Tom Bailey

The Shadow 2

2009-03-21T23:05:00.003Z

The same but some bits of sound moved into different channels so that you can actually hear them because it was set up for a 5:1 surround sound system.

The Shadow

2009-03-21T22:31:00.002Z

From Mrs S

2009-03-09T21:40:00.001Z

I quite like the drawings - rubbish or otherwise! I think the film opening has the potential to be genuinely scary!

2009-03-09T20:16:00.003Z

The Shadow Script

2009-03-05T14:48:00.000Z

The Shadow script.

Establishing shot of darkened neighbourhood with boy walking down the street. There is no noise except for the echo of his footsteps.
There is then a medium shot of the boy walking past from the left hand side. As he walks past a figure appears where there was previously nothing. Loud, scary non-diagetic music plays when the figure appears.
It then cuts to a downward shot of the boy walking up the hill, towards the camera. The shot shows that the hooded figure is standing at the bottom of the hill.
There is then an extreme close-up of the boy hearing a noise and turning around.
It then cuts to a point of view shot looking down the hill and the figure has disappeared.
There is then a close-up of his face with a confused facial expression and he shakes his head to assure himself that he saw nothing.
It cuts to a point of view shot of the boy walking along and looking nervously from side to side. It is accompanied by diagetic sound of his heavy breathing.
There is then the diagetic sound of foliage shaking, the boy turns to it and looks quickly back.
There is then a stationary, medium shot of the boy walking towards and past the camera but it films the empty street behind him for a while.
It then cuts to a point of view shot from the hooded figure through a bush or from behind a wall. It is also accompanied with diagetic heavy breathing but more sinister, in expectation excited, breathing.
This is happening while the boy is going to the front door of his house.
There is then a close shot of the boy opening the door and it moves backwards to reveal the hooded figure standing very close as he closes the door.
It then cuts to a stationary shot from the dining room table of the boy walking into the living room.
There is then the close-up of the boy picking up the remote and trying to turn on the TV. It rises upwards to reveal that the hooded figure is inside and behind the fogged glass.
There is then a super fast zoom to the figures face which then abruptly cuts to a black screen.
A picture of the figure in the distance is shown with the words ‘The Shadow’ across the bottom. There is scary non-diagetic sound to match the picture.
It fades out.

What i have learnt

2009-03-05T14:38:00.002Z

Things i should include -
- Scary non-diagetic sound
- Quick cuts to add speed and pace
- Establishing shots to add detail
- Off-shot diagetic sound made by the bad guy
- Point of View shots from both people

From Mrs S

2009-02-27T13:16:00.001Z

I like your product placement section, it's detailed and well argued with lots of very useful information.

Product Placement

2009-02-26T17:30:00.000Z

Because of rapid advances in technology and visual media we can now watch movies from TV, Cinema, Internet and handheld media devices. They can be bought over the internet and from video stores. They can also be rented at video stores, and even rented and bought through the internet. But to actually get the film out onto these various medias you need a distributor, a company that specialises in putting a film onto the big screen or onto the internet.

I am going to be making the first two minutes of a horror film so I need to look at film production studios that specialise in horror or have many horror titles.
The film ‘Hostel’ was created by Lions Gate Entertainment which is a Canadian distribution company. They have also helped make huge horror films such as American Psycho, American Psycho 2, High Tension, Saw and Alone in the Dark. They would be a good candidate for distribution of my horror film. Their revenue for 2007 was $976.74 million US Dollars and was founded in 1995. Roughly 26,200 people visit their website every month from the US alone. Depending on how big the projected audience is for the horror film and if it is big enough then Lions gate Entertainment would probably be making it.
The problem is that Lions Gate Entertainment is not a British production company and therefore I cannot use them easily.
Therefore I should look at a more local film distribution company.
Working Title Films has helped make films such as Shaun of the dead, Burn after reading and Billy Elliot. In 2004 they made a profit of £17.8 million and are owned half and half by Universal Studios and BBC Films. This would be a much better candidate as they have a special division for working with low-budget films which is what my movie would be.

