3. Inspiration from real film opening
sequences
Se7en
Montage style
opening sequence.
Enigmas are
Cast names flickering on a black presented to the
screen, emphasises the sinister audience, as to who
atmosphere of the sequence. this character is.
4. Inspiration from real film opening sequences
Zombieland
Starts with a
close up of an
American flag
and a narrators
voice can be
heard.
Cinema Verite –
handheld
camera style and
direct address
towards the
camera.
5. Zombieland
Enigmas created – the
audience wants to know the
country got into the state of
being known as ‘Zombieland’.
The titles are interactive with
the images of the opening
sequence. For example, the
letters in the names are
affected by the movement of
the characters.
6. Inspiration from real film opening sequences
To Kill A Mocking Bird
http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/to-
kill-a-mockingbird/
Close up shot of
a box – the
audience does
not yet know
what the
contents are.
7. Creates an enigma because the
audience doesn’t know what
the film is about, and the
childlike imagery of crayons
and the lullaby-like music in
The title of the film is
the background contrasts with
displayed as part of the
the harsh title of ‘To Kill A
diegesis of the film. The
Mocking Bird’.
child prints in the words
onto the paper.
Montage style opening sequence,
with names and credits displayed
over the images.
Each shot fades into the
next.
8. Real film opening sequence ‘Psycho’
My inspiration from this film opening sequence is the use of the tense music. The
violins made the opening sequence give a sense of anticipation.
The use of the dark background gave off a gothic mood.
The style of the
credits/fonts come
across the screen and
fix the letter together.
9. Real film opening sequence ‘Se7en’
This films opening sequence was inspirational because it used the convention
from a thriller and that is montage editing.
The style of the credits/ fonts are
flickering on and off of the screen.
The style of the
opening sequence is
enigmatic. It makes the
audience curious as to
what the character is
doing throughout the
sequence.
10. Inspiration from real film opening
sequences
Sucker Punch : My thoughts on the opening scene..
I liked it because it was very dark and sinister.
It introduces the main character and creates enigmas like
what happens to the girl after she is taken away?
I liked how the sound combined with the video created an
intense atmosphere and the volume control was used really
well.
11. Inspiration from real films
Hard Candy
Story/plot/theme:
- Online social interaction
- Control over another character
- Emotional manipulation
12. Inspiration from real films
Misery
Story/plot/theme:
- Obsessiveness
- Captivity
- Stalking of a person
13. Inspiration from real films
The Social Network
Story/plot/theme:
- The making of a social network
- Life changing invention
- Online interaction
14. Inspiration from real films
Characters: Hayley Stark (Ellen
Paige).
With the consideration of the age of
the character, her representation
connotes her vulnerability.
This stereotype is challenged
because she soon appears to be the
more dominant role in the end.
The colour used
in this scene was
very sterile
Hard Candy
15. Inspiration from real films
Fatal Attraction
This is a thriller film about a married man’s
one night stand comes back to haunt him. That
lover become obsessed with him and begins to
stalk him and his family.
After the man continues to reject this ‘lover’
her rage becomes more intense and starts to
escalate into violence.
16. Inspiration from real films
When a stranger calls
This is a thriller film where there is a villain that is calling
with an unknown identity.
A teenaged girl has a job babysitting and then she starts
getting these peculiar unknown calls from someone.
The teenager then realises there is a man wearing a mask
in the house and she knows that she must save herself and
the child she is babysitting.
17. Inspiration from real films
Phone Booth:
This film is very intense and suspenseful as the villain is unknown. In the film the man
has to stay on the phone with the villain, or the villain will kill his loved one however,
ultimately the man knows he will die.
When a stranger calls:
This is a thriller film which also has a villain who’s identity is unknown and this relates
to our opening sequence. In this film a teenaged girl goes over to babysit at some
peoples house and while there she starts getting calls from an unknown number.
There turns out to be a masked man in the house, and the girl has to save herself
And the children she is babysitting.
18. Genre and conventions
Psychological Thriller
Convention Explanation Example from real film
1. Perception of reality The main character is unaware or has Shutter Island
no sense of true events that occur in
the reality outside their mind.
2. Death of a loved one The death of a loved one causes or Memento
spurs the main character to go through
several actions or events, such as the
need for revenge.
3. Mystery/enigmas The opening sequence shows an Se7en
unknown person going through various
unconventional actions, eg. Cutting the
skin off their fingers.
4. Mental danger – to do with the mind The main character has hallucinations Black Swan
or sees things that happened,
differently causing them to think certain
things have happened, when in fact
they have not.
5. Identity The main character is seen to have Identity
multiple personalities, struggling to
make sense of their true identity. This
makes it unclear to the audience,
presenting enigmas such as what their
true personality is.
