Creative Title Sequencing

You can click to view a larger version of this image or watch the full opening below :)

I think this title sequence is particularly interesting. It's for a documentary but is done to a very high standard to compliment it's theme.

The letters fly around as if blown by the elements along the harsh landscape, it is very organic and emphasizes the nature of Scotland. On the other hand the font itself is a more sensible serif which is a very suitable typeface for a documentary, connoting knowledge and history.

The most effective aspect of these titles in probably that the text, in comparison to the beautiful sweeping views of the land, is comparatively tiny. This emphasis on the size and scale on the country and the history of the country is what makes it, in my opinion, a really good title sequence!

Keeping up with Current Events

The inspiration for a thriller movie could come from anywhere but local and world news is always a fresh source of real drama, excitement and distress. So it's worth listening out and recording any news stories that could form the basis of our opening.

Saturday, January 30th: Woman killed in South Yorkshire flat 'drowned in bath'

A woman who was found murdered at her home in South Yorkshire was intentionally drowned in the bath, detectives believe.

What makes it a potential story?
♦ "I strongly believe she may have known her killer."
♦ "I believe the deceased let the killer or killers into her home. Her killer left after the attack, locking the door in the process."
♦ She was last seen leaving work at about 1800 GMT on Wednesday in her red Volkswagen Golf, which is missing.

Tuesday, february 2nd: Face-crook Jailed

Career burgular Roy Boodle, who stole £12 from a police station charity box and taunted officers via facebook, was jailed yesterday.

What makes it a potential story?

♦ He updated his facebook statuses while on the run, the image of him on the run makes for a good thriller moment.

♦ Also the image of him stealing from the police station in the first place, a scene that could be full os suspense.

Thursday, february 11th: Freed after using sword on intruder

A vigilante father who chopped off a dunken intruders ear with an ornamental samurai sword after they barged into his home and threatened to rape his wife, kill his two children and burn his house down has walked free from court.

What makes it a potential story?

♦ This is a dramatic story of heroism that comes from an ordinary man. This is perhaps the most effective kind of story. One second he was going about his daily routine and spending the evening at home with his family and the next he was defending his family against armed attackers (the report went on to say). It's a story that's a little bit more relatable to the viewer. In that if it could happen to him, they can imagine what it would be like if it happened to them, and the viewer get's drawn in. Not to mention that it must've been quite an adrenaline fueled moment, great for a thriller.

Skills Audit Editing - 'Final Cut Pro'

Todays lesson we were learning how to use the program 'final cut pro'. We did the 'Bait Tutorial' to get used to using this special 'editing programme' due to the fact its one of the programmes we will use in our project to edit our thriller openings. It allowed me to put together different scenes onto a timeline but also edit out parts that i didnt want in my sequence. I learnt how to put a small sequence together, once i opened final cut pro at first it took me a while to get used to it but after i got the hang of it it seemed very easy to use.

There were three separate windows. One of the windows was a browser window through this window i could browse through all the different clips that i could put onto my final sequence. From the browser window i could drag and drop the clip i wanted onto my time line and also edit the bits out what were no longer needed.

This image below shows what the browser window looked like. As you can see there where alot of different clips that i could use, i looked threw them and found the ones i thought would work well together.

The second window that i could see was for the clip itself where you could cut clips using 'inputs' and 'outputs' I did this by simply clicking 'I' on my keyboard where i wanted the edit to start and 'O' where i wanted the clip to end. After placing the input and output you should see two little blue arrows that points to where you started and stopped your edit. After you did that you grab it and drag ot to your timeline where you can view what you have in the other viewing screen.

Below the image you see shows what the second box looks like.


The next image i have inserted will show what the Inputs and Outputs looked like. The part i selected in red shows the amount of clip that i wanted to drag onto my timeline.



The 3rd box was the 2nd viewing screen. This window was to show what your final sequence would look like after you have edited the clips. After you press play on the time line at the bottom of the program it would run threw what you have put on the timeline and this would show up on the 2nd Viewing box.

Skills, Audit, Editing

Today we had a lesson using the editing software Final Cut Pro to familiarise ourselves with some of the tools and techniques we will be using to create the opening to our thriller film. We completed the Bait tutorial in which I was able to use a wide selection of clips and audio found in the browser to to create a sensible sequence on the timeline to playback in the canvas. Making appropriate in and out points to shorten and lengthen a clip when necessary, such as removing cry's of "action" or to cut up a clip into several sections to create back and forth shots and manipulate the story. One of the things i was able to make was an effective match cut and i feel i have a lot more confidence in my knowledge of how to put a film together and the importance of editing structure. I also put a few transitions effects into the timeline when i thought it might benefit the story. Such as a subtle dissolve from an establishing shot of the outside to the inside to show their relation, an audio transition to improve the soundtrack fluidity and so on.

