Shooting Schedule

Distributor logo and Crew.

In an opening sequence of a film before the film starts rolling, the titles introduce the director, logo company, distributors, actors & actresses and all the other crew that were involved for example hair and make up artist. But firstly though the titles come in a specific order, so as you are watching a film you notice firstly:

• The distributor logo- This is the logo that and company that help promote the film to get into the cinemas and allow it to be known and famous. Furthermore it helps it get on to DVD's as well as just in the movies. Examples of distributor logos:
• The production logo - This logo is optional for the film as it helps brand the film and make it more noticeable. 

• The cast - After the production logo and distributor logo have been presented its time to introduce the cast who are the people playing the roles in the actual film. It mainly goes in order of the main character so for example in Sixth Sense Bruce Willis name is first as he is the main characters. Furthermore, even if he wasnt the main character he would still have his name first as he is a big star and would have been paid a lot of money to do the film. Secondly, it would be the next second biggest character so for example in the film Dinner for Schmucks Paul Rudd is the second name in the film as he is a big character but not as big as the main character in the film. Then it would go on and on with names but they would put a childs name either 3rd or 4th because of how old they are, so an example of this would be in the film Lemony Snicket's a Story of Unfortunate Events, they introduce Jim Carrey first but not the three children because of their, even though those three have the main parts in the film.

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The crew- The crew in  the films is varied as some films show them before the cast but other films show them after the cast, so its a different variety of ways to show the crew. But in each different film they introduce a different crew member. So for example in the Sixth Sense the show the director first they have left him till last as he is most important. However, in the film The Incredibles that introduce the director and writer ( who is the same person ) first even before all the cast have been introduced. On the other hand in the film Juno they have introduced the cast first before the crew and have introduced firstly the person who does the casting and has left the director till last.

My Directors Commentary

This directors commentary tells you all about my groups opening sequence and how it links to the themes and areas of :

• music
• costume
• themes in general
• character

Question 7

7) Looking back at your preliminary task what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

My preliminary task presents a clip of me and Toni talking about some gossip on the piece of paper Toni has, and her showing it to me. When we did our preliminary task, we had to focus on using shot reverse shot, 180 degree rule and match on action. We had to first of all think about how we are going to use all these techniques in our preliminary task, and to show the significance of them.

 This tube chop shows in the preliminary task that the 180 degree rule has been used, from when Toni comes into the video and I am sitting in the classroom waiting for her and showing that we are going to start a conversation. This evidently shows that the camera is exactly in the middle where the 180 degree point is used, and has not gone past the line and has not broken the rule.

 

 The tube chop in my preliminary links to my opening sequence, as you can see in this one we have also used the 180 degree rule when we are lost in the forest and cant find the boys. This signifies that the girls are lost in the woods and this shot is effective as you can see the location they are in, the conversation we are having and what the characters are wearing. Furthermore, we are not breaking the rule at any time as we are again in the centre of the camera (on the 180 degree point)and have not gone past the line.

 We have also shown in our preliminary match on action where one action goes through into 2 shots. This technique allows you to understand how to make the shots between each other move smoothly into each other. We used it in our preliminary when Toni gives me the note about the gossip she knows and it goes from her giving it to me, then another shot of me taking it. We have also straight after used another match on action when im looking at the note, as we did it from when i am opening the letter, we did it from two view points one from me looking at it, and then an over the shoulder shot of me looking at the note but seeing what it actually says.


Linking this back to the preliminary task, we have consequently used match on action in our opening sequence. We have used this at the beginning of the opening sequence where the 2 girls are walking into the forest, and when they are walking through the branches in the forest, this is where we have used match on action. The two shots from both sides smoothly go together, and show that someone is watching them from

both sides.

My Preliminary Task

Vox Pops & Lethal Media Final Product

Question 6 - Questionnaires Data

Question 5

Question 6

6) What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

What technologies have you used?
This picture below shows all the different technologies i have used altogether. As you can see i have used a mixture of different technologies and have presented them in different and unique ways.

What technologies are brand new to you?



