ASSIGNMENT 11: GROUP PRESENTATION DRAFT 3.

Key Code:

Joanne: Abigail:

Gledis: Vera: Group work:

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• For draft one, we all received a grade because parts of the presentation were missing.

• My individual grade was an . • WWW: I put good detailed information on

each of my slides.• EBI: I should put all of my slides onto the

correct presentation.

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E

B

• For draft one, we all received a grade because parts of the presentation were missing.

• My individual grade was an . • WWW: My target audience slides were

efficient and had relevant information. • EBI: I should include more detail in all aspects

and include images with every point.

Record of grade for draft one

• For draft one, we all received a grade because parts of the presentation were missing.

• My individual grade was an . • WWW: I gave a good range of conventions and

different films that met these conventions. • EBI: I had realised that our opening sequence was

actually a thriller and so I wasn’t required to also make a conventions chart for horror films.

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D

B

• For draft one, we all received a grade because I hadn’t put all of my slides onto the presentation.

• My individual grade was an . • WWW: I had a good range of pictures on my

slides.• EBI: I should put the slides that I was missing

up onto the powerpoint.

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U

B

• From draft one to draft two, we made a few amendments to our opening sequence idea.

• For this, we changed the ending as we received feedback that it wasn’t exciting and that there wasn’t a good climax.

Decisions and Revisionsc

• This was a challenge, as we found it hard to recreate the ending of the opening sequence, but we managed to overcome this obstacle.

• This change helped us to improve overall because it made our opening sequence more appealing to our target audience, and made them want to watch the whole film.

Decisions and Revisionsc

Genre: Thriller

• We have decided to use the genre Thriller.

• We want to use this genre effectively by using a number of conventions such as crime, possession, haunting and revenge. We will use these conventions by using them in our opening sequence to thrill our audience which meets the conventions of a thriller.

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• This has changed since our first draft, as in our first draft, we thought our opening sequence was Thriller/Horror.

• We corrected this and using conventions, we found that in actuality, our opening sequence was a Thriller.

Genre Thriller

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Conventions of Thrillers...Conventions Example Image Use/Develop/

Challenge

Stalkers/ Obsession

Fatal Attraction

Use- Someone becoming obsessed after a relationship Challenge – using a female as the stalker instead of a male.

The Fan Develop – Instead of being obsessed with a woman and or a family, De Niro is obsessed with his favourite sports star and stalks him.

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Conventions of Thrillers...Conventions Example Image Use/Develop/

Challenge

Stalkers/ Obsession

The Hand That Rocks The Cradle

Challenge- it does it through using a women as the crazy killer stalker who seeks revenge instead of the normal use of a male

Stir of echoes

Develop – Its more obsession as Kevin Bacon tries to find the answers to an ever haunting mystery

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Conventions of Thrillers...Conventions Example Image Use/Develop/

Challenge

Crime

Eye For An Eye Develop – A woman is used as the person seeking revenge for the crime rather than the typical use of a male character.

The Ambulance Develop – Not giving the audience a clear understanding of what the crime actually is at first.

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(Possible)Conventions of Thrillers...Conventions Example Image Use/Challenge/

Develop

Ghosts

The Others Challenge – In this film they made you aware of the wrong ghost, whereas in regular horrors, the ghostly figure is clear.

House On A Haunted Hill

Use/Challenge – They used the ghost to create fear amongst the audience and for the characters. They challenged it by making the ghost physically scary.

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Conventions of Thrillers...Conventions Example Image Use/Develop/

Challenge

Misidentification or Wrongful Accusation.

Primal Fear

Use/Develop.The common feature of wrongful accusation was used and it was developed because the character accused was religious, young and didn’t fit the stereotype of who would be accused.

The Usual Suspects

Challenge – It seems to the audience like there has been a wrongful accusation, as the only survivor is then questioned about the incident that occurred and this typically doesn’t happen.

Convention Explanation Use/Develop/Challenge

Ghosts/Spirits

Our character is haunted by a ghost in her home.

Using – We’re using this as we are doing possession which can be quite a typical feature.

Mystery

Mysterious things keep on happening to the character, and as she becomes aware of this, these happenings get worse.

Using– We’re are using this convention by included mystery all the way through the plot.

