The document discusses the process of creating a title sequence for a thriller genre film. It describes conducting research on audience preferences and creating a mood board. Scenes were filmed using a camcorder and tripod, and in low lighting. Music was selected to match the scenes. The protagonist is shown running at the end to imply stopping a threat. Reflections are provided on skills learned around filming, editing, and transferring footage.

2. Our task was to create a title sequence and opening for a thriller genre.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhGlWauS4S4

3. Before creating my title sequence, I conducted some primary research gathering
information of how people watch films and what genre of films they enjoy. It was
interesting to find out that older generation don’t really go to the cinema, but neither
does the younger. The older generation tend to watch films on DVD or when they are
shown on the TV, and the younger generation tend to watch or download films illegally
online. Although there is a big age gap between these two generations, neither go to
the cinema, so it would be interesting to conduct another survey to see which age
group tends to go to the cinema.

4. I also created a thriller genre themed mood-board. By doing this, I could look at
different film posters from films within the thriller genre, and compare how each
mixed thriller genre’s (horror/thriller, psychological/thriller) differ from each other
although all in the same base genre.

5. After looking at and analysing my results, I think my media
product would be aimed at both boys and girls aged 16+. This is
because although it is a horror/thriller, so would stereotypically
attract boys, I think girls would enjoy the film storyline rather
than the genre it is.

6. When doing my research, I found that I really liked the work of James Wan.
In the Insidious title sequence he created, he made the actual scenes dark
and smoky with each one fading out, but kept the actual titles as a plain
block text. To attract my audience, I used his work as inspiration for my own.
I tried to create the smoky effect but wasn’t able to do so, so I kept with his
theme by making the setting of the scenes at a dark light, and kept the titles
as a plain block text, and white in colour. By doing this, it would attract my
audience as they would be intrigued to see what the actual film is, as they
would have seen a small scene, connoting something bad, with it then
fading out into another bad thing.

8. I also think the music I have chosen attracts the audience as although parts
of it are at a fast beat/pounding, it creates a build up to something bad
happening. The pounding fits in well with the scenes that are playing. I
think the most effective part that will attract the audience most is the very
last scene when we see the protagonist run across.
The music slows down to an almost stop, and we can just hear a heart beat
type sound. By hearing this sound combined with the scene, it will make
the audience want to watch the film to see what he is running away from,
or running to.

9. Momentum Pictures is one of the leading independent distributors in the UK and Ireland and
releases approximately 20 theatrical films a year, with several direct to video releases. It has its
own YouTube channel..

10. Momentum’s most successful theatrical releases include the Oscar, BAFTA
and BIFA-winning The King’s Speech, Amélie, Eternal Sunshine of the
Spotless Mind, Lost in Translation,Control, Downfall, The Young
Victoria, Defiance, Milk, Let the Right One In, The Illusionist, Just
Friends, District B13 Ultimatum, The Men Who Stare at Goats, Law Abiding
Citizen, Glorious 39, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Red Tails (co-distribution
with 20th Century Fox) and P.S. I Love You. The studio has also released
several family films, such as Hoodwinked, The Adventures of Rocky and
Bullwinkle (co-distributed with United International Pictures as part of a
two-year agreement), Arthur and the Invisibles, Just Visting and Igor, as
well as the home video rights for popular TV series Creature Comforts.
I think this distribution company would be good to use for my film as I have
watched films by this company that have been really good so from
personal experience, and facts I have found out, I believe that this is a
trusted company, and will make my film successful

11. Male characters are usually represented as being strong, sexually attractive and the
hero of the story. Looking at current thriller films, the male protagonist is typically
around 30 and has some kind of family of his own (whether it be just a girlfriend/wife
or kids as well). Due to being in sixth form I obviously didn’t have access to a 30 year
old man so used one of my media studies peers.

12. The end of my title sequence is the only time we get to see a
character. I tried to create this image of a male by showing clips of
what could potentially lead to a problem, then a male character
running as if he was going to save/help someone (I wanted the
audience to feel as if he is going to safe a female to create the ‘hero’
stereotype).
Once edited and added to my title sequence, I felt that it fitted nicely
with the sequence and you can clearly see that character is the
protagonist however I also felt that it looked as if he was running away
from the problem rather than towards it.

13. When looking at current thriller films, you can easily see a running theme through them
all. In my research I looked at these conventions
(http://shaihirst.wordpress.com/2013/12/03/conventions-of-a-thriller-film/), and tried to
include them in my own product.
I knew that to get a thriller atmosphere I had to use some sort of panning/tilting. So I
could include this, I went into my local forest, and filmed a short sequence of panning of
4/5 trees. On the camera it didn’t look that effective, but I knew once I had transferred it
onto the iMac, I could edit it to look almost totally opposite to what I had filmed. Once
finished editing, I had managed to lower the lighting and slow down the speed of the pan
and the speed of the trees blowing in the wind. By doing this it had made the mood of the
scene change straight away creating more of a horror/thriller feel.

