Editing our title sequence

After uploading our shots on to the apple macs we were ready to put everything together.
We watched all of the shots and picked the best of each to go together. We also added stills of photographs we took into the sequence so that they looked like flashbacks. These flashbacks are in the red lighting to fit in with our colouscheme. One thing that we are playing around with are the transition effects. These are how we are getting from one part of the sequence to another. We particularly like the cross dissolve transition as it enables us to merge to images together withuout there being an obvious jump.

Planning- music for our thriller

Music in an open sequence plays a very important part in tht success of it.
The main problem that we face is finding music that is copyright free. Our teacher got hold of about 30 copyright free tracks for us to choose from if we wish. After listnening to the tracks me and my group members shortlisted about 4 or 5 that we liked. We then played the tracks alongside our title sequence to see which fitted best. The track that we all agreed we liked is called serial killer. However the middle bit of the track consists of choir like voices and is a bit odd, but we decided that it helps create an arkward atmosphere.

Filming!-Complete!

When we got back from our last filming session we took the camera into the apple mac room and uploaded what we had filmed onto the apple mac computers. Some of the shots were very successfull and the red lighting worked particularly well. However we were over ambitious with the first few shots where we had tried to create a moving shot by strapping the camera to a bike! Although we tried our best, the shots were too shaky and did not look good enough for us to use. We then discussed how we could change the start and came up with the idea of cutting out the first few shots and starting the sequence in the garage! This worked much better and challenged the typical codes and conventions as we do not have an obvious establashing shot. However it is better as we go straight in to our red colour scheme. After deciding to loose the first shots we went out to film the rest of the sequence knowing exactly what we wanted to achieve! We went out when it was dark to film the "following" part of the sequence. We managed to get all of the shots that we wanted and uploaded them when we got back

Planning- development of style

After watching the three title sequences that i mentioned, Batman, Phonebooth, and the terminator (also one called Pay it Forward) i have decided with my group on two characteristics i want our thriller to contain.

The first is the colour scheme. Unlike Batman and The Terminator we have opted for red. As red can connote blood and suggest death and fear i think it will be different to blue but still give the atmosphere that the others do. I would like the lighting to be quite dark and even difficult to see as it will help to add confusion. Confusion will hopefully result in our audience to see more in order to find out what happens.

The second characteristic is a voiceover. We have decided that a voicover will be unique and different but help to create tension. We want this effect to be creepy and help outline the message of our film.

Research- The terminator

The terminator is also very similar to the title sequence of Batman. They have used blues and blacks with white writing. The main difference in the two however is that the music in the title sequences of the terminator seems much more prominent. I noticed it more and it dragged me in to the genre of the film, with the use of low pitched, army like music.

Research- Batman title sequence

I watched the title sequence for the action/thriller Batman. It was very interesting and i particularly liked the way they used the camera and the colour scheme. The camera panned and zoomed all around the screen but in a way that did not really make sense. It seems to me that the main focus of the title sequence for this film is the titles and the music. The colour scheme is what i found most interesting. I really like how they have only used dark blues, to black and greys. This gives the impression of darkness and gives a scary atmosphere without revealing anything about the actual plot of the film. It is very simple in the way that they have stuck to a limited colour pallet and i would definatley consider doing this in our own sequence.

Research- Phonebooth trailer

I have the film phonebooth on dvd. I particularly remember a voice over in the trailer which was very effective. As i watched the trailer on you tube i was hooked to the trailer. This was mainly due to the effective use of voiceover. The voiceover was used alongside the music and created a sense of atmosphere and uncertainty. It also helped to tell the stroy and help to give an insight into the message of the film. As a group we will look at putting this effect into our title sequence as I think it would work well and give an extra dimension.

The other thing that was particularly attractive about the trailer is the use of graphics. They text appears on a plain black backround and appear in fire like rings. This creates an impression of danger. The words are also the words of the voiceover so everthing links together.