EDITING THE SEQUENCE: PART 2

Editing the Sequence: Part 2. 

Once we completed mixing the soundtrack and cutting the footage, we began working on titles. We had pre-discussed the type of font that we wished to use; we decided on something minimalistic like Times-New-Roman in an off white colour. After browsing fonts, we decided on Didot, but then changed it to Bodoni 72 Oldstyle as we believed the circular rings on the end of the 'y's were too extravagant. Then, we worked on positioning the text within the different frames, fitting them in spaces between the subjects and adjusting the size accordingly. We used white guidelines to use for reference in regard to our borders and where we would have to keep the text. To come up with roles, we simply chose regular names and also used our own for the roles that we took on the shoot day. We also used Mike's name for our executive producer.

 A specific choice that we made in creating tension, was carrying on the choking/gargling audio into the title screen, timing its reveal with a particular cough. This was to draw attention to these sound effects, and to make the viewer feel uncomfortable as there was a lack of narrative for the viewer to link the sounds to. 

When colour grading our sequence, there weren't too many adjustments that needed to be

done. Initially, when rewatching the footage, we had presumed that perhaps we would need to change the shot of the man post titles as the colour was contrasting the rest of the sequence far too much. However, upon reflection, we realised that the contrast actually suited the change in titles and provided a tonal shift. Besides this, we increased the exposure on some of the berry shots, and close ups of the man's face for continuity reasons. 

Overall, I am very happy with the way our sequence turned out as it holds the same effect that I had imagined when drawing the storyboards and is quite similar to our test shoot. It was fairly easy to edit as we had no continuity issues and were pleased with all of the different shots; having Matthew as the editor whilst being a music technology student was particularly useful as well as we were able to make sound adjustments to our sequence easily (such as the timing of the beats, or when the music comes in). 

I believe our sequence is quite tense due to the intricacy of our shots as they are rather intimate and seem almost too perfectly composed, revealing the man's character. Our soundtrack choices also signify the emotional darkness of the scene, and work well alongside the dim colouring that we chose. 

EDITING THE SEQUENCE: PART 1

 Editing the Sequence: Part 1.

The first thing we did was review the footage we shot, naming the files that we wanted to use by their angle and action. This was to make the process smoother for us so that we could easily access what we needed to later on. Overall, this was relatively smooth; we were extremely happy with our footage and there were no continuity errors (that couldn't be hidden). Each shot was beautiful and the pans were smooth which made it rather difficult to choose between the takes!

After that, I began to book in slots in the editing suite outside of class as we still had a lot of work left to do with only 6 lessons left to do it in. For the first couple of slots, I was the main editor due to the nature of my timetable; in these slots I picked out the last of the footage and finished off cutting the clips and placing them in narrative order on the timeline. Out of all the different editing processes, this was arguably the longest one as I had to decide between takes based upon the smallest detail (such as where Ezra holds his hand when he is walking towards the woman, or where his eyes flick to when holding up the beaker to the camera), watching them over and over again to look out for what provided more substance to our sequence.

In regard to the fixable continuity issues mentioned earlier, we noticed two things: firstly, in the shot from within the storage cupboard of Ezra walking in, a fire escape sign could be seen above the door. To fix this, I simply cropped the video. Secondly and similarly, in the shot of the belt against Susannah's neck, her arm could be seen pulling it behind her. Again, to fix this, I cropped the video.

We also later added a black letterbox to our sequence, and again adjusted the clips by cropping/positioning accordingly. 

Throughout our lessons, Lila and I also browsed possible soundtracks; we all agreed that we wanted a cello solo classical piece. To find this, I went through pieces that I knew (as I have a classical musical background) and different playlists on Spotify. We eventually settled on Bach's Cello Suite No.5 in C Minor, BWV 1011: V. Gavotte. This was because it was melodic yet sinister, and wasn't too distracting from the sequence. To test it out before downloading it, we played it whilst watching over our cut. For the sound effects/soundscaping for the woman's reveal, we reversed a piano glissando, downloaded fizzing/drone sound effects off the internet and I recorded pouring water into a funnel into my mouth through voice notes at home (including some choking!) Luckily, Matthew is a music technology student so he had a software installed to mix the sounds together, and he also added heavy beats in time to the scene changes. We imported all of this from Matthew's laptop with his USB stick.

Below are the voice notes that I recorded (WARNING THAT THERE ARE REAL CHOKING/GAGGING SOUNDS). Though comedic when listening to them, we did in fact use the second take as it was as realistic as it was going to get. I did struggle to film these as I had not intended to choke on anything and had underestimated how quickly the liquid would go into my mouth. However, I am glad that I did this as it solved a big problem we had when finding audio clips.

Overall, though our narrative structure did not change, we did make some alterations to the intention that we had in mind when filming. The first major change was continuity; once we had placed all the cut clips together, we realised that we were 2 minutes over the time limit. To fix this, we did not focus on continuity (we could afford to do this as our sequence was revolved around titles) and instead cut out unnecessary clips that we had for continuity reasons (such as the shot from the doll's head, and the panning of all the berries after being cut). We also cut out the beginning and end of shots to get as close to the time limit as possible. This gave our sequence a montage effect, which worked quite well with the sound track. 

To still retain tension, we left the extreme close up of the fizzing within the beaker as the longest shot as we wanted to allow time for our pleonastic non diegetic sound effect of acid and for more titles to appear to cut out the music. This, in our eyes, crafted the sense that something was about to go wrong due to the sudden shift in tone, and added suspension as it would hopefully leave the viewer wondering as to why there is an interruption and what the liquid actually is.

