synopsis

my film is titled captured, and is a horror genre. the film is about a group of teenagers who all befriend eachother in different ways. deciding to take a weekend break the group head out with hopeful thoughts of having a good time. with the drink,drugs and conversations flowing, it looks as if the weekend is turining to be a big success. but diaster strucks when one by one memebers of the group start to dissapear, its up to the friends to help one another survive, but is the killer a lot close to home then thought?
my film is targeted at 18-34 year olds of both genres, as this is the biggest selling target audience, and the most popular audience for the horror genre.

market research

Market research
For most genres 18 to 34 year old make up the largest target audience in the film industry. The best way to reach this specific target audience is to have very select and detailed products.
Most 18 to 34 year old also tend to read and watch other media products within the same genre for example, someone who like horror movie will constantly watch horror films, horror programmes and horror genre novels.
The only demographic break within this audience is 18 – 24 and 25- 34 however a wide range of products will aim to appeal to the whole of the target audience not just one from these demographic breaks.
In order to reach your target audience specifically for the horror genre you have to appeal to your target audience and include the things the audience want to see or feel. In horror films the audience likes to be scared and frightened they like to feel the fear of the unknown.
You need to also make sure you stick specifically to the horror genre the subjects of ghost, vampires, supernatural, death, fear, loss of identity, and a plot with twist to leave the audience frightened,are key features which must be used in your production in order to maintain your target audience. You have to deliver the suspense and fear the audience wants to feel and the certain criteria of things that this specific audience wants to see. Without using the key subjects to your genre you film will not attract your target audience.

Films that have the same target audience as my film are:
1. wrong turn
2. captivity
3. bloody valentine

prop list/shot list/location

Prop list/location/shot list

prop list:
1. clown mask
2. fake blood
3. fake tears
4. make up
5. knife
6. dirt/mud
7. lighting
8. clothing


location:
Oaxleas wood ,welling – this is the location where the film will start.

Home , Charlton – this will be where the end of t opening title sequence will be filmed just before the title will appear.


Shot list:
1. long shots – will be used in the first scene and the fourth scene,
2. mid shot – will be used in the 2nd scene.
3. Medium close up – will be used in the third scene, the fifth scene, the eighth scene and the tenth scene.
4. Over the shoulder- will be used in the 6th scene
5. close up – will be used in the ninth scene and the eleventh scence.

character profiles

Character profiles

name: Claire Holmes
actress: Jenna Brehme
age: 18
occupation: student/ sales assistant
home town: London
interests: swimming, shopping, boys and fashion.



Name: Zach Johnson
actor: James Atkins
occupation: student
home town: London
interests: computers, girls and partying.

saul bass

saul bass was born on may 8th 1920 and lived till april 25 1996, he was an american graphic designer and an acadmey award winning film maker. saul bass had a career in the industry lasting around 40 years during this time saul bass becam best known for his design on animated motion picture title sequences.

saul bass began his education at the art students league in manhattan, and later went on to design the sixth at&t bell system logo and the at&t globe logo, after the break up of the bell system.

beginning in hollywood saul bass would do print work fo film ads, when he collabrated with filmmaker otto to go on and design, the film poster for Carmen Jones. so impressed by his work he was asked to film the title opening sequence, which led him to working with some great filmmakers such as alfred hitchcock, otto preminger,stanley kubrick and martin scorsese, and collabrating with otto and alfred hitchcock.

saul bass was responsible for the best iconic logogs in north amercia, he later went on to produce logos for japanese companies.

saul bass title open sequences:

1. spartacus (1960)

2. the victors ( 1963)

3. its a mad,mad,mad,mad world ( 1963)

4. gooddfellas (1990)

5. cape fear (1991)

6. casino (1995)

saul bass iconic logos:

1. dixie ( 1969)

2. united way (1972)

the price of work i a, anaylsising is the title opening sequence for the film human factor.

