Title Sequence

Title sequence

After editing we got to work on creating our title sequence. Due to our research we came to the agreement that we wanted the title sequence to show ‘edgy’ and thrilling footage, external to our opening sequence but still tied in with the film. This way we could foreshadow future danger and still keep it visually stimulating. We decided that we wanted footage of Jack’s daughter tied up with rope, like we used in our previous opening sequence, but so that the person’s identity is hidden.

The title sequence really only needs to be one or two pieces of footage to create our desired effect as we are going to use post-production effects such as contrast increases, blurs, echoes etc. in order to recreate the footage on multiple frames.

We filmed our friend Olivia, who acts as Jack’s daughter, but her face is hidden and therefore her identity is too. We want the clip to be shaky, like a handheld shot as if the antagonist is filming it for himself. Olivia’s hair drapes down in front of her face so we can’t see her identity and the camera circles her.

During editing, we increased the speed of the footage and layered the frames so it creates echoes and flashes, a strange and unnatural effect. The footage looks disturbing which is the effect we wanted to create, especially for a thriller.

We decided to use ‘Space Dementia’ by Muse as the music for this piece, as it’s exactly the kind of ‘traditional thriller music’ which we want, a song on the piano played in a minor key which sounds creepy and distorted. The echoey sounds work well with the echoed imagery and the song creates a dramatic atmosphere. The sadness in the song helps the audience to sympathise the little girl. When the camera zooms in on the rope and the girls hands, the volume of the music will increase as does the drama within the sounds.

Editing and Post Production

When it came to editing the second time round, I really struggled. Firstly the camera we used had filmed the clips into .AVI files which we couldn’t even access to begin with. After spending hours searching the web for a free, functional file converter we thought we had resolved the problem. So I converted the .AVI files to what I thought were .MP4 files, however the converter changed them to .M4V’s which again we were unable to use. Finally we managed to get the files to .MPEG’s and we could access each individual clip. I opened Final Cut Pro on my Mac and there were multiple error messages saying that some program files cannot be found, so I chose to ignore these files and attempted to begin editing. But the files wouldn’t open in Final Cut whatsoever. Sony Vegas is not compatible with Macs, and still being ill I couldn’t go into school to edit so I dropped a memory stick off with Megan and Jack to see if they could get anything working at their end.

It seems as though Megan and Jack still had problems with Sony Vegas at school, but they had .AVI, .M4V, .MP4 and .MPEG versions of each clip so we had our fingers crossed that SOMETHING would work. Eventually Sony Vegas crashed so often at school that it wouldn’t even open and that we had lost our work so far, so Megan downloaded the software on her home computer and managed to get it all working.

Editing the clips together was really straightforward once we got the software working, we could simply drag and drop the clip into the timeline, and then shorten it accordingly so the match on action worked really well. The music simply was dragged and dropped also into the timeline so it starts and the volume decreases at the appropriate points.

Once all editing was complete, the video was really jumpy and when uploaded to the internet there was no audio alongside the video. This was easily resolvable by quickly rendering the whole sequence.

We decided on the song ‘Talking Bird’ by Death Cab for Cutie in the end because it just sounded like it fitted the imagery really well – also the song is slow and calm and this makes the audience unsuspecting of any drama. The song fades out as Jack gets further away as if the song is playing on the radio. We are pleased with this, and it begins to play again at a heartbreaking moment later on in the sequence, as it fits both the peaceful atmosphere and the restless atmosphere really well, and we felt that that specific moment needed some background noise, silence didn’t work well. Luckily this song was diverse so we could use the one song for necessary moments rather than having to use two songs as we did previously.

There are a lot of dissolve transitions to aid the jump cuts in our editing, it created a softer visual style so the clips flow continuously and smoothly.

Another technique we’ve used which we think is successful is the use of slow motion as the music starts up again. Slow motion is traditionally used to emphasise the overwhelm of a specific moment, and in our case it is used to emphasise the sadness and heartache Jack feels. It makes the audience understand the confusion Jack must be facing in this moment, as though he feels disorientated. We feel it does this well.