Another key choice we made to create tension was having small interjections of the man's face, revealing him through short, intimate bursts to match that of the thriller genre convention. This not only provided contrast in our sequence, but also kept the man a mystery, encouraging the viewer to continue watching. 

MISE-EN-SCENE CHOICES VIDEO

 Mise-en-scene Choices Video.

I put together a video explaining our group's mise-en-scene choices in costume, lighting, sound, direction, location and props through a parody rap of Black and Yellow by Wiz Khalifa in order to present the information in a fun and entertaining way whilst still analysing the relevant/significant content:

SHOOT DAY REFLECTION

 Shoot Day Reflection.  

Immediate preparation for the execution of our opening sequence in fact started on the 28th of February: 2 days before our given shoot day. Upon our group's initial recce to the Beatrice Webb garden house with Luke Gilchrist, head of Film Academy and Hurtwood's creative director, he suggested that as a group, it was likely that we would need to come in the night before our allocated filming day and create the majority of our set for the shoot. This was because our concept was rather complicated in terms of its practicality, though simple to the external eye, and it was crucial that we maximise our filming time rather than spend it arranging our props/lighting effects (boarding the windows, sourcing furniture, clearing out the space, and creating the man's workspace). 

In response to this, closer to the date, I organised a meeting with Luke in his office to go over enquiries I had regarding boarding the windows - as I didn't have a great breadth of experience within practical lighting - and confirmed a setup evening that would work well for our group. We decided that it would be more logical to only have Lila Sturgeon and I join; her boarding house is on the main campus, and I am a day student, thus meaning I was more flexible within my schedule whereas Matthew Iveson wasn't. This also allowed for us to have more space in Luke's car for props, which was very much needed as we later discovered. However, our initial decision to meet on a Tuesday evening quickly changed to a Monday afternoon as we realised that it would be more practical for all 3 of us in terms of our schedules and timings. I emailed the housemaster of the Beatrice Webb boarding house for permission to begin to setup, and he kindly granted it.

To prepare for this, I began to package all of the props at home into boxes, taping them and numbering them so that I could keep a list of what items were in which ones for future reference if needed. The only props that I did not bring were the scalpel (as a safety precaution), cork board (I had not yet completed compiling artwork), and makeup, hair products, and ingredients for the fake blood and 'poison' (these were not a part of our set). I then proceeded to bring them in over the course of 4 days (Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday) in order to ensure as much ease for myself as possible. Thankfully, I happened to have rehearsals for a production on campus over that weekend and Mike was on evening duties, so he let me into his classroom to drop things off.

On the Monday, I brought in a large bin liner filled with cardboard, a Stanley knife, and a container of drawing pins for the anticipated work ahead of us. We met in Mike's classroom so that we could all help out in carrying the boxes and began to load them into Luke's car; Lila sat in the back with the fragile items, such as the skulls and glass jars so that she could keep a hold of them in case of any rigid movements during the journey there (a potential issue as we were travelling down small, country lanes). 

When we arrived, we dropped off all boxes off in the 'red room', a large lounge room adjacent to the garden house, and began to clear out the clutter in our shooting space. We moved boxes of books, film DVDs, sports equipment etc. alongside unwanted furniture such as the chairs into the red room. This was to allow for space for Lila and I to visualise our completed set, and on a more practical level, make room for our boxes of props and any excess cardboard from boarding the windows. We took extra care in clearing the room out as we were wholly aware that the belongings were of someone else's.

Once we completed this, I began to help Luke board the windows whilst Lila unboxed the props and set them up on the desk - boarding the windows was a process that required 2 people, and only Luke was tall enough to reach higher points of the window frames safely as we wanted to avoid bringing stools/chairs outside into the dry bushes that lined the outside of the room. Despite this, the job was fairly simple (though a completely new skill that I learned on the day and now is an effective lighting method I can use in my future filmmaking endeavours as an aspiring film school student): I held the slabs of cardboard to the window to keep them in place and handed him the pins, and he pushed them into the wood. Lila and I then alternated roles so that I got creative input as well; at this point, I was extremely thankful that I had attempted creating the set on my own desk at home and had taken a picture as I essentially recreated it. I also assessed the electrical situation in the space and where we would be able to plug in my lamp and Lila's turntable; I learned that we would need an extension, and informed Luke of this and he assured me that the media department would supply one for us. Then, we ran out of cardboard: this was not something that took us by surprise as we had roughly 5 large walls to cover (we had covered 3). Luke offered to bring in more cardboard for us on the shoot day as I simply didn't have enough, and Lila and Matthew could not source any as boarding students. With what we had, we experimented with what the lighting would look like on camera; we used Luke's phone and I stood in as a model to physically see the silhouette effect. This was incredibly useful as we evaluated whether any changes would need to be made, which there were: we used the Stanley knife I had brought in to slash cut-outs in the card to allow light to spill into the room from certain angles, crafting a shadowed and sinister effect. Though not complete, the lighting alone contributed heavily to the unsettling nature of the room that we desired.

