Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Napoleon Dynamite
Batman: The Dark Knight Rises
The Conjuring
Se7en
NERVE
The Importance of an Opening Sequence
The opening sequence of a film helps to set the genre and gives a small bit of information about the characters. This is the part of the film that is meant to engage the audience and therefore want them to watch the rest of the film. This is normally in a mystical way or in a way to foreshadow the rest of the story.
Audience & Institution
yougov.com
Researching into my target audience can help me develop an idea for the opening sequence that I will be making. The reason for me doing this is so that I know exactly what my scene will contain so that I can attract a wider audience. I have looked at a secondary source for my thriller films and based the research from the website “yougov.com” I have looked at three thriller films; Annabelle, Se7en and The Bourne Ultimatum. The reason behind me researching into this as I am focusing on what my target audience is, and the ways in which I can attract them to be inclined to watch my film. I have also created a survey that I have sent out to my year group, I have done this because I am trying to get more information on who like the films. I feel that this will be successful, as I will get accurate data to help me target the correct audience for my film.
Looking at the information on “yougov.com”, I have found, from my research of Annabelle, that my target audience are mainly based in London. This can help me find a location for my clip, as it will mean that I could film in London in order to attract a wider audience. Looking at the data that I have found I can see that the type of person to watch my film is into TV programs like “Hostage” and “Under the Dome”. This is helpful information as it could influence the style of film that I would be making. The films that this person is normally interested in are “Dracula Untold” and “Ouija”. I have then looked at the research for the film “Se7en”, this shows that the viewer for this film is into films like “Falling Down” as well as “Gran Torino”. From the information so far I have discovered that more likely want to watch an action thriller than another style of genre. However, looking at their choices in TV programs I found out that they are into comedy style programs like, “Friday Night with Jonathan Ross” and “Bottom”. The Bourne Ultimatum concludes that the target audience will be interested in an action thriller, this can be gathered by the fact that the viewer is into the Bourne saga as well as films like “Die Hard” this suggests that they are big fans of the genre action and this will be a good choice of film to make as it will attract a large audience. To support this we can see that their favourite TV programs are also “Spooks” and “The X Files”. These are thriller TV series that proved to be very successful.
Through my research of the three films I feel that the most successful style of film would be an action thriller. I have come to this conclusion due to the fact that I can see that a comedy thriller would prove very difficult to make and will also prove difficult to attract a wide audience. I feel that if we made a horror thriller it would mean that there would have to b a lot of gore included, this will mean that you would have to include effects as well as having to pull off stunts that look realistic to the extent that the audience would believe that it is real. I have also realised through my research that the best location to film my video would also be Central London or the south coast of England. The way I have come to this conclusion is because of the fact that the majority of my target audience that will be interested in my film are based in these areas.
Looking at the information on “yougov.com”, I have found, from my research of Annabelle, that my target audience are mainly based in London. This can help me find a location for my clip, as it will mean that I could film in London in order to attract a wider audience. Looking at the data that I have found I can see that the type of person to watch my film is into TV programs like “Hostage” and “Under the Dome”. This is helpful information as it could influence the style of film that I would be making. The films that this person is normally interested in are “Dracula Untold” and “Ouija”. I have then looked at the research for the film “Se7en”, this shows that the viewer for this film is into films like “Falling Down” as well as “Gran Torino”. From the information so far I have discovered that more likely want to watch an action thriller than another style of genre. However, looking at their choices in TV programs I found out that they are into comedy style programs like, “Friday Night with Jonathan Ross” and “Bottom”. The Bourne Ultimatum concludes that the target audience will be interested in an action thriller, this can be gathered by the fact that the viewer is into the Bourne saga as well as films like “Die Hard” this suggests that they are big fans of the genre action and this will be a good choice of film to make as it will attract a large audience. To support this we can see that their favourite TV programs are also “Spooks” and “The X Files”. These are thriller TV series that proved to be very successful.
Through my research of the three films I feel that the most successful style of film would be an action thriller. I have come to this conclusion due to the fact that I can see that a comedy thriller would prove very difficult to make and will also prove difficult to attract a wide audience. I feel that if we made a horror thriller it would mean that there would have to b a lot of gore included, this will mean that you would have to include effects as well as having to pull off stunts that look realistic to the extent that the audience would believe that it is real. I have also realised through my research that the best location to film my video would also be Central London or the south coast of England. The way I have come to this conclusion is because of the fact that the majority of my target audience that will be interested in my film are based in these areas.
SurveyMonkey
Me in my group have made a questionnaire to help get ideas for our introduction to our opening sequence. We came up with questions that would help us get enough detail that we could use it to improve what we looking for. The survey is very useful as it enables us to see what people are interested in watching within our chosen genre Thriller. From the information, I can see that the majority of people had said that Inception was one of their favorite films under the genre of Thriller. This shows that people would be more interested in a Thriller which is more action rather than a film such as Annabel which focuses more on horror. This is helpful for our group as we were originally looking at making a horror thriller, but after we got our results we ca see that the best style of thriller would be an action thriller.
The next question was talking about the camera shots that we would use in the video, as a group we thought that this would be important as this can help to present characters personalities. The most popular shot that people thought would be good in a thriller film would be a close up, I feel that this is important as it has an impact on who the actor or actress would be as we’d want them to be good with portraying their facial expressions. Another shot that came up a lot was high and low angle shots. This can help show the power that a character has as it can show them to be superior or not.