Possession

At the end of film, our character is fully possessed. But during the opening sequence, the character has a close encounter with the ghost.

Developing – We’re developing this because our character is possessed slowly and is aware of this possession.

Conventions of our

opening sequence.

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Inspirational FilmsThe Hand That Rocks The Cradle

What I found Inspirational about this scene is the kind of lighting they used through out the more dark scenes emphasises the emotions of the actor /actress

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Inspirational FilmsBlack Swan

What I found inspirational from this movie is the use of close up shots which was clearly present in this filmIt gives a clear picture of the characters emotions and helps the audience to connect with the character by seeing their emotions so closely.

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Inspirational Films – The Ring• The film that inspired me most is ‘The Ring’

• I want to use a similar long shot in our opening sequence.• It’s an effective way of keeping the audience’s attention to the

puddle of water whilst showing the character come up the stairs.

• I also want to use a fast zoom in our opening sequence.

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Use of costume and make-up in ‘The Ring’

• Quite frightening to look at and an effective way of scaring the audience.

• The lighting throughout the whole movie is kept more or less the same.

• This creates a very eerie and creepy atmosphere in the movie, common in most horrors and thrillers.

• I want to use dark lighting in our opening sequences .

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Inspirational Films - The Haunting In Connecticut.

• Another film that inspired me was ‘The Haunting in Connecticut ’

• Its paranormal theme has inspired me to make my opening sequence about a haunting.

• Slamming doors…

• It especially inspired me to set my opening sequence in a building that’s haunted. E.g. a haunted house.

• I would like to use old newspaper articles such as this to briefly show the history of the area.

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Inspirational Films – Rosemary’s Baby

• A scene from ‘Rosemary’s Baby’ also inspired me.Close up of hand reaching into crib

Draws the audiences attention to what she's doing.

. Allows imagination to run

wild making the audience uneasy.

It never shows what she sees, only her reaction.

Close up of Rosemary’s faceemphasises her shock, and horror at what she sees.

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Inspirational Films - GothikaThe particular scene I found inspirational about this film, where the scenes where the ghost interacts with the characters by leaving scratched out messages on their arms saying ‘Not Alone’.

I thought that a similar

idea would be a good

addition to our idea, as

the ghost tries to

communicate with our

character whilst she

sleeps.

I also took inspiration from the non-diegetic sounds, because they were creepy and added to what was already a tense film.

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Inspirational Films – Paranormal Activity

Throughout the whole of Paranormal Activity,

the characters use their own camera to

document what is happening to them.

I liked the idea of this as it makes the viewing

experience more personal for the viewer as

they literally see what the characters see.

I want to use this in our opening sequence as

the camera shots made it more exciting for the

viewer, and we want to add tense excitement

too.

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Inspirational Films – The Grudge• The inspiration that I took from this film was

part of the plot – that the ghost was trying to get revenge over her death.

• I also felt that the setting added to the creepiness of the film, and so I hope we can re-create this when we make our opening sequence.

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Inspirational Films – Cabin Fever

The camera shot for this scene is a mini close up shot of his face to demonstrate fear, disgust and anxiety to the audience.

The props of this movie is very disturbing for the audience as it has disgusting images of blood everywhere.

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In this scene the lighting was very dim which makes it more scary because it emphasis death, danger and fear. It creates suspense to the audience as they don’t know what is going to happen next.

The movie has some kind of old fashioned humour to it which makes it more entertaining and interesting to the audience.

Inspirational Films – Cabin FeverE

Inspirational Films – The Village

A scene where a character discovers about the supernatural things happening in the village in order to prove to the people that there is something going on.

This scene has a mid shot of a character who is illustrating fear and also of the monster destroying things in the village.

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Theme/Concept• An idea we had for the theme was

Revenge and the concept was Possession.

Revenge & Possession!

Ghosts

MysteriousUnsuspecting

Someone who has been wronged

Suspicious circumstances

Enigma

Vicious

Twists & Turns

Shocking revelations

Victims

Hidden identities

Ghouls

Injustice

Grievance

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Theme/ConceptAnother idea we had for the theme was Justice and concept was Death

Justice & Death!

Righteousness

Moral Rightness.

