Music

A stong feature of our opening sequence was the music and noise effects. We believe this contributes considerably to a thrilling atmosphere and we wanted to get it perfect. We had to create our own music, this was a challenge at first, we began by drafting some ideas and eventually came to an interesting and natural solution. We decided on using a young girls voice humming to a tune, this reinforced our idea of the villan being childlike and also gave an eerily sweet tone to the scene. This is very much unlike many other films of the same genre but we thought the sweet humming of a child would contradict with the haunting scenes, giving an intriguing twist. This is known as the digetic element of sound as it is clearly not from the original scene.
For our non digectic sounds we have many ideas, these include panting, running footsteps, screams and a heartbeat. Firstly the panting insinuates someone is in panic or worn out, this emphaizes the terror and effort the chractors have gone through. This is also true to the heartbeat and running footsteps. The Screams show terror and shock, this will add to the terrifying atmosphere giving a shock factor to audience. All these sounds are easy to obtain and can be done by us in the classroom.

Production Company Name

Before begining to think about our title sequence we had to establish a production company name. We thought as a company we would be interested in creating mainly 'Teen Thriller's' and wanted a name that reflected this.

"WHATEVER Productions"

The name would be the first thing to feature in our credits. The main reason for this is that the production company will pump the majority of the money into the film and they would want to recieve gratification for there efforts.

For now, we also created a logo...

Inspiration for Titles

Se7en sums up the way that we would like to open our film. The methods chosen by the director seem to directly reflect the way we would like to have our titles. We also think that the convention of flipping between titles and film is an exciting way to keep the audience interested.


We really like the font used. The font is of handwriting and we would like to incorporate something similar into our design. The music is also quite reflective of the scene and this is something that we might like to bring in. It gives the audience an idea of what to expect.


We also decided to look at the order the credits have been shown:

• The production company
• 'A film by' director/producer
• Lead Star. Protagonist/the biggest pull name.
• Co-stars
• Title - As a group we like the way the title jumps to a bigger size and fill's the screen, this really grabs the attention of the audience and subtly highlights this certain portion of the credits.

The Blair Witch Project

Before we looked at this trailer, the non-diagetic and diagetic sounds were similar to our original ideas.

Synopsis

We have created a working title for our film - Abandoned. The name 'abandoned' reflects the central characters' past.

Our main character (who has no name, but is known as 'Wood Man') was abandoned as a child due to his disfigurement. He brought himself up in the wood's and now resents anyone that crosses his path. He takes a young girl and keeps her for his own company; her friends and family try to locate the girl. They trace the man's past and attempt to understand the man's psychological issues.

Draft Outline

Our film is of a thriller genre, we decided not to create a hybrid film because this is seen too commonly across the media industry. We have decided to add a lot of drama in our film - this is one of the main parts that we want to come across to the audience when they watch the opening scene. Our target audience will be a young adult age group. This will be conveyed through the modern surroundings and the age of the actors - not all of this will be apparent in the opening scene however. The dominant sound will be diegetic sounds - heavy breathing, heartbeats and footsteps. The non-diegetic sound will be a sinister undertone; this builds the overall atmosphere of a typical thriller opening - creating suspense and tension.

We came up with some potential locations for the opening sequence. These included a cave, an abandoned train tunnel and a woods. The woods was our final choice - the large expanse and the open area, we believed, creates a sense of being trapped. Because the area is of a similar nature throughout, the characters will begin to feel lost and confused, a human nature is to feel scared of the unknown. To add to the drama, we would try to film the sequence in early evening as the sunsets - beaming natural light, this would distort the true context of the situation.

Our opening will be seen from the point of view of a stranger in the forest. The stranger will have been abandoned, rejected and be disfigured. He will have a past of being harmed and he raised himself, alone in the forest - he now despises anyone who has a good image - anyone better than him.

Outline of brief

We have been given a brief to create an opening scene of a Thriller. The maximum time allowed for the production is two minutes. We had to include the typical conventions of a Thriller Film. These consist of; background music, props, narrative enigma, to create a sense of intrigue, however ultimately to portray a thrilling atmosphere.