Title Sequence Comparison

In conclusion, both clips use very different approaches to title sequences. For example, 'The Shining' uses a car driving along a road which is immediately more engaging to the audience whereas 'Signs' is very basic and just has a blue background bringing up the cast members and people involved in the film. My preferred type of clip would be 'The Shining' as I find it more engaging and it is something to keep you interested while waiting for the film to start. The style we are trying to achieve in our title sequence is similar to The Shining as we want it to be engaging to an audience and want to reflect the mystery of Gothic Horror. By using this type of title sequence, we can engage the audiences fear early on in the film and intrigue them into the rest of the story.

Title Sequence Analysis - The Shining (1980)

 

For the first of our clips, my group has chosen to do 'The Shining' which starts straight away with music - a trumpet - playing at the very beginning of the clip. At about 1 minute and 8 seconds into the title sequence, the writing with 'A Stanley Kubrick Film' comes up in bright blue capitals which would show that he is a well known director. 4 seconds later (1:12), it comes up with 'Jack Nicholson' which, again, is in large, bright blue coloured capitals, this shows that he is a top billing, well known actor. It also comes up at 1:18 with the name 'Shelley Duvall' as she would become one of the main characters in the film along with Jack Nicholson. After having the title sequence on for 1 minute 25 seconds, it comes up with 'The Shining' which was in large writing as it was the title of the film. 3 seconds later, it shows on the screen 'featuring... Danny Lloyd', this suggest that they aren't top billing actors but still are main characters within the film. After this, at 1:35 it comes up with 'Scatman Crothers', 1:40 'Barry Nelson', 1:44 'Philip Stone', 1:51 'Joe Turkel', 1:55 'Anne Jackson', 2:00 'Tony Burton' and finally, 2:06 'Jan Hartland'. As these characters are all coming up after the word 'featuring' has been shown, it tells you that these people may not all the significant characters within the film as they were not shown at the beginning of the clip with the other two main characters. Also throughout the whole title sequence, it has very sincere music all the way through which could make you feel quite uncomfortable throughout the opening sequence.

http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/the-shining/

 

Title Sequence Analysis - Signs (2002)

In the title sequence 'Signs' it starts off with violin which is quiet, then after 3 seconds in, it comes up in bright blue letter 'Touchstone Pictures presents' which is also in capital letters which would show that they are a well successful  film production company. 0:09 seconds in, it comes up in bold capital letters 'A Blinding Edge Pictures/Kennedy/Marshall Productions' this is also an American film production company. At 14 seconds into the title sequence, it comes up in bold capital letters 'Mel Gibson' as he is a very well known actor and is also the main star in the film. After the sequence had been on for 0:25 seconds it came up with another main actor in big font which was 'Jacquin Phoenix' who is also quite a top-billing actor. About a second later, it comes up with 'Signs' which is the name of the movie. After the title is shown, the music changes and starts to pick up it's pace and beat. The music then doesn't change until 0:45 seconds into the clip when it started to get slower up till 1:00 when the music then began to get faster again. Then 10 seconds later, the music changes again when a drum was added in to the current music.

 http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/signs/

Pre-Lim Evaluation

For our evaluation on our pre-lim task, we were told that we had successfully used a match on action in and a shot reverse shot, which is what we were meant to use for our pre-lim task. In our pre-lim task, we also had controlled use of the camera with a variety of shot types throughout the video. Our reviewers also told us that we had a close attention to mise-en-scene throughout the video and that our narrative made sense and that our sounds throughout made sense and fitted the scene well.

The most successful parts of our film was the first 20 seconds when Tommy was 'strutting' down the corridor with all the different shot types and movement following him, we were also told it was filmed very well throughout the first 20 seconds.

Even though our reviewers thought our video was good, they gave us some feedback about following the 180 degree rule as we did not completely follow it the first time round, we were also told to think about our setting more clearly as we were in a Spanish classroom as we could not find another room which we will definitely make sure we plan our setting in advance when it comes to doing the main task.

Pre-Lim Final Piece: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yu5xiGpGdwc

Pre-Lim Planning

For this task, we chose to have a meeting between Brandon and Tommy about the change in price of a Freddo over the years.

In this preliminary task, me, Emily and Brandon filmed Tommy walking down the corridor looking all angry because of the price of a Freddo. In this scene, we filmed a long shot of the door before Tommy walked in the building. In the second shot, we filmed a medium close up of Tommy walking along the corridor. In the third shot, we filmed a close up of Tommy's feet as he would walk past the camera towards the lift. In the fourth shot, we have one where Tommy is about to enter the lift to up to the next floor. In the fifth shot, it shows Tommy in the lift pressing the buttons. In the next shot, it is a medium long shot of Tommy after he exits the lift on the top floor. In the seventh shot, it is a close up of Tommy's hand opening the door to the office. In the next shot, we have a low angle shot of Tommy as he walks into the room with an angry expression on his face. After this we show the 180 degree rule of Tommy sat at the table opposite Brandon. After we show the 180 degree rule, we then have a two shot of Brandon and Tommy sat the table discussing the price of a Freddo. In the final shot, it shows Tommy walking out the room in a mid shot as the price of a Freddo has not been changed at all. We used all these different kinds of shots because we thought they would be quite good to use as we mainly filmed Tommy walking up corridors and therefore using these different shots for the particular scenes that we filmed. We chose to have the long shot of Tommy walking in the corridor because it seemed like quite an exciting shot to use as you could first off see who was entering the building and you could also see the kind of expression they had on their face, making it easy for you to tell quite quickly whether they were going to be happy, sad or annoyed. As you move on to near the end of the sequence, we used the low angle shot because it would then make Tommy look like quite a large and scary character, which would also work well with the fact that he was looking quite angry when he walked through the two front doors.