when looking athe title opneing sequence for the film the human factor i noticed thaat the two main colours used were black and red. both these colours have deep denotations, for example, bklack has dennotations of death, hell, isolsation and red is like, blood, and death. however when looking at the colour red it can be suggested that there is deeper meaning behind the colour and it can in fact have connotations of love, passion, roses etc there could be deeper meaning behind the use of this colour.
it also only contained the image of a telephone, it was more like a still image with the camera making a pan movement. the suggest use of the telephone could be used to emphasis death as one minute the telephone is laying there the next it is dangling or could be where the most important extract of the film takes place, or could just be a symbol that has a great signifiance in the film.
when watching saul bass title opening sequence you can see how much times have changed, there was no suggestion of location no characters intoruduced, not really a narrative or plot.
although the genre may be introduced if you look at it like me and beleive it to be a horror/ thriller genre.
i think the title sequence is quite dull, the colours are dark and at this stage dont mean nothing to the audience. they aint appealing colours in the way that they have been used.
the typeface used is bold crooked white writing, again its simply ordinary and doesnt give anything to the film. the colour white emphasis cleaniness, purtiy, virginity. by using the colour white saul bass has added a twist in the title opening sequence for when it was jus black and red the dennotation of the colours where closely linked giving the suggestion of the horror/thriller genre hoever noe we have a colour whose denotations are complete opposite. this is a good
technique to use if the idea of this was to leave the audience in suspense and keep them guessing.
thorugh out the title sequence the whole camera movement is a pan movement, however as there is only a telephone to look at it doesnt do much to add anything to the film. however in the case of the telephine breaking the pan movement emphasised this in great detail.
the music used linked to the apparent genre quite well, it added tot eh suspense of the film and was probably one of the best features that were in the opening title sequence. without the music i dont think the title seqeunce would be appealing at all.
i thin the target audience is 18-34 year olds when watching the opening title seqeucne there is nothing to suggest this however because of the colours and the believed genre, i would have to say the film is aimed at older people. it is also known that this is the target audience for most genres. weither or not ther film is aimed at a specific genre is to hard too tell.
in the times when title opneing seqeuences were beginning i believe this would of possibly beem entertaining cause by use of colour, music, and little detail you are left in suspense. however if this was mage today i beleive it would come across as extremley dull, and i dont think it would appeal to its target audience as it doesnt contain all the conventions that a opening sequence of today would.
however when looking at the title opening sequence for cape fear you can see a big difference.
alhtought the colours used are very similar, the way it which there used, to describe the water and the surroundings you get a clear indication that this film is a horror/ thriller genre straight away.the connotationa of this colours and the way the are used reslte to the film signifficanlly. you can tell that these specific colours have been used for a reason.
furthermore, the images are no longer still, we know have moving images and a lot more camera shots such as close up to get a detailed descriptive of certain images that saul bass whats emphasis on.
we also have certain efffects such as the dissolve effects when the images dissolve into something else, this also makes the sequence good as it really adds suspense to the film and makes you wonder whats about to happen.
more over the images are mainly moving with a water effect, this is something i havent seen before and definently adds effect to the film and relates to the genre as the water effect gives you a chilling and pershaps feeling of fear.
moreover, in the title opening sequence for cape fear the actors and actresses are introduces, something we never saw in the human facotr. theres a lot more happening in this title sequence and really gets the ball rolling for the film to start it grabs your attention straightaway and leaves you gripped.
unlike the human factor the location is introuduced to us almost immediantly, we get a clear images of the lake, plus the water effects tel, us that something will happen here and the key location or the most significant location is indeed the lake.
another thing we are introuced to in cape fear is a character, we see a face of man that in a way gets sucked up, which adds suggestion that it is a horror genre. we also at the end see a cleat image of a dfinant character whos looking straight towards us which adds to the genre.
the music used in this opening title sequence is quite eery and leaves you feeling uneasy. sililary to the human factor i beleive that the music does add some level of suspense and realtes to the genre.
the typeface is bold and italic which attracts you more to it, italic wrting appeals to the audience as it is more detailed that straight writing. the writing also dissolves on and off the screan which relates to other dissolve effetcs used and the suggestion of genre.
similary to the human factor i think the target audience for this film is 18 -34 year olds. i think its mainly aimd at men due to the dark, deep balck blue colours. they have connotations which realte to the male sex, and theres nothing which suggests the aim towards a female.

pre - productiom

today i have finished my pre - production and will begin to put it onto a powerpoint presentation. my presentation will include, production schedule, storyboards, character profiles, market reserarch into my target audience,synopsis of my production, anaylsis of similar media text, my prop list, shot list and talent list.

production schedule

Production schedule
October 14th: I will begin to look at different audios to decide which one I feel will suit by genre and title opening sequence best.

October 17th: I will buy and decide on my props which will include make up, fake blood, white clothing, and mud.

October 19th: I will take pictures on a digital camera of the location and surroundings I plan to use for my title open sequence. This will include my own home and oaxleas woods.

October 25th: my actors/actresses will be coming to mine so we can practise make up and accessories and take pictures of the way in which I hope my final piece will look like. We will be taking pictures so I can see what looks good and what might need changing or improving.

October 27th: once I have decided that I am happy with the pictures and believe that the pictures are all good and I am happy to continue with the project the way it is I will start taking practise films of parts to make sure I get the outcome I would like.

October 28th: I will have decided the shots I would like to include in my opening title sequence. And have my shot list finished.

November 7th: I will start my filming for the scenes which will be taking place in my own home.

