Red lights analysis

Another title seuqence we looked at of the thriller genre was Red Lights. The link to this is below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFkDfbkOwyo

This title sequence seems quite simple but effective. The music immediateley sets the mood as it has a fast tempo and seems quite scary. It begins quite loud and constantly changes tempo switching from stoccato to legato while also changing volume, this will keep the audience on edge and wondering what is going to happen. The audience is first shown a black screen with white lights which creates mystery and is also ironic as the film is called red lights. It then becomes apparent to the audience that these white lights are shown continuosly throughout the sequence.

These lights then tuen into the titles which are shown in white writing on a black bakground the whole way through. This seems simple but works for this genre as it keeps it mysterious and not too colourful and happy. We have used this idea for ours by having the titles flashing up in white writing on a black screen to add to the tension and unease of our target audience. In this sequence the font of the titles is quite plain but they appear and disappear randomly with different affects added such as one word at a time going and fashing on and off. This puts the audience on edge and works with the horror/thriller genre as the audience don't know what is going to happen next.

The whole sequence is in black and white which make it mysterious as the audience don't know why. It also adds to the eerieness as bright colours woukld make it seem more happy and would deteriorate from the titles and the close ups of different things shown. We used this idea in ours to a certain extent, we did use colour but added effects to make it darker as we thought this worked better than just using black and white for our title sequence. In this title sequence the black screen is also shown all the way through with close ups of different things appearing all the time.

The red lights that appear while the title of the film is being shown are the only thing that is in colour. This again adds mystery for the audience as they will stand out and they will want to know what significance these red lights have in the film. It will also make the title stand out as the title is 'red lights'. The colour red connotes danger so these red lights appearing may show the audience that something bad is about to happen.

At the beggining of the sequence little is shown and it is always close ups but throughout there are more and more things shows and there are the whole of thing shown so it becomes more apparent to the audience what is happening and what the film is going to be abouut. It also becomes lighter towards the end with more white being shown rather than black adding to the mysteriousness.

The sequence ends quite suddenly. The tension has beein built up by the crescendo of the music and the fast paced cuts and the audience are in suspense and mystery wondering what is going to happen. The music fades out and it cuts into a plane flying ready for the film to start which contrasts with the rest of the sequence as it seems quite normal sanf this is now in colour rather than black and white.

se7en analysis

One of the title sequences we looked at that helped us in developing ideas and showed us the conventions of the thriller genre was Se7en.

This title sequence focuses mainly on mise en scene to show the target audience which would probably be young adults and teenagers a taster into the film. The music used fits in with the genre which is horror/ thriller, starting with a bang and being continuisly creepy and sinister throughout. It gradually increses tempo with the creaking and a beat being added. It builds up to a croscendo towards the end creating tension and keeping the audience in suspense so they want to carry on watching the film.

Throughout the sequence there are cuts to a black screen with the titles flashing on in white writing.l We used this in our tite sequence as we thought it kept the sequence unnervingand it wasn't clear to the audience when the titles were going to flash up. Although it is simple it is effective for this genre because the font fits in as it is scary and the titles flashing on and off create an eerie atmosphere for the audience watching.

The title sequence begins with a close up of a book and through the sequence it is shown again and again, sometimes with words being crossed out. This makes it clear to the audience that this book must have some significamce to the film but it never comes apparent to them why it keeps being shows. This adds to the mytery of the film and makes the audience want to watch the film to unravell the mysteries the title sequence creates. We used this in our title sequence with cuts throughout to different things that to do with ballet. This will hopefully give our target audience an incite into the girls personality showing her as girly and possibly vulnerable. We also used the crossing out words in a book idea and had close ups of the man in the house crossing out words to add to the mystery and possibly confuse the audience to keep them watching.

The whole way through the se7en title sequence only close ups are shown, te audience never see the full thing. This makes the audience watch closer and makes it more mysterious as it is sometimes hard to tell what it is. It also adds to the eeriness and keeps the audience entertained. We used this in our sequence by having cuts to closse ups of different things such as the book, the ballet shoes and the fire.

