We needed to choose a film studio to produce our films. We looked at popular horror film production companies that also produce similar films to ours. We needed it to be right for our genre, target audience, style and themes. We did some research and found that Hammer and Lionsgate were popular horror film production companies and decided to look at those two. We looked at their portfolio of films and their websites to see whether they would be suitable.
The film 'The Woman in Black' was shown on their website, which we had all heard of and knew made a fairly good profit when it was in the cinema. We looked for other films that we recognised but the other films weren't as recognisable and we'd never heard of them, which started to make us think this wasn't the right film studio.
We looked at the Lionsgate website afterwards:
We immediately liked this website as it was also dark and eery and had a huge advert for 'Texas Chainsaw 3D' which, is a very well known horror film franchise. This gave us a good impression immediately. We looked into other films that Lionsgate had produced and there were some big names like 'The Hunger Games'. That film, even though wasn't a horror film was a massive hit at the cinema, meaning this production studio would have the sufficient budget for our film and would be able to get it a lot of public attention. This is a perfect advantage as we need a lot of promotion going into it as we have decided on a cast of unknown actors. Overall we decided to choose Lionsgate as our production company as we believed it would be able to provide us with the commercial success we hope for, because it is much more a well known company.
Saul Bass was an American graphic designer. He is one of the most recognised and revolutionary title sequence and poster designers in the film industry. Before Saul Bass' work title sequences were often very basic and reminiscent of end credits; where the names just roll up on a plain background. Bass' colourful, simple geometric shapes were often symbolisms which, even on their own delivered a powerful messages. His work changed the way title sequences were viewed forever, as from then on they were much more creative and visually stimulating.
Saul Bass was born on the 8th of may 1920 and he studied at the Art students league in Manhattan later in his life. He then worked as a freelance graphic designer in his early career, before he worked on bigger films. He was so popular because he had the ability to capture the mood of the whole film using only simple shapes and lines. He has designed posters for many famous films and they all have a similar look making his work iconic and easy to spot. He also ended up producing over sixty title sequences. He had many great collaborations with familiar and famous directors such as Alfred Hitchcock and Michael Scorsese, making his work more widely recognised. He changed the way people viewed title sequences by making title sequences something that not only stated names of crew and cast and the name of the film, But something that presented them in a creative way. Often Bass' title sequences held metaphors that suggesting what would happen during the film, or it being a synopsis of the while film itself.
Our genre for our film 'Hypnosis' is horror and so we had to look into the codes and conventions of horror films. This is so we can make the best title sequence as possible, ensuring we follow all of the codes and conventions.
The typical iconography of a horror film is: Props:
Knives
Mask,
Crucifix
Sharp objects that penetrate or dismember
Cloak
Blood
Two-way mirrors
Iconic elements:
Full moon
Graveyards
Large houses
Fog
Macabre
Bad weather
Coffin
Typical settings include:
Suburban areas
Forrest/woods
Forbidden places
Cellars
Enclosed spaces
Deserted areas
'Off-map' locations
Country lanes
Typical characters that appear in theses films include:
what went well:
We got mostly positive feedback from our peers and Miss Whittaker, they said that they thought our film idea had definite potential and could turn into a great title sequence. They also said that we followed codes and conventions of the horror genre well; such as using unknown actors, the setting and the mystery killer. We were told it was a unique and creative idea that they would go and watch at the cinema. Also, our target audience was said to be spot on.
what criticism we received: Our profit was said to be too high compared to the films that we researched. They wanted to see what unknown actors we would use so they could picture them in their mind. Miss Whittaker didn't think our name was scary enough for a horror. We will take all of these points and change them accordingly to make sure our film is the best it could be.
At the beginning of the Halloween 3 title sequence a flickering effect is visible. This reminds me of a old fashioned television and therefore suggests that something is going to be portrayed to television viewers. Also, it could suggest that a television has some sort of importance somewhere in the film. The flicker is also symbolic for mystery as you can not see what is actually going on and therefore it will be hard to work things out.
The music in the first part of the title sequence is very high and quite distorted, and doesn't seem to fit in with the film's genre. This could suggest that this film may be unexpected and have scenes that you have never seen before in horror films. The blue text and the orange background are quite contrasting colours connoting that things wont match up in the film, also suggesting mystery.
The music changes into a quite low hum which sounds dark and mysterious suggesting what the mood and tone of the film is going to be. The music conveys the genre the most due to the distorted and mysterious/atmospheric music making the whole scene more creepy. It makes the audience quite tense as they can't tell what it happening and the music adds to this tension.
Another point is that throughout the whole of this sequence, something is slowly being revealed to us using the orange lines. We don't find out what it actually is until the end suggesting that this might be the case in the film; that small parts of a mystery are shown to us throughout the film but we don't find out the answer to it until the very end. The fact that the orange lines are then being cut out again could maybe suggest that there maybe stabbings in the film as the cutting of the lines could resemble a character being cut.
