'Art Of The Title' - Fight Club

My chosen film opening from 'Art of The Title' was fight club, as usual the opening starts with the distribution and production companies credits. This opening sequence is very stylised and seems to be heavily edited throughout. There are various impulses of light during the opening sequence in which looks to be electricity pulses. The camera seems to be pulling through what appears to be inside of a brain which then pulls out through the front of the characters nasal passage and up to what looks to be a gun. This then shows a man who looks to be the dominant character at the beginning of the sequence as he has another character up against the wall with a gun to his head. The impulses of light or electricity may imply the characters fear. We are then introduced to this character as the audience encounter the real world. The sound of the opening sequence of fight club creates suspense and builds tension, in which engages us as the audience.

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The type of camera angels of this opening has really inspired our group because we were thinking of doing a similar type of shot in which the camera pulls backwards spontaneously in which looks as though time is fast forwarding. Another aspect of this opening in which inspired me as an individual was the stylised font, as this is something I wish to consider in preparation of my groups opening thriller sequence. 

Research - Previous Student Film Openings (Analysis)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hxbhc_6tFPw

This movie opening starts off with a low angle shot of the little girl skipping. Straight away this creates this thriller horror atmosphere as it gives the little girl more power. From this extreme long shot here we can tell that she is the protagonist. She is given power and respect. Using this shot in my movie opening would be good on the serial killer as it convey the same meaning. I also like the how the little girl is dominant in this. She is in black while the rest of the shot is composed with variations of green/brown.

This low angle panning shot is really nice as it creates an unrealistic effect. Especially with the spooky non-diegetic sound that is used. Additionally the fast motion effect that the editors used makes the audience anticipate for something to happen. This shot is then followed by this extreme close up shot of the little girl in what looks like reality. 

I really like this close up shot, this is because it’s right in the audiences face. It raises question and also seeing as it appeared out of nowhere it make me jump. This is a good factor that needs to be considered when I make my opening. Having a camera shot where it makes the audience jump will be good as it means they’re getting drawn into the action.

One thing I did not like about this student’s work is that they made this medium shot extremely long in length. It lasted about 50 seconds. It’s too long and the tension that was built through the various camera shots before is gone. This is something I will try to not do in my movie opening.

Prelim - Breif

Today our group is going to be filming a preliminary excercise in which the brief consists of using at least one match cut, an example of shot/reverse shot and showing our understanding of the 180 degree rule (by not breaking it!). Our filming of the preliminary must have a character opening a door, walks into a room, sits down opposite another character and share a few lines of dialogue. 

Our group was to choose a type of thriller, in which was a 'Psychological - Thriller' this then helped us with the context of the dialogue and what it would consist of.  In preparation of filming the prelim our group discussed the type of canmera shots/angels we were to use during the filming, the dialogue and in which context it was to be spoken. We then created a storyboard of our sequence to create a visual aspect of what our final product may look like. 

The preparation of the prelim really helped our group understand how important this is. Due to coming to the filming, not knowing what camera angles are being used, whose acting and what dialogue would be shared between the two characters. This would slow down the process of the filming therefore slow down the process of the editing of the final product in which may lead our group not finishing the product before the deadline in which is vital for success.

Production Logo Idea

Whenever I watch a movie I always end up seeing production company logos or intros. I thought of making one for my group. During one of the lessons when we worked on title sequence we thought of our production company to be BigManTings Production. Using Adobe Photoshop I came up with these. 

This was the first idea. This was plain and simple with the name of the production company.

 Then I thought about adding our names and Anil suggested to move the lines at the bottom.

The left looked really empty so I had to come up with something. I designed a logo with using the initials with the same colors.

Finally this was the end product. This works well and my group likes it. We're thinking of using this when we make our film opening. I'm also thinking about animating it so it moves and looks more like a professional production company.

Here is an animatic version of this.

Audience for Thrillers

Most thrillers would attract audience starting from the age 12 and upwards. This is mostly because of the content. Thrillers gives, excitement, suspense, tension and mystery.  However because of sun-genres the audience for thrillers can change. For instance a political thriller would more likely attract adults where as an action thriller would be a magnet for teenagers.

