Audience Response

The vast majority of the audience that viewed our opening sequence all said that most of our sequence did connote that of a horror film. For example a classic shot of moving the camera slighlty to the right to see the evil character, that had not appeared in the last shot and no evidence that anyone was there, they came from no where making it frightening and making the audience jump. Another aspect that the audeince liked was the shot reverse shot of the evil charcter stabbing the good charcter, just as she lunges to attack, the camera goes staright to the close up shot of the male character being stabbed. The next shot afterwards was another point that the audience commented greatly on, just after the male character had been stabbed he went as if to fall down to the floor, the match on action changed so the audience could see it through the male characters eyes. Most of the audience said this was a good piece of editing and it seemed very natural and it felt like they were the ones who were falling.

Film Opening Sequence

This is our horror film opening sequence which we have finally finished. Everything is edited, all the music has gone in. We have had some technical difficulties which we have overcome.

If I had to do this again I would try and make it scarier by filming in a darker setting, even if it did take longer. The music i think goes really well, almost perfect for the atmosphere setting. I think the darker setting would have connoted a more scarier mood, with the audience being frightened more.

What am proud of most is the final few shots where Nick has been stabbed and the continuity where you see him start to fall and it the cuts (match on action) to him falling from his eyes, then to use the camera shutter as the eye lids slowly closing and becoming blurry, as if they were his eyes.

Almost there

Our opening sequence is finally complete all we have to do is upload it onto the blog and finish a few more things on the blog and we are complete

16 seconds of audio

This is the 16s of audio that we would have put in, but we felt that it did not go with the mood of the rest of the film.

Film Poster

This image is what have been created by Chris to use as an advertisement for our film if it became an actual film. We used a picture that we thought would look the best to show of the location, both of the actors. It also connotes dominance to Eva who standing above Nick as if she is the one in control of the decisions.

First Cut- Analysis

This is our first cut of our film, it has been edited down to fit into the 2 minute rule. We believe that the film denotes the horror genre that we first set out to achieve. We were going to introduce the start of the argument during the 16 seconds of credits near the beginning of the film, but unfortunately the audio that we recorded did not fit very well with the conversation as in the audio we recorded it was in a quiet indoor room, whereas the filming was done in a cold windy enviroment with the noise of traffic in the background. So we decided to take the audio argument out of the film, and we thought the film still connoted the horror that was intended. This means that in those 16 seconds we have credits coming up and just the continuous music we have created.

The Music that was created goes with the genre of the film. It goes continuously just like the opening of Halloween, that we reasearched. The music also has the increased diagetic sound when we wanted the audience to jump, or be scared, to add an emotion of shock.

Killed

The second image is what we will add into the film opening sequence as a flashback of the victim that has already been killed.

Story Board 3

This is our third and final storyboard. It shows the shots in the new location (the woods). The first 10 shots are all the same as the last story board, the added change is that of the new location. We believe that setting the scene in the woods connotes the strangeness of being alone, and the not knowing of what could happen. It also connotes how mystified the location is. There may be some added still images but we are still unsure whether we shall put them into the film or not.

We have created our film, with the videos altogether and the logos, but without the music. The music is going to take some time but from the start of it, that we already have it will be really good. Watching it all the way through it takes up the full amount of time that we can have which is 2 minutes, but without the music it doesn't come across as a horror film. The mood is not set right, in the sense that it isn't scary and does not make you want to know what is going to happen next. However I think that once the music is added it will create the correct atmosphere, with the non diegetic music playing continuously throughout the film.

Shooting Schedule

• Tuesday 8th December 09, 3:00-5:15
• Thursday 10th Decemeber 09, 2:00-5:15
• Friday 11th December 09, 1:30-4:50
• Tuesday 15th December 09, 3:00-5:15
• Thursday 17th December 09, 2.00-5:20- last couple of shots

Complex/Practice shots

These are a series of shots that we believe should be used in our film and think it best for the opening sequence. I also believe that these complex shots would be a major asset to our film, to the progress of our production

The shots denote that of tracking, a pan, it also shows how we would of liked to have filmed during a certain period of light because we could not creat our own natural light with the items we had (torches, both white and yello light).

Video Blog

This is a video blog of all 4 of us walking towards the location spot of where our film takes place.

Logo Making

These images are of chris painting the wound onto his wrist, which we used for the logo of Drop Dead. Fortunately Chris is a dab hand with a paint brush and can make the wound look very realistic. You can also that you dont need special effects for some things.

Why Opening Sequences are Important

Opening sequences create an important part of the film. They introduce some of the main characters that will have an effect that carrys on throughout the film. It also presents the industries that have had an input to the film. They make sure the audience knows that the rest of the film is about this and the questions they ask will be from this early clip. This will answer no question only open the audiences minds as to what is to come in the rest of the film.
It allows the industries to gain credit for the production that they gave created. If the opening sequence was not included in the film, the whole film would not make sense and would be a complete waste of time, as you would not be introduced to the characters and wouldnt know who the main actors were either.

Music Discussion

The first few lessons we spent out time using the web and analysis from older horror films and soundtracks from horror games. Suggested by Ryan, who has experience in horror games. We listened to track number 10 of Empty Houses from the game Bioshock. Listening to this piece of music allowed us to gather an idea of what we wanted in our film, we thought it sounded very good for a more slower setting but we wanted a quicker paced piece of music to connote the unknown and uncertainty of the scene.

We spoke to people and asked their opinion of horror music. The majority of them liked horror films, which made our research valuable. They too agreed that the music would not fit with the scene we had intended to add the music in. They said that the most common music in a horror film that put them o the edge of their seat was; a silence, loudness at certain points to make them jump, violins playing continuously, a high pitched piano.