Decay

A Cause

Life After DeathSupernatural

Mystery

Vendetta

Revenge

Murder & Manslaughter

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Theme/ Concept

• These were our previous themes and concepts.

• WWW: We had a range of different words which helped us when thinking of our opening sequence.

• EBI: We could have thought of more themes and concepts.

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Theme/Concept

• We did not change our themes or concepts because it was suitable for what we wanted to do.

• We kept the theme revenge and the concept possession because the keywords on that brainstorm helped to provoke new ideas regarding our opening sequence.

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Theme/Concept

• The way in which we came down to one idea is as we like Gledis’s idea but had problems with the choice of set being the school

• We later added elements from Abigail's opening sequence and developed on that

• There were some bumps in the road as to the ending of the sequence but after meetings we came up with solutions

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Research Of Topic

• http://fspp.net/warn%20poss.htm• On this website, I found all of the believed

warning signs of demonic possession and this all linked in with what we had originally decided on for our opening sequence.

• The warning signs were things like self mutilation, changes in personality and attitude and blackouts in memory.

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Research Of Topic

• On this website, I also found that the outward manifestations of ghosts also linked in with our opening sequence. The manifestations that we had already chosen were listed on this website, and it included things such as:

• Knocking, banging or pounding being heard in one room.• Electrical appliances turning on by themselves.• A feeling of being watched.• Scratching sounds being heard without an obvious source.• And objects seemingly moving by themselves.

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Research Of Topic

• http://www.yourghoststories.com/real-ghost-story.php?story=2298

• On this site I found out that a girl who had been possessed by a

demonic creature at the age of 12, was seeing shadows appearing

from walls, covering all over her, hearing mocking noises and could

see a white round ball rolling towards her mother’s room and also

hear noises when she is alone at home.

• She was possessed until the age of 22yrs but still had a strange

feeling that someone was watching her when she went to her night

shift at the mental home.

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Idea Development Option – Our Previous Ideas. (the whole film)

• It starts with the opening sequence, where strange ghostly things are happening to the main

character.

• The main character slowly begins to find out information about who lived in her home before her.

She attempts to tell her family and friends but they dismiss it.

• The main character has a series of close encounters with the ghost. Whilst sleeping she dreams of

its life in the home she now inhabits.

• The ghost possess the main character slowly. Thinking she is on drugs, her family hosts an

intervention for her. At this intervention, she is fully possessed.

• Her family and friends, whilst trying to restrain her, collectively kill the main character and burn

her body. The cycle continues, with the audience being shown a family moving into a newly built

home where the main characters house used to be.

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What Went Well/ Even Better If

• WWW: Our teacher said that she would happily watch this film if it was an actual film due for release. This showed us that our idea’s were good.

• EBI: The ending was less drastic, as it seemed unlikely that the characters family would burn her body after accidentally killing her.

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Idea Development Option – Our Previous Ideas. (the opening sequence)

• The character is at her desk typing and researching ghosts, hauntings and the history behind where her house is situated.

• Suddenly, her television turns on by itself, she grabs her camera to document this strange experience.

• After turning off the television, she walks back to her desk, and the another person’s reflection is seen by the audience as they walk past her television.

• She hears another a noise coming from the drawer behind her, she scrambles to find out what it is. She finds an old photograph in the drawer that clearly doesn’t belong to her of a young girl wearing a similar necklace to the character.

• She hears a scream or thump coming from downstairs, she rushes to find the source of it and ends up in the bathroom. She sees the tap dripping and as she turns it off, she finds that the sink is full of blood.

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What Went Well/ Even Better If

• WWW: Our opening sequence idea has good pace, and the tension builds throughout the two minutes.

• EBI: The ending didn’t let the rest of the two minutes down as the rest of the opening sequence built tension and then the final moments made it all slump.

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Idea Development Option

• We decided to keep the majority of our

idea the same, and so we only edited

the final part of our opening sequence

to make it more thrilling.

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Idea Development Option – Our New Ideas (the whole film)

• It starts with the opening sequence, where strange ghostly things are happening to the main character.

• The main character slowly begins to find out information about who lived in her home before her. She attempts to tell her family and friends but they dismiss it.

• The main character has a series of close encounters with the ghost. Whilst sleeping she dreams of its life in the home she now inhabits.