What technologies have allowed you to display your work in a creative way?
3 particular technologies have allowed me to display my work in a creative way, they are:

Prezi
Prezi has helped me present my different posts and ideas effectively and creatively by showing all my ideas more visually on the prezi. It reminds me of a presentation but in a really unique way and you have enough room to write a lot of ideas as you can alter the size and font of the writing. In my opinion, i like using Prezi as it really helps me remember all the different information and facts from the bold pictures or colours Prezi has allowed me to use. At the same time you can add as many pictures as you want to make it more supervisual, and show the audience visually what you are talking about. Prezi creates a really effective way of  showing the different ideas for example earlier in my blog i did a Prezi about horror films in general and there was a halloween version. This was really clear on what i was talking about, and made even more sense to people reading it as they could visualise it.

Sliderocket
The website Sliderocket is really helpful of making my blog supervisual as its basically a powerpoint being put on my blog. I find this easy as you can add so much information including pictures and changing the font. However, when using Sliderocket i find it difficult when writing it up, as when you want to put a lot of information you can only have a limit otherwise the writing will be to small and squished and you wont be able to read it. Otherwise apart from that, i believe Sliderocket really allows you to show a lot of information through pictures and a lot of writing. It gets the audience who are reading it more intrigued by what i am talking about.

Were there any times you had to do something again because you hadnt used the technology correctly?

Final Draft

Question 4

4) Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience for our media product would be for young adults aged 17-21 as we think it is the appropriate aged people who would understand the movie with all the clues and wouldn't be too young to be scared of it and not too old to keep thinking how predictable it is. We made as a group several pie charts from our questionnaire to see what the percentage is of people for example who like horror films. We think that both genders would appeal to the movie but mainly girls as its about their life at the beginning and why they both get killed. Meaning it focuses on their lifestyle and what they do to get them killed, which is why our opening sequence is called 'Lethal Media' as its very focused on the different matters to do around world for example Facebook or Twitter. Another reason it draws females to watching it more than men because we have used two stereotypical and vulnerable females to represent our opening characters to create that sense of fear. Therefore we have used a stereotypical villain that is dark and mysterious and is shown mainly to be an unknown killer. We believe it relates to all genders though as it links to internet sites that many teenagers use nowadays and we believe adding that in has helped the audience to relate as they know all about what do to on Facebook or Twitter etc. We believe the main demographics that would appeal to our horror opening sequence from the 'JICNAR Scale' would be skilled working class as its right in the middle meaning nearly everyone can come and watch it. We found this particular information out from our pie charts we used from our questionnaires and our Voxpops we created.





   
We noticed that many teens like horror movies but they have a specific way of watching them to know that it is a horror movie meaning most people prefer the film to start peaceful than frightening as they want to know about the story line at first before all the frightening images happen. Additionally we got more information from different people by using Voxpops. This was helpful as we could get specific and individual ideas from different people and see what they like and why they like it that specific way. Evidently, we believe the type of people who would watch these films would be trendy and fashionable people as they know about Facebook and different websites and relate to it in real life. But also you hear many stories on the news about missing teenagers from talking to unknown people online, so we as a group are trying to send that message across to young adults to not speak to people you don't know otherwise you never know what's going to happen and you could be expecting the worse.

Feedback

2nd Draft

Question 3

My group decided to choose via the media institution an independent company. We did this because we thought that our film is more different to the typical famous companies such as warner brothers, so we went with the distributor Artificial Eye. This company has created films that are more indie than others but also every film they have presented all have hidden meanings. This meaning that unexpected things happen in our film, things that you dont expect to happen and understanding the inner meaning of the particular characters and for example why did those two girls specifically killed by John Slasher. Using Artificial Eye is good as it shows it to be a very independant company but also shows that we dont have a very big budget in comparison to other very famous movies. When using Artificial Eye, the beginning sequence showing what company fits in very well and it clearly shows the audience the type of film its going to be and what specific elements it will have in it to make it an Artificial Eye production. This distributor mainly accompanies horror films and eerie stories with a meaning. This links to our opening sequence as ours is a horror sequence and it also shows the inner meanings within the opening sequence, to make the audience think about the extra detail and the characters feelings and what they have been through, instead of the main story being shown in the opening sequence.

3) What kind of media institution  might distribute your media product and why?

These are examples of the films Artificial Eye has represented:

As you can see from the films above they represent a very indie type of theme as these films are known but not known very well. They do use very famous actors and actresses but because the company is quite independant, it does not spend as much money on the films in comparison to film companies such as Warner Bros.