Following this Luke, Lila and I headed to the theatre prop shed, shipping containers and greenhouse which were a 5-minute walk away. Here, Luke made some phone calls to other members of staff in order to ensure that we could have access to these props and the lock codes to open them. We firstly looked in the shed and after rummaging through large amounts of dusty furniture (and cobwebs!) we found a wooden divider, perfect to use to hide half of the room. From this, we also realised that we could potentially film from behind the divider as it was covered in wooden 'blinds' which served as an interesting angle and could perhaps give our opening sequence a voyeuristic element to it. Also, we found a small, dark wooden desk which was what we were seeking for the man's chemical workspace as it would provide more dimension to the room, filling up empty space, and also made more sense in a hygienic way. We then went on to look for a chair within the shipping containers which were more of a physical struggle; they were extremely cramped, yet we needed all 3 of us in them as there were sections of material/furniture that needed to be held back in order for someone to be able to pass them. However, rather quickly we found the type of chair we were looking for (a simple, wooden open-backed one with no arms and 4 legs). We initially had asked the theatre department twice if we could borrow these items from campus but never heard back from them, so I felt extremely lucky that we had managed to source them so close to the shoot date ourselves - this was not a pressing issue, however, as I had let Mike Niland, our media teacher, know well in advance of this issue and he offered to provide us with one from an external source. Lastly, we searched the garden room for the sole purpose of browsing any possible items that we could use to fill up the space, but ultimately, did not take anything.

It took us two trips to transport the props to the garden house (the first one being the divider, and the second one being the desk which Luke and I carried and the chair that Lila held). As Lila had a class that she had to arrive to on time, we dropped these off in the space but did not move them around and instead left them for our shoot day. 

On the morning of, I screen shotted the call sheet and potential shot ideas list so that I could access them without Wi-Fi on my fully charged phone (I packed a spare charger as well), then put my cork board and duffel bag (filled with snacks, makeup, the last of the props and a notebook and pen for us to write down the shots we filmed) in my car and drove to the Hurtwood main campus where I would be meeting the group, Luke and Mike at 8.30. Unfortunately, we forgot to specify with Mike where we wanted him to meet us so he had been waiting for 20 minutes in the editing suite before he found us which resulted in us leaving a little later than usual - nevertheless, once everyone had arrived in Mike's classroom, we headed to the studio and began to load mainly the camera accessories (tripod, microphone, extra materials, extension adapter and a blue light) and the rest of the props/costume into the van which was parked nearby. Luke loaded the actual camera (Black Magic 4K Mini URSA) and the rest of the cardboard into his own car due to spacing issues. The journey was relatively smooth; I sat near the front with the more fragile props (skulls and jars), as well with the tray of glass science equipment on my lap (petri dishes, beakers, pipettes, syringes) so that I could keep a hold of them. Our conscious decision to film at a nearby location became extremely beneficial as it meant that our travel time was shorter, thus maximising our shooting time.

Upon arriving to the location, similar to our pre shoot day, we placed everything in the red room (including the camera equipment) and resumed clearing out the space. It was extremely helpful that we had done the majority of the work on Monday as though the actors were arriving later on at 10-11am, we were not stretched for time and were comfortably setting up. Lila, Matthew, and I removed all of the suitcases from the storage cupboard and left them in the main Beatrice Webb lounge (as the red room did not have enough space), only emptying up to the line in which we had imagined that the camera would not cross (measured by one of the legs of the standing shelves in the space) so that we would not do more work than necessary. We then moved the chair into the cupboard, placed the divider where we wanted it, and brought in the rest of the props to setup on the desk. Lila and Matthew worked on the finishing touches of the man's setup whilst I helped Luke board the windows. Once this was completed, I began to work on preparing the practicalities of the man's chemical setup as Ezra, our actor playing the man, was arriving soon; I filled one of the mason jars with berries, assembled the scalpel, prepared the vinegar and baking soda, and organised the pestle and mortar/chopping board. Whilst I did this, Lila and Matthew began to cut through the green sheet of sheer cloth that we had brought into long strips so that we could hang them up around the windows to provide a green tint to our lighting and add more dimension to the space. I attempted to hang these strips by pinning them into the wooden frames of the walls and door with the remainder of the drawing pins but unfortunately was not physically strong enough; after a period of time, I asked Luke to help and he kindly did. As a group, I believe that we worked well together as we got a large amount done in a short amount of time due to our communication and the fact that everyone was focused.

The first shot we filmed was in fact our opening shot at roughly 10:30am; as we had pre-organised our roles, we had a clear guideline as to who would be doing what. Setting up the camera and tripod was fairly simple due to our existing knowledge from the camera workshops that we had done earlier on in the term; we worked from bottom to top, ensuring to keep a hand on the device at all times, and 'bubbled' it. We then placed the camera in the position we wanted it to; we initially had it unfocused, pointing at the vinyl spinning on the turntable so that symmetry-wise, it took up half of the frame, applying my understanding of the 'rules of three' composition idea, creating a beautiful, abstract image of waving black with the reflection of the vines against the windows where Ezra would place the needle. I then panned up to the chemical setup whilst Matthew performed a focus pull where the man would walk to. We practiced this before Ezra arrived so that we could mark the levels of focus on the lens and so that I became accustomed to panning. Luke gave me an extremely helpful tip that I had not thought of when performing a pan; it was to 'be one with the camera', ensuring your body is as close to it as possible without obstructing anything, one hand on the handle and the other body of the device to keep it stable (which I went on to do for the rest of the day). Once Ezra arrived, Lila and I directed him (Lila in the action and me in the positioning sense) and ran it a few times so that he too got an understanding of what we wanted. We then plugged in the microphone which was another task that we did with ease due to our dialogue workshop, connecting it into the first audio plug with an XLR cable; Lila acted as the boom operator for the majority of the day. When seeing the shot through the camera's screen (though we did not watch any footage back apart from a single test shot earlier without Ezra), I was incredibly pleased with the effect of the boarded windows - we had also at this point used my desk lamp for the purpose of the vinyl, shining it onto the material so that the vines could be further visible. The protocols on set of 'stand by', 'standing', 'roll camera', 'camera rolling', 'action' and 'cut' that we had learned during our camera workshops came in handy when filming as we wasted no footage (unlike our test shoot where we hadn't placed as much emphasis on it). 

