Opening Sequence: Innosense Shot List and Ideas:

Opening Sequence: Innosense Shot List and Ideas:

NOTE: Female character is vain, whenever she is in a shot her reflection is shown some way.

NOTE: Male character has a demonic side, contrast with the female character. Against himself and others because he is blind, demonic side.

Shot 1:

- Establishing shot of female characters room her in bed.

- Scenery out of focus, blurred.

- Long shot level.

Shot 2:

- Close up of an alarm clock in shot, female character out of focus.

- Female character rolls over and switches alarm clock off.

Shot 3:

- Female character gets up out of bed out of focus.

- Low angle shot of the character getting out of bed.

Shot 4:

- Character walks over to mirror and looks at her reflection (vanity is shown).

- Over the shoulder shot showing reflection but not the character.

Shot 5:

- Cuts to a shot of the male character looking into the mirror, Close up.

- Chiaroscuro lighting of the male characters eyes.

- Prop- contact lenses, makes the character look indifferent.

Shot 6:

- Establishing shot of the male characters environment.

- Slow pan of the room.

- Character out of Focus.

Shot 7:

- Male character walks away from the mirror very high angle tracking shot from above the character following him to a chair and desk.

Shot 8:

- Close up of the male characters arms on a desk moving around images of the female  character.

- Book of Braille on the desk to show that the character is blind.

- Close up of the male character hands picking up the image of the woman. Slow zoom of the image.

Shot 9:

- Zooming out of the same image in woman’s room on her bedside table. (back into the women's environment).

Shot 10:

- Medium shot of the woman's bottom half of her body walking past the image on her bedside table. (dismissive of the image).

Shot 11:

- Female character walks back to the mirror, ( casual clothes for the day)

- Doing her hair in her bedroom mirror (shows vanity).

Shot 12:

- Camera fixated on stair banister aiming down the stairs.

- Female character walks down her stairs (shallow focus).

- When female character walks out of shot, cuts to male character...

Shot 13:

- Crane shot of the male character rummaging through a box for something...

- Cuts to female character.

Shot 14:

- Long shot of the female character rummaging through her bag for something ( bottom of the staircase).

- Shows contrast between the two characters.

- Cuts back to the male character.

Shot 15:

- Male character lifts a doll object out of the box he was rummaging through.

- Close up of the doll coming out of the box and on the male characters hands, holding the doll.

- Cuts back to the female character.

Shot 16:

- Female character lifts keys out of her bag.

- Close up of the female characters hands holding keys.

Shot 17:

- Female character walking to the door.

- Sideways tracking shot of her walking to the door.

Shot 18:

- Cuts back to antagonist cutting the doll’s face.

Shot 19:

- Character walks past the mirror, with the cut on her face: only the audience can see this.

- Camera angled towards the mirror, showing character - medium shot.

Shot 20:

- Walking out of the door.

- Camera pointing to door, on a tripod medium long shot.

Shot 21:

- Shot on the house, medium shot, low angle shot.

Shot 22:

- Close up of feet/shoes, level (angle).

Shot 23:

- Extreme close up of the characters hand opening the car door.

Shot 24:

- Camera is handheld, at the back of the car - pointing towards the mirror, over the shoulder shot.

- The character screams.

Shot 25:

- The camera cuts to the antagonists hands, high angle shot.

- Drops the doll.

Shot 26:

- Extreme close up of the antagonists eyes.

Shot 27:

- Cuts to title. INNOSENSE.

Creating Characters:

Creating Characters:

For our opening sequence production we need to cast 2 characters. One killer or psychopath character is the main character of our sequence. We want to cast a white male preferably middle age as this is a consistent theme for psychopaths in horror and thriller films. The killer tends to be a white male of middle age however we would like to cast someone who naturally looks quite sinister and dark. We want to base our male characters of the inspiration characters shown. This character would be perfect for our psychopath as he looks quite cold and calculating. This character would engage our audience as he looks sinister and fits the generalization of a psychopath. The attire that our character would wear would be dark clothing such as a trench coat but also quite casual with dark jeans and a dark underlay of the coat. This will give a sense of enigma to our character as the audience will not be able to interpret much based on how he is dressed and so this will further intrigue and engage the audience. Or we would want an older actor to show that the killer has knowledge and experienced in life.Furthermore an older actor wouldn't be what the audience expects so it would give them a sense of surprise but also surround the character in enigma. If we were to cast an older actor we would want them to look in a sense like the examples below. For our other character we need to cast a young female preferably blonde. This fits the stereotype portrayed by the horror/thriller genre as the victim of the psychopath tends to be a white girl and most of the time is blonde as implemented in certain horror movies i.e scream. Our character would have to be young in contrast to the age of the psychopath. This is to show that the victim is less informed of the killers intentions and as to why he is tormenting her.The location for the filming of the female

character will consist in her home to trick the audience into thinking that she is safe but in reality the killer is able to still implement his action on her. Below is some examples of some people who we would want our female victim to look like. Our female character would b e dressed up quite casual but young to show the age difference wearing something like skinny jeans a t-shirt with a coat over the top or we would dress her to look like a girl meeting friends so quite casual as to show the