14. Once I had filmed all of my scenes, I had to choose my music. As I had already short-
listed my music from a website, I just had to pick the right sound that matched the
scenes. As found in my research, I knew the sound had to have a deep tone with a sense
of danger and/or mystery. I managed to narrow it down to 2 pieces of music. I still don’t
feel 100% happy with the music I have chosen to use as I feel it doesn’t suit the whole
title sequence, however I also feel that neither does the other piece. I tried using the
editing software to blend the two together but due to the different beats and tones, I
wasn’t able to create a final piece.
The plot of a thriller film usually consists of the protagonist trying to stop a problem from
happening. I have tried to demonstrate this but I feel it wasn’t as successful as I would of
liked it to be. At the very ending of my title sequence, we see the protagonist running
slow motion across a dark environment. Combined with the scenes of a match lit and
child’s drawings of their parents being hurt, I tried to show that the protagonist was
running to try and stop the danger from happening. However after watching it back in
the finished product, I think it looks as if the protagonist is running away from something
bad that’s happening behind him.

15. Whilst constructing both my preliminary task and my title sequence, I have
learnt a lot about technologies. From something simple such as continuity, to
something that requires accuracy and time such as editing, through everything
I have done, I have learnt new skills. I also learnt some filming skills whilst
doing an in-lesson task of recreating a scene from Citizen Kane.

16. To film all 3 tasks, we used a Panasonic Camcorder. As I hadn’t used these
types of cameras before, it was new to me when we first started using them.
I was only used to using my iPhone for videoing but I managed to quickly pick
up the basics needed such as how to record, take a still image, zoom in and
out and look back/preview what I had recorded. These were high definition
(HD) cameras so every small detail was picked up. Due to this, when filming
it took a little longer as sometimes although it looked alright on the
camera, once on the laptop back in the classroom, I could clearly see
continuity and lighting problems so had to go back and re-film some scenes.

17. Whilst filming my preliminary, I filmed all my footage with the camera
in my hand, however when it came to filming my title sequence, I was
able to use a tripod. By using this, it improved the quality of my filming
dramatically as straight away I could see the camera panned in a much
smoother manor. It also made sure all my shots were steady and level
due to the liquid level on the tripod. Whilst filming our Citizen Kane
scene, we had access to a trolley. This also helped improve the quality
of filming. The whole class had their own role consisting of
cinematography, props or an actor/actress. For this task, I was the
cinematographer. By being pulled backwards on the trolley by a
classmate, it helped the scene become a lot smoother and easier to the
eye when watching it back as there were no jolting or unsteady
movements.

18. For one of my scenes in my title sequence, I needed the room to be dark so
the flame would stand out. To do this, I had to wait until early evening (as it
was winter so got dark early, i only had to wait until around 4.30pm) and shut
all the blinds in a classroom at the back of the school so minimum lighting
was getting through. The lighting in my other scenes didn’t matter too much
as I could edit it if any of it was too dark/light.
When back in the classroom, we transferred all of our footage onto Apple
Macs. Only 1 person in our class of 9 knew how to do this so I had to learn
how to do this. Although at first I found this quiet difficult to do, I now feel I
am confident and could teach someone else how to do it. Once on the
Macs, we used editing software called Premier CS6.

19. Looking back at my preliminary task and comparing it to my final product, I
can clearly see progression I have made. Both my camera work and editing
have improved majorly, and with this, my final product has resulted in a
much better and higher quality piece of work than my preliminary task.
Starting with my camera work, the movement and steadiness of the camera
had become a lot smoother. In my preliminary, when looking at the panning
scene at the start, you can see jolting and slight shaking. Although in my title
sequence the speed could of been more consistent (it started slightly faster
at the beginning then slowed towards the middle/end), the panning was a
lot better quality.

20. When shooting my preliminary, I filmed all of my footage using only a
camera and limited editing software that was available on iMovie. When
filming my title sequence, I again used the camera, but also used a tripod
(that helped make the panning and still shots a lot smoother), a recording
microphone (which helped the voices of one of my clips, that I didn’t end up
using, come out a lot clearer and easier to understand) and I also used a
different editing software, Premier CS6 (which allowed me to edit my
footage more in depth).
In my title sequence, I also managed to use a variety of camera angles
compared to the few I used in my preliminary. This shows that from when I
was filming my preliminary task at the start of the school year, my media
knowledge has developed and expanded, and I have been able to apply that
knowledge and demonstrate it in my title sequence.

21. In terms of planning, my thought process was a lot more in depth. I took a lot
more time in my title sequence to think about my storyline, actors and
everything I wanted to include, before improving two/three more times until
I was totally happy. In my title sequence, I only created 1 story board, and
didn’t end up sticking to it, whereas in my title sequence I had 5 story boards
in total all based on the same thing, but each having their own difference
before I came up with my final storyboard which was a combination of all my
ideas together.
When planning the sound, I knew I wanted to have a backing track, but
wasn’t sure if I wanted dialogue. I didn’t include a dialogue scene in my final
storyboard, but when filming, I shot a few scenes of characters speaking so I
had extra footage if I needed it, and also so I got experience of using the
sound recording technology we had available to use. When shooting
something like this, I learnt that it is important to work well in a team with
your peers. When planning and coming up with my ideas, I found it easier to
work on my own, but when it came to filming, I found it helpful to have
one/two of my peers with me so I could get a second opinion on the footage
I was filming.