• The ghost possess the main character slowly. Thinking she is on drugs, her family hosts an intervention for her. At this intervention, she is fully possessed.

• Her family and friends, whilst trying to restrain her, collectively kill the main character and dispose of her body in a house fire. The cycle continues, with the audience being shown a family moving into a newly built home where the main characters house used to be.

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Idea Development Option – Our New Ideas (The opening sequence)

• The character is at her desk typing and researching ghosts, hauntings and the history behind where her house is situated.

• Suddenly, her television turns on by itself, she grabs her camera to document this strange experience and this is seen from her point of view.

• After turning off the television, she walks back to her desk, and the another person’s reflection is seen by the audience as they walk past her television.

• She hears another a noise coming from the drawer behind her, she scrambles to find out what it is. She finds an old photograph in the drawer that clearly doesn’t belong to her of a young girl wearing a similar necklace to the character.

• She hears a thump coming from downstairs, she rushes to find the source of it, running through the corridors in her house she tracks the noise down to the bathroom and she listens outside the door. As she slowly reaches for the handle, someone else’s hand slams on the glass door from the inside.

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Idea Development Option• From draft one to this current draft, we

discussed a number of alternate endings for our opening sequence. We decided that the ending we have chosen: “She hears a thump coming from downstairs, she rushes to find the source of it, running through the corridors in her house she tracks the noise down to the bathroom and she listens outside the door. As she slowly reaches for the handle, someone else’s

hand slams on the glass door from the inside. ” gives the best climax out of all of our discussed options.

Alternate ending

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Enigma• The way we want to create enigma is through the

combination of sound and pace. The actress is never

fully calm which also keeps the audience on edge.

• The end of the opening sequence will leave the

audience wanting to know what happens next as

the ending is unexpected.

You cannot see what the baby sees.

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Enigma

• We’ve improved our creation of Enigma from draft one, because we have made the ending of our opening sequence more thrilling and this helps to create more enigma as the audience will want to carry on watching to find out why the character is being haunted and what will happen to her.

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Props/Costume

• This character meets stereotypes of a helpless Young girl who is haunted by a ghost

• Some movies in which this is displayed are listed above.

Actor/Character

The Others The Unborn

Gledis Drew

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Character

• They way in which we have developed from our character from draft 1 is through mainly the changes made to our last sequence in stretching Gledis’s acting ability.

• Other than this no other changes improvements where made

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Narrative

• We are using Linear Narrative for our opening

sequence as the structure of it is all in chronological

order and so the audience follow through with the

plot.

• This has not changed from draft one, because we are

using the same narrative.

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Tvzetan Todorov: Narrative Structure

Tzvetan Todorov is a Franco- Bulgarian philosopher. He lived in France since 1963 with his wife and two children.

Equilibrium: it is a narrative that starts with a state of harmony, example a group of people enjoying their live.

Disequilibrium: it is a world of stability which involves disruption, example when an evil event happens to character in a movie.

New Equilibrium: it is when the evil in a movie is removed and it restores harmony.

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This describes equilibrium as it has the character enjoying himself because he thinks that everything is perfect.

It contrast with disequilibrium because it has some disturbing images in the middle the movie

This links with new equilibrium as it shows a peaceful atmosphere between the characters

Film explaining Tvzetan’s theoryTHE SHINING

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Binary Opposition: This is a sophisticated but

important idea that will help you understand how

ideas and meanings are being shaped, created or

reinforced in a text. It is 'a theory of meaning' and

an idea that can be applied to all texts; it is

especially useful when analysing poetry where

meaning has been 'compressed' into a very few

words.

Claude Levi-StraussQ

This scene is clearly used to illustrate fear and danger. A close up shot of his face explains what is happening in the scene without the audience not even seeing the next stage

This particular scene shows the audience a basic understanding of the movie which links to the binary opposition

Texas chainsawQ

Characters and their purpose in Propp’s theory:

•The villain (struggles against the hero)

•The donor (prepares the hero or gives the hero

some magical object)

•The (magical) helper (helps the hero in the quest)

•The princess (person the hero marries, often

sought for during the narrative)

•Her father

•The dispatcher (character who makes the lack

known and sends the hero off)

•The hero or victim/seeker hero, reacts to the

donor, weds the princess

VLADIMIR PROPPQ

Film Theory.