We then went on to film the majority of our 'berry' shots (him pulling the berries out of the jar, placing the berries on the chopping board, pulling them off the stem and slicing them). With this, we took extra care with continuity, agreeing with Ezra which section of the stem he would be using and spending large amounts of time getting the positioning of the berries correct within the frame (as we were working largely in close ups) - Matthew was in charge of cleaning the workspace with a tissue as there were no focus pulls involved within these shots, wiping up any juice before it stained the wood of the chopping board and for continuity. I predominately directed Ezra here as I had a greater understanding of the mechanics of it as I had tested out working with the berries at home. 

Unfortunately, very shortly, lunch arrived and we had to head back to campus; Susannah had arrived and we still had not yet worked with her so we decided that we would prioritise her scenes after the break so that she would not have to wait around. Lila, Matthew and I ate lunch together to ensure that we were in easy reach of one another and waited at the buses 5 minutes earlier than the agreed meeting time so that we had room for any mishaps. We then returned to Beatrice Webb, Susannah with us and Ezra in his own car at 1pm.

Upon arrival, as we had decided that I would be in charge of Susannah's makeup (and I had sourced her props), Lila and Matthew went on to finish the last of the poison preparation shots (him crushing them in the mortar and pestle, extracting the juice with a pipette, and the fizzing reaction in the beaker). Once Susannah finished changing into her costume, I did her makeup in the red room; this was a rather quick process as I had practiced doing it on myself at home. I added a cream blush underneath her eyes, marking eye bags with black eyeshadow and cream contour, and then used a smoky eyeliner and smudged it (I also asked her to do some of this as I didn't want to hurt her). I then teased her hair, as practiced, and used a weak hairspray to hold it in place without making it look artificially messy. Then, I took her into the storage cupboard, bringing all of the woman's props with me, and explained what would happen in her scenes and what she would need to do - I also created the funnel mouthpiece in front of her, again, fairly straightforward as I had practiced it at home, so that she would feel comfortable and was wholly aware of how she wouldn't be physically hurt. I then began to measure up the zip ties to her ankles and wrists; this was when our first main issue arose. The zip ties had fit on me when I tested them out due to the angle in which I was fitting them but wouldn't on Susannah. So, to solve this, I wrapped them around her ankles and the legs of the chair, as intended, but added extremely small pieces of duct tape to hold them in place. They snapped a few times after she moved (which wasn't her fault), but eventually, they stayed. For her wrists, I pulled the group in for suggestions as the zip ties ends simply wouldn't touch; Luke here suggested to use a material of some kind to tie around her wrists and 'neck' (we 'cheated' this shot: a non-technical but common term I learned on the day used in filmmaking meaning creating an illusion). We attempted to use a strip of the green cloth that Lila had cut earlier, but this simply didn't have the effect that we wanted to as it didn't look like it was inflicting enough pain upon her. So, instead, we used Luke's belt; to cheat the different shots, when filming from the front of Susannah, she looped the belt around her neck and pulled it downwards behind her back to give the illusion that it was tied to her hands and was choking her. When filming from the back, Lila held a section of the looped belt above Susannah's head, pulling it taut diagonally, and I duct taped the bottom to her wrists. This made more sense in regard to our shot where the man opens the door, revealing her with her head already back as it meant that the woman would physically not be able to move without choking herself further; with her sat upright, the funnel looked almost comical - and as Luke said hilariously, looked as if she was about to "dress up as a penguin". We attempted to get through the shots quickly as the setup was extremely uncomfortable for Susannah (the belt hurt her neck, the zip ties on her ankles were tight, and the Blue Tack on the duct tape tasted terrible). 

Once we finished Ezra's scenes at roughly 4pm, we let him leave as we didn't want to keep him for any longer than we already had for his sake! We continued with Susannah's shots, filming her close ups, but at this point the sun was beginning to set (as anticipated, but blocked with the boarded windows) and there was a continuity issue with the lighting. Luckily, we had brought a blue light, so we used it to replicate day light; we adjusted the exposure on the camera and intensity of the light to make it appear as realistic as possible, and Matthew held a piece of white cardboard to reflect the natural light from the windows as Luke had suggested it (this was another technique I had not been aware of, and is now something I will most definitely use in the rest of my filmmaking projects).

After we completed Susannah's scenes, we also let her leave and provided her with makeup wipes. We then attempted to setup the shot involving a close-up of the liquid going into the funnel; we had Matthew hold the funnel, Lila pouring the liquid, and a beaker to catch any spilled liquid on the chair. However, the charge on both batteries ran out. There was not much we could do about this, so Mike granted us another day during the editing process for us to film the shot as it was a rather essential feature to our sequence and wasn't our fault. We then packed up, me boxing up all the props (as they were mine and I knew how to package them), Lila and Matthew bringing in the suitcases. Once I finished boxing it up, I left everything in the red room, and I brought in the boxes that we had removed from the room back into their original place and returned the furniture. Luke and Mike took down the cardboard as we were running short on time. Then, we all began to load the van, and headed back to campus, stopping at the recycling bin on the way and dropping all the cardboard off. We returned all of the camera equipment to the studio, and I loaded the props into my car and went home after a successful day of shooting!