The editing in parts of the sequence show blurring and almost as though two things are happening at once. When there are close ups of the hand, it blurs and looks as there are two hands. This makes it look like there is time passing and also again adds to the mystery and the scariness of the sequence. In our title sequence we used opacity to show two things at once. We showed the man looking around the house and the girl walking home at the same time, this shows the audeince they are both happening at the same time and adds to the tension as the audience know what awaits her when she arrives home.

Shot list

In the house
Burning photograph MEDIUM/CLOSE
Cutting photograph CLOSE
Ripping Photograph down the middle CLOSE
Pinning Photos onto board MEDIUM
Close up on photos on board (scanning) CLOSE
Walking up stairs showing balcony POV
Walking downstairs scanning towards door POV
Walking through corridor numerous ones to juxtapose together POV
Looking round room focus on ballet shoes, ballerine figurine POV/MEDIUM TO CLOSE
Looking out of window POV
Looking at the door POV


With the girl
Walking along from side MEDIUM
Walking from back WIDE
Getting phone out of bag CLOSE
Looking at phone CLOSE
Walking on the phone MEDIUM/WIDE
Walking up the hill on the phone WIDE
Putting phone away MEDIUM
Looking at the house WIDE
Looking at the door MEDIUM
Close ups of smiling playing with phone CLOSE/MEDIUM
Walking up hill from front MEDIUM
Close up on necklace CLOSE
Walking past camera MEDIUM
Walking up hill from behind WIDE
Nearing the door MEDIUM
Hand on door and opening CLOSE

Storyboard

Planning

After watching a few examples of title sequences we saw a particular one that used the sound of a watch ticking throughout which created consistent suspense and mystery. We decided this would fit well with our concept as the person is waiting for the girl, so we are going to use close ups of the watch face and maybe speed them up to emphasise the time period and use the watch as the theme throughout the piece. We have decided that at the end of the piece there is going to be lots of quick cuts from the watch to the girl to the watch to the person and so on with a fast pace so that the pace is increased along with the suspense to create the climax of the door opening.

Camera Shots

Close ups

• The girls props and outfit to show her character
• Close ups on the photos to set the background and show what the "person" is paying interest to
• We are going to use close ups of photographs and pay particular attention to the hands of the person and the gestures they are doing to make the person seem more intriguing

POV

• The "persons" watch to emphasise the title of our piece which is Waiting. This suggests the person knows she is coming home and is waiting for her where as she is oblivious
• The rooms that the person is looking round so it does look as if we are looking with them and seeing what they are

Long shot/establishing shot

• We are going to get some long shots of the house with possibly the person walking round from the back so the scene is set and it is obvious it is a house
• Long shots of the girl walking home so we see what she is doing before we concentrate on who she is

Medium shot

• Medium shots of the setting in the house and the girl walking home will help the close ups and long shots flow together more and be the middle part to the intricate and establishing shots

Split Screen?
We have added a split screen to our two previous projects and have pretty much mastered how to do it and have found it always gets commented on positively whenever we include it. In this genre, thriller, we can use the split screen to emphasise how the two people are going to come to meet and this is going to bet the climax that the tension/atmosphere/suspense is built up to.

Planning

 Mise en Scene

One of our main aims is to present the characters through mise en scene and visual techniques rather than dialogue which can be easily cheesy and change the atmosphere to one less desirable.

We hope to portray the girl as young and vulnerable possibly even stereotypical as this makes the girl less specific and more relatable to a wider audience.
Possibilities:

• Skirt - feminine
• Bracelets - teenager?
• School bag - young
• Smiling with little make up - vulnerable/angellic?

The "person" isn't going to be seen as this is the whole point of the title sequence as to why this person is in her house what he is going to do and what is going to happen when she gets to the house.. which will be revealed in the rest of the film.

The props in the house will be things like looking through drawers where there will be items such as jewellery or stereotypical girly things.. maybe looking round her room at figurines of ballerinas or posters of boybands showing she is just a normal girl. There is to be close ups on photoframes to set some background for the girl, mostly pictures with family members to make her seem more vulnerable.

Thriller Ideas

IDEA ONE:

• A girl walking home through woods (shelf woods) and someone is watching her whilst she is walking through.
• Use completeley POV for the person who is watching so it is mysterious
• Do long shots of woods for a range of shots
• Increase pace towards end as though getting chased

Problems: Everyone in the whole entire world (slight exaggeration) does someone getting chased through a woods - orginality.


