Practice Intertitles for our film

We created a practice inter titles short clip to see which ways would be most effective to include on our actual two minute opening of our film. We chose to use the colour themes of red and white as we believe the colour red links nicely with the thriller genre we chose for our film as the colour red has connotations of power, energy and more importantly in this case danger. The colour red in the case of the two minute opening of our film acts as a stimulant of blood for the target audience. For the mean time, we used the names of well known actors, possibly those we would like to use as a basis of the kind of characters we would like to include. However, once we know what people/actors we are going to use we will change the names of the actors included. Furthermore, we would like to use titles similar to these in our animatic storyboard, but, also in our final opening two minute piece.  The majority of the time the text is placed in the centre leaning mostly to the right as we would like the audience to focus on the action and the footage included and not get distracted by the text. However, for certain key things the text is placed in the centre of the page in the middle to direct the audiences attention towards these things. Such key facts are the production company, name of the film and the name of the distribution company.
In addition, we chose the colour white as it stands out and offers a great contrast in the colour themes. Although white connotes purity and cleanliness it also signifies safety which is why we chose to use it as it creates a straight forward view to the audience of how these both have very different meanings, not only with what they suggest but within the film as a whole. 

Preliminary Task

For my preliminary task, I worked with Anna and Seth. While carrying out this task I tried filming using as many camera/filming techniques and angles as possible. For example I tried using the 180 degree rule and shot reverse shot (mainly seen in the part where anna and seth are having a conversation). Unfortunately, some scenes are a bit jumpy when transitioning from scene to scene so I would like to that so it will better when I come to work on the two minute opening of our film. Furthermore, through this task I have come to realise that it is very important to have a lot more footage if when you think it might not be needed as some may be better than others and may be useful for helping setting the scene and making the story-line flow nicely and effectively. The Preliminary task helped me learn a lot of things which will be useful when we actually do come to film the two minute opening of our film, as by that time I will have hopefully had an opportunity to work on the skills which were possibly not as effective.

Animatic Storyboard with intertitles

We made this animatic storyboard to help us see what the outcome of the two minute opening of our film would be like. For the format of our animatic storyboard, we chose to draw pictures on whiteboards of our shots. We then edited them together using iMovie. While we were editing this we decided to add our inter titles on top as well as some sound effects and music to help create a realistic idea of what our film  would look like if we followed this as a guide/template. I believe this will be very helpful as when we actually go to film our opening 2 minutes we will known exactly what kind of footage, scenes we will need to shoot. 

The Killing: woods scene

Although The Killing is a TV series, there are a lot of parts from the first episode, in the first 10 minutes (of series 1) which I thought could be very effective if used in the two minute opening of our film as I believe they manage to fascinate and draw in the audience due to its fast paced music and sound but also the cuts between two very different yet key characters.

One of the parts which I really liked was where we are introduced at the beginning to a character, which we have no idea what she has been through. Through the use of fast editing and fast cuts between shots I think that it allows the audience get a hint of what is going on and feel nervous as it shows both characters running. Due to their facial expressions however, you can tell which character is in a much more different situation as she is scared and is breathing heavily because she is scared yet the other character is breathing heavily because she is jogging. This makes the audience nervous as they known that the younger character is most likely in trouble and is trying to run away from someone, therefore feeling tense as they don't know if she will manage to escape. This also makes them feel worried for the other character as they don't know if anything will happen to her while she is jogging.

Additionally, I think we could use this in our opening. Instead of showing two key protagonists, we could show our protagonist and the villain to develop the story line further and allow the audience to question things and think further into the plot for themselves.  Just like in The Killing, we could create fast cuts of how the characters stories link and how their paths will cross. In the scenario of The Killing it is because the lady running is a detective which is then revealed to us 15 minutes in to the episode (she works the murder case of the younger girl) whereas, for our opening we could show that maybe Anna has escaped and her abductor is trying to capture her again or it could even be a family members journey trying to find her. This will leave the audience with questions, therefore making them want to watch the whole/ rest of the film.

I furthermore, think that it is effective how for the parts where we, as an audience are shown the younger character running, the screen (effects on top of the raw footage) is darker as it helps create tension mainly because this enhances the fact that she is alone and isolated. The loose frames help show this clearer as they make her appear much more vulnerable because she looks smaller in comparison to her surroundings.

Similarly, the close up of her face when she finally finds somewhere to hide is also effective as it clearly shows the worry in her eyes and fear she is feeling. This makes the audience sympathise with the character as her attire also connotes that she is a teenage girl all alone in the woods, fearing for her life with no one to help her. It also enables the audience to feel a little bit more relaxed as it might make them feel that she has a chance of escaping.