First Draft

This is our product for Media Studies coursework.

Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Question 1

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? 


We have used typical conventions that are seen in real media products and have put them into our opening sequence. In an opening sequence all of them have to have these specific conventions to make it good and get the audience hooked to it. These are - editing, props,titles,establishing shot,giving the audience clues, equilibrium or disequilibrium, production & distribution logo, soundtrack, establishing mood & theme or film, prompting audience to ask questions. All these conventions are used in an opening sequence because it allows the audience to understand the different view points from characters, the genre and knowing all the information about the film and what its all about, but not giving away to obviously. For example in the opening sequence to Bridget Jones' Diary, the director has used close ups of her showing that she is the main character, its used emotional music to show what has just happened and how the character is feeling, the titles look like someone has just wrote them emphasising the idea of her diary and in the scene is shot from outside in the cold to her warm room showing the difference in settings. An example of ours that links to Bridget Jones' Diary is that ours also uses specific titles because ours are all in a bold and capital font indicating how serious the matter is and the storyline.

Our opening sequence is the genre horror and these are how we have used the conventions needed. We have used in our opening sequence are titles, soundtrack and giving the audience clues. I believe these are the most effective in an opening sequence as they all give the audience information about the film they are about the watch and it gives them clues for what the film is about and how it is being portrayed. Firstly, we have used the convention titles because we are showing the audience what the film is called which is 'Lethal Media'. This title gives the audience an idea what the genre of the movie is and clues for what the movie is about. For example the word 'lethal' gives the audience a very scary but moving idea about the film and that what's going to happen in the film is not going to be all that pleasant. Additionally, the word 'media' tells the audience that the media altogether has something to do with what is going; but consequently it gets the audience answering questions like 'what type of media is involved in this movie?'. 

Next in the convention titles, we have also given all the names of the people involved meaning the director, producer, the actors and actresses etc. Therefore this insists to the audience which people have helped create it, and it can help them see if they are very well known in famous films. The next convention we have used is the soundtrack. As a group we really focused on this as the soundtrack is the thing that helps get the audience hooked to the screen as firstly tells them what type of film its going to be but also it gets them asking questions such as 'what is going to happen?' making them hooked and wanting to know more. I believe this is really effective as the soundtrack we have used is a huge monotone but scary drone that creates the atmosphere to the sequence, but at the end when it has ended with a cliff hanger the title comes on and it has a famous heartbeat on in the background. Evidently you can see that the opening sequence is about the matters of life and death and the heartbeat shows that clearly. The next convention we have used in opening sequence is giving the audience clues about our opening sequence. We as a group believe it is effective to give clues throughout our opening sequence because it gets the audience more hooked to the screen and wanting to watch what's going to happen next. Also it gets them thinking after when watching about the opening sequence all these different questions that they want to know, as it interests the audience more. We haven't really used many props in our opening sequence just a mobile phone. The mobile is very important in the film as it shows the texts between Demi and John Slasher (the villain) and how he is trying to lure her into the woods and to meet with him, which also links to the title as the word 'media' links to the texts they sent each other. 

We have used the convention of the equilibrium because the main idea of it is to show the normality of the world the characters are in. We have showed that by showing the idea that these 2 girls (Megan & Demi) are friends and that they hang out together, but also we have showed it through the texting between Demi and John as it shows that many incidents like this has happened before in the world today. The last convention we have used is establishing shots as they show the setting at first where the two characters are but also where they are going. There is a specific shot where Demi says 'I think its over there', we have shown an establishing shot of just the forest they have approached too, and have therefore shown the audience where all the action will happen.

As you can see in famous horror movies they use very specific things that we have devolped in our opening sequence. For example the cross cutting between when Demi is calling John to see where he is and when Megan is running away from someone. These incidents all show the seriousness of what's happened and also they are so different but link so well with each other, and show two different matters all linking into one. Carrying on, the most effective is when each of them die because we have cross cutted it that Demi dies first of all and then Megan dies after showing that possibly there deaths linked to something meaning linking to the two boys they were supposed to meet. We as a group believe this works as it shows that actions they do seperately are quite different but it comes together at the very end, and all links together.
 