Overall, I feel like our shoot went extremely smoothly - smoother than I had anticipated. This is because we had prepared an immense amount beforehand, every group member was on task and was aware of what was going on because of our workshops and communication. We placed a great emphasis on camerawork and silhouettes which resulted in us achieving extremely cinematic and beautiful shots due to our proactive lighting setup. I learned a great amount, from how to board windows, lighting techniques, camera handling and in general, came to grips with the process of filming a sequence. My favourite part of the process was finding the 'perfect' shot, experimenting with composition and exposure as it gave me hands-on experience and artistically speaking was the most interesting to me. In terms of what could have gone better, I personally feel that we should have planned the woman's setup in more detail and thought of more camerawork ideas as if we had not spent as much time experimenting, we could have filmed the last shot that we needed before the battery ran out. 

I look forward to editing our sequence, specifically picking out music and 'sound scaping' as soundtracks are a personal interest of mine. With editing, we do still have yet to think about making artistic choices in regard to font and text placement as we have chosen to create a title sequence rather than narrative, but we will gain a deeper understanding of this once we see the footage.

RESEARCH OF SAUL AND ELAINE BASS

 Research of Saul and Elaine Bass.

Saul Bass (1920-1996) was an American filmmaker and graphic designer, well known for his work in title sequences, corporate logos and film posters; he worked for other significant film figures within the industry creating title sequences, such as Alfred Hitchcock, Billy Wilder, Stanley Kubrick, Otto Preminger and Martin Scorsese. Alongside this, he was incredibly successful in the creation of corporate logos for companies including AT&T, Continental Airlines and United Airlines. He married Elaine Bass (originally Elaine Makatura) in 1961 after she joined Saul Bass & Associates as his assistant in 1955 - another extremely successful American title and filmmaker. After the birth of their children (Jennifer, 1964 and Jeffrey, 1967) they instead began to place focus on their family and short films, one of which, Why Man Creates, won an Oscar. The pair were 'rediscovered' by Martin Scorsese and James L. Brooks in the 80s who encouraged them to return to title design.

Together, they developed many opening title sequences; the first project she co-directed/produced before their engagement was 'Spartacus' (1960). After this, the two worked in close collaboration and proceeded to create the sequences for West Side Story (1961), Something Wild (1962), Walk on the Wild Side (1962), Nine Hours to Rama (1963), The Victors (1963), Seconds (1966), Grand Prix (1966), Broadcast News (1987), Tonkô (1988), Big (1988), The War of the Roses (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Doc Hollywood (1991), Cape Fear (1991), Mr. Saturday Night (1992), The Age of Innocence (1993), Higher Learning (1995) and Casino (1995). Following Saul Bass's death, Elaine worked in collaboration with Pablo Ferro and went on to update Psycho's remake opening in 1998.

EXAMPLES SHOWN VISUALLY BELOW:

Their works were incredibly well known due to the fact that their title sequences captured the genre, mood, theme and narrative of the film effortlessly and in an aesthetically pleasing manner. For example, this is shown particularly well in 'Casino' (1995, Martin Scorsese):

The main character is introduced shortly after a black screen stating '1983' in a font closely resembling the 'Washington' font, indicating the time period in which the piece is set and somewhat elegant tone. He (Ace) walks out of a large building with well-built doors (copper/gold framed windows and polished wood), accompanied by iron garden tables and well trimmed plants suggesting that he is wealthy due to the casual manner in which he is moving around the space. Ace is dressed in a bold costume of a pink and white suit, holding the prop of a cigarette once again highlighting his wealth and perhaps the time period; the vibrant costume was a conscious decision on Scorsese's behalf, where he stated: "Oh, let’s put the apricot suit… right at the beginning of the movie. So it’s so ‘in your face’ [that] the audience will know what they’re in for, and they can leave the theater. Or stay.”

After this, he gets in his silver 1981 Cadillac Eldorado coupe (fitted with a metal sheet under the driver's seat which leads him to survive after it blows up) revealing a lot about his character as it suggests that the nature of his personality/status concerns that of murder attempts upon him. The early placement of the action heavy short segment combined with the overpowering character which triggers the titles is incredibly gripping as it leads the audience into wanting to discover more, and indicates the film's drama/crime genre and darker themes.

As mentioned, this triggers a more consistent title sequence, the text first accompanying the shot of Ace's body through the flames in a medium/small white font transitioned by crossfades (this format is used for the other credits) and intense, cinematic non-diegetic church/choir music. This gives the sequence an element of dramatic effect as it is overpowering, once again establishing the drama genre and tense tone of the film.

The font works incredibly well as it is highly stylised yet minimalistic, so attention is drawn to it but not so much so to an extent where the audience overlook the scenes shown behind them (a montage of close ups of gambling devices with neon lights, almost abstract). The Bass's choice with this is also effective as it hints at the narrative: the film will be set predominantly around a casino, presumably the owner of the casino as the character shown could be assumed as of higher status and has people after him. 

The use of darker reds, blues and purples not only gives an atmosphere of the 'night life' of the casino and its corruption (as it seems to be hidden in darkness and behind the vibrancy of it all), but also provides the overall mood with an emotional complexity which captures the film well. The colours are visually pleasing to the eye as they all compliment each other, making the sequence a visually pleasing one to watch. 

The sequence finishes with the screen being burned through and Ace placed at the centre of the frame composition wise, the angle from behind as he overlooks the room. This again suggests that he is the owner of the casino as he is the centre of attention in this scene, and that he is a morally tainted man due to the burning/ruining of the beauty of the casino lights.

Scorsese similarly uses this style of opening sequences in his other films (montages with minimal yet stylised fonts). A media product which seems to have directly lifted the action from this opening is the video game Mafia III: the ending involves Lincoln Clay being blown up in his car once he is in a high status position, shown below: 

BEHIND-THE-SCENES

 Behind-The-Scenes.