19. Genre and Conventions
• Genre: Psychological thriller
Convention Explanation Evidence from real film
Tension music The music makes the Psycho
opening sequence seem (the violins gets higher pitched
eerie and suspenseful and gives a sense of anticipation)
Flashbacks Flashbacks are used to Momento
show a thought or memory. (Momento is not filmed in
Commonly shown in black chronological order –
and white lighting
Montage editing Connotes the juxtaposition Se7en - all the different types of
of seemingly unconnected shots of images are all over the
images in order to create place.
meaning.
20. Genre and conventions
Convention Explanation Example from real film
1. Incorporates elements of Mystery to keep the film Seven
mystery and drama suspenseful and drama to
connect with the
characters emotions
2. Deep focus on the to be able to understand Phone booth
characters state of mind the character
3. The film is usually Usually first person Momento
narrated. narration to get an idea of
what is going through the
characters mind.
4. The music used within To set the atmosphere of a A woman in black
the film is usually high typical thriller film.
pitched and eerie
22. Research on topic/themes
The dangers of social media
Dangers include:
- Fraud
- Identity theft
- Stolen information
- Exposure of personal information (twitter, Facebook etc.)
23. Research on topic/themes
Online relationships
Many people in online
relationships (romantic and These people are
platonic) lie about their real known as ‘Catfish’ –
identity. the term used to
describe someone
who creates fake
profiles using other
peoples information
The TV show ‘Catfish’ which sets out and/or pictures
to discover if people in online
relationships are genuine or not. Source: wikipedia.org
24. Research on topic/themes
Online communities
More and more people Some online can However, some online
now have access to the be beneficial to communities can be quite
internet, which means people, harming to people - mostly
online communities can becoming a mentally. E.g.. Online
grow quicker than in the place of support communities for people with
past. and friendship. eating disorders looking for
‘thinsporation’ and ‘support’
from other who share the
same disorders.
Source: wikipedia.org
26. Research on topic/themes
• Online relationships
On the internet many people who are involved in online relationships
tend to lie about their real identity.
An example of this would be the reality TV show ‘Catfish’.
This TV show receives messages from
people who have been messaging
someone for quite some time and would
like to meet them. This shows helps these
people to figure out whether or not these
‘catfishes’ are who they say they are.
The term catfish is used when someone has
used a fake picture or a fake account. Almost
like stolen identity.
27. Research on topic/themes
• Real life situations
• Our opening sequence is going to be based on a
real life situation where an intense online
relationship has a bad side to it. An example of
this would be the movie that I also chose for an
inspiration film; Hard Candy.
28. Research on topic/themes
Reality/ Real life situations:
Our Opening sequence is based around social
networking and the ‘bad side’ to it.
An example of this in a film is the film ‘Hard Candy’.
The reality within these films makes them
all the more scary, as it means that the things
in the film can happen to people in real life.
29. Research on topic/themes
Identity:
Our opening sequence also includes the theme of unknown
identity.
An example of this is in the films Scream, Texas Chainsaw Massacre
and Friday the 13th.
This theme is used regularly in thriller films as it creates a lot of
suspense as the audience doesn’t know who the villain is and
creates an enigma
30. Research on topic/themes
Mind:
Our opening sequence is based on the psychological thriller
genre and will include a character who is fixated on another
character.
The mind plays an important role in psychological thrillers as it
is mainly about the villain being mentally unstable and this
leads them to become villains and be evil.
Some examples of these characters are, Jigsaw (Saw),
Scarecrow (Batman), Anton Chigurh (No Country for Old Men)
31. Research on topic/themes
Death:
Characters either fear or are fascinated by
death.
This can also link to the theme of the mind as
being fascinated by death links to the idea of a
psychopathic villain.
Some examples of these characters are
Jigsaw(Saw)
32. Locations
First Location (FLASHBACK):
On a bus going towards/ past an area with business buildings.
Second Location (FLASHBACK):
A busy café, probably in a shopping area like Whiteleys. The character would be sitting in the area
outside the café.
33. Locations
Third Location (FLASHBACK):
Outside an office building – the character will be coming out of the building in work clothes.
Forth Location (FLASHBACK):
On a busy normal street where the characters will be crossing the street on opposite sides.
34. Inspirational characters
Catwoman
- She is strong and
independent.
- Her identity is an
enigma
- She goes against the
stereotype that women
are weak
- She emphasises that
women can be just a
strong as men
35. Inspirational characters
• #1 Catwoman
Catwoman’s identity is unknown, it is
enigmatic.
She challenges the stereotype of woman
being less dominant than males.
Throughout the film she connotes that
females can be as dominant as men.
36. Inspirational characters
• #2 Hayley Stark (Hard Candy)
At first she connotes a weak, vulnerable teenager, but then switches it all around
and becomes the more dominant gender role.