Before my film is put into the cinema I will need to tell people about it. I will therefore need an advertising campaign to educate the public and get them to see my film. But to get an advert onto the Cinema, TV or internet requires a lot of money most low-budget films do not have. Therefore I could go for a lower cost approach of posters, fliers and word of mouth. This may not get as much publicity as other methods of advertising but it should get enough to at least break even with our costs.

When movies are released for DVD they are sold into shops and then sold to the consumer. The more shops I manage to get the DVD into, the more money I can potentially make. Therefore it is important to get a good distributor to get the movie into many shops and big stores to make maximum profit. If a deal is done with a big superstore such as Tesco or a specialised movie store like Blockbusters or HMV then they will put it in hundreds of stores all over the country and even internationally. But to do this you need to have a proven market and very good feedback from critics. It also gives the person trying to buy the film a better chance of buying it because it is available closer. Selling the film online would also be a good idea because more and more people are downloading online. In 2008 over 410,000 movies were be downloaded in the UK, up from only 10,000 in 2007 and you can see how quickly it is rising in popularity. But being put in major stores means you have to compete with many other high-budget titles so your packaging must stand out and reflect the film.

If my film was released on the internet I would worry about Internet piracy and illegal downloads. Therefore I would have the file embedded so that it cannot be copied on the internet.
Another dilemma is to have the internet sales in physical DVD form or in a download file. I would do both to maximise potential customers and make the most money.
The most important factor to consider is price. If a DVD is priced too high then no-one will buy it. If it is priced too low then more people will buy it but it won’t make much, if any, profit. You have to price the physical at about £9 for maximum attention and income. For Internet downloads you can price lower at about £5 to £6 because you save money in transport, staffing and packaging. The cinema ticket and DVD price for some large stores are pre-decided and you will get a commission.

Planning

2009-02-24T15:09:00.004Z

My film will
· Be of the horror genre.
· Be for both genders.
· Be focused towards people between the ages of 16 to 20.
· Be jumpy, creepy horror.
· Start slowly and build momentum.
· Have a short credits sequence after a long introduction section.
· Contain a creepy face and scary music.
· Take inspiration from films by Twisted Pictures.
· Be distributed over the internet.
· Require the word of mouth to get people to watch it.

Brainstorm ideas.
Dark alleys
Figure in hood
Blood and gore
Psycho style knife action
Blurry pan shots
Quick zooming editing.
Scary music.
Intro ideas.

The Shadow.
A boy being followed at night on his way home by a hooded, black figure. The figure gets closer and closer until it is very close. This is aided by jumpy cuts, scary music and clever angles.

Location ideas.

Edgcumbe park
High street
Heath lake
New Wokingham road

Character ideas.

Person being followed.
Young mum
Old man
Young boy
Teenager

Person following.
Hooded figure
Zombie
Vampire
Disfigured mutant

From Mrs S

2009-02-23T12:24:00.000Z

Very good analysis of the opening of Seven. Excellent detail.

2009-02-13T13:04:00.009Z

Analysis of opening sequence of Seven.

The beginning of Seven shows Morgan Freemans character lying in bed. The camera angle is a medium establishing shot. The lighting is very important because it shows that it is night and also sets the scene as a dark thriller. The darkness unnerves the audience because they do not know what could be hidden in the dark. This may be an establishing shot to set the scene.

There is then a close-up of the metronome to show the significance of time passing and to gain tension in an eerie silence.
There is constantly the diagetic sound of the metronome ticking away at a steady pace. This steadily builds up the tension to a climax. There is then a medium shot zooming into a close-up of Morgan Freeman’s character sitting in bed. The camera slowly zooms in to represent an ever growing burden on his mind and an ever growing sense of tension. As the camera gets closer it shows his emotion more and more.

