Things that pointed out the most to us by our ideal target audiance was the flash back, it was pointed out that the black jumps in the opening sequence was effective and worked well with the audio of the heart beats to go in time to create more tension.

A variety of our target audiance also appealed to Melissa Zero, who has been seen in two CBBC programs, this was a familia face to our sequence which also made our opening sequence stand out.

After a short amount on time on facebook we got a few possitive comments which where all around the same age of our taeget audiance (Teenagers) which gave us a better understanding that if our film was to be published the kind of audiance we would attract.

THE EVALUATION: Question Four

Question Four


THE EVALUATION: Question Three

Question Three



THE EVALUATION: Question Two

Question Two


THE EVALUATION: Question One



In question one I spoke about the ways that our media production use, develop or challenge forms and conventions from real media.







Monday, 18 April 2016

TASK NINETEEN: Target Audience

Target Audience 

I arranged a time where we were able to ask three pairs a range of questions after watching our opening sequence 'Missing'. I asked the groups seven different questions. By asking four groups instead of one we were able to have a more accurate overview of our opening sequence and a wider range of the opinions from our target audience.

Here are the questions asked:

1- What stood out for you the most during the Opening Sequence and why?

2- What do you think needs improving in our Opening Sequence and why?

3- Who do you think is our target audience?

4- How did you feel when you watched our opening sequence?

5- What Genre do you think our opening sequence is and why?

6- Do you think the audio we used went well and contrasted well with the opening sequence?

7- How did you fell about the locations we shot our opening sequence in?



TASK EIGHTEEN: Use of opening sequence conventions

Use of opening sequence conventions

We believe that we stuck to the typical opening sequence conventions that we mentioned in task two after analysing different opening sequences of Hollywood blockbusters.


We included our production company logo animation which we put at the start of our opening sequence (which was also used in Forrest Gump for example). Our production logo specifically shows the horror genre which will notify the audience before they watch the sequence that it is going to be horror. As well as allowing them to acknowledge that our group made the project.



Another typical opening sequence convention is title credits. We included ours after the first 20 seconds this is mainly because the beginning is where the most of the fear is created with the fast pace cuts and camera shot. We did not want the audience to get distracted from this and not acknowledge the credits. Therefore we put it during the section where Claire is putting on her shoes as it is not that distracting and key for the audience to miss. The names and roles of our team and the actresses fade in and out.



Although sometimes shown at the end of a film, or right at the beginning, we wanted to show the name of our opening sequence at the end of our opening sequence right after the climax. This is because our production is only an opening sequence and the audience needs to know the name of it so that they look forward to the rest of the film, even though this project only required an opening sequence. We also did this right after the climax of Claire screaming at her brothers dead body to add to the fear and shock that the audience experience. Whilst the title comes up the added dramatic music (typically used in trailers) additionally creates an emphasis on the cliffhanger that the audience are left with.



Throughout our opening sequence we incorporated enigma codes to keep the audience engaged in the plot and the whole sequence. For example, this shot is a high angle shot showing Kate being dragged away. The audience form the start of the opening sequence does not know what or why Kate is running. This creates tension and leaves the audience wanting to find out more.









This is another example of enigma code we used. The enigma code used here is why is Claire picking up a watch and why does she look confused
The second shot reveals to audience that this was Kate's watch and that it has a more meaningful value than just a watch.










We used different music and sound effects throughout at appropriate times. However, most of our opening sequence uses the instrumental track 'Dark Underworld' as non-diegtic music, this was chosen because it creates tension and suits the horror theme created. 
There is also minimal dialogue within the first half of our opening sequence this is because we did not want to reveal too much to audience about the plot and take away form any tension created. 

Friday, 15 April 2016

TAST SEVENTEEN: The Editing Process

The Editing Process

Throughout editing our opening sequence we took screenshots of what we did in Final Cut Pro to achieve what we have now. We used different tools to make our opening sequence more effective.


In the screenshot above you can see that in our first scene of Kate (Milly) there are various cut outs - these are the black gaps you can see throughout the clip. This was essential in our opening sequence because as the screen changes back and forth, we have music to accompany it.


Here you can see the sound that we have added in the sound of a heart beat. We wanted to have this playing throughout this first scene so that the audience could sense that something bad is happening and it gives them more of an idea of how the character is feeling at this moment. 