Below in a screen capture of my timeline.

(click to enlarge)

Thriller Sub Genres

When we started to look at thrillers, we had to discuss and brain storm what type of film we thought was a thriller and name some and then the class disgusted what sub genre it would fall under. We come up with 6 sub genres Action thriller, Serial Killers, Political Thrillers, Innocent on the run, Super Natural 'Chillers' & Psychological Thrillers.

Action Thriller:

A mystery action some kind of adventure his is also one of the hardest sub genres of thriller to write because of the amount of action required. However we come up with these films that would fall under action. The films we said come under this genre were Jaws, Anaconda, Mission Impossible, Deep Blue Sea

Serial Killers:

Popular sub genre of thriller. This is basically about A serial killer who is making someone or a group of people very fearful also uses horrific violence. The detectives aim is to stop the killer before he goes to far and kills another victim. The films that i said come under this sub genre were: Silence of the lambs, Final Destination, Psycho, Seven

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Political Thrillers:
This is a thriller which is against political background, Usually plots threw legal, political power to someone, however not that simple always someone trying to stop them getting this power. We come up with films like, Eastern Promises and Collateral, Law Abiding Citizen.

Innocent on the run:
This is almost like serial killer however it can be more mysterious. The films that we said fall under this genre where phone booth and The fugitive.

Super Natural:
under this sub genre super natural involved ghosts! super natural genre people normal get confused about. Examples the films that we come up with, The sixth Sense, The shining, The exorcist, The orphan, The Village



Psychological:
These involve people who are insane and don't really know what there doing they may have mental problems. Or simply a psychological thriller can contain flash backs. The films we said fit under this genre were Memento, 21 and Dollie Darko



Disaster Thriller:
i also thought about a disaster thriller being another sub genre this could involve any kind of disaster that can affect lots of people examples a dam bursting, a tornado sweeping through Los Angeles, a luxury cruise liner sinking.

Historical Thriller:
Thrillers set in the past usually combined with other sub genres.At the moment the sub genre that inspires me the most would have to be a action thriller its exciting to watch and makes you want to know more about the plot however i also like super natural thrillers they have suspense and unexpected moments. I have seen more super natural thrillers as well. The orphan i went to see i enjoyed it was not normal and i would have never of guess she was a full grown women out to get the ladies husband because she couldn't she would kill, she looked like a normal child with a strange twist the film did use a lot of grimy scene when she was killing and she was rather into the sexual nature although i thought this film was really good to watch it made me jump out my seat at moments and even cover my eyes when the gory parts where shown it sent shivers down my back as she killed.

Confused

Depression

Photography Task'

In this lesson we was given a sheet with a variety of words.We had to take pictures to represent some of these words. Me and my group took lots of pictures out of all of them i decided i would post the pictures representing Mysterious, Confussed, Anguished, Calm and Depressed.

mysterious:
This was the first word of the list i decided to use. However me and my group took many mysterious pictures down alleys, old buildings that looked a little odd, we even took one of a barrier on the stairs showing a mysterious effect. This picture to me looks asif there is something down that alley but what? we dont know because there would be no reason to be going down that alley it also looks a little mysterious with the stairs that we can slightly see and the metal bar across the sides that is connecting to the wall. it leads us thinking what is down this alley? where would it lead you to? and other various questions that comes to mind.

Confusion:
in this image me, holly and era are standing at the bottom looking a little confussed. There are two stair cases however what one should we use? holly is holding a paper what was meant to be representing a map to show we dont know how to get back to the top back. We also at first thought that this type of area and background was almost like a maze.

Anguished:
we got Fabian to act as if this was his bike and someone has taken his wheels. i think this image works well to represent anguished his facial expression looks as if he is shocked and the position he is standing in makes it more believable that someone has done this to his bike.



Calm:
This was a random shot that we took. However i think it fits with the word calm. if you look at the water it shows that it is flowing calmly and just looks relaxing. Water naturally looks soft and calm i feel that this image was a good idea to represent calm.

Depressed:
Era on the stall shows the representation of depression. Her hands in her face with her head slightly faced down shows she is not in a good mood the way she is sitting shows the idea of depression she looks as if she needs to be comforted.