We are so pleased to have finally completed the main bulk of our opening sequence after days of stress. The editing stage did not go as smoothly or as quickly as we had hoped so it is such a relief to have finally finished it! We just need to add a short title sequence at the beginning of the opening sequence containing our names and ‘Film 4’ and to do this we are going to film footage of a girl who is tied up, acting as Jack’s daughter with our names flashing over the top of it.

Filming the New Video

Re-Filming

Our second attempt at filming was much more successful than our first; we only encountered one problem. The battery died towards the end of the filming, but after a quick 10 minute charge we could finish the job – it’s a good job we decided to cut the chase out otherwise we would have been stranded without any battery in the camera. We encountered no problems like before as we made sure the camera was compatible with the tripod before leaving school with them, we were filming during the day which meant the light was sufficient and also we had our one location (my house) confirmed unlike our previous location, the old house, which we decided was unsafe to use upon reaching it.

To save time, we made sure everything was in place before we began filming (e.g. the objects around Sophie’s room, the note on the fridge, the hanging shirt). Like last time, we filmed the shots chronologically to ensure that there was no vital footage missing which would damage our awareness of the match on action rule and to make the files easier to manage when it came to the editing process.

The first shot we filmed started with an alarm clock which starts beeping as it turns to 7.00am. This image then panned to the left and we see Jack sit up in bed. The lengthy shot alongside the slow music emphasises the slow morning and the lazy atmosphere, and allows the viewer time to observe and take this all in. This shot also sets up the contrast for when Jack becomes alert and panicked as he realises his daughter is missing, as everything is so relaxed at this point.

In our next shot we wanted Jack to appear vulnerable. This is made possible with a high angle shot. We had difficulty enabling this shot as firstly the tripod did not stand as high as we would have liked the camera, yet lifting it higher meant the camera was not still, it looked ‘handheld’ which is not the effect we would have liked. By carefully placing the tripod on a cabinet in the corner of the room, our problem was solved, but we had to take care setting it up to ensure that it would not fall over.

We also are persistent on including visually stimulating shots. To show this we placed the camera on the floor to show a close up of Jack’s first footsteps as he climbs out of bed in the morning. This is much more effective than a mid-short of him getting out of bed as it keeps the viewer drawn in to the shots and it aesthetically pleasing.

Whilst sticking to the 180 degree rule, we then filmed a mid-shot of Jack walking to the window and then leaving the room, followed by a long shot of him walking down the dark hallway. The contrast from light to dark is visually pleasant as Jack appears to be a silhouette. A small problem we encountered at this point was when Jack walked out during the first take of this shot he had his hands in his pockets. Before he left the room he had his hands by his sides, so we had to film another take of this shot with his hands by his side to ensure that maintaining professional match on action standards between consecutive shots is easy during the editing stage.

As Jack walks through the house after he gets down the stairs, we want to create the effect that perhaps somebody is in the house watching him without giving too much away, as the antagonist is not yet the main focus. In an attempt of this we filmed a handheld, point of view shot from the antagonist perhaps hiding behind a door panning and watching Jack as he walks past. We’re unsure at the moment of how effective this will be so we will decide whether to include it at the editing stage, but at least we have the material to work with should we decide it is effective.

Next comes my favourite shot of the sequence. Jack goes to the fridge and as the door opens the camera switches to an internal shot from the fridge; a mid shot looking out at Jack rummaging around looking for breakfast. We agreed to use this shot even before we knew what our storyline would be because it is just so visually creative, it’s original.

Then we see the note “I HAVE YOUR DAUGHTER” from an over the shoulder shot of Jack, so we can see just as he sees. From this shot Jack then runs upstairs to check Sophie’s bedroom.

As he gets to the top of the stairs we filmed a handheld point of view shot of Jack running into Sophie’s room. The creates an attachment between the viewer and Jack’s character, as the viewer is able to empathise with him as they understand his panic and heartbreak. This is also emphasised through the over the shoulder shot of Jack making an emergency call on his phone.

We then filmed a mid-shot of Jack pacing between Sophie’s room and the bathroom as he calls the police. Pacing highlights restlessness and worry, which is just how anybody in Jack’s position would be feeling.