37. Inspirational characters
Lisbeth Salander (The girl with the dragon tattoo)
Lisbeth is an inspirational character because:
She overcomes her fears
She is a strong character
She saves the second main character from the
Villain
38. Inspirational Characters
Sarah Connor ( terminator 2: Judgement day)
Sarah is an inspirational character because:
She is a strong character
She tries to help protect others
She is selfless
She fights against evil
39. Actors
The people acting in our opening sequence will be Rosie and Laura. They are
available often and good for the role because.......
Strengths Weaknesses
Hard working and reliable. May fall behind in work
Uses artistic abilities in the filming
and editing.
Strengths Weaknesses
Hard working and sensible Find it difficult to meet deadlines
40. Actors
Actor of the stalker?
I wanted the stalker to be played by a girl because a common
stalker is a guy.
I planned on using the same plot of the characters like hard
candy (girl is the psycho in the end).
Strengths:
Good actress
Capable of hiding identity
Artistic skills can be applied in costumes and props etc.
41. Actors
Actor playing Danny Archer:
We wanted to challenge the stereotype of a
vulnerable girl.
We wanted the victim to be a brunette instead of a
blonde character.
Strengths:
Reliable
Sensible
42. Costume and props
• Costume of stalker
I wanted the stalker to wear all black clothing to give a sense
of mystery. This connotes that I am reinforcing a stereotype.
43. Costume and props
Costume of victim:
The costume I want the victim to wear would be something basic
like a plain white t-shirt and denim jeans with white converses.
44. Titles and credits
Paranorman: The title of the film
stays within the genre of spooky, yet
mild comic horror and gore.
The creepy hand and
the ‘N’s being bigger
than the other letters
emphasises this.
The fall: The tile appears within
the smoke in the movie.
It the disappears as it is fanned
away by the character, along with
the smoke.
45. Titles and credits
Twin Peaks: Very basic, but
allows the audience to at least
understand that the title is also
the name of the setting of the
film.
Red Lights: also simple, yet
affective teamed with the
sinister music.
The title on a black background creates
emphasis on the flickers of red light that
momentarily surround the title.
The name of the main character is
also the name of the film.
The presentation of the title fits in with
the high school theme of the film, by
showing the audience the title on a
student ID card.
46. Music/sounds
‘Disembark’ – under category of dark/brooding –
freeplaymusic.com
- Creates mysterious and enigmatic atmosphere
- You don’t know where the music is going at first, leads
the audience to question what I going to happen next
‘City Cranes/ - under category of ‘eerie/ethereal’ –
freeplaymusic.com
- Sounds very eerie
- Not knowing what to expect
- Creates a chill in the atmosphere
47. Mainstream or independent
• Mainstream films are big budget films whereas independent films have a
smaller budget.
• Our film would be a mainstream film as it is not a hard hitting film which
considers issues within society, it would be a film which appeals to a wider
audience and so would need to have a bigger budget to be able to
distribute to many places.
Some examples of mainstream films are:
Avatar
Titanic
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Some examples of independent films are:
A separation
Train spotting
48. Target audience
Our target audience would be a mass audience
as it would be a mainstream film we would it
expect it to attract many viewers.
Also, our chosen genre (psychological thriller)
usually attracts a large audience.
49. BBFC and film rating
• To understand what BBFC and film ratings were we researched it and found the official site.
• We found the different types of ratings which are U, PG, 12A, 12, 15, 18 and R18.
50. BBFC rating
Here are the different types of
ratings:
Our opening sequence is rated 15.
51. Production Company #1
• Hammer Film Production
I chose this as one of my possible production
companies to produce my film because this type of
company specialising in producing psychological
thrillers.
52. Production company #2
• Lions Gate Entertainment
I chose this as one of my possible production
companies to produce my film because this particular
company produced one of my inspirational films ‘Hard
Candy’.
53. Production companies
Before choosing our production company we researched our genre to see which
production companies were most commonly used.
BLACK SWAN: Black Swan is a thriller mystery film which used the Fox Searchlight
Pictures as their production company and also as it is a
conglomerate they used it for their distribution company.
54. Production Companies
SE7EN:
Se7en is a crime/mystery/thriller film which only has two
production companies which are Cecchi Gori Pictures and
New Line Cinema.
55. Production Companies
MEMENTO:
Memento is a mystery thriller film that had four production
companies and only the Newmarket company was used as a
distributor out of the four.
56. Production Companies
• After doing some research we decided that the would have two production
companies which would be Cross Creek Pictures and New Line Cinema.
• We decided to use these production companies as they are very successful and
well known.
Click here to watch the New Line Cinema logo
Click here to watch the Cross Creek Pictures logo
57. Distribution companies
• As New Line Cinema is part of the Warner bros. Corporation it also
distributes its own films.
• For example, New Line Cinema was both the producers and distributers of
Se7en.
• So for our distribution company we decided to use New Line Cinema asit
would mean we would pay less.
• Another distribution company we could use would be