November 14th: as long as I am happy with my filming so far I will move on to continue filming my title sequence in oaxleas wood.

November 21st: by this date I hope to have all filming finished so I can move on to editing or make any necessary adjustments.

November 22nd: I will begin editing my opening title sequence, I will start to add effects and cut any unnecessary footage.

November 29th: I will begin to add my typeface and any extra wording or images that may be required.

December 7th: I will add the audio to my title opening sequence and will have finished my project. I will finish it on this date leaving a week spare in case of any changes or adjustments that will need to be made.

Decmber14th: I will hand in my finished opening title sequence.

deconstruction of the film panic room

when watching the opening title sequence for the film "panic room" i noticed a number of things that i disliked.

firstly was the typeface used. the typeface was bold and white, although the connotations for white include things such as purity, cleaniness, neutrality and youth which in somes cases relate to the plot of the film, on the background in which the colour is used it doesnt stand out and comes across as really dull as yourfocuing more on the background which is colouful rather than the wrting. in this case i dont beleive this was the intention of the use colour. because the background isnt really representing anything.

on the other hand the way in which the writing appears; as if its floating in mid air is rather a clever technique, i personally feel its a shame that the producer didnt do more with the typeface as it could of looked so much better.

another effect i did not like was the way it which the wording appeared on the screen, the camera movement of the words was really slow and didnt keep my attention, there was nothing happenening in the background and the slow movement just made me impatient and didnt keep me intrested.

alothough in a way the location was set with the use of buildings and trees, again it wasnt very entertaining as the camera movement was so slow it was almost as if you was looking at a still image. there was nothing happening with the buildings or the surroundings and theit still didnt give a clear indication of location.

compared to films such as gothika which sets the location and plot and gets the ball rolling, panic room just left you with not much to look at, it wasnt until at least a minute and a half into the opening sequence that the film got started.

camera movements such as pan especially good for showing location and whats happening around and creating a suspense feeling. in this case it didnt happen, it was used to show buildings and trees which did not represent anything to me or make me feel as i was about to watch a good film. the opening sequence in all films should be good because if you cant keep your audience gripped from the very beginning then the film is not going to reach its full potentional and may not be as succesful as it could be. for me panic room is a good example of that.

fonts of horror films

a wild horror font with spikes and splinters.

a horror font based on the lettering of the film title "predator"

a cartoon horror font.

a horror font which comes in two versions filled or unfilled.

horror font with a twisted and evil looking typeface.

history of the horror genre.

The history of horror


Horror films are films which are designed to unsettle and scare there target audience. They alarm and frighten us whilst at the same time keeping our attention right until the finale of the film which often involves a shocking and scaring ending with sometimes an unexpected twist.
They are designed to deal with the humans’ worst fears which include: nightmares, alienation, revulsions, vulnerability, and terror of the unknown, fear of sexuality, life and death and loss of identity.
The best horror films will only suggest of the horror that will happen in subtle ways rather than displaying it blatantly in your face.
The first horror movie was in 1896. It was called “le manoir de diable” which means the devils castle. It was made by French filmmaker george melies and was only about two minutes long.
Some of the earliest horror films consisting of the supernatural such as ghost were:
Caligari – (1919)
Casablanca (1942)
Invasions of the body snatchers (1955)
With most of the films then the original story was almost always altered and a flashback framing device was used to soften the message and create a delusional nightmare in a psychotic mental patients dream.
From then on there were series of horror films such as:
Dr Jekyll and Dr hyde films (1920 – 1995)
The Dracula films (1931)
THE ORIGINAL FRANKENSTEIN FILMS (1931)
The wolf man cycle of films (1935 – 1946)
Saw films (2004 – 2009)

Horror films have elaborated over the years. The style and effects have changed to meet the times, the typefaces have changed as technology as developed. And the film posters have changed as we have a wider range of effects and technology. From the beginning the style of horror has changed to meet the times and the fashion.
( reference: www.filmsite.org/horrorfilms.html)

gothika

the film that i am going to be comparing to my own opening title sequence is Gothika by Matthew Kassovitz . the genre of this film is horror. the film is about a psycharist named miranda who is involved in a road accident when she swerves in the road to prevent running over a young girl. when miranda goes over to the girl she relizes shes a ghost miranda goes to touch her hand and the girl sets her on fire. waking up miranda relizes she in her work place but as a patient, shes being held there as her husband was murdered and they beleive it was her. the ghost possessess miranda and its up to her to prove shes not insane, and to find out what really happened that night.

the typeface that the director has used for gothika is a sharp edgey title which gives the sense that this is a horror film as it has block daggered writing. the sharp edges gives the feeling of horror as a lot of murdering weapons are sharp and the belief that if you touch or are hit with something which is sharp you are going to be hurt.