The whole filming process has gone so much more smoothly the second time round so hopefully the outcome will be greater, we just have to edit all of the shots together now.

Alterations

Mise-en-scene

Fortunately I live in a home full of girls, which means that making it clear to the viewer that Jack’s daughter ‘Sophie’ is of a young age is going to be easy. I have pink duvet which was mine when I was little with “I love my cat” written on it which looks very childish. We’re also going to place girly things around the room such as fluffy teddies, cushions and my sister’s cupcake money box. This makes it clear that Sophie is stereotypically young and female, her exact age does not need to be pinpointed.

We’re also going to place a smart black shirt, associated with the workplace, hanging up in my mum’s room (where Jack will wake up) so it is clear that he is a working father about to get ready to go off to work. This will play alongside my mum’s modern, simplistic bedroom design (a floral duvet and plain cream walls), making Jack seem like more of an adult than he did in our previous video. In addition to this we are going to place a can of beer in the fridge so that when Jack opens it he comes across as an adult here too.

Costume

Jack, in our first opening sequence, woke up wearing Calvin Klein boxers. This is perfectly believable nightwear for a male, however to make Jack appear more fatherlike and to make it even more believable we agreed that he should be wearing pyjama’s of some kind.

Jack is going to be wearing tracksuit bottoms which emphasise comfort and rest, and they’re simple which is just what we need to portray in his character.

He will also wear a plain grey t shirt, again to make him appear older and more father like, by keeping it simple.

Our choice of clothing is simply just to try to make everything that little bit more believable.

Alterations

Location

Originally we had filmed at Jack’s house in Bourne, however as his room was not ‘adult’ enough, and he has no younger sibling’s rooms to use, we changed the location to my house in Eye.

Luckily, this actually makes it easier for us than our first video. My house is closest to our school so it is easier for Jack and Megan to get here. We have decided to miss out the chase so we are only filming inside the house which means that our only risk assessments include

• make sure the floor is tidy to ensure we don’t trip over
• make sure the door is locked at all times as we are in the house by ourselves, to ensure safety
• keep water/drinks away from the equipment

As we have decided not to include the chase this means that we do not need Matty to be the hooded figure. This saves him a lot of time too. We chose to film at my house because my little sister’s room has girly posters and we can use my old pink duvet to make it look like an even younger girl’s bedroom. This means that we are changing Jack’s ‘son’ to a ‘daughter’ – many people commented on the fact that Jack did not check on his child after seeing the note, so the only way we could get around this was to change to a daughter and film at my house, as I am the only one with a younger sibling. Also as my mum’s room is very modern and sophisticated, Jack will appear more adult like, this was one of the pieces of constructive criticism we received so hopefully we can resolve this by Jack waking up in a more grown-up bedroom.

Alterations

Music

Learning from our mistakes, we have decided not to use popular songs with generic lyrics. Instead we’re going to use songs which are more unheard of. Also, after hearing ‘In The Morning’ by The Coral over and over we realised how cheesy it sounds, so instead we’re going to use a much ‘softer’, early morning song, which will still hold the sense that nothing is wrong until the action occurs. A new suggestion which was made is ‘Talking Bird’ by Death Cab for Cutie. This song is calm and peaceful so the audience will still be unsuspecting of any drama which is the effect the want to create.

This music will be non-diagetic with the intention that the viewer interprets it as diagetic. The music playing will appear to be a track playing on the radio just after Jack’s alarm goes off. This means that as Jack leaves the room the music will be quieter and will continue to fade out until he is out of hearing range, just as it would in real life. We hope this will make the opening sequence appear more realistic and less like a music video.

Sound

A diagetic sound we’ll use is Jack as he is on the phone to the police. Inputting this diagetically makes it appear more professional in comparison to inputting it non-diagetically; there’s less chance of error as the video and audio will be synchronised. Also it just unnecessary. We discussed whether or not to input non-diagetically the voice of the police at the other end of the line. We think this may be effective however we plan to keep the action internal to the setting, so we have decided not to go ahead with this.