We then wanted to see what people thought about props in a film, this links very much to what genre people wanted as the most popular prop in the survey was guns, this was really clear that this is what people wanted as this was the only answer that came up, along with weapons.
The lighting was another aspect we wanted to think about in terms of mise en scene as we wanted the aesthetics to link to the genre of the film. The only answers that came back for this were saying that it should be low key, dark lighting. This is what we were originally thinking but this just supports the idea. We were thinking this because we wanted there to be an element of mystery to the opening sequence.
The next question that spoke about what people would expect to see in the opening got a range of feedback. The main answer to come back was still an element of mystery. A lot of the answers linked however, as they showed that they wanted effects that give a surreal effect. But there was a couple of answers that explained that they wanted the main characters to be introduced.
The next two questions are linked together, what I have done for this is show the three opening videos and asked them which one is there favorite. I have then asked them to elaborate as to why they have chosen that particular video. I can see that Nerve was the best opening scene receiving 50% of the votes. The reason behind people choosing this clip is because it was the easiest plot to follow as well as being relatable to people in the sense of social media.
70% of people believe that there should also be action in the first two minutes of the video. However I feel that the intro of the film should be the setup for the rest of the film, therefore I agree with the 30% that believe that there should be action. On the other hand, the voters that feel that action should be in the intro have stated that they feel that action is a large part of thriller films.
The final question in my survey asks if they feel that there should be music in the intro of the film. Everyone has said yes to this, which I agree with. They have said that it can help to build characters to help set the scene. Others have said that it could help build up tension, but overall they’ve said that it’s for an atmospheric effect.
The next question was talking about the camera shots that we would use in the video, as a group we thought that this would be important as this can help to present characters personalities. The most popular shot that people thought would be good in a thriller film would be a close up, I feel that this is important as it has an impact on who the actor or actress would be as we’d want them to be good with portraying their facial expressions. Another shot that came up a lot was high and low angle shots. This can help show the power that a character has as it can show them to be superior or not.
We then wanted to see what people thought about props in a film, this links very much to what genre people wanted as the most popular prop in the survey was guns, this was really clear that this is what people wanted as this was the only answer that came up, along with weapons.
The lighting was another aspect we wanted to think about in terms of mise en scene as we wanted the aesthetics to link to the genre of the film. The only answers that came back for this were saying that it should be low key, dark lighting. This is what we were originally thinking but this just supports the idea. We were thinking this because we wanted there to be an element of mystery to the opening sequence.
The next question that spoke about what people would expect to see in the opening got a range of feedback. The main answer to come back was still an element of mystery. A lot of the answers linked however, as they showed that they wanted effects that give a surreal effect. But there was a couple of answers that explained that they wanted the main characters to be introduced.
The next two questions are linked together, what I have done for this is show the three opening videos and asked them which one is there favorite. I have then asked them to elaborate as to why they have chosen that particular video. I can see that Nerve was the best opening scene receiving 50% of the votes. The reason behind people choosing this clip is because it was the easiest plot to follow as well as being relatable to people in the sense of social media.
70% of people believe that there should also be action in the first two minutes of the video. However I feel that the intro of the film should be the setup for the rest of the film, therefore I agree with the 30% that believe that there should be action. On the other hand, the voters that feel that action should be in the intro have stated that they feel that action is a large part of thriller films.
The final question in my survey asks if they feel that there should be music in the intro of the film. Everyone has said yes to this, which I agree with. They have said that it can help to build characters to help set the scene. Others have said that it could help build up tension, but overall they’ve said that it’s for an atmospheric effect.
Target Audience
Art of the Titles
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These are the two opening sequences that I have analysed the titles of. The reason I have chosen these two is because they are both thriller, this is what I'm planning on making. I want to look at these because of the fact they are very different, which will mean that they will offer a wide range for us to then choose our final idea of our font for the opening sequence.
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Choosing A Font
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We decided that these five fonts would be the best suited for the tiles of our film. The font that we've decided to use is called "Edo SZ", this is number four on the slide show.
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Story Board
Animated Story Board
The two storyboards that we created are different to the final footage that we had, this is because we wanted it to be subtler about the killer being in the house than we originally planned to have it. We’ve taken out the idea that the protagonist can see the posters, but we’ve still wanted to leave messages around the house to make it clear that the killer is still playing with him. The main thing that we’ve changed is the way that the opening sequence ends, we’ve taken out the part where the killer leaves the mask; the reason for this is that we wanted to have more of a conflict between the killer and the protagonist.
Script
Shooting Script
Location Recce
Looking at the pictures from the location recce, we can see a number of things that can be a challenge. Throughout the house we can see reflective surfaces everywhere, this means that we will have to position the camera carefully to make sure that we can’t see the camera in the reflection. The house’s landing and hallway are very well lit with natural lighting and will be very easy for different shots. Both of the bedrooms that we want to use are also well lit, however, the layout means that we may have to change some of the shots to suit the environment.
Lighting
Pitch for the Film
Company Ident/ Logo
Casting
Props
Location
Behind the scenes
This is a small clip explaining what equipment we have used in the film as well as the set up of the cameras for the shots that we have used.