IDEA TWO:

• Someone searching for someone in a crowd stopping in slow motion on certain people
• Could be someone getting chased through a crowd or someone who is lost
• Use close ups of certain people to give off certain atmosphere

Problems: Not much opportunity for a variety of camera shots and limited to what can do as needs to be consistently in the crowd, could be misleading.



IDEA THREE:

• Someone is in a girls house as she walks home from school

• Cuts from the girl to the person in the house increasing suspense and making it seem like a journey reaching a climax
• Don't come to a  final climax as this can be the beginning of the film
• Use the silhouette of the person and POV shots for mystery
• Search through things such as drawers and looking at photo frames
• Use lots of mise-en-scene with the girl to show her character visually
• End with the girl opening the door

THIS IS SUPRISINGLY THE ONE WE WISH TO PURSUE SO HOPEFULLY THERE WILL BE NO PROBLEMS!

Changing Idea

 In the later stages of editing and after recieiving feedback from our peers we decided we wanted to totally start again with a new title sequence.

We decided to get our feedback verbally as it allows us to ask the person to expand or explain what they mean and possibly means they will give more detail as they arent having to take time to write it down

Top Feedback Quotes

"I thought the content was hilarious"
"The beginning part about destiny and fate is a bit too serious for the content"
"The links back to bad luck and misfortune show consistency"
"The concept is quite effective"
"The titles need to be all in the same font with same colour and size"
"The poo and wee is grim"

From our feedback and watching other peoples title sequences we realised that comedy is quite a hard genre to try and work round as everyone has different senses of humour and it is quite challenging to demonstrate skills when editing. The content and concept are too specific when doing comedy as half of the class thought the content was funny and the other half thought it was inappropriate. We have decided to attempt another title sequence and use the thriller genre with the intention to use a more effective concept with editing skills.

Things to consider for the next one:
- titles in the same font and style
- consider the concept more thoroughly taking audience into account
- plan a shooting schedule and use a storyboard more effectively so enough shots are taken and it flows

Feedback

 We have faced a lot of decisions in the editing process whether it be to change the music or add an effect which we have found hard to decide whether to do or not as one little thing can change the whole tone of the sequence. We have taken to our peers to help us with these decisions and most recently asked the group next to us to watch what we have done so far and comment on what they thought could be improved. They mainly said that the editing needed improving inparticular fading and adding extra effects to make it seem more funny and modern. We asked them what they would think to a split screen and they thought this would be a good idea as our footage exceeds the time limit and it adds a bit of variation. We have decided to add a split screen where the screen splits into four and we see a zoom on each indivual piece regarding the cat and it ends in us seeing the cats poo. We also decided to do extreme fading in certain bits where he is trying to get his deodrant can to work as this adds more comedy value. We are continuing to edit our piece to its full potential but do not want to interrupt its concept of a journey with too many split screens or effects.




 We showed our title sequence to a larger target audience of older teenagres (15-18 year olds) and recieved feedback to help us with our second draft. This is the feedback we recieved:

• Titles should all be in the same colour, font and animation.
• The cross-fading doesn't fit very well with the genre.
• The concept worked and was funny but the close ups of wee and poo were a bit too crude.
• The title of the film at the end on the green background didn't work very well.
• The beginning with the definition and talking didn't really fit with the rest of the title sequence but the concept of fate throughout worked well.
• The content was good as it works with the comedy genre and is funny.
• Some of the editing needs to be worked on.
• There are too many different things happening which makes it over complicated.

Sound

We have videod all this shots we need with varying camera shots and are now editing it to make the title sequence come together. Originally we were going to use the song 'ironic' as it fits well with the narrative as the main character has bad luck the whole way through and by the end receives good luck however, we felt the song didn't fit very well with the sequence when we played it so instead recorded a song called 'Life' by our freind Lucy.  With help from feedback by the target audience, we have decided to change the song to a more upbeat song as it is a comedy, we also thought we should have a boy singing it as it is a boy main character. The song we are using now is our friend's Charles Smith and Max Baxter's version of  'Mardy Bum' originally by The Arctic Monkeys.