It then cuts to a close-up of a book being turned. The book is in focus and the person turning it isn’t so this implies that the book is more important than the person reading the book. It also suggests that something about the book will be of importance in the film.
It then fades to a bids eye view of a drawing of two creepy looking hands. There is the quiet non-diagetic sound of some dark, low, pace setting music. Its is a constant underlying boom with a constant ticking that may carry on from the metronome. The way the hands are drawn adds to the tone of the scene and scares the audience because they look abnormal. This implies there may be something abnormal in or about the film. There is a shadow in the top right which blocks off part of the view. There is also a shadow moving across the light coming from the top left. This adds tension and scares the audience because they know something or someone is there but they don’t know what or who it is.
It then fades to an extreme close-up of a razor being manipulated between a persons fingers. This adds a sinister tone to the shot and matches the sinister non-diagetic music. It also suggests that there will be pain and damage to a person in the film. There is also the non-diagetic sound of metal flexing and bending which adds to the eeriness of the shot. There is then a high pitched screeching noise, which could represent screaming, as the shot fades to a black background with the name of the film on it. The word ‘Se7en’ is shaking in the top right corner and is written quite brutally with all straight lines like someone was slashing it into a surface. This makes the audience scared because it implies violence.
It then cuts to a downward shot of a book being opened. This may be a point of view shot of the person who is opening the book. The book opens to show nothing. This may imply that there will be mysteries that won’t be solved or unknown plot holes.
There is then a metallic grinding noise as it fades to a close-up of a hand writing on a large piece of paper. Another transparent clone of the hand is also writing and this editing gives a sense of time.

It then cuts to a downward shot of photo of a person being developed. The light is red so that it makes the water seem red. This could imply that that person in the photo is going to be harmed in some way as the red water could represent blood.

Opening credits analysis of 'Buffalo of the Night'.

2009-02-06T13:15:00.005Z

Opening credits analysis for The Buffalo of the Night.

The opening credits of ‘The Buffalo of the Night’ uses panning close-ups of the Bull to add mystery and fear to the bull. It is scary because you only see parts of the bull and you don’t see the whole picture which makes the audience feel uneasy. If the audience doesn’t see the whole picture then they don’t know what or where the rest of the animal is. It also means that the director can control what the audience sees and what he keeps unknown to them which makes them wonder about what they cannot see. What they cannot see makes the audience nervous and adds tension.

The bits of the bull that are shown are not random. The powerful bits are shown e.g. Nose, horns and head. These represent the power of the bull and make the audience fear the bull. It would be less effective if less powerful limbs were shown. The combination of tense music, close-ups of powerful limbs and dark lighting portrays the bull in a scary way. If there was bright lighting, no music and an establishing shot then it would have less if not no effect on the audience.
The camera movements are slow and natural so that they follow the movement of the bull.

Non-Diagetic sound is played all the way through. It starts with slow, calm almost soothing music. But it gets louder like it is building up to something. This gives the audience a sense of expectation and tension. The longer it drags out the more eager the audience is to see what is going to happen. The music is only calm while there are no shots of the bull. It is just a black screen with names of the actors on it. This also adds an air of mystery. But the audiences’ expectations are put on hold when the music reaches its climax because it just fades away. Some steady drumming then comes in and slowly builds up to running pace. This may represent running away from the bull or a sense of danger.

Slow, building up music.

Steady, beating, running music.
There is no diagetic sound really, but the screech of a guitar sounds almost like a scream or an animal’s high pitched wail.

The mise-en-scene is very little and hard to spot. The fact that when the nose of the bull is shown it has no ring through it therefore it is wild and not captive. This makes it wilder and you know it is dangerous. Also you can see from the nose that it is breathing hard or snorting so it could be getting ready to charge. When the eye is shown it could represent the bull locking onto its chosen target. The nose could then show the bull getting ready to charge. The side of the mouth is shown and shows the heavy breathing so the adrenaline is getting the bull ready to charge.

The fact that the bull is black as well could represent darkness, evil and death. This also helps it blend in with the black background and hide it from the audience.

Mrs S

2009-02-06T13:04:00.001Z

This is really good, your analysis of the opening sequences so far is very detailed and will really help you when you design your own opening. Well done.

Analysis of the opening 2 minutes of 'The Number 23'

2009-02-03T19:12:00.006Z

The number 23 opening credits analysis.