• We aren’t using Propp’s or Strauss’ film theory as neither fit

into what we want our opening sequence to be.

• We have no hero’s in our idea and so Propp’s film theory is

ineffective for us, and we are not creating ideas with our

opening sequence, and so Binary Opposition is also ineffective

for us.

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Film Theory.

• We’re applying Todorov’s film theory, as at the beginning of

our film idea, the character’s life is in a state of harmony.

(Equilibrium)

• As our idea continues, the character finds more and more out

about the ghost as it slowly possesses her. (Disequilibrium)

• Finally, the death of the character brings final peace and

harmony, or so the audience think until a new family move

into the same house. (New Equilibrium)

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Film Distribution

• Film distributors we would like to use are...• Lions Gate Entertainment• Momentum Pictures• Film 4

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Lions Gate Entertainment

Why Lions Gate?...

• They distribute Thrillers • They are in collaboration

with Film4 • The have distributed

successful films

We are Making a Thriller

This could work for us as our Sequence would have the backing Of two companies

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Film4

Why Film4?...• They do a lot of

independent films distribution

• They are a British distribution company

• You don’t have to have a big budget

This could cause a problem as To other country distribution

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Momentum Pictures

Why Momentum?...• Its also a British distribution

company• They have distributed films

such as ....

Which means it has the sameAdvantages and disadvantagesAs Film4 would have.

Insidious, The Crazies, Hobo with A shotgun

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Columbia Pictures• It’s an American film production and distribution company.• Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar

Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment.

• Columbia's major contract stars were Jean Arthur and Cary Grant (who was shared with RKO Pictures).

• It is one of the leading film companies in the world, a member of the so-called Big Six.

• It was one of the so-called Little Three among the eight major film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age.

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FILMS AND BUDGETSAnaconda The plot centre's on a

film crew for National Geographic's who are kidnapped by a hunter who is going after the world's largest anaconda, which is discovered in the remote jungle.

Budget:$45,000,000 (estimated) Opening Weekend:$16,620,887 (USA) (13 April 1997) (2456 Screens) Gross:$136,885,767 (Worldwide) .

Fright Night Fright Night is an American vampire comedy horror film starring William Ragsdale, Chris Sarandon, Stephen Geoffreys and Roddy McDowall that was released in 1985.

Budget:$9,000,000 (estimated) Opening Weekend:$6,118,543 (USA) (4 August 1985) (1542 Screens) Gross:$24,922,237 (USA) (22 September 1985)

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THE REASONS WHY I CHOSE COLUMBIA PICTURES

• I chose this because they make lots of horror films that relate to our genre.

• We aim a big hit for our genre so we can relate it to the budget of Columbia pictures.

• It is an inspiration to film distributing and production.• They have Co-production companies who help and support

them in exhibition and going into cinemas.

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Titles And Credits• Titles and credits from real films:

• The Ring

• Se7en

• Rosemary's Baby

• Stephen King's "IT"

• Frankenstein (1931)

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Titles And Credits of ‘The Ring’

• The font appears hand written A handwritten style font would emphasise the ‘Mental illness’ aspect of our film as the text would appear messy and scattered, as if written by someone in panic or distress, (mentally unstable)

• The ‘O’s in the text match the ring of the well in the film

This emphasises the theme of the film, which has inspired us to use a font style which gives clues to the audience as to what our film will be about without giving too much away.

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Titles And Credits of ‘Se7ev’

• Similarly to ‘The Ring’, ‘Se7en’ also has handwritten style fonts that are often spaced out or slanted.

• The most inspiring thing about ‘Se7en’ is the animation of the text.

• The quick bright flashes of the text create excitement for the audience and keep them on

the edge of their seat which is essential for thriller films and has inspired us to display our

text in a similar way.

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Titles And Credits of ‘Rosemary’s Baby’

• The font style and colour are somewhat unusual as it does not link with anything in the movie.

• However the fact that its so uncommon for a Horror/Thriller, makes it unique and unpredictable.

• This has inspired us to use a font not normally associated with Thrillers to make it as unpredictable as possible.

• Baby pink colour, however symbolises

the innocence of Rosemary’s character.