Here we needed the sound to slowly fade as the scene was coming to an end. We did this by clicking the sound and dragging it backwards. After this we changed the sound fade shape. We did this by control-clicking the fade, and choosing a fade option form the shortcut menu. We used -3dB because we felt that it was the one that fittest most with the scene.


In this screen grab there are tonal contracts from the added filter that was found under ‘Effects’. The effect we used throughout our opening sequence was Luna and Cool Tones. In some cases we used Luna and Cool Tones together to create the right colouring. The effects can be placed onto the video by simply being dragged onto the chosen clip where the filter is needed.



Here we needed to show the audience that there was a jump in time. We did this by adding a transition in the video to show the audience that the next scene is not related to the previous one. To ensure the audience that they completely understand the time difference we added in text (2 YEARS LATER), this effect was found under ‘Titles’, ‘Build in/Out’ and the effect is called ‘Typewriter’ Not only does the typewriter effect nicely show the time jump but also gives our opening sequence more of a professional feel.


Like any intense opening sequence we needed to add a range of music throughout, we found a variety of music on youtube after a lot of hard hunting that would fit into our opening sequence. We downloaded the music through youtube converter and then, after the audio came up in iTunes we simply dragged it music to where it was needed. We was able to fade the music, shortern it and change the volume buy adjusting the settings. 






For the texts that come up on the screen in the scenes where Claire (Rosie) is using her phone, we used After Effects. We followed the instructions that came with the download package for the messaging template. After we made this we opened the template up in Final Cut Pro and added it to our opening sequence.


At the end of our clip we wanted Claire's (Rosie) scream to carry on after the screen had gone black. So we copied a section of the audio of her scream and added it back in again. 


We did a similar thing earlier on in the opening sequence where we fit the dialogue of Claire (Rosie) saying "Kate" and we fit it back into where he mouth is moving.


Once most of our editing was complete we went threw our opening sequence we added a variety of jump cuts. These cuts fitted in well in our sequence as it added tension and suits the genre not only this but it added more visuals. 

Thursday, 14 April 2016

TASK FIFTEEN: Production Company Logo

Production Company Logo

Before creating our logo we needed inspiration from other production companies that also specialised in the horror genre.
Our criteria for our logo is:
  • Simplicity
  • Dark colours
  • Reflect the genre of our opening sequence
Some examples of production company logos that inspired us:

 Ghost House Pictures



This company has created many well known horror films such as the Boogeyman series, Evil Dead and Poltergeist. We like this logo as it applies to our criteria. The simple design of  the grey font against the black background, with a picture of a skull already tells the audience the genre of the film they are about to watch and the production company's speciality.


Twisted Pictures




Twisted Pictures is a very popular horror production company, they have made films such as the Saw Series and Texas Chainsaw 3D. The logo is simple in representing the name and genre of the production company. The twisted barbwire is effective in  reflecting the Twisted part of the name. Although it is dark and hard to read in some places. We do not want ours to be like this, we want ours to be easy to read so the audience know who we are as a production company.

Blumhouse Productions


Out of the above logos this logo is our favourite and is the one that we base most of our logo from. Blumhouse has also produced the Insidious, Paranormal Activity and Sinster franchises. We mainly like this logo because of the simplicity again, the 'corned off' positioning is unique- it creates a 3D effect and adds to the eerie atmosphere that the blue and green colours create. This clearly represents the horror/thriller genre of films that the company creates.

The making of our logo

First I made the different parts we needed for our animation of the logo in Abode Fireworks CS6 individually. The background for the first part of the animation is a rocky wall that I imported from Google Images. We chose to use a wall for the background to highlight the blood that will splatter against it which will show the horror genre. As blood is associated with horror. Then for the second part of our animation the use of black ink transition to a black screen, which is a lot simpler and will reveal our main logo.


For our final Logo we used all of these ideas to influence us in the creation. Here is our final logo. We are all happy with our final logo as it applies to our criteria. It is simple and the animation helps to show the horror genre with blood splatter, eerie music and dark colours. We used a bright blue and bold font like Blumhouse Productions to add a unique take on the traditional horror production company logos.

Motion 5 was the software I used to animate our production company logo. This process was made easier by the previous steps I had done by creating the separate parts of the animation in Fireworks so I could import them and arrange it in the order of animation. To make the transition from the first part of the logo I added the 'splotches' effect and changed the colour saturation to dark, so that ink was also black so that the transition would be smoother and match the background. Then I added eerie music and imported this via a YouTube Converter download from YouTube.