The opening credits of ‘The Number 23’ uses close ups and long slow pan close-ups of the paper to add mystery and wonder because it is not showing the audience the whole thing. This makes the audience wonder what is going to come next. It means that them director can control what the audience is allowed to see and what can be kept out of sight for further tension.

An extreme close-up of certain sums and sentences are used to add emphasis on them. This makes them seem important and makes them stand out. It also makes the audience feel uncomfortable if a normal sentence is being portrayed in a scary way.
The camera movements are quick and in one direction only so that it is like the way paper is pulled around on a typewriter. The only camera angle used is straight down on the paper like someone is writing on it e.g. Point of view shot.

Non-Diagetic sound is played the whole way through the opening 2 minutes. At first it is slow, classical violin style music because it is only showing blank paper with few names of actors on it. Although when it cuts to another name there is a deep, loud boom like a clap of thunder. This is meant to catch the audience off-guard and scare them a little. This immediately lets the audience know that it is going to be a scary movie. When the title of the movie is shown there is a long, loud boom to show the significance of the name and show the audience that there is something sinister about the context of the title which may have an impact in the film later. As sentences are shown and more text fills the shots then the pace quickens. The Non-Diagetic sound gets faster until the beat is at running pace which might represent action in the film or people trying to run away from the number 23.
Slow music.

Fast, running music.

Diagetic sound is made only in the second half of the opening credits. It comes in the form of keys being pressed on the typewriter to shows that someone is writing what we see. It also emphasises the point of view shot so it is like we are looking through the eyes of the person who is writing it. There is also a moist sound of liquid hitting paper when the blood seeps onto the paper. This is to make it seem more like it is just happening and we are watching it or doing it.

The mise-en-scene is quite obvious as everything is right I front of you and quite close. More obviously the bright red blood seeping onto the page is to represent anger, fear and most of all that someone is going to get hurt in the film and it is associated with the number 23. But less obviously the red also represents the colour of a book which features prominently in the film. There also some creepy coincidences written among the 23s’ to make the audience aware of the importance and background of the number 23. The paper is a light brown which may represent age and how old the number 23 is.

Opening Credits analysis for 'The Reaping'.

2009-02-02T12:13:00.016Z

The reaping opening analysis.

The opening starts with some gentle, slow guitar type music. The black background gives the impression of space as some small red circles move in slowly from the left. This makes them seem like blood cells. The red could mean excitement or danger.
They are not in the centre which makes them less of a focus because the name of the director is in the centre.