The colour orange shown throughout the sequence is always linked to halloween, which is the name of the film too. So, if someone didn't know what the film was called the colour orange could suggest the theme of halloween to them. This along with other features too, such as the music and the fact that the end image is of a jako lantern.
as you can see here, the building up of the orange lines create a jako-lantern, shown at the end.
We instantly know as soon as we start
watching the title sequences that it will be set in wartime as we are
shown an iconic poster of Uncle Sam pointing at us. At that point we
will also know that it will be set in America as this is an iconic
American poster and Uncle Sam is an iconic American figure. The music played sounds quite heroic
suggesting it could be about a war hero. It also sounds adventure-y
connoting it could have adventure features. It’s quite an upbeat
song that doesn’t sound dark which suggests that it’s not going
to be a dark film. The music could be considered quite fanfare like,
which is associated with wartime and going to war linking in with
what I said earlier.
Near the beginning a shot of three
hands are held together in the middle, which suggests teamwork. Also,
they are all wearing different costumes; one is wearing a work glove,
one is wearing a suit and one is wearing an American flag costume,
which could also suggest that people from all different classes are
coming together and working together. This could suggest an
underlying theme of the film too – teamwork.
Carrying on with the theme of war, we
are shown a number of army looking aeroplanes,
suggesting/foreshadowing that there could be some action scene
involving aeroplanes somewhere throughout the movie. The fact that a
woman saluting is shown could suggest a romantic element perhaps, and
the fact that she is saluting could suggest she is part of the
team/army.
Around the middle of the title sequence
we are shown a hand in a glove with a wrench, this could suggest that
there is some sort of manufacturing element somewhere in the film.
Also the fact that it is working on the 'O' in the word 'production'
suggests the making/ manufacturing of something which could have
significance during the movie. The significance of the 'we can do it'
poster could be significant as it could relate to the teamwork
feature again and the fact that it's a woman could suggest that a
woman succeeds in doing something important. The showing of many
flags of the world could connote that many countries are involved
throughout the film, and the fact that the USA flag is at the front
shows that it is the main country and maybe the most important
throughout.
The fact that an explosion illustration
is shown could foreshadow events that happen later in the film. Not
only this, the colour red, used on the person at this point signifies
danger and evil, but it could also suggest a romantic element in the
film.
'what about a nice hot cup of freedom?'
could signify something in the film, perhaps someone gets a sense of
freedom from doing something. The fact that this is shown could maybe
show that it's important.
The fact that all the different parts
of the title sequence join up in some way could show a sense of
merging between characters and that different people will join up
together.
Overall, I think most of the things
shown in the sequence were shown for foreshadowing purposes, to
subtly let the audience know what might happen during the film. Also,
to set the setting, the period of time and the genre.
Kate, Dylan and I created this fight sequence. Dylan filmed on the day, while Kate and I starred in it. After we'd filmed we all took turns to edit all the clips together, then we all helped with creating foley sounds, and then Dylan and I edited in the foley sounds.
This is the final video with foley sound added in to enhance sounds, such as punches and slaps. We used food items such as meat, carrots, celery and a melon to re-create or enhance the sounds in the clip. We used a range of camera angles for effect too, to make the video more interesting. Doing this, we learnt how to create effective foley sounds, to make the sounds in the video more realistic. We also improved our editing skills and knowledge of using final cut pro.
Straight away we know that there is going to be a lot of deaths in this film, and perhaps quite gory ones, as the first scene is someone falling to the ground. A low angle/tilt up shot is used here to get the full affect and it feels like he is going to fall on us as that is where our perspective is. The soundtrack is Metallica, you wouldn't expect this for a zombie film suggesting that it could be a comedy/parody or something that isn't totally serious.
The blood and nudity shown in the opening sequence will make the audience realise that this will probably be echoed in the rest of the film. We know it will be quite gory, risky and maybe even controversial, as some people may get offended by the things shown. This is probably why some gory/nude things are shown in the opening sequence, maybe as a warning what will come up later in the film.
The titles and credits are in a red bold font, the red could suggest death, blood or danger. Also they look quite interactive as when the characters run/fall in them they look as if they are smashing. This could suggest the action that will happen throughout the film as a lot of things will probably get smashed up. In the first scene the title is placed as if it is the sign on the outside of the building too, which is quite clever, but also discrete.
By the time we've seen most of it we will probably establish that the genre is Zombie-Comedy due to the music and the editing mainly; the slow-motion editing looks quite humorous and comedic and the fact that the people are getting chased by the zombies. Due to the slow-motion we can see their facial expressions more which is quite funny.
The film looks as if it is set in an american city as there are lots of features that big cities have; prison at the beginning, fire department, school, strip club etc. The fact that it looks quite bright/sunny/hot there also confirms the location. The fact that it is so bright could contrast with the quite dark main feature; zombies. This could also add to the comedy feel of the film. The film looks quite modern, so it could make audiences imagine if that would be what it would be like if this happened now in real life.
This opening is quite good as raising enigmas as we are only shown clips that are in the peak of action and we don't know how it got to that point or how the zombie virus came about, so will we hence want to watch the rest and find out.
