This blog post is about the last couple of days of editing our opening sequence.
A decision that we had to make later on within editing, was to take out the whole section where the girl was taking parts out of the car. This was due to the whole final cut was over 2 minutes longer than the maximum length allowed so we had to adapt and take out sure parts of our sequence. This also included the establishing shots we took of the junkyard, as it wasn't 100% needed.
We created tension by making the camera more shaky and disturbed, we used this to show visible panic from the girl as well as her facial expressions. We also added the motorbike sounds with an automated slow increase in volume to also add more tension, due to the motorbike getting louder and louder.
I feel from our opening sequence our target audience would definitely want to carry on watching due to the immense cliff hanger that the scene ends on, and also due to the rush of the jump scare that has just happened.
For the titles of the sequence, we decided to put our names in the job roles that we decided on, prior shooting, and also the names of people that we thought would be perfect to star in the rest of the film if it was to carry on.
The sound was the part that took the longest as in our sequence there is a lot going on sound wise, as we chose not to include a non diegetic soundtrack. We used many sound effects for example, extra wind, rusty metal squeaking in the background, the motorbike, ripping and tearing of the girls top, doors creaking and squeaking, footsteps, dragging of battle axe on the concrete ground, the axe killing the girl and finally weird ambient sounds through out. These all brought the opening sequence alive as without them is would have no where near as much tension. The motorbike sound effects were the hardest to make sound good as they needed automated volume control, reverb and heavy amounts of panning, all to make it sound as if it was coming from one direction towards the girl.
Overall I absolutely love how the final cut of our opening sequence came out and also loved the whole process of getting it from its original idea to how it is now.
This blog post is about the first few days of editing our opening sequence.
First of all when we walked into the editing suite, we all got allocated our own Mac for each of our groups, and sat down at the one we got chosen to work on. We then got to look through all of the footage from the day which we were very happy with, however some of the major footage had some issues which would make our job editing later on a lot harder than needed. For example continuity issues and also some slight problems with the prosthetic gash on the main actors leg.
We then started to pull in some footage onto the timeline and choosing the shots we liked best, for each scene, to narrow down all of the shots into the ones needed. An early decision we had to make was not using curtain camera angles when the girl was sliding over the bonnet of the car, due to continuity mistakes where she wasn't located in the same spot, therefore we had to use a more mid/close up shot instead of a wide, to hide the fact she was in a different positioning. Another early choice was to use the running hand held action shot going into the garage due to the other tri-pod mounted shot lacking in tension and fear, compared to the more shaky ones.
The two days before our shoot we decided to get all of the costumes and props ready with blood and rips/tears on them to make them look well used and in need of being replaced ‘just what we needed’. For the battle axe we could only do one side a day as the extra blood needed time to dry on one side first before we did the other side. So, the day before the shoot all we had to do was to splatter and cover the battle axe in areas that needed it, and we were prepared for shoot day.
To start our shoot day, the three of us in our group, Me, Joy and Gi all arrived at 8:10am at school for some breakfast and then walked up to our media classroom for 8:30am, as all of our props and costumes were kept inside there. We waited a couple of minutes before a member of staff came and unlocked the room so we could grab our items and made our way down to the minibus car park. As we waited for our main actress Meadow to get changed into her costume, we got sandwiches and drinks ready and started to load up the minibus.
After some little issue with taking a minibus, we finally got on the move in minibus 13. Gi started doing some make up on meadow about 20 minutes into our 45 min journey to Tulleys Farm. Around 5 minutes away from the farm the clutch broke on the minibus, so we got stranded under a bridge beside the road. We had to wait for someone to bring a new minibus from school and a mechanic that would hopefully fix the broken-down bus. It took just over an hour for the people to arrive so we could get on the move again but thankfully we could actually get to the farm and start shooting.
When we arrived at Tulleys Farm A staff member by the name of Ian welcomed us as he pulled up in his Kubota golf cart. We loaded all of our camera equipment and props into the back of the cart, and we all hopped in. And We got driven to our first location ‘the junkyard’ set. We unloaded everything from the cart and scouted out where we should put the spare car parts and what camera angle, we are going to shoot first. Due to the fact that none of the cars in the set we could actually get inside within safety reasons, we had to make changes from the girl hot-wiring a car, to searching for car parts. This is also because none of the cars look in working condition and either are on top of another or underneath each other. So, a girl trying to hot wire a rusty car way out of working order just wouldn’t be realistic.