On a long note in the music, the red circles turns into a splatter of red. This gives the impression of blood and danger.
Then a red leaf replaces the blood. It is also on the left and is very close to the camera but is slowly moving away. This is as the credits change to some different names.
This only lasts for about half a second and then the shot cuts to a shot through a microscope trying to focus. It is a red surface with liquid splatters on it. This gives another impression of blood and tells us that there is a red theme going through the opening sequence.
The shot goes in and out of focus for a very short period of time and as it goes out of focus and blurs very badly it quickly cuts to a panning close up of some white dots of splatter on a dark blue surface. Because the camera was moving anyway as it changes to a moving shot, it feels natural but at the same time important as we understand that things will change and the next shot is unpredictable. The writing however remains red.
This then changes to several red and yellow leaves floating through space in different directions. This gives the impression of space and how surreal the shot is. The music is quite classical with a hint of techno. The long chords of the classical sections go with the slow movements of the leaves etc whereas the quicker paced techno sections coincide with the changes in shot and faster shots. The floating leaves shot goes on for about a second is by far the longest shot of the opening so far. The length gives the impression of time and space while the red leaves carries on the theme of danger.
The music gets louder with cymbals and a faster tempo as it cuts to close-up of the flat side of a light brown leaf. It is moving left and upwards from the bottom. Every few beats the camera cuts to a closer shot of the leaf.
It does this twice until the shot is at microscopic level.
The camera re focuses and there is a clear liquid on a surface in the upper half of the screen. It could be rain on window but the camera changes focus onto the leafs cells which are also white. The limited time to take in information gives an element of mystery and makes the viewer wonder what exactly he was seeing in the last shot.
The music gets louder again and it cuts to an extreme close-up of a leafs cells through a microscope which is a point of view shot of someone looking through a microscope.
It could represent the scientific side of the film.
It then cuts to a black background with a small viewing hole in the bottom right. Through the hole is another close-up of something too obscure to understand what it is. It may be some sort of scientific specimen. The credits are in the bottom left which makes the focus shared between the two objects. The small circle is like the viewing section of a microscope which carries on with the theme of microscopes.
As a long, high electric note is sounded the camera shakes very slightly and struggles to focus. As it does so it cuts to an extreme close up of some sort of plant or possibly an insect. The lighting is very low and there is a lot of darkness to the transaction between shots is easy.
A loud cymbal is sounded as it cuts to a black background which gives the impression of space. Lots of tiny white dots are floating right from the left of the shot. This could be insects flying around or debris from an explosion in slow motion. The unknown objects makes the viewer wonder and further adds to the mystery and confusion of the opening.
With the next musical beat the scene cuts to an identical scene but with the dots floating in the opposite direction. This doesn’t have much effect on the audience until the background turns into a red liquid and the dots become the holes in the liquid. The is eerie and adds a sense of danger and alarm to the scene. It also carries on with the red colour theme. The red liquid could represent blood and show that there will be blood or danger in the film to come.
It then cuts to a completely black screen while a long note in the music is played. It then cuts once again to some blurred and fuzzy panning shots. This goes with the fast paced music and represents an unpredictable film. Then it cuts to an upward shot underwater of a red liquid hitting the water. This is scary, eerie and sets the tone for the movie to come.

From Mrs S

2009-01-30T12:47:00.002Z

I'm slightly concerned that you might be falling behind and not sticking to your timetable, remember that if Mrs D or I have to nag, it could have an effect on your planning grade - just a friendly reminder!

2009-01-23T13:03:00.009Z

This shows that I asked more males than females which might affect the results of the questionnaire. It might show more people preferring manly film genres such as horror and action.

This shows that I asked mostly people aged between 11 and 20 years. This may affect the results because younger people tend to prefer more action, comedy and horror style films than older people.

This shows that most people either prefer Horror or Action film genres. This means that I should make either a horror or action film. It also shows that Thriller, Mystery, Anime and Romance are not nearly as popular as Comedy, action and horror.

This shows that more than half of the people I asked like rock music in films. Therefore I should put rock music into the first two minutes of the film. It also shows that Indie, Classical, Pop and R&B are not as popular as Rock.

This graph shows that 86% of the people I asked prefer there to be more music in the first two minutes of a film. Only 14% said that they would prefer there to be more dialogue in the first two minutes.

This graph shows that most people watch a film weekly. It also shows that some people watch films monthly and no-one watches films daily, some months or yearly.

This graph shows that most people I asked would like to see either something scary, something setting the scene or some action. The least popular is something interesting, Comedy and a twist.

This graph shows that people want to see the Title of the film the most and then they want to see the producer’s name. Not many people wanted the credits to be in the first 2 minutes so therefore I will just put the title and producers name at the beginning but not the credits.

My Questionnaire

2009-01-19T12:16:00.002Z

Film questionnaire.
(Please circle your answer)
1) Are you male or female?

Male Female

2) How old are you?

0-10 11-20 21-30 31-40 41-50 51+

3) What is your favourite film? (Please write your answer)

4) What is your favourite film genre?

Horror Action Comedy Romance Thriller

Mystery Anime

5) How often do you watch films?

Daily Weekly Monthly Some months

Yearly

6) What sort of music do you like in films?

Rock R&B Pop Classical Indie

7) What do you like to see in the first two minutes to a film?

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

8) Do you prefer more music or dialogue in the first two minutes of a film?

Music Dialogue

9) What information do you like to be displayed at the beginning of a film? (tick or cross the boxes)

Title

Producer

Credits