1. When filming my opening title sequence for my film ‘The Abducted’ it wasn’t my first idea. I
knew that I wanted to create a horror genre title sequence but I had lots of ideas for where
the location was going to be filmed, who was going to be in the film and what the story was
going to be about. After watching other opening title sequences and getting ideas for credits,
camera angles and camera techniques I then put together a mind map of all my ideas.
Example of mind map:
This then helped me narrow down which title credits I wanted, the iconography, the types of
characters, the editing effects, cinematography and the genre and conventions that I wanted
to use and to help me picture what my final sequence would look like.
When creating my proposal everything relates to my final sequence but my location. I used
the black and red colour symbolism for the idea of blood, danger and horror and the other
ideas I had but when I began to create my story board I decided that the location of the
forest is very stereotypical and I wanted my film to be different than what is already out.
2. That’s when I decided on the location being a playground. Because I wanted the idea of
someone watching the main character, I thought by using a child as the main character in a
park would be more effective and more dramatic towards the audience. As well as the mind
map and proposal form I created a mood board covered in pictures of different genres,
camera angles, cinematography and characters, with each of the slides I wrote ideas or
examples and ideas that could help me further on when filming, editing and creating my
opening title sequence.
Examples of mood board:
3. This made me think about my types of characters I wanted to have in my film, the main
character was going to be a little girl and her family at a park getting watched. So I had my
location and idea sorted out it was just how I was going to put it together. I wanted there to
be dramatic irony due to the fact the audience knows something that the actors didn’t, this
also helped create tension. I filmed the whole film in POV (point of view) due to the fact you
don’t see the character kidnapping the children so we see everything from his point of view
when he’s watching and recording them play in the park.
When it came to filming I felt confident with what I wanted and how I wanted it to look. This
was because I had created a story board with all my ideas on that which explains the shot,
angle, the actor in the shot and where about it would take places e.g. (Actor 1 playing on the
swing in the park, POV watching from behind in worm’s eye view and a medium shot of the
actor from the back.)
When it came to filming I tried to make it look like my storyboard as much as I liked but
because this is a community playground there was other children on the park that I didn’t
want so it made it harder to make my shots like my storyboards.
Example of the story board:
4. Another important document that I filled in was a risk assessment form; this was to stop any
injuries or breakages that could possibly happen when in the process of filming from the
smallest to the biggest problems.
With working with children I felt this was a very important form we had to fill out.
Example of the risk assessment:
5. All of my opening title sequence was filmed in one location, Shakerley Park on Shakerley
road in Tyldesley.
The first scene was a pan shot of the park showing the location. When editing I realised I
could add a ‘REC’ button at the bottom to make it obvious it was someone watching and
recording the children playing. Because the cam corder I was using wasn’t brilliant my
footage wasn’t as clear as I wanted it to be, but after learning about what I could do on
Aftereffects programme I knew this wouldn’t be a problem.
6. Second was the family walking down the path towards the park, this helped me make a
medium shot to a long shot. Because I wanted it to look as if the person recording was doing
it sneaky to create this look I added something called a ‘wiggle expression’ which creates the
effect of unsteady hand held motion. After doing this is I added the black and white effect
also to all of my footage with a grain texture. I knew that I wanted my footage to be this way
from the start so this made it easier for me to start editing straight away. I added all these
effects to all of my footage so it was all the same, including the ‘REC’ at the bottom of the
screen.
7. On the third scene I changed the angle of which the viewers would be watching. Filming
from the front this created from a medium shot to an extreme close-up.
8. The forth scene was them walking in to the park and the children run off and play on the
equipment, I used a long shot which then moved into a pan when the actors begin to run off.
9. Fifth scene was both actors swinging with their mum pushing them, as one of them runs off
the mum follows which leaves the young girl on her own swinging. This was again filmed
from the back so that it showed the audience the actors don’t know their being watched and
recorded.
10. The last scenes were based on the young girl swinging which was filmed from the front and
then the swing swinging on its own with no one around and the little girl has disappeared.
11. When it came to filming I feel as though it all went to plan and even when there was parts
that didn’t look to good or needed improving I was able to sort them out and edit them
professionally. Because I was editing it on new programmes that I had never used before
such as After Effects and Premiere which I wasn’t known to, I feel as though I got on with the
task and was able to make the film the way I wanted. As you can see from my final idea to
my storyboard there is differences such as different effects and credits but as I was editing I
realised I could do much more with these programmes to make it look how I wanted it.
Another big thing that I changed towards the end was my title it was originally called ‘The
Swing’ but having feedback off people they said it didn’t sound like a horror film and that it
made it sound like the film was revolved around a swing not a child abductor, that’s when I
came up with the idea ‘The Abducted’. I feel as though the music that I used in the
background went well with my film as straight away it was mysterious and created tension
just by listening which is what I wanted my film to do anyway.
If I was to do it again I would think more into my story board and more practical things such
as getting better equipment and thinking more about the different angles I could use. By
knowing what I can do using Aftereffects and Premier I feel confident about any other tasks I
will be asked to complete as I know what I can do with these programmes.