the word gothika means a situation where someone feels or sees things that no one else can which leads to the people who cant see or feel them beleiving they are crazy. the meaning to the word gothika is exactly what the film is about which also gives the hint that it is a horror film.

the colours used in the opening sequences are mainly blue black grey and white, these colours are fairly plain and some dark colours. the colour black is strongly asscoiated with death and isolation, which are key issues within the film.

within the first few seconds of the film the location is set which is in a mental institution, which automatically gives the clue that the genre is thriller/horror. the dialogue which is used is very echoey, you get the feel that this is a lonely and depressing place to be. although people are speaking instead of music the fact that the background is silent creates a mysterious effect you almost expect something bad is going to happen.

along with the typefaceand dialogue, the camera movememnts add to the suspense of the film. in the opening sequence when their talking a pan movement is used throughout most of it, this creates suspense as its as if someone is watching in from the outside, almost as if you were there watching. it also gives the same feeling of isolation, whilst setting the scenery for the scene and letting us know that the two characters are isolated in an empty dark place.

the plot for this film is set from the beginning we know it is about someone who sees or feels things that know one else can, we also know two character descriptions one from miranda who is a psycharist and her patient chloe.

i also beleive the lighting techniques that were used really created a sense of horror and added to the feel of the film. in the opening sequence the room is very dark and the light is mainly aimes at the two characters from an angle, again this tells us that this film is likely to be a horror and again created the frightening suspense and feeling of isolation. this is a good technqiue as it pinpoints the two main characters and gives specific detail of what they want us to focus on without giving to much detail of anything else away.

the target audience for this film is 15- 24 year olds i think it is manily aimed at the female sex as it has very popular leading female actresses in it, also it includes issues that genereally affect women more then men such mental illness and rape. when looking at audience reviews for the film i found that they were mostly written by teenagers of both sex however girls gave higher grades then boys.

the trailer to gothika was released in britain realeasing streamline ads on msn hotmail the target audience for the film was 15 -24 year olds in britain, this enables them to measure how many people viewed it from beginning to end so they could tell what they needed to do to ensure it was better and weither it was good enough already. (reference adverblog.com)

although i beleive the title opening sequence and all the features are brilliant and really make up the elements which are need for a horror film i dislike the way in which the names and title of the film are presented. unlike a lot of films were they appear during the moving shots and the title at the end the wording in gothika appears first on a dark blackground with gothika presented last then the film starts. i dont like this and wont be using this technique as it runs up a lot of time and doesnt look very entertaining. the technique doesnt add everything to the film like all the other effects and technqiues they have used have. i beleive that if the wording had appeared during the moving images then it would of created better effects and would keep the viewers fixated on the film and made the sharp egdy writing more effective, instead of waiting for the film to start. its uncommon for horror films to start this way now they usually start straightaway with the wording appearing during the opening sequence and the film title coming up after the title opening sequence has finished and the film really beigns.

deconstruction of two opening sequences.

When looking at the title sequences for "Catch Me If You Can" i noticed that it had very similar effects as "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang".

Even though both films are in colour, both of their title opening sequences are animated. I beleive this techinque was used as animation can hint that humour may be used in the film. It also gives a breif inidcation of the plots are without any spoilers.

Both sequences also contain instrumental music with sound effects such as claps and the shot of a gun. The music in both sequences are mysterical with relates to the genre of both films.

n "Catch Me If You Can" the fonts are bold with colours such as black, white and blue, all three of these colours are eye catching and are the three main colours which are associated with the film. However these colours have strong connotations which are associated with the male sex, suggesting that the target audience for this film is indeed men.

However, this is not really the case in "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang", although similary to "Catch Me If You Can" the film has three main colours which are red, white and black. It dosent give a preference to sex, instead it hints the genre of the film. the colours, particulary red are associated with murder and death which are shown through the opening the sequence suggesting that the film has a horror/thriller genre with a bit of humour in it.

Similary catch me if you can has a genre of thriller/comedy.

Both title opening title sequences hint the narrative/plot of the films. "Catch Me If You Can" along with the title tells us that the films plot is about a man on the run from something or someone, which is indicated in the opening sequence.

in "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang"  although theres not a clear narrative/plot you do get an idea that the plot will include murder which is represented in the opening sequence through the use of annimated imagery of weapons such as gun, a women getting shot and blood.

Although neither of the opening sequences give a clear idea of the characters/location, maninly due to the use of animation. the actors/actresses are shown within the opening sequences.

                                     

Term project brief

for our project we have been asked to prepare and produce a 2 minute title sequence for a film or a tv production. we must prepare a script for our opening title sequence, storyboard the title sequence, think about production requirements, locations, techniques and the resources we are going to be using.