I edited a behind-the-scenes video containing a mixture of clips that Matthew and I filmed in order to present the process leading up to and during the shoot day. My evaluation will provide context to the different things that can be seen in the following:

   Matthew and Lila created a photo album containing some pictures that we took on the day:

RESEARCH INTO CONVENTIONS/SIMILAR PRODUCTS

 Research into Conventions/Similar Products.

Our A1 opening title sequence fits into the thriller genre, more specifically as a crime-thriller. In order to research what conventions/artistic decisions we would have within our opening, we looked into specific media products that matched our piece's genre:

THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (Jonathan Demme, 1991)

The film follows Clarice Starling, a high-achieving student at the FBI's training academy. She is made to interview Hannibal Lecter who is a psychiatrist, now a violent psychopath as he is deemed to have insight into a case that Starling can draw him out into, acting as bait (involving a character called 'Buffalo Bill' who wears overweight women as a suit). Our sequence/narrative, similar to the film, involves a serial killer who has a rather specific method of killing people and has an convention of mystery/crime as he is being investigated throughout the plot. Though not as straightforward, a motif of props within The Silence of the Lambs is the covering of the mouth (similar to the funnel being duct taped to the woman's lips); Hannibal Lecter has a 'muzzle' and Clarice has a moth on hers, used as the film poster. This gives the film a more metaphorical/psychological tone, acting as a thought-provoking stimulus to the audience. In regard to what is not similar to our sequence, our location/general costume is not the same as they are rather general elements. 

In terms of the font/aesthetics of the opening scene, similar to ours, it uses a rather stylised font of black, bold text with white outlines. This is in order to signify the psychological tone to the audience. This is accompanied by shots of non action-based things such as the woods with dim lighting, a sombre colour palette and slow paced transitions to give it more of an appearance of that of a title sequence rather than something narrative based. It uses an intense non-diegetic soundtrack to support this, again, acting as conventions of the crime-thiller genre. All of the above are elements in which we will include in our opening sequence. 

The main character, Clarice, is introduced first as doing some form of physical training, almost running away from something due to the frantic handheld shots that follow her. Like our sequence, our main character, though not the protagonist, is introduced almost immediately and is shown as doing something that is linked to the narrative but does not directly reveal the context of the scene (making a mixture of berries). This crafts a form of 'shock factor' in thrillers, catching the audience of guard thus encouraging them to continue watching as they prepare for more surprises. 

However, beyond this point there are not many parallels between this opening sequence and ours. The setting of the FBI training academy is shown through the stone walls, well kept gardens, uniformed positioning of jogging characters, ropes and the simple sports costumes of either uniforms or grey long-sleeved tops and sweatpants. When Clarice enters the building, this changes to suits. The lack of similarity is understandable as factors such as costume and location are what give media products individuality and differentiate them from one another as they create an immersive fictional world for different audiences with specific likes and dislikes.

THE OPENING SEQUENCE:

AND THEN THERE WERE NONE (Craig Viveiros, 2015)

And Then There Were None is a television program following 10 strangers who are invited to an island by a mysterious host, and get killed off one by one. Similar to The Silence of the Lambs, our sequence too has conventions of mystery/crime due to our genre, crime-thriller, involving a serial killer character murdering many victims and the investigation of the individual. Again, the differences involve different costumes/setting (primarily due to the difference in time period), and though still rather isolated, as And Then There Were None is set on an island and our sequence in a storage cupboard). 

And Then There Were None's opening sequence is a pure title sequence, not involving any characters or action shots. It shows falling abstract shapes of pages from books (most likely Agatha Christie's novel) in a green tinted, sombre colour palette with slow transitions and an orchestral non-diegetic soundtrack in a minor key which acts as conventions of the thriller genre. The text, though minimal in font, is still bold and has attention drawn to it due to its positioning within the frame. All of the elements mentioned combined once again is rather thought-provoking and psychological; it lures the audience into questioning what is to come, and sets a darker, thriller tone for the rest of the series. Due to how much is left to be interpreted, the audience themselves become 'detectives', immersing them wholly into the mystery element of the crime-thriller genre. On a more general note, it is a title sequence and focuses on more cinematic shots, similar to that of our opening sequence but is an extreme example as it opens a television series, required to be more simplistic and memorable as it is frequently repeated for each episode.

Unfortunately, within the opening sequence, as mentioned before, no characters are revealed so costume is not established. However, the falling abstract shapes shown earlier do come to form the island that the piece is set on and looks sinister/isolating due to the darker colours. For our sequence, we intend on using green cloth against the boarded windows which will have the same effect as the colour scheme to this.

The costumes in the series are typical of that of the time period 1939, where characters are seen in suits, longer and more conservative dresses with short, neat hairstyles indicating that they are wealthier than average. This is extremely different to our piece where the characters are wearing costumes of casual clothing from today's society; the man could arguably be considered as dressing 'wealthier' (which he is) as he is wearing a sleek black turtleneck with smart dress shoes, but this is up to interpretation. 

THE OPENING SEQUENCE:

LINE OF DUTY (Gareth Bryn, 2012)

"Line of Duty follows Detective Seargent Steven 'Steve' Arnott (Martin Compston), a former authorized firearms officer who led an operation to catch an Islamic terrorist intending to detonate a bomb, but the strike team mistakenly entered the wrong apartment and shot dead an unarmed innocent man" (Quoted from IMDB.com). Similar to all the media products mentioned and ours, the plot is a convention of the thriller genre as it follows protagonists investigating antagonists who deliberately cause harm to others. The amount of action in it gives a more tense atmosphere,  which is also another convention of the genre. This media product is more difficult to compare to ours as it is a television series set in urban England, and has a more action based focus upon the scenes.

