Inspiration for titles

SURFACE


CAPE FEAR




These two opening sequences have inspired us to create similar titles. We liked the liquid formation in both sequences. It looked really good when the titles came up over top of the liquid and it went really well with the music.

What we are going to do is pour some dense l;iquid into a bowl of water and film it with an extreme close-up.

Animatic

Sound FX ideas....

As we have said we are looking for a scary sub-genre to our thriller, and the main enhancer that creates a successful scary scene is Sound FX. Using the right FX is the right places can make or break a thriller opening scene. Our group have decided to use Garage Band and Drones and sounds CD that Tom has lent us. Our mind trigger was from couple scenes in from Lord of the rings when the Wraiths are hunting and uses lots of high pitch sounds to enhance the tension which is then shown on he faces of the main characters. But we also want the typical low pitch back drone throughout that will hold the tension that the footage bring all together.

Planning and Ideas

We have discussed and projected our ideas to each other and have come up with a rough outline to what our thriller project will consist of.

We have decided that we want our thriller to be scary, and to achieve this we will have abnormal characters/scenes. We thought we could use a little girl i.e. a younger relative of ours to play a character within our project. We hope this will add to the abnormality and eerie factors of our thriller.

We also feel that using a variety of still frames that portray pain/anger/evil etc. These still frames will appear when the camera is focused on the young girl. The other main character we will be using is a middle-aged man, he is lonely and depressed.

We will use only two settings; one being the bedroom in which the man is asleep in his bed, the other setting is the calm countryside is which the girl is first seen. The scene opens with the man tossing and turning in his bed, distressed and unable to wake from his nightmare. The scene cuts to the countryside where the man finds himself lost and disorientated, stumbling across the open fields. The camera will pan across to the girl, who is carrying a teddy bear. She will represent pain, death and evil within the plot.

The sequence will end with the man waking up from his dream, sweating with a sense of relief on his face.

The music will be playing throughout the sequence, varying in pitch and tempo according to the intensity of the situation. Also, on top of the soundtrack you will hear subtle screams to spook out the audience and create a mood of eeriness.

Analysis - Silence of the Lambs

I decided to look at this particular piece as i heard that it was a nail-biting thriller which is what i wish to achieve (or at least the opening of one).

The first thing i noticed was the diegetic and non-diegetic sounds. The music contained no lyrics and played mainly low pitched instruments. I think that this introduces the eeriness to the scene and makes the audience feel as if something is not right here. This is then embellished when the sounds of birds flapping and trees whistling are introduced. The music and sound effects influence the audience greatly and this is something we will need to pay close attention to.

Another thing i noticed was the lack of action. The background was very still which adds to the creepiness of the forest. The lack of action gets the audience on the edge of there seat and biting their nails. It really helps with tension building and i've learned that the footage does not need to be explosive and exhilarating to be "thrilling". The less action the better.

I've also learned that the setting is very important. It sets the foundations for the scene and is vital to tension building. The setting in the opening in silence of the lambs really makes the audience feel enjoyably uncomfortable due to the mist and dead trees. We will need to find a decent setting for our thriller which will help us create eeriness, tension and suspense.

This opening sequence has helped me understand where our priorities should be. The four micro elements: mise-en-scene*, sound*, cinematography and special effects.

*= especially these

Practice edit

The task that was set was to edit the footage provided. Each of us had to edit it ourselves and apply titles. The footage given to us was of high quality and with final cut express we could edit to a high degree of detail so potentially we could produce a decent piece of work. Above is my work.

This is the first time i've used final cut and found it very complicated at first. After it was broken down for us i found it far easier. I learned that i could layer the clips. I found this useful as it reduces cutting and shows the timeline much better. Although too much layering can cause confusion. Layering these clips meant that i could fade and combine clips together by changing its transparency. This effect will help build tension in our thriller.

Another effect i used was that i altered the contrast and brightness of the footage. For this footage i increased both but for the thriller i may want to darken the footage to create an air of gloom and evil.

My work also consisted titles. I felt that applying colour to the lettering that would not merge in with the footage was very hard. It is something we're going to have to consider in our thriller. Maybe it is better do use a black background to bring out the titles. If we did this then added a slow zoom of the titles it will increase the suspense and will make it look more professional.

Overall, the practice edit has made me realise how important the editing will be. It has also given me an insight into what effects, transitions and titles i can use in our thriller.

Practice Film

We made a practice thriller opening using templates provided by Final Cut Express. We put some of the templates together and added some titles to it to create an opening. We also added some music to it which was provided for us. Then we had a chance to use node to edit our clips so they can comfortably change from one to another. We could also node the sound so they change from a possible upbeat to low to suit the clip/scene.
This practice has helped us to understand how to use Final Cut Express, this will be useful for our own project. It has also helped us to gain a better understanding of the genre and what needs to be done to create a successful sequence.

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