1. My original idea for my film opening title sequence was presented on my storyboard. In general it
was based on Halloween and followed the storyline of a creepy married couple in an old, tatty house
that didn’t like children, especially ones knocking on their house to trick or treat. In reaction to this
the old married couple would scare off the children with a powerful camera flash which happened to
be them taking pictures of each set of trick or treaters ready to print out and hand back to them
later on in the night so when they find it they’re frightened and will have learnt never to return to
the house. However, when I went to film all these ideas I had created I realised it was a lot harder
than I thought it would be and so I adapted some of my scenes to make it more successful.
This is an image of me shooting one of my scenes. It was a close up establishing shot of the knives on
the worktop. I experimented with different lighting to try and make it as effective as I could.
2. This is an image of me doing an extreme close up shot of blood drops on the pavement. I bought
some fake blood for this scene to make it look as real as possible and I decided to do it close up
because after experimenting different shots I decided that an extreme close up was more effective
as you can see the most detail.
3. This is an image of me doing a close up shot from a low angle. I was originally doing this shot as an
aerial shot as the props placed on the floor were moving, however, it was easy to capture more of
the detail from this point.
4. This image is of me shooting a mid-shot. I didn’t want to see the whole of the door, just from the
letterbox upwards so you could still tell it was the front door to a house but the main bit I was
focused on was the glass and looking through it because just seconds after this picture there was a
bloody hand print on the door.
5. This is an image of me capturing a tracking shot of my actor walking from one side of a ginnel to the
other in the dark at night-time. This shot I chose to do because I wanted to show the build-up of the
killer arriving at the house by tracking his journey… this way it creates suspense and tension making
it exciting for the audience.
6. Here is an image of myself taking a close up shot. You can’t see it on this image, however, on the
paper which is on the table there is a threatening note written from my actor that starred as a killer.
As well as this being a close up shot, it was also an aerial shot so that I could ensure I fit all the
writing into the camera screen and you could see/read it clearly.
7. My evidence pictures shown above aren’t the best quality due to them being taken with an IPhone
camera as I was using my actual camera to shoot the scenes at the time so I understand they could
be improved on so they are clearer. However, unfortunately I didn’t have access to a higher standard
device to capture my evidence images.
On a whole I think my filming went really well. At first when I realised it wasn’t possible to shoot my
original storyboard due to the fact it had to be shot on a particular day which was Halloween and
some of my actors weren’t available then, I did panic, but then I thought if I changed it around a little
and made it less complicated it would be better and I think what I did in the end was better than my
original ideas.
What went well:
The locations I chose to use worked out to be even better than I thought. They were always available
for filming and were effective when I came to edit all my footage at the end. The actor I chose to use
was the appropriate build and height for the genre of my film opening title sequence so it coincided
well with the scenes. I went to lengths to make it look as professional and real as possible, for
example, as it was a horror, I wanted to involve blood so I bought some fake blood and spread some
onto a knife and put blood drops on the floor so when it came to filming and editing it looked extra
effective. The editing that I did of the After effects software went excellent and I was pleased with
how it all came together because even though it wasn’t my original story board and the clips in
themselves weren’t perfect, when it all was put together it still looked professional.
What could be improved:
The main thing I could have improved on I think was not rushing around and leaving little time so I
could plan out everything step by step so each clip was perfect and filmed in the right order. The
quality of my footage could also have been a bit more focused, overall it was good and clear but I
think it could have been a little better. I think if I had more time with editing I could have perfected it
with using colour effects for example, so it was extremely effective but I am happy with what I’ve
achieved so far. The only other thing I can think of that would have improved my opening title
sequence is setting the scene a bit more… For example, removing items from the background that
aren’t needed such as shoes and nice wall pictures and placing ones there was fit in with the theme.
I could have been more adequate with my props, e.g. placed cotton wool around making it look like
cobwebs.