There is then a quick shot back to the Detective, where she is seen jogging. We could use this as it helps the scene, particularly because it is shot behind trees and branches, also adding tension as it makes it look like someone is constantly looking at her and something bad may happen. And then finally another quick cut is placed, transitioning to a shot where the girl hears a noise and in the far corner on the left we see a glimpse of light  and hear crunching of leaves as someones footsteps appear louder and louder walking towards us. The teenage girl is then shouting and crawling after she tripped trying to get to safety. This makes the audience panic as again after this it transitions to the detective finding something which looks like body but is a dead seal on the shore.

These parts would be very effective I believe, if used in the two minute opening of our film as it will help the audience create a deeper relationship with our protagonist. I'm glad I looked at the two minute opening of this as I feel like it will help a lot with developing on film and the storyline as a whole.  

Actors & Casting

• For our two minute opening of our film, we decided on having a teenage girl as a protagonist. A possible character/ actress we could base our protagonist on  is Blake Lively who played Serena Van-Der Woodsen in Gossip Girl. I think that she is a good example of a basis for our protagonist as although she is presented as a strong minded and popular girl she is also slowly showed throughout the series as a more trouble/ lonely girl who at times runs away from home in order to avoid her personal problems. She is also shown as a innocent and worried character which I think links nicely with what we are hoping to accomplish through our character.  

•  However, in the scene where our protagonist has a flashback we have decided to include a man to give a bit more detail of how the main character is in that situation without giving to much and also allowing the audince to get more involved in the two minute opening and question what will happen in the rest of our film. I think it would be very suitable if we use someone to play the role of the man in the flashback that has similar characteristics and features similar to Chace Crawford as he has played various roles some including ones which he play nice but also evil characters leaving the audience wandering what the impact of his role in our two minute opening will be.  As we cannot use these precise actors we would like to use some which will mainly remind the audience of these actors in order for them to establish a sense of what kind of characters they are. 

Average Audience Member

From the lesson we had where we went on Pearl and Dean in order to research we found out that our target audience are mainly males aged 15-24. This is due to the element of action which occurs in the opening two minutes of our film but also throughout the whole of it. Since our target audience are males aged 15-24, stereotypically these are some of the interests our audience member's would have: watching films, playing video games and socialising with their friends. This sort of age group has a lot of disposable income and will therefore be able to go to the cinema and take part in activities with their friends in their free time. Our audience member may also like mystery and crime dramas so this film could also appeal to them. Lastly, we are aiming our film to appeal and attract  more at teenagers as it won't be a stereotypical family film resulting in them more likely going to see this type of film with their friends rather than family members. 

Location Research

We chose the location for our film is Nonsuch Park. We have chosen this because we wanted to find a forest that was secluded in order for us to easily shoot our film without interruptions. Furthermore, there is a road that goes through the park which suggests we will be able to shoot and set up the car scene there. Similarly a unique point about Nonsuch Park instead of Richmond which was infact our 2nd choice is that there are a lot more isolated areas rather than at Richmond which gives us a great advantage in setting the scene as we want our main character to appear isolated and helpless. We could possibly for the first part of the opening scene we could the ambient sounds of the natural environment as it is calm and peaceful,  then we could go straight to the shots of the girl running in the forest to show a clear contrast.  Additionally, Richmond Park is a bit harder to get to and will therefore be harder to go back there in case we needed to film additional footage.  Another location that will be included in the two minute opening of our film will be a classroom in school as we would like to film the flashback there. However, we need to make sure to make it unidentifiable as a classroom to add suspense, instead making it appear like a small room or basement. This will also help set the scene as it will add a much more realistic feel to it and make it appear more successful. 

Shot List

This is our shot list for the opening 2 minutes of our film. We would like to have around 30-50 shots. However, when we go out to shoot the two minute opening of our film we might shoot more in order to have extra shots or even in between different shots that we have planned. In order to be able and add more techniques to our two minute opening and expand on the plot more to give the audience a chance to get a little more insight on the plot by giving more detail we added a flashback to it, in between some of the shots. 

Additionally, in order to make sure that we include everything when filming we are going to take the shot list with use so we also know exactly what we need to film. It is very important to film more than planned to have extra footage incase some of it isn't as good as planned or doesn't help it flow nicely once edited, similarly, shooting the same scene/parts in a variety of techniques and angles so we can actually decide which ones are best to use.