However, regarding the dim, sombre colour palette of the sequence with focus on blues, the ambient non-diegetic soundtrack of tense music, and more cinematic shots, our sequence is rather similar. There are also breaks in between the different scenes, interrupting them with a black screen with the credits in a bold font, but transitioned by a yellowed fade. These simple design choices draw attention to the possible psychological/metaphorical interpretations of the piece, and give it an element of a title sequence rather than that of a narrative-based one. The scenes are still action heavy, but are primarily of close ups and still place emphasis on the credits, similar to ours. All of this combined acts as conventions of the thriller genre, encouraging the audience to continue watching due to the tense, mysterious atmosphere it creates.

The costume and setting heavily differ to ours; characters are shown dressed in police uniforms, and offices, guns, walkie-talkies, flashing police lights are present. There is a heavier focus on that of the protagonists whereas ours is on the antagonist, thus causing the narratives to extremely contrast one another. Again, it is also made clear that Line of Duty is set in urban duty to the high amount of characters and technology shown, whereas ours is in an isolated, rural house in the middle of nowhere. 

Regarding the characters themselves, it is not clear as to who is the main character to a new audience solely due to the amount that is going on. However, the camera does return frequently to the man shown on the left. He is given more isolated screen time, and can be assumed to be an officer as he is holding a walkie talkie and is in uniform, dealing with the situation at hand, which indicates that he is a clear protagonist and will be an important part of the narrative. These clearly distinguished statuses of characters acts as a convention of the thriller genre.

THE OPENING SEQUENCE:

WOULD YOU RATHER (David Guy Levy, 2012)

"Desperate to help her ailing brother, a young woman unknowingly agrees to compete in a deadly game of 'would you rather', hosted by a sadistic aristocrat." (Quoted from IMDB.com) Out of all of the media products mentioned, this one is the least similar to ours. This is because it has more of a focus on gore/horror, which is a convention of thrillers, but not one that we will play into within our opening sequence. However, antagonists and protagonists are clearly distinguished from one another, and the plot follows an individual who inflicts pain upon others. However, the way in which the sequence is carried out matches that of a title sequence rather than something narrative based, which correlates to the intention of our product.

There is a heavy focus on the titles, as they are presented in a bold, white font, taking up the majority of the frame whilst the scenes behind them are in a red tinted montage of the characters. The titles, at one point, is even accompanied by a pentagram and split frame of the different characters, indicating the darker and psychological tones of the narrative and the people affected by the antagonist. This all plays with the non-diegetic song of Numb by Linkin Park, though more intense and prominent than the other musical choices for thriller media products, still intense and darker in its lyrics which fit in with the genre. The transitions between the different scenes are quicker paced, but that can be expected of a more montage-styled opening. 

There are also many cinematic close ups used of inanimate objects which crafts the idea of a title sequence, which is something that we will do for our product. Though many characters are shown, the balance of screen time doesn't reveal much about them as individuals but spreads a general sense of fear and vulnerability amongst them. This is similar to the woman in our sequence as she has no dialogue, and the only thing that is truly revealed about her is that she is in great fear despite her complex and detailed relationship with the man. This encourages the audience to continue watching as they can unravel more about the characters and learn more about the narrative. 

The costumes are mainly more formal (cocktail dresses and suits), and it seems to be set in a dinner party style environment due to the long table that is set and the amount of people who are dressed in the same manner present. Though the creative choices do not match that of our narrative, the plot does as there is a focus on wealthy characters, such as our main antagonist. 

THE OPENING SEQUENCE: 

To conclude, in general, the opening sequences of the media products researched all share the same cinematic camera techniques, slower transitions, non-diegetic sound accompaniment, and sombre/dim colour palette and are all title sequences rather than narrative based which is what we will consider when editing and filming our sequence as they are all artistic choices and conventions of the thriller genre. I believe that the crime-thriller genre use this format for film openings as it doesn't reveal too much as that would spoil the mysterious narrative, but still establishes the tone of the plot and the nature of the characters. This hooks the audience into the narrative as it encourages them to want to watch more as it adds an element of suspense and tension. This appeals to most mature audiences, which is suitable for our piece as we have age rated it as a 15. The main differences within the different media products are individual characters, props, costume and location as those are what distinguish the plots from one another and provide them with individuality, though 2 of them follow wealthy characters like ours.

Apart from what has been mentioned, if we do not film enough still shots, I think that similar to Line of Duty, we can use black breaks in between the different shots with credits to lengthen our sequence and to give it more of an aesthetic purpose rather than narrative (as what we intend on filming first is all narrative based and we may run out of time). However, this would have to be more experimented with as we are opening to a film, not a television program.

TARGET AUDIENCE

 Target Audience.

Knowing the target audience for a film maximises profit as it allows the creative/marketing team to make more informed decisions in different elements of the film. This is because it gives a rough outline as to which conventions need to be followed, what mise-en-scene/narrative/character/casting choices to make, and methods of marketing to use. 

The two main social groups that are put into consideration when thinking of one's target audience are age and gender. 

For our sequence, in order to decide our intended target audience, we researched similar media products and the statistics in gender and age ratings:

LINE OF DUTY, 15

AND THEN THERE WERE NONE, 15

THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, 18

WOULD YOU RATHER, 15

Following all of this research, we decided that our film is intended for either both genders or just males, and the age rating would be 15. 

THE BBFC & FILM CERTIFICATES

 The BBFC & Film Certificates.