We’ll retain other diagetic sounds such as the alarm clock and subtle movements made by Jack.

Title Sequence

Title Sequence

One of the main issues with our coursework was the lack of a recognisable title sequence. Films can be successful without a detailed title sequence, perhaps just displaying the film’s name, however in our case a title sequence is essential to extend our work to a professional level. We planned to research different title sequence to figure out for ourselves what worked effectively and what didn’t work so well. We had been told to specifically research the work of Kyle Cooper, described by Details magazine as “almost single-handedly revitalizing the main title sequence as an art form”.

Kyle Cooper is famously known for creating the opening sequence to ‘Se7en’ (David Fincher 1995) displayed here:

The sequence doesn’t actually contain film footage, just short clips of footage which is relative to the film but its purpose in unclear so early on in the film. Despite the purpose or story being unclear, the footage fits in perfectly well with the mise en scene. It’s dark, hidden, unclear, questionable, just like the events which follow throughout the film.

The music builds tension and uncertainty; it has no lyrics which is what we should have considered when editing our opening sequence. The music gets faster and more instruments appear which is how suspense is built. There are also non-diagetic noises placed within the sequence, screeches and unnatural sounds. Even the sounds add to the mise en scene and verisimilitude.

The ‘hand-written’ credits parallel the footage of the suspicious notebook; they would both look good without one another but together they become successful, as it appears that perhaps an antagonist has devised the notebook, so keeping within the theme of a ‘hit-list’ is a great choice.

Cooper also created the title sequence to ‘Spiderman 2’

Cooper maintains the original Spiderman comic within the opening sequence, he scanned and edited many old comics and compressed them into a five second montage clearly displaying the ‘Marvel’ logo within. The credits to the actors are also written within a comic strip theme. The music emphasises the drama, again adding to the mise en scene of the fast paced, action packed film. Cooper spend over a year creating this masterpiece to ensure top quality attention to detail.

Editing and Post Production

I volunteered to edit the sequence together. I had never done anything remotely similar to this so I knew it would be a challenge. I decided to edit on my laptop so I could work on it at school and at home. I managed to obtain Apple’s Final Cut Pro, a globally used piece of software used for editing high quality sequences, TV programs and films. At first it was difficult to grasp the concept, as each individual clip needed to be rendered in both image and audio before editing was allowed and the video and audio were two separate channels which needed editing separately.

Once I’d got to grips with how the software worked I was able to edit the video smoothly. At the time of editing I was not at school as I was ill with glandular fever and was not permitted to attend. This made checking up the progress difficult for Megan, Jack and our teacher Mr Zaidi. I edited the whole thing together and managed to go in one day for assessment and feedback. As I had missed the lesson on inputting a title sequence, which must include all of our names, the film’s title and “In association with Film4”, I had not included a title sequence but instead had included the “Metro Goldwyn Mayer” significant roaring lion, just to suffice until I knew exactly what had to be included.

After editing only the clips together, we only had diagetic sounds such as the fridge opening and closing and Jack moving the chair. We chose to use The Coral’s “In The Morning” as the first non-diagetic sound as we wanted a song which was light hearted and created a sense where all seemed fine and that nothing was wrong. This would create a bigger contrast when the next non-diagetic song began as the audience are under the impression that everything is fine due to the upbeat music.

As Jack closes the fridge and first sees the note I included a sound clip titled “shutoff2”. This is an unnatural yet thrilling noise which grabs the viewers attention and parallels to things out of the ordinary occurring. Then Muse’s “Hysteria” begins. It has a long introduction which build up to a ‘drop’ just as Jack begins to chase Matt. We were unsure of whether to have two songs or just the one, but we thought that music was essential throughout to communicate information to the audience.

Another feature within our editing is just after Jack gets dragged under the van, there is a horizontal wipe over the screen which is meant to mirror Jack opening and closing his eyes as he comes back around. The idea behind this I think is good however the edit doesn’t work as well as I’d hoped, the software was complex and difficult to use but we left it in to obtain feedback on it nonetheless.

