Opening Sequence Order: 1

20.02.2015

Insomnia (2002)


I chose  to look at the opening title sequence of Insomnia because it fell under the psychological thriller genre of which we hope to make our film.

To begin with in the sequence, for the first 16 seconds, a man with bow and arrow appears on the screen with then  turns into the logo of Alcon Entertainment, who were the main production company of the film.  The screen then goes into a white background and Alcon Pictures is mentioned again for another 4 seconds to again portray the idea that it was them who produced the film.

This lasts for 4 seconds. These are another two companies who help to produce the film.

Big names then begin to appear on the screen, Al Pacino comes up first followed by Robin Williams and ending with Hilary Swank . All three of these names last for four seconds on the screen.

Title of the film then slowly begins to appear on the screen, the main actors appear before the title as they are big names in cinema so people watching will be more excited to see who is starring than what the film is actually called.  The time is takes for the title to appear and then go again takes
10 seconds.
There is then a change in the background as its turns from a white background of names to an icy scenery, at this point more names are put onto the screen.

All four of these names are cast members who have a part in the film, each name lasts for approximately 4 seconds with one name fading into another.  Their names only appear after the title because they are not the starring roles and also they are not as well known so don't need to be at the forefront of the film.

Opening Sequence Order 2

18.02.2015

19.02.2015

Seven

Seven in a 1995 psychological thriller, set in the USA it follows that story of two homicide detectives who are trying to solve the case of a serial killers whose murders all correspond to the seven deadly sins.  The film blends elements of both crime and horror genres.

The opening sequence starts off with a black screen then the image of a book appears with the pages turning, the first text to appear is, 'New Line Cinema Presents' which lasts for 3 seconds.  This allows the audience to know who the audience production was, second bit of text that appears states, 'An Arnold Kopelson Production'. This tells that audience who the producer was.

Three well known names are then put onto the screen, one being David Fincher's, the director lasting for 3 seconds on screen.  Then Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman's names appear each of which last for approximately 4 seconds.  This makes us assume that they will be taking on the main roles of the film.

The title of the film appears after the first two actors are introduced, this may be because people would recognise the names of the actors as they are so famous, thus drawing in more attention.  The title of the film last for 7 seconds, the longest lasting text so far. The image flickers drawing more attention to people who are watching. After this, more names of actors continue to appear on screen.

In between introducing new names to the screen, different images continuously appear on the screen. It looks like someone plotting something, so suspense is created from the very start.  The quick flickering movements of the names around the screen make the audience feel uncomfortable and confused as their eyes try to adjust to the movement.

Casting Directors and Music Producers are then shown on the screen, after a lot of cast members are listed.  The list of cast members goes from names being listed one by one to names being put on in groups of three, this is perhaps to portray the size of the role that they have in a film.

David Fishers name if repeated for a second time at the very end of the opening title sequence to show the importance of his role in creating the film.  After his name is shown the movie then begins.

Opening Sequence Order 3

18.02.2015

The Black Swan

When looking through a list of the top 100 psychological thrillers I came across the Black Swan,  a 2010 American film about a ballerina, Nina, who is attempting to get the lead role in Swan Lake. When she feels threatened by another dancer who may take the main role away from her she become psychologically unstable and looses her grip on reality.

 The opening sequence of this film last for around three and a half minutes.  What I find strange about this one is that there are no cast members names put onto the screen.  We see the production companies at the beginning but then it cuts straight to a two minute sequence of a ballerina performing a scene.  What is good about this is that the audience understands straight away what the movie will be about, and considering the fact that there is one main actress in the farme it can be presumed that the movie will be about her.  The lack of names isn't a problem as Natalie Portman is such a well known actress that people will know who she is without being told.  Also the lack of writing on the screen stops the audience from getting distracted and puts all their focus on the performance and the camera work.

Evaluation of Shoot Day

14.02.2015

Account of Shoot Day

After loading up the mini busses with the equipment that we would be needing, we left the school at around 9:30 to go to our destination.  Originally we had planned to use Bulmershe gymnasium, but due to it being fully booked, Crerar managed to find another gym that one of her team mates works at; Heathrow Gymnastics Club.

We arrived on location around 11:00, and once going into the gym, setting up equipment and deciding on certain shots, we began filming at 11:30.  Looking back at the day, I realise that to start with we took too long deciding different types of shots and instead should have just tried everything out, because even if we decided not to use them in the end, at least we had tried out a wide variety.

To make sure that we had a wide range of shots, we used all parts of the gym that were available to us, from filming on the floor to shooting from a small room upstairs looking down on the room.  after around 3 hours in the gymnasium we made sure that we had got all the shots that we needed and then headed back to school after stopping off to grab some lunch.

Once arriving back at school we did Emily's hair and makeup to make it look like she was just about the enter in a competition. This was to ensure that the audience would be able to tell that there was a difference between her training in the gym and what was going on in her mind.

We decided on different elements that we wanted Emily to perform, we had to be a little more choosy with the shots we wanted as the floor was very hard in the studio and we didn't want to overwork Emily.  In the studio we decided that we would have all of our shots in slow motion to add to the idea that this was going on inside her mind, that she was looking back at when she was able to perform her  tricks. With the use of the Genie we were able to get birds eye views to add to the variety of different shots we had in the overall sequence.

Narrative Action

Narrative Action

Pitch black gymnasium in silence, then there is an echoing as the lights flicker on, one by one.

The empty gym is lit up by the bright lights, we get to see layout of the location. 

Gymnast walking into the gym with bag over shoulder, then dumps it on the floor and begins running around the gym

Gymnast runs around the floor and stretches muscles

She then takes off her tracksuit and walks over to the beam and chalk bowl

She takes some chalk and starts to get nervous about completing her skills 

She begins to experience flash backs of herself previously completing the skills to perfection 

The camera cuts in and out of her flash backs, from her on the beam and then inside her head

Her hands start to sweat and she starts to alter her leotard in anticipation

She enters her own imaginary world of her successfully completing her elements 

Her fantasy is interrupted by the sound of a door from upstairs where someone has been watching her 

The gymnast turns her head to look who it is but they have already gone

Final Storyboard

06.02.2015

Final Storyboard

Upon looking back at our first two storyboards, we realised how much more detail we could go into when looking at different shots. We made this final one so we knew exactly what we wanted to get shot wise when we went to film the sequence.