When we had finished all of the scouting for the junkyard location we decided to start filming in chronological order, starting with some establishing shots. We shot some footage of the surrounding area including the cars and woods. Some of the cars had bullet holes in them so we got some footage of them due to that adding to the whole post-apocalyptic theme. We then moved onto shooting the first shot of our main actress ‘Meadow’, walking in between cars. We took a wide, mid and close up for this shot at loads of different angles to make sure we had what we needed due us not being able to come back and film stuff we didn’t get on another day. We then moved onto shooting the next shot of Meadow, her scavenging around for engine/car parts. After we had finished this we moved onto shooting the girl discovering her slash down her leg, which we had to add a lot more blood to as it had been rubbed off from being under the trousers.
Then when we had completed filming that scene we shot some extra establishing shots just to make sure we had the ones we wanted, making editing easier when we comes to it.
We then got picked up in the golf cart and moved onto our next location. Instead of shooting chronologically in this section, we decided to get the most important shots out of the way first just in case we had an issue for time. So we moved onto our next location ‘The Rusty Garage Shack’. We started with a little look around and thinking where exactly the best place would be to film first in that set. We decided to start with a handheld running sequence where the girl is running towards and into the shack. We filmed from the other side of some cars to her to catch her through the car windows and going into the shack. All three of us had a go at trying to get this shot as it was a very difficult one to pull off. We had the sun coming in very strong at the start of the shot and it being in the shade at the end, whilst being on the move in handheld, this made it extremely hard to see the actress for the second half of the shot as it went under exposed.
When we had finished that we moved onto shooting the girl open the garage door, hide inside the car and our killer to walk in and circle the car. We decided the best shot idea for this was to circle around the car and watch the whole scene unfold. This scene really tested our skills on the camera and used all aspects that we learnt in the camera workshops, for example, the right exposure, focus and zoom used to make sure everything is clear and nicely exposed. One new thing we learnt was what the shutter angle was. As I do a lot of photography in my spare time, I know my way around a camera, but not a film camera. So I knew what shutter speed is but not shutter angle, and the fact that the larger the shutter angle the lower the shutter speed defiantly confused me a bit, but I slowly got used to it.
We then shot our killer striking the girl towards the camera which we all had a go at filming to make sure we had the right shot that we wanted, as all of us would shoot in our own style.
Finally, because we had some spare time we went to another location to shoot a bit of footage that will fit in between the ‘junkyard’ scene and the ‘rusty garage’ scene. This also helps with the 180 degrees rule as the girl leaves the ‘junkyard’ heading to the right but comes into the ‘rusty shack from the right, so we needed a shot where she entered from the left and exited to the left as well so that it will look smooth in the final edit.
We then stroked the kit and drove back to school.
Overall, I absolutely loved the whole day and experience we all had shooting in such a professional environment and am really happy with the footage we got. My favourite part of the day was when we were filming the indoor scene inside the shack. It felt very professional and fun at the same time with a very satisfying outcome of having to film through the windows of the car whilst circling around the car. When it comes to editing, I am most excited about seeing how it all comes together and what the footage looks like when we review back through it.
Saul Bass was an award winning American Graphic designer and an Oscar winning filmmaker. He started producing ad campaigns and and after lots of hard work he soon became known as the pioneer for modern title sequence designing. Elaine Bass (Saul bass' wife) worked for 40 years along side Saul as she was also an extremely talented graphic designer and filmmaker.
The reason for Saul Bass being so important was that he reimagined what the start of films are and showed audiences what was coming up in the films without showing too much of the plot. This changed the course of how films were produced forever, as it was giving a little teaser for the audience to get interested.
Over Saul's time in the film industry he worked some incredibly talented directors and people that he looked up to in his early years, for example, Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick, Otto Preminger, Billy Wilder, and Martin Scorsese.
Grand Prix (1966)
Grand Prix is an American sports drama film made in 1966, and directed by John Frankenheimer. It stars James Garner, Yves Montand, Brian Bedford, Antonio Sabà to, Toshiro Mifune and many more. It was in the top 10 of the highest-grossing films of 1966 and won three Academy Awards.
The opening title sequence links with the films genre by adding tension throughout the whole scene. The joyful non diegetic soundtrack, played during the first few names shown, is instantly shattered by the F1 car engine sounds coming out of the exhaust of one of the cars.
The Font type that is shown in the exhaust, shows more seriousness and creates a more tone to the film.