Animatic Storyboard

This animatic storyboard is essentially is a short animation that we created in iMovie. Our group produced this storyboard to give us more ideas on on what shots we should use in our opening sequence and how we should incorporate sound into our product in post-production. Creating this storyboard in iMovie was useful for various reasons; it allowed our group to get a better idea of how to work with iMovie, gave us a better idea of how long our opening sequence will be and helped us to determine which sounds would and wouldn't be appropriate in our opening sequence.

Storyboards

Casting

Characters of my Opening Sequence by zoeharris63 on GoAnimate

Animated Presentations - Powered by GoAnimate.

Titles

Titles used in our opening product:

- New Wonder Productions
- Working Title Films
- Casting by Demi Proud, Megan Harris and Charlie Price
- Edited by Mike Adams
- Music by David Laws
- Produced by Ann Lee
- Directed by Nikola Busonovic

These are the titles that will appear in order for our horror opening sequence.

 These are a few ideas of the fonts of titles we are going to use. We are unsure as to now of what one will be using.

Post 9 - Characters Descriptions

Post 12 - Location permision

Post 7 - The Script

(Shots of previous messages between her and John)

Demi- I think its over there.
Megan- Are you serious?

(walks into the forest)

(the two girls are walking through the forest, many different sounds occur, quiet music is playing very quietly in the background. )

Demi- I think we're lost.
Megan- What do you mean we're lost?
Demi- look don't panic, you go that way and look for the warehouse, i'll stay here incase the boys come out and look for us.
Megan- Ok.

(Megan departs to the left of the forest looking for the boys, Demi stays in the same place trying to call for the boys)

Scream coming from Demi, Megan runs. Scream at the end from Megan.

Post 4 - Sound

http://www.freesfx.co.uk/sfx/snapping?p=1 - Horror Small Bone Or Finger Snap 003

This first sound is a sound of twigs snapping in trees. This sound is to resemble the killer guy character hiding and camouflaging into the trees behind the two girls so he cant be seen but so he lets the girls know that he's watching them. This sound is effective as it is very eerie and it brings up a lot of tension as we don't know who's in these bushes and we don't know why this killer is watching these two girls. Furthermore, the sound makes the audience believe that it can be anything meaning it could be animals in the bushes or just the wind, consequently bringing up the scary atmosphere as the audience don't know what's going and it gets them hooked to the screen as they want to know what happens next.

http://www.freesfx.co.uk/soundeffects/horror/ - Is it safe out

This second sound/piece of music is a very tense and atmospheric piece of music which allows just the music to bring up tension, nothing else. This would possibly be used at the beginning of the opening sequence as it indicates to the audience the type of film they are watching and they want to know what happens next. The climax that starts to increase in the piece of music is effective as the audience are expecting something to happen but they don't know what, which additionally gets them hooked to the screen as they are anxious to know what happens next and how the story is going to evolve.

http://www.freesfx.co.uk/sfx/scream?p=2 - Scream, High, Female

This last sound is of a female screaming. This sound clip would be very effective in our opening sequence as we can use the sound from a distance and not just from the girls actual scream and shooting it. We were planning to when my character collapses on the floor from her fatal heart attack we hear a scream in the background, she hears it slightly but cant do anything about it. This scream is really good its a very demanding scream so it wants the audience to hear it and wonder what's going on and what's going to happen to these 2 girls who have been suddenly screaming for their lives. Evidently, after this is where we see the close of demi's hand and the guy all in black walking away and you can either see his figure or his shadow.

Post 6 - Costume

Costume
The costumes we will be using is:

The two girls: The two girls will be wearing for the opening sequence will be wearing stereotypical teenager clothes meaning leggings, blazers, boots, jeans etc and winter coats to show the time of year and that it is in winter time. They would wear normal clothes to show the normality they are in from the beginning and show that the would be doing a normal thing. In their eyes they wouldn't expect the incident to happen. Additionally these normal clothes replicate that they are just innocent young teenagers who didn't realise they were doing something wrong, therefore contrasting with the killers clothes as the killer wore all black on purpose.
The guy/killer: The guy/killer would be wearing all black to show that he is a dark and bad character. Also it could show a type of camouflage as its being shot in the dark, the guy has a chance of hiding and making mysterious noises to haunt them and especially as it's dark they cant see him so its easier for him to catch them or come up to them. His clothes will blend in with the dark to show that he does not want to be seen.