• Similarly, our main character also

possesses a sense of innocence.

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Titles And Credits of Stephen King’s ‘IT’

The title of the film is the only text in this colour (bright red) and font style.

This makes the title stand out from the rest of the text highlighting the significance of the ‘IT’ character to intrigue the audience.

The bright red symbolises blood and gore therefore attracting the target audience as it is common in Horror/Thrillers.

The small cuts and slits within the letters emphasis the violence in the movie as they represent stabs and scratches.

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Titles And Credits of ‘Frankenstein’ (1931)

• The inconsistency of the text style could be used to disorientate the audience and perhaps panic

them and keep them on the edge of their seat.

• Each piece of text is written in a different font, confusing the audience yet still intriguing them.

• Also used for once sentence.

• Each word is a different font.• The different fonts

represent the way that ‘Frankenstein’ was made up of different parts just

like the text.

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The colour of Our Text

• At fist we considered using a deep red font colour as it is usually associated with Horrors/Thrillers.

‘What Lies Within’

• However once we changed our opening sequence from a Horror to a Thriller we decided that a colour associated with blood and gore would not be appropriate plus too common and predictable.

• We then took inspiration from ‘Rosemary’s Baby’ which uses a baby pink to signify her characters innocence.

• In a similar way we decided that white would be the best option for us as it resembles something

pure. ‘What Lies Within’

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The Font of Our Text• After exploring different fonts from real films and

opening credits we narrowed our favourites down to:

• Block Capitals e.g. ARIAL BLACK

This could represent a sense of seriousness about the film. The houses being built where a Mental Institution once was. The fire that was used to cover a murder.

• Handwritten style Font e.g. Bradley Hand ITCWe would use this to resemble the mental state of the

characters by making the writing as unstructured and disorientated as possible.

• Old Fashioned Font e.g. Brush Script MTThis could emphasises the time period of when the

Mental Hospital was running. It gives the audience an insight to the film.

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Our final Font style and colour

• We finally narrowed it down to the font we felt was most appropriate for our opening sequence and genre.

• We wanted to chose something that gave little clues about the film but not too much and wasn’t too

predictable. • We decided to go with a handwritten style font as we

hoped this would emphasise the ‘Mental illness’ aspect of our film as the text would appear messy and scattered, as if written by someone in panic or distress, (mentally unstable).

• Inspired by ‘The Ring’ and ‘Se7en’

• We were also inspired by ‘Se7en’ to make the text flash onto the screen and fade away.

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Copyright Free Music Sites

• http://freeplaymusic.com/• http://www.royaltyfreemusic.com/• http://www.royaltyfreemusic.co.uk/

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Copyright free music and sounds for our genre

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Music That Inspires Us

• Non-diegetic music that inspires us is the background music in Jaws. Its full of suspense and its quite terrifying which adds to the thrill of the film.

• We also want to have iconic non-diegetic music that our audience will remember.

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• We like distinctive sounds like the sound of typing, creaking and eerie diegetic sounds in films. Also, slow footsteps with emphasis on each step as this also builds the tension.

• This makes it more realistic as it scares people more and they can relate to it.

Music That Inspires UsT

• We would use these non-diegetic sounds to build excitement and tension as our character is running through the hallway.

• We would use diegetic sounds as she is working at her desk and walking to try and find the noises within her room.

Our MusicT

BBFC and Rating

• BBFC stands for British Board of Film Classification.

• It provides guidelines as to what is appropriate for viewers of a certain age.

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• There are 6 different BBFC ratings.

BBFC and Rating

Uc gives guidelines for a child being able to watch a film by themselves (from the age of 4)U stands for universal, enabling everyone to watch the film.PG stands for Parental Guidance. So the film is suitable for children as long as their parents are watching with them.12A requires the viewers to be aged 12 but have adult supervision whilst watching the film.12 requires the viewer to be aged 12 and over.15 requires the viewer to be aged 15 and over.18 requires the viewer to be aged 18 and over.R18 is a legally restricted classification for explicit works of consenting sex or fetish material.

U

Our film fits into the 15 classification. This is because there is a strong threat in our film and sadistic behaviour is shown when the ghost harms the character in her sleep just to convey her message.

BBFC and Rating U