From all of the cars revving up and spectators getting ready shows the film is going to be about a car race. This adds a lot of tension. The transitions used are sharp and effective as they add to the more serious tone of the the film.
The British Board Of Film Classification is an organisation that is in charge of all of the rules and regulations that studios have to stay within, to have certain age ratings on their films in the UK. A film can't be released into the cinema or onto DVD without having an age rating from the BBFC.
The BBFC have to consider many different things when rating a film for example, Violence, Sex/nudity, Self Harm, Criminal activity, Drugs Alcohol Cigarettes, Strobe lighting and a couple more. However these different reasons are measured in context, so if there are guns used in a war film then it would be a higher rating, but if there were guns used in a cartoon it would be a lot lower rating due to the fact that cartoons are noticeably fake.
'U' rating:
Suitable for Ages 4 and up recommended. Very mild violence, dangerous behaviour, language, nudity, threat, sex if any at all.
'PG' rating:
Suitable for ages 8 and over recommended but children can watch unaccompanied by and adult, if allowed by the parent. mild violence, dangerous behaviour, language, nudity, threat, sex and innuendos allowed but within reason. Nothing scary prolonged to scare the children.
'12A/12' rating:
For 12A children under the age of 12 can watch but only accompanied by an adult with their consent. For a 12 no one under the age of 12 is allowed to buy or rent the film and not recommend to watch. Mild violence, dangerous behaviour, language, nudity, threat, sex and innuendos allowed but within reason. Nothing scary prolonged to scare children.
'15' rating:
For no one below the age of 15 to watch, buy or rent. strong violence, dangerous behaviour, language, nudity, threat, sex and innuendos allowed but nothing massively prolonged and too strong.
'18' rating:
For people above the age of 18 (adults). Anything is allowed as long it is not a breach of the law.
'R18' rating:
For people above the age of 18 (adults). Anything is allowed as long it is not a breach of the law, but can only be sold with a specific license.
For our opening sequence I would give it a rating of Age 15 and above. This is due the Violence involved being prolonged and gruesome, even tho it won't involve any sex references, within the opening sequence, the fact it is prolonged violence, when it could be hidden, increases the rating. Also the fact she is being chased by an unknown on a loud motorcycle would make it too scary for it to be rated a 12.
We are making an action/horror opening sequence with a sub genre of post-apocalyptic.
How it ends (2018)
'How it ends' is about a man fighting through thousands of kilometres, in the middle of an apocalypse to get back to his pregnant wife. it is directed by David M. Rosenthal and stars Theo James, Forest Whitaker, Nicole Ari Parker, Grace Dove, Kat Graham, and Mark O'Brien.
Even though it has a completely different story line it still has some major similarities to our opening sequence.
The setting and location is the most similar as it is obviously set in an apocalyptic environment. it has also got the same colour grading that we are looking to put in ours as well (more of an orangey dusty tone).
The costumes are also very much so what we are going for as it instantly shows that the characters are trying to survive, and don’t have barely any other clothing options, due to them being so scruffy.
A shot that i am hoping to use in our opening sequence is a mid shot with a side shot of the character, when they are in the rusty shack in our sequence. i like this shot due to the background being so dark creates a fear towards the audience of not knowing what is there.
Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
Mad max is an Australian post apocalyptic film with action packed car chases and violence. It was directed by George Miller and stars Charlize Theron, Tom hardy, Nicholas Hoult, Zoe Kravitz and more.
The setting and location in Mad Max relates heavily to what we are trying to replicate in our opening sequence, not including the desert environment, but the tone and theme given to the audience.
Some props in Mad Max, for example the cars used, are very similar to some of the post apocalyptic vehicles we are likely feature within our sequence (as seen of the left here). The use of these cars instantly tells the audience that the sequence is based in a post apocalyptic environment. This is due to them being rusty and with some extreme modifications to make them stronger and more scary.
The lighting in Mad Max has also got that same lighting and more orangey tone that also adds too that post apocalyptic vibe.
This here (to the left) is a shot I would love to use in our opening sequence when the girls realises that someone is after her. It adds suspense as the audience can only see the character and not the person or thing they have just seen, another use of 'the fear of the unknown'.