Filming

When it came to the filming process, Megan, Jack and I met in Bourne along with Matty, who was playing the role of the antagonist. We waited until it got dark outside to begin filming as we needed to maintain the sense of darkness and the unknown; our verisimilitude. We filmed each shot in chronological order, the order we intend to display the shots in the opening sequence. This will benefit us when it comes to the editing process as the files will be easy to manage and identify.

Whilst filming we encountered a number of problems. Firstly, the camera which we borrowed from school was not compatible with the tripod we were using; it didn’t clip on right. To resolve this issue we used two elastic bands to hold the camera in place. This made panning difficult but it was a sufficient solution at the least.

Our second issue was the effect the lighting had on the quality of the shots. We were filming in the dark and we did not give any thought to the fact that the low lighting would decrease the quality of the filming, we wrongly assumed that the camera would cope with the surroundings and that all would be okay. We could not completely resolve this issue but to improve the situation we carried around with us five torches and set them up before each shot we filmed, in order to create additional lighting. We can also try to brighten the images when it comes to post-production effects.

Our final problem involved the setting of the last section of the sequence. We had planned to film the last section where Jack is tied up and beaten in an old, run down manor house in Bourne. However on reaching the location we collectively agreed that the location was unsafe to enter and we could not let filming commence. This left us with an immediate problem; we had no location which would offer the same values as the manor house:- darkness, emptiness, uncertainty, gloom. As we headed back to Jack’s house to rethink the final section we passed a lit up alleyway, with weeds and a broken fence and rusted metal. Instantly we realised that this location was perfect for our verisimilitude. However the street light nearby kept shorting out and we had to wait for a few minutes every time it shut off for it to switch back on and allow us to continue filming. This was not a major problem as it only slowed the process down, it did not affect its quality.

Overall I think that despite encountering a few problems, we coped the best we could under the circumstances and the whole process ran smoothly. We are now moving onto the editing process and are excited to see the final product!

Risk Assessment

Our location for filming is Bourne. As we are filming at night time in the town there are a few safety considerations and risks we must consider in order to complete filming safely and successfully.

• Our first risk assessment is the chance of getting our equipment stolen, and even worse getting physically hurt in the meantime. As we are filming in Bourne, an extremely safe, quiet and well lit town, we have decided that the chances of this happening are relatively low. As a safety precation however, just to be on the safe side, we are going to always be within arms reach of the camera and other valuable props. By never leaving them unattended they are always under our close watch. Also, we will text and call reliable adults and friends everytime we move to a new filming location so that somebody is always aware of our whereabouts in case something was to happen to us.
• Our second risk assessment is that some of our filming locations may be busy with traffic and we run the risk of a road accident. The chance of a road accident is just as high even if there is little traffic, as it only takes one driver to be on their phone or not concentrating for an accident to occur. As a safety precaution we will film in areas where we have full view of the road in both directions, and we will film in a well lit area with as little traffic as possible. We will also stay out of the road at all times unless we need to use it for filming; if we do, beforehand we will ensure the road is safe.
• Our third risk assessment is the general safety of the area of filming. This includes less obvious dangers such as glass or sharp stones on the floor, hidden steps, extruding branches which may be hidden due to low lighting. As the level of this risk could be of a ‘medium’ category, before filming begins in such an area we will thoroughly check it to ensure that it is suitable for filming purposes in a safe manner.

A list of rules

• Keep phones switched on at all times
• Look both ways before crossing the road
• Don’t leave the equipment by itself, guard it at all times
• Don’t take any valuables with us as they may be stolen (apart from phones in case of an emergency)
• Don’t use phones unless it is an emergency – they may be spotted by someone who may intend to steal them
• Be alert and aware of our surroundings
• Make sure our areas of filming are safe before proceeding e.g. cracks in concrete which we may trip over

01778 700 100 is our main number of contact. This is Jack’s house where his parents will be throughout the duration of our filming, so we always have an adult close by and they are easily contactable. Also in case of an emergency of any kind, we can call 999 to notify the police, the ambulance services or the fire brigade. Megan, Jack and I will all have our phones on our person during filming for safety measures.