A movie like Fair Game would most definitely suit adults. The poster speaks for itself. Even though it doesn't much graphical elements in it the audience for this political thriller movie would now that this movie will be worth watching. However a poster like Season Of The Witch with big font and bright colors tells us that this movie will have a lot of action and excitement in it.

'Watching' Documentary Q&A

What does Thomas Sutcliffe mean when he says "Films need to seduce their audience into long term commitment. While there are many types of  seduction, the temptation to go for instant arousal is almost irresistible"?

Grabbing the audience's attenton in a film, especially in the first 5 mins, is the most important thing and all film makers try to do that. The opening is crucial as it should show to the audience the ambition of the film. Also, audience are quick to make judgements about a film within the first few minutes so the opening needs to be planned and created carefully to make sure it is flowing and interesting. The phrase 'instant arousal' explains that audience tend to get drawn into a film instantly if it has a intriguing opening, i needs to give the audience a 'preview' of the rest of the film. For example, if we see explosions at the start of a movie that starrs Jason Statham, we would instantly know that this film will be action-thriller. The audience need to be connected to the film from the beginning to ensure that they enjoy it all the way through.

According to director Jean Jacques Beineix, what are the risks of instant arousal?

Film makers must ensure that the film lives up to the opening all the way through the film. Having a great beginning only means that you have to make sure the rest of the film is as enjoyable and gripping enough to hold the audience.

Explain why "a good beginning must make the audience feel that it doesn't know nearly enough yet, and at the same time make sure that it doesn't know too little."

You don't want to give too much away at the start of the movie as it would kill the excitement of the film, but then, you want to give away just enough to keep the audience anticipating for the rest of the film. A good opening should give basic information such as an idea as to the genre of the film ad introduce the audience to one or two of the main characters.However, if a film starts with too much action, it is difficult to keep up the pace throughout the film and will result in the audience losing interest.

What did Orson Welles want to achieve with his opening to the film 'A Touch Of Evil'? What did Universal Studios do it? Why?

Welles wanted to achieve an 'all in one' take of the opening. Universal Studios put titles and music over the top of it.
 

What is meant by "a favourite trick of Film Noir"? What is the trick?

Having the ending of a film at the beginning, then continuing with the film. This technique has been used in many films since, such as in Never Back Down 2: The Beatdown, and is very effective.

How does the opening to the film The Shining create suspense?

Suspense is craeted in many ways in the opening of The Shining. 

sound- the eerie theme music (non diegetic sound)is very slow and tense

location- the place seems isolated and adds to the atmosphere

camera- the camera follows the car from a bird’s eye view, like a predator stalking its prey

even without the introduction of any characters or even narrative, the audience is made to feel nervous and can predict that something bad is going to happen.

Structure Of Film Openings

The structure of a film openings are an important aspect of the film as a whole. If the audience aren't engaged at the begging they are more than likely to develop a negative view on the Film and see it as uninteresting, therefore approach the off button. There are four different ways in which a film opening is constructed, these are; Discrete, Narrative, Stylized and a blank screen. 

Enemy Of The State

A Discrete Opening tend to be heavily edited, they stand alone from the rest of the opening sequence and support nearly all the opening credits including film title. This type of opening draws in the audience without giving away future events of the film. An example of this may be 'Enemy Of The State' in which a lawyer becomes a target by a corrupt politician and his NSA goons when he accidentally receives key evidence to a serious politically motivated crime.

The Shining 

A Narrative Opening is presented with the credits running throughout the opening scene without interruption, this type of opening allows the audience to create a sense of location and an understanding of the film. An example of this type of opening may be 'The Shining' as the credits seem to flow to the top of the screen (newsreel).

Seven

Stylized openings are usually very heavily edited and stand out as the editing is so sophisticated and of high quality. These types of film openings usually take a long time in post production but the finished product creates a very unusual and interesting piece, in which may engage and keep the audience wowed as the opening sequence goes on. An example of this type of opening may be 'Seven' in which keeps the audience engages and also allows them to raise questions of what happens later during the film. 