Cargo (2017)
Cargo is a apocalyptic film based in Australia where a father slowly being infected by a pandemic, tries to carry his child to safety before it's too late and the infection takes over. The film is directed by Ben Howling and Yolanda Ramke, and stars Martin Freeman, Simone Landers, Lily Anne McPherson‑Dobbins, Finlay Sjoberg. By Netflix
The costumes and make up in the film is exactly what my group had in mind for our shoot, where the characters look as if they have been outside trying to survive for weeks. The clothes having rips and tears in them showing the characters have been through various tumours before we see them, for example, fallen over or even been attacked. Even the tree branch the man is holding shows he is having some kind of difficulty walking.
In our opening sequence i would absolutely love to use a shot like this to establish the area that the girl is in, but instead of being Australia, it being either an open field or in the woods somewhere depending on how it appears on camera.
The Walking Dead (2010-2022)
The Walking Dead is a TV series which has had a massive following over the last 11 yrs it has been running. It is about a zombie apocalypse were multiple survivors are roaming around struggling to survive. Over the 11 seasons that have currently been released, there has been many directors, including Frank Darabont, Michelle MacLaren, Billy Gierhart, Julius Ramsay, David Boyd and a couple more. It stars Norman Reedus, Andrew Lincoln, Melissa McBride, Lauren Cohan and many more. It was produced by AMC Studios.
The costumes and makeup in The Walking Dead are very similar to the clothing that we have bought for our actress to wear for the shoot. They look dirty and torn/ripped in places, showing that the characters are surviving in a wasteland.
Also some of the props used in The Walking Dead are exactly what we are looking into using as our killers weapon (the battle axe). The rusty look of the one in the photo (to the right) makes it look hand made and more likely to do some proper damage. The rusty look also gives of the post apocalyptic vibe as stereotypically tools, vehicles and other objects made in post apocalyptic films are made of rusty metal. The rusty metal also fits in with the rusty shack we are filming around and in, on our shoot day. So therefore connoting to the audience that the killer is related to the shack or made it from the metal of the shack.
I think all of these products fit perfectly with the genre we have chosen and add a mysterious and dusty tone to the films. Some elements from our sequence are different for example the main character being female and that it is not the same plot line, as ours follows the killer instead of the victims or ones trying to escape danger. But overall they carry the same conventions from the post apocalyptic sub genre and stereotypical traits.
As a group of 4 on Monday 28th feb we shot a shot and edited dialogue sequence to get to grips with the whole filming aspect as well as the editing in preparation for our actual shoot.Through out the whole hour we were shooting we were constantly making sure that there was consistent continuity through out the sequence, to ensure a fluent final cut and an easier job when we got onto editing it. The previous camera workshop severely helped with this process, for example knowing how to lower and raise the tri pod and also how to bubble it. These really helped with the ease of the filming process with not faffing around trying to find out what to do, but to just get on with it. We made sure that we stayed within the 180 degrees rule and to film the whole sequence through different camera angles.
We got introduced to an external shot gun mic which we used to capture the sequences audio. This is a mic that only pics up sound waves that are strait in front of it. This allows you to capture only the sound you want and wont pick up sounds behind and to the sides as easy.
When we were trying to shoot a tracking shot we kept coming across the problem of cutting Elias' head out of the shot, we solved this by having Elias walk in exactly the same place each time using some makers on the floor, this made it so much easier for me to execute the tracking shot when the same thing was being taken each take.
After reviewing the rushes we decided that for next time we would definitely make sure that we had continuity within the audio as well, not just the acting, because it lead to not being able to switch to a certain camera angle in editing when we would have liked to have done.
We then went into the editing suite above the studio and edited our shoot.
We first looked back at all of the rushes from the shoot and reviewed back and looked which ones went well and not so well. We then dropped the first shot we wanted in the edit (the wide shot) in..... after editing all of the clips together we discovered that when the clips cut to one another the sound changed to a different "buzz". So we were taught how to use audio transitions for sound, to smooth out the audio when cutting between shots.
Everything in our shoot went well apart from the whole audio continuity issue, which made it so we could use or cut to certain parts of footage when we would have liked to. On our actual shoot day we will have to definitely make sure check that we are repeating the same actions and audio sequences to help keep continuity throughout.
The target audience is the group of people that a film relates too and uses the conventions that group would like.
Studios use this to increase the chance to create a mass amount of profit by combining different genres into sub genres. This creates a massive market for a film as it brings in people that like either genre, for example Romantic Comedies bring in a male audience because of the comedy and a female audience for the romance, stereotypically. Gender has a massive impact on the target audience for a film.
A target audience also helps a studio to keep within boundaries in a film and to stick with what the audience likes and wants