Post 6 - Props

         Props

The props we will be using for our opening sequence will be 2 objects. These 2 objects are a phone & an asthma pump/an inhaler. We will be using a phone as that is the object that keeps Demi and the two guys connected, meaning thats the way they organised their date. In some of the shots in the opening sequence we will be showing the messages from Demi to the guy who she's meeting up with and we will show a shot of the phone with the message from the guy where he changes the location of where they had to go. This therefore shows the audience the change of scenery and how the theme of horror is starting to be shown in the opening sequence. Also we use the phone in the woods as well when the two girls split up and the Demi tries to call up John.

Three Potential Images for our Opening Sequence

This first picture shows the picture of the scary woods we could use for where the two guys say to the two girls to meet up but however get lost in it and unfortunately die in it. The spooky and intertwining branches show all in night time all the images and shadows it can pull, so they could possibly show ghosts, animals or humans from the weaving of the bushes. This woods can furthermore be used as camouflaging as there are so many branches and the colours are very neutral, showing that people could hide very well in these woods, but while hiding they can be watching people without them knowing. Evidently, the picture shows two paths that split from one big one. This can show which way to go and the directions but it can be spooky because if people step on the paths their footsteps can be seen so the characters would know which way people have gone.

This second image shows the path/road just before the woods. The trees at the side make this picture effective as they have been split up showing to the two girls that this is the way we get to the woods. This image makes us feel quite intimidated as it looks like an innocent woods with houses at the side showing its very suburban and friendly but actually it isn't as it witnesses murders and deaths. The fact that the path in the middle of bare trees shows it to very bleak but very welcoming, but you can imagine at night time in the cold where you can only hear the squeaking of the branches moving and the rustling of the leaves, it makes you feel like your not alone.

My third and final image shows the path next to the forest and next to the houses in the background. This icy cold setting is effective as the colours on the leaves symbolise a theme of death as the colours are bleak and this white ice colour is the same colour of someone when they have passed away. The bushes on the right show it to be very covered up with ice indicating that the bushes could be hiding something as all the spider webs and ice over the leaves are intertwining with each other. The track could show two images, one where it is leading into darkness where no one could see you. However, the houses in the distance of the track could show that there is a light at the end of the tunnel showing that there is safety close by; therefore showing that they can see you but they cant hear your screams.

The Titles in an Opening Sequence

Plot Synopsis

Our opening sequence is based on the genre of 'Horror'.
It is about two girls (Me & Demi) who are going to meet up with two boys on a double date. However, Demi met this boy on Facebook so she has never met the guy before. So they organise to meet up by getting each others numbers and texting each other. His name is John, and he lures the two girls into the woods to meet him. When they reach the forest, they cant find them and get it lost, so they split up but then Megan heres a scream in the background so she runs. But then gets captured by the killer and John Slasher kills them both. The text messages before are very significant, as they show the mood swings he has and how he reacts to Demi in these text messages. They sum up the whole meaning of the opening sequence, is to be careful on the internet and only talk to people you know.

Initial Ideas for our Horror Opening Sequence

These are our initial ideas for our horror opening sequence. They show the audience what type of film we are going to be showing, the whole plot of the whole opening sequence, what we are gonna do to it to make it very eye catching and we described hwo we want the audience to feel when they watch our opening sequence which is to feel tense and want to know what happens next. We all have a visual idea in mind of the whole plot and what we are going to do for this opening sequence and we feel positive with the ideas and creating it.

Audience Research 2 - Analysis through Pie Charts

These pie charts help me and my group understand what different people think about horror films. It gives a broader mind about what people expect to see in for example the title sequence or how they like a horror film to start off and end. We first of all got this data from our questionnaires that we gave out to 15 people, and it was a mix of different people. As you can see in the first pie chart the participants have mixed views and the chart has balanced out quite equally, whereas in the second pie chart (on the right) a lot more people like horror films than people who don't so it shows that a horror film is a popular film to do and most people like it. Going on to the third pie chart you can see that most people while watching horror films prefer the film to start off peaceful and then get into to the horror rather than watching it all frightening the whole way through. Lastly, on our last chart its quite balanced, as nearly half amount of people like either the titles to be in a 'bloody' effect or a 'scratched off' effect.