Codes and Convetions: Gothic Horror

The Gothic Horror Sub-Genre

Gothic Horror comes from the popularity of Gothic fiction and novels from the 1800s-present. The sub-genre also reached the height of it's popularity in the late 18th to mid 19th centuries and was a genre of fiction that focused on the darker, irrational and more terrifying aspects of life. Two of the most famous gothic novels are Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein' in 1818 and Bram Stocker's 'Dracula' in 1897. Gothic fiction is largely dominated by the sub-genre of Gothic Horror and is also a genre or mode of literature that combines fiction, horror and romanticism. It's origin is attributed to English author Horace Walpole, with his 1764 novel 'The Castle of Otranto'.

Gothic Horror usually has tales of a mystery and horror intended to chill the spine and curdle the blood and contain a strong of the supernatural. They are intended to create an emotional response from the audience.

Gothic fiction uses typical elements of wild and desolate landscapes, dark looks and styles - usually low key lighting - graveyards or forests, ruined abbeys - dark and gothic architecture, medieval castles with dungeons, secret passages, winding stair cases, sliding panels and torture chambers, an atmosphere of doom and gloom, heroes and heroines in danger, demonic power, spooky effects with ghosts and spectres and all flesh creeping and spine chilling stories.

Mise-En-Scene

The weather can be used in a number ways and forms, most being misty or stormy. The convention of mist is often used to obscure objects by reducing the visibility to insert a terrifying person or thing. Storms are frequently used to accompany important events. There is also usually a damsel in distress who will, in some way, do something wrong in the eyes of the killer and then end up dying. Gothic Horror films usually use a style of medieval architecture and is usually set in medieval castles or churches. The setting is often dark, gloomy and full of secret chambers, dungeons and hallways.

Gothic fashion is a clothing style marked by dark, mysterious, exotic and complex features. A typical gothic fashion also includes a pale complexion with coloured black hair, black lips and black clothes. Both a male and female Goth would wear dark eyeliner and dark fingernail polish.

A Gothic hero is often an isolated figure who must restore himself to society. A figure of evil, who is sometimes has some kind of relationship with the supernatural, is often in opposition to the hero. Women also play a significant role in Gothic novels are they are depicted as victims of the tyrannical and evil men. Gothic hairstyles have striking shapes and a touch of romanticism, much like a well-cut-jet-black damask frock coat.

 

Character

Characters in Gothic Horror are normally the protagonist/hero, monster/antagonist, victim - who could also be the hero, damsels in distress, marvellous or mysterious creatures, monsters, spirits or strangers and characters with supernatural powers.

 

Camera Work

With camera work, films are more likely to use:
Birdseye/High Angle - As they make the figure underneath look more vulnerable and powerless.

Close Up - As they show the reactions on an actors/actresses face, This shot also shows the emotion and is also used to capture emotion within the scene.

Tracking or Panning Shot - These shots are used effectively in horror films to make out a character is being followed or watched. It could also establish a scene so the audience can see the full view of the shot.

Tilted Angle - Tilt shots add a lot of dramatic tension to shots, and could simplify a supernatural being, for example, pushing or moving the camera. Another use for the tilt shot is to act as though the camera is a victim on the floor, and you are therefore seeing what they are seeing.

Extreme Long Shot/Long Shot - This is a great scene to use to establish horror movies. This shot could put into perspective how deserted a town is.

Low Angle - Low angle shots are very powerful in a way they can emphasize just how scary or intimidating a villain is.

Hand Held Camera Shots - This shot is very often used in horror films to add a sense of reality. It makes the audience feel involved and adds to the horror of the scene as you feel like you are there.

Point of View Shot - This shot is taken from the point of view of the character. This is when the audience is able to see the film through the eyes of one character. This is popular in these types of movies as the audience becomes emotionally attached and more scared as the gun could be directly pointed at them for an example.

Zoom - This shot adds to the dramatic effect and creates element of suspense of fear as you don't know what you are going to see next. It could also be used to zoom into something you wouldn't of spotted before like a supernatural thing.

Editing

In Gothic Horror, you would usually have slow paced editing with lots of straight cuts and fade to blacks. This emphasises the fear and idea of gothic-ness.

 

Sound

For Sound, there would be a lot of eerie silences and non-diegetic stings throughout the film. There may also be some non-diegetic soundtrack to emphasise the sub-genre, this would also increase the fear in the audience.

Brief and Initial Ideas

In my group is Brooke Spencer, Emily Rawles, Brandon Playford and Tommy Brading. We have decided to create a video that is on the genre of horror for our main task. For our preliminary task it will be a business meeting between Tommy and Brandon who will be discussing why Freddo's are so expensive. For the preliminary task, we have to involve a character opening the door and crossing a room and then sitting down, it must also include dialogue whilst using a shot reverse shot whilst following the 180 degree rule whilst also including a 'match on action' shot. For our main task, we have to have opening titles along with an opening of a fiction film. It can also be a maximum of two minutes with copyright free music.






Preliminary Task
Business Meeting - Tommy Brading and Brandon Playford
Clothing - Smart - Suit
Setting - Office type scene
With the line "Why are Freddo's 65p?!"
They have an organised meeting in the main Freddo factory.




Main Task


Genre - Horror
Woman in Black - Remake but this time, she is wearing a white wedding dress as she has been killed on her wedding day and then started haunting her killer from that day on. We used the film 'Woman in Black' as inspiration for our task.