  

                                         Donnie Darko

Titles over a blank screen often builds tension and suspense as the credits move on throughout the opening sequence. Although this may bore the audience and is very easy to create. An example of this type of opening may be 'Donnie Darko' in which presents its credits over a blank screen to build tension and suspense of what's to come. 

Prelim - Animatic

The prelim Animatic, in which provided our group with a stronger sense of visuality in order to show each scene/camera shot. The storyboard helped our group when filming the prelim, as we had already prepared and considered each type of shot during the preparation of the prelim. This also helped us meet our deadline, the storyboard helped allot however we had to make a few slight changes as some mistakes were made during the preparation such as the position of the camera of which was changed in order to meet to 180 degree rule.

Structure of opening

The Structure of Thriller Openings

There are three basic types of openings to films:

• Narrative opening
• Discrete title sequence
• Blank screen, followed by the narrative opening

A narrative opening is when the titles of the film run throughout the opening to the actual film. Examples of narrative openings are:

• The Stepfather
• The Taking of Pelham 123
• The Shining

A discrete title sequence contains a separate piece of filming from the credits. It has its own piece of music and this runs throughout the opening while the credits appear. An example for this type of opening is:

• Seven

The third type of opening is where it starts with a blank screen and then the titles appear. The titles carry on appearing throughout the opening. An example of this type of opening:

• Donnie Darko

There is also a fourth type of opening called 'stylized editing'. This is when the opening of the film is edited in a similar way to music videos. The credits appear to the beat, such as in Enemy of the State, where the narration is seen through the eyes of CCTV cameras and the music compliments the fast-faced intense action shown.

Prelim - Filming of The Prelim

These are still picture of what we went through during the shooting of the match cut prelim.

One thing we noticed was that when we filmed the remake of Killers everybody was very uptight and eager to make a good scene. We ended up not enjoying ourselves and learning new ways to explore what we were doing. So this time we were very relaxed and calm and took everything one step at a time.

Over all this was a good experiment for us all as we got an idea how much work we'd have to do for one scene. Also how much attention we'd had to give when we do our opening. This was a very good warm up.

    This was a Rambo pose of Zubeir and Anil. 


    At the end we were pleased of what've done. The shooting was successful.



    Close up shot of Alex (Doctor) taking notes.


    We set up the camera to get the right angle of the shot. It took about 3 minutes to get it right.

    

Medium shot of Alex during the scene.

An example of over the shoulder shot

Another over the shoulder shot when Alex was speaking. 

Checking if the two actors are taking up 2/3 of the shot.  

Fixing the level of the tripod so we get a right angle for the over the shoulder shot. This took about 3-4 takes before we got the one we wanted. 

Getting the focus right on the actor

Setting the camera up from a different angle. 

Experimenting with the tracking while Zubeir was walking while chocking

A random shot taken through the glass window. 

Cameraman trying to get the angles right. 

A random shot which gave a very thriller like atmosphere. This was very random and gave us an idea to use in our real Opening for our coursework. 

Getting the focus button perfect so we get the right shot and not waste time.

making sure the tripod stand is tightened firmly so it won't fall and damage the camera.

checking to see if all the buttons work so we do not have any problem while shooting.

getting in the right mood before shooting so all the members are not feeling nervous or anything. 

Setting up the tripod by extending the legs. 

Prelim - Editing

The editing of the final product really helped our group as we found many aspects in which we struggled. This then allowed us to reflect upon the process of editing and to overcome problems which may occur during the editing in the future.



The fonts in which we used for the title sequence of our prelim was: 'Adobe casion pro' as we thought this best suited the opening of our prelim as a whole.




Some areas in which our group struggled to produce were the positioning of the credits. The credits was a struggle because we didn't want them to skip over diffrent cuts as it made ther product look messy and unprofessional. To position the credits and make them not skip over scenes was very tricky as there was minimal time of each cut. Also when we added an effect to each credit this also made the credit come accross the timeframe as more longer in whch made the credit skip from different cuts. Our group decided to leave out the effects due to to problem they caused. This is something that our group may takwe into consideration when comming to the planning and preoperation of our official film production  exercise. However we did manage to position the credits on one shot although we had to leave out the effects in the process, although this wont be the case during the official product as we would be more prepared for the problems which may arise.

After we finished the editing of our prelim we then used soundtrack pro in order to create a multi layered sound for effect. We used foley sounds in order to create a realistic sound of certain aspects of the prelim,   however we did use traffic noises during pauses of dialogue to create silence. The use of silence creates suspense and engages the audience. Overall we did not have many difficulties and were able to finish our final product successfully. One weakness i could comment on would be finding the correct sounds for effect.

During the process of producing the prelim we found that the available sounds from soundtrack pro were too artificial, therefore we decided to create our own foley sounds, for example; footsteps on a concrete surface, on a carpet. In addition, the sound of the door knob and chair creaks. We have used foley sounds in order to create a clear, realistic sound in order to achieve our purpose.

Here is one of the foley sounds in which we created in, which has a more realistic sound of footsteps on a hard surface.

Overall during the editing process we didn't come across many problems although, the problems in which we did will help us in the future when editing our final product for our opening of a thriller.

Prelim - Evaluation

While we were recording the prelim we didn't have any difficulties or problem. However we did shoot certain shots several times.

The first shot for example, we shot it 4 different times. We did a low angle shot, a long shot, a tracking shot and medium shot. When it came to editing we decided to go with the medium shot.

We also did the same for this shot as well. We recorded it several times to get the right one. At first it was too far and at one point it was too close. We also wanted the right sound so we ended up recording a foley sound of the handles turning.







One thing we noticed about the titles in this exercise was that it was too quick but this is only because we wanted each shot to have 1 title. We didn't want the titles to overlap to another shot. Some of the titles are long enough but some of them are too short. Here are some example of them.

This title for example is about 3 seconds which is a reasonable length. However the one below it isn't.

One thing we learnt from this exercise is that if we want the title in out Opening sequence to be one in each shot then the shoot should be at least around 3-4 seconds. If they aren't then we might use a different opening sequence. Maybe a blank screen opening sequence or a stylised sequence.

Prelim - Final Product

This is our final product for the filming of our prelim.

Audiences For Thrillers

Thrillers are more likely to inherit an audience of young males, due to simply to content itself, however many thriller films have many different audience ranges as they consist of a sub genre, in which means two different types of genres combined together. For example a Crime - Thriller may inherit an audience of 15+ due to the mystery and suspense throughout the film, this is more likely to inherit an audience of male viewers as it consists of picking up and putting the clues together in order to understand what is going on in the film. Whereas women are more likely to be interested in a Romance - Thriller.

Many different aspects of a film will affect the target audience in which a thriller will inherit. As shown below are any examples which affects the audience range from Male - Female or 12 - 18+ years old.

Thrillers tend to be aimed at 12 - 18+ year old's due to content such as violence, nudity, inappropriate language or sexual content.

Intertexuality is the term to describe when certain aspects or ideas are borrowed by one film from another, sometimes being used as a parody. The example I'm going to use is the famous shower scene from 'Psycho.'

Since it's release in 1960, that shower scene from Psycho has become one of the iconic and most memorable moments in the history of cinema. Similar scenes have been recreated in many films, mainly in the horror-thriller genre. Below is a still from the original film as the killer is about to stab the woman to death.

       The still below is from The Stepfather; as we can see, they have used intertexuality by recreating the stance of the killer. Also, although this scene is not set in the shower, they have kept some of the originality by using the same prop (a knife) and having a stereotypically male killer and a female victim. However, it dffers from Psycho because she manages to survive by killing him and his bleeding body is left lying on top of the bath, similar to how the blood of the victim in Psycho mixes with the shower water.                                                                           Another movie that has used some aspects from Psycho is Fatal Attraction. They have also used the same setting and mise en scene as Psycho in the shower and this is where the main event takes place, although they have gone against conventinal horror-thriller films and have used a female as the lead villian rather than male. Again, the knife is used as the weapon, the same prop and visual aspect from Psycho. Despite the female character being portrayed as the murderous villian, the male lead eventually saves the other woman and kills the villian, restoring the view of men being masculine, powerful heroes The combination of the use of diegetic sound of the woman screamimg and the non diegetic sound of the violins contributes to creating a suspenseful, chilling and ominous atmosphere.