The BBFC (The British Board of Film Classification) are an organisation concerned with establishing rules with which dictate what can be displayed in films, assigning age certificates depending upon this. Films must obtain these age classifications in order to release in the UK (both in the cinema or as a DVD). Audiences can also complain to the BBFC should they believe any age classification is incorrect. For example, the organisation received complaints that The Joker (2019) should have been rated as an 18 due to its levels of violence/brutality, Peter Rabbit (2018)'s young audience may copy the scene involving the rabbit throwing fruit at people, The Woman in Black (2012) for its 'scary' tone, and Logan (2017) contained far too much blood/violence for a 15.

For a U (universal, can be viewed by everyone), films cannot contain: dangerous behaviour (potentially dangerous/antisocial behaviour children may copy), discriminatory language/behaviour (unless clearly disapproved of, though highly unlikely), drugs (must carry an anti drugs message suitable for young children), bad language (unless infrequent and extremely mild), nudity (unless occasional with no sexual context), sex/sexual references (unless extremely mild), threat/horror (anything likely to cause anxiety to young children without a reassuring outcome), violence (unless mild, comedic, animated or wholly unrealistic)

For a PG (parental guidance, parents are advised to accompany children), films cannot contain: dangerous behaviour that is glamorised/likely to be copied, discriminatory language/behaviour unless clearly disapproved of or in a historical context, drugs (must carry an anti drugs message), bad language (non-aggressive, mild and infrequent only), nudity (with no sexual context), sex/sexual references (can be implied discreetly and infrequently, mild references/innuendoes only), threat/horror (can be present but not prolonged/intense or in a fantasy/comedic context), violence (mild only).

For a 12A (children under 12 years old in a cinema must be accompanied by an adult), films
cannot contain: dangerous behaviour, discriminatory language/behaviour (must not be endorsed as a whole), drugs (infrequent and not glamorised), bad language (moderate at most depending. upon context), nudity (if in a sexual context, must be brief and discreet), sex/sexual references (briefly and discreetly, references can be moderate at most), sexual violence/sexual threat (may be verbal references but not graphic, if it is a stronger form of sexual violence must only be implied and negatively presented), threat/horror (moderate at most, and overall tone should not be disturbing), violence (moderate at most and not in detail).

For a 15 (individuals cannot be any younger than 15 to view or purchase a film), films can contain: dangerous behaviour (details should not be dwelled upon, depends on factors such as realism, context, and setting),  discriminatory language/behaviour (may be present but not endorsed overall), drugs (may be present but not endorsed as a whole, depictions of easily accessible substances is not likely to be acceptable), bad language (strong language allowed, but extremely strong language is dependent on context), nudity (allowed in a non sexual/educational context, sexual nudity is only permitted if brief and in a comic context), sex/sexual reference (may be portrayed but not in strong detail and without purpose of sexual arousal, strong references are allowed but should not be frequent or pornographic), sexual violence/sexual threat (focus is allowed but in a sadistic manner is not), violence (allowed but no focus drawn to infliction of pain or injury, or sadistic/extremely gory).

For an 18 (individuals cannot be any younger than 18 to view or purchase a film), films cannot contain: material in breech of the criminal law, material likely to to cause risk/harm to individuals (public health morals, sadistic violence in a positive light etc.), or material that exists for the sole purpose of sexual arousal. 

When creating classification guidelines, the following is considered:

--> Scenes involving violence of all kinds

--> Scenes involving sex & nudity 

--> Scenes involving obscene nudity 

--> Scenes with discriminatory language 

--> Scenes of self harm

--> Scenes of criminal activity 

--> Scenes with dangerous behaviour 

--> Scenes of drugs, alcohol and cigarettes 

--> Scenes involving child actors/characters 

--> Strobe lighting 

However, the context and the way a certain activity is being depicted heavily influences the age rating. For example, should a film be animated/fantasy, the BBFC believe that audiences can differentiate reality from fiction. 

With certain issues, should they be paired with sensitive issues or not portrayed in a positive light, they can be considered to be more appropriate for younger audiences, such as with violence:

--> Is the violence made to seem normal?

--> Why are they being violent? Is it self defence?

--> What injuries or harm are caused?

--> Who is it that is violent e.g. hero or villain?

--> How does the perpetrator treat the victim?

--> Is the violence enjoyed?

--> Is the violence made to seem exciting or glamorous?

--> How much violence is there?

--> How realistic is the violence?

--> Does the violence get punished?

Another way in which consideration is given is through the format of the release. With DVDs, the BBFC tend to be much stricter than that of with a film's cinema release. For example, The Hunger Games was released as a 15 in its DVD format, but a 12A in the cinema.

The producers of The Hunger Games could only get their age rating down to a 12A in order to reach a wider audience should they edit the Cornucopia scene as it contained children killing each other. So, they removed diegetic sound effects of screams/kills, digitally airbrushed blood on weapons to reduce its goriness, and cut kill shots so that details of injuries/wounds couldn't be seen.

IN RELATION TO OUR OPENING SEQUENCE:

I believe that our sequence would be classified as a '15' both within its opening sequence and our intended narrative plot. This is because though there are psychologically disturbing depictions, such as a belt around her neck, her wrists duct taped, her feet zip tied, and a funnel duct taped to her mouth, they are only showed briefly and there isn't a huge emphasis placed upon them as the majority of our sequence is about the preparation of the poison. Our elements of violence are not endorsed either, as the man is presented as a villain through our use of mise-en-scene (black turtle neck, sinister expressions etc.) and non-diegetic eerie music.