Audience Research - Vox Pops

 This is my group's(Me, Demi & Charlie) vox pops, which shows what our potential audience thought about horror films, what they expect to see in horror films and cliffhangers. As you can see their are a mixture of views on horror films. We asked different questions to do with horror films which were "Do you like horror films? and if so why?" , "What do you most expect when watching a horror film?" and "Do you a cliffhanger at the end of a film? if so why?" These three questions are all quite different and all relate to horror films and helps the audience not repeat themselves. All the answers we got back from the participants helped us decide the typical horror film and what they expect to see in them which makes them more viewable. Furthermore we got different views from different types of people meaning people who don't really like horror films to people who find them more interesting, but they all each their on own opinion on the type of film, which allowed us to understand what we need to put in our opening sequence. These opinions influenced our opening sequence as it allowed our group to understand what we had to do to effect the audience like this, and it has given us ideas how to make the audience feel uncomfortable and scared when watching it. Their thoughts and opinions count on our work as they are the people watching and judging what they see, and if it's scary they know its a horror film.

Conventions of Horror film

Conventions of a Horror Movie on Prezi

Genre 2 - Opening sequence to The Exorcism of Emily Rose

Genre 1 - The Strangers Opening Sequence

Conventions of an opening sequence

Analysing the opening sequence of The Spiderwick Chronicles

Analysing the Opening Sequence of Bridget Jones' Diary

Bridget Jones Analysing on Prezi

Wallander 'Firewall' December 7th

Wallander 'Firewall' (December 7th) from megelle15

Analysing the opening sequence of 'Brick'

This first image is a wide shot, and its one of the first shots in the movie. It evidently shows what has happened in this opening sequence. The colours are go from very light down to very dark showing how the mood has changed from the sunlight making it a bright happy place to a dark sewage tunnel where death has happened. How this scene has been arranged shows that the guy bending down has got something to do with her death, and the fact that hes just looking and watching her shows his state of shock. You dont see either his face or hers, as the have both been turned away and its at an angle where you cant see their faces. His hands are in his face and mouth showing that he is in such shock he cant speak, so hes consequently moved his hands there to show hes afraid. In this shot, you do identifiy what each character is wearing, which allows the audience to know what she was wearing when she died and what he was wearing when he was there.

This next image shows an image of a girl dead on the sewer floor, but this girl has her face covered by her hair which identifies what features she has to her. It shows she has blonde hair as well as a white cardigan/jumper. This consequently shows the audience the type of character she is, and also lets the audience know. But they do not know fully who she is as her face is covered by her hair, which tells the audience that the director does not want the audience to know who she is in the opening sequence. This could make it more mysterious for the audience because they would want to know who she is and the fact the director isnt letting them know shows that actually the audience do not know the real identity of this character even though we see some of her features. The colours the director has used are very dark, showing the theme and atmosphere within this opening sequence and the colours really match how pale her skin is, meaning the character and setting all fit together.

This image shows a completely different scene to the one above as the colours used are lighter, which shows its a brighter setting and different atmosphere. It makes the audience more calm but however very puzzled as we still don't know who's arm this is, but the cardigan is very familiar to the cardigan in the image. This consequently shows that these two people could be the same however in this image it shows how much maturity this girl has and how old she is by the bright blue bracelets. It also gets the audience answering the question, why is she putting a piece of paper in this locker? This shot is a close up of her hand, showing the bracelets she's wearing and showing part of the item of clothing she is wearing. Also its shows the background of where this happening, which tells the audience one thing that they are in school. In comparison to the first picture the pace of the shot seemed much slower as death had happened, whereas this scene seems to have increased in pace, as there is much more going on in the scene.

This picture is a wide tile shot showing where the scene is being set and showing the full length camera shot of this male character. It shows us that this character is very similar to the character in the first shot as they are wearing the same items of clothing. As he is turning around, it makes the audience feel as if this character is being watched by that person who put the note in the locker, but he cant see this person as its from such a far shot. However, the shot could be showing him turning around as he's looking for the person who put this note in his locker, and that he's looking but he cant find the person as there is no one around in the scene; in fact the school looks very deserted. In this scene before this one, the bell goes on from the before scene to this scene, which is called a sound bridge as the sounds transfer over from one to another.