Once we had found out what the people wanted, we used their knowledge to piece together what we thought would make our music connote danger and a ominous atmosphere.

Rather like this

Filming in action/ Cast shots

These images show the actors in character and the camera man (me) in action. The shots go through the filming process of the opening sequence, showing off the location, some of the shots used in the opening sequence and the angles of how the film would pan out.

Logline

Nick Scott is 17 years old, he's living a normal teenage life, his grade are up, and his life is happy.
Now the reality of his situation.
Nick is trapped in a living nightmare by his guilt and fear, his former good friend Eva Black has taken a terrible course in her lifer and entwined him in her horrible fate.
There's no way out now, Nick was there when Eva murdered his best friend, the police suspect Nick was accessory to the gruesome murder of his dearest friend, he's in serious trouble now.
Forced to flee his own home for fear of being turned in to the police by his parents, Nick has to survive on the streets for a few days, not easy in the middle of winter.
Eva wants Nick to keep quiet, and there's only one way to keep Nick quiet.
She tracks him down, first trying to reason with him but soon realises he is beyond her words.
She kills him, stabbing him in the stomach and leaving him to die in a pool of his own fluids.
The Police find Nick's corpse a day later, they know Eva was the murderer but have no leads to finding her.
They write the case off as a suicide to stop the press interfering.

-------------

One year later

Angela Scott, Nicks 20 tear old sister, goes to visit Nicks grave. Once there she finds a message badly carved into the base of Nick's grave:

"Here lies a broken life, 17 years dead, murdered".

Angela is deeply troubled by this message, she goes to see Reverend Matthews in the graveyard chapel already in tears ar the the words scarred on her young brothers grave.
Reverend Matthews goes to inspect the gravestone, instantly recognising the hand writting on the stone. He recoils in fear and rushes back to the chaurch.
Angela demands to know what the Reverend knows about the vandal and why they wold deface her brothers headstone so senselessly.
The Reverend reveals that the vandal is none other than Eva Black, a young attendant to the church some 7 years ago. Eva had been a quiet girl, mostly due to her parents who frequently hit the girl for being out of place. One sunday sermon, Eva had come to church early, with her pet dog, she had taken the bottle of wine from the alter and broken it over the dogs head, killing it instantly. She had waited until the Sunday sermon had started, delighted with the horrified looks of the congregation. It was later discovered on CCTV, which had been installed a year before hand due to frequent church break ins, that Eva had mercilessly killed the dog in the eyes of the lord. She was sent to counselling where she was asked why she had done it, she had answered:

"I feel pain everyday, at the hands of those above me, and god does nothing. I wanted to see if god was really there to the bad things we do to others"

The reverend continued, revealing that she had left her home after slipping an overdose of sleeping pills into her parents drinks, she had taken a knife and carved into the wall next to them:

"Here lies parents, mean to their daughter, murdered"

Angela then embarks on an investigation to track down Eva and hand her over to the authorities, however Angela is split over her decision to do the right thing, or exact revenge of her own.
She finds Eva living off the grid, she triesto restrain her but Eva escapes, trapping Angela in a fire in the building Eva was orginally hiding out in.
Heading back to her home town, Eva is confronted by Angela once more.
Eva returns to Nick's grave, planning to unite him with his sister, however Eva is grabbed by the decrepit hands of Nick's corpse as he drags her under the ground into the grave.
Angela goes mad over what really happened, she is omitted to an asylum and has remained there since.

Second Story Board

This is our second story board for our opening sequence. There is more detail in this to show the depth of the film. there are more shots in this story board to have an improved title sequence.

Logos

These logos we have created for our opening sequence.

The darkness that is denoted in all of these images connotes the horror genre of the film. The horror is also shown from the colour of the words which is red, this connotes blood, danger and violence, everything that is needed for a horror film.

The Drop Dead logo was created by me and Chris. Chris painted the wound on his arm with paint and used crunched up paper for the Drop dead writing. I then took the picture, Chris then proceeded to edit the image to create an effect on the image, which makes the image look surreal.

Both Dark Ages and Snowland were produced and created by Chris Snowdon. We first tried Snowland in green and blue, but neither of these two colours went with the genre of the film. The Dark Ages logo, we started with a skull in between the two words. But we then found out that we could not use images from the internet so we took the skull out of the image and came up with this one instead.

Editing

The editing that we have done has taken 1-2 weeks and is now complete. Everything that was on film has now been edited to what our storyboard showed. During the time spent editing we have noticed that some shots needed to be split up and some dialogue needed to be taken or shortened, so using this time wisely we have split the diologue up, by adding very short imgaes or flashbacks that flash up very quickly to add some emphasis on the scene.
We have added two photos into the film to connote a more frightening response as to what Eva has commited.

The dialogue that I took out was because what was said did not connote to the horror genre and added no relevance to the story line. We also had footage where Eva ends up pushing Nick across the path to connote the aggression of Eva but the camera did move smoothly enough for the correct amount of tension that was being built. Also using the logos in the different colours didnt work so i removed them and replaced them with a red background.

I also thought the camera angle where the camera gets closer and closer to Nick, the camera shaking I think is a good aspect, that connotes Nick being alone and unaware of what is happening around him.

Update

The editing for the opening is all done now, the only things to add to it are the music and the logos for the production names to be put intot the film. We are going to add in a picture, which will resemble a flashback of the body that Nick cannot identify, this will increase the suspense and also the shock that Eva has done.
We may need to do another storyboard for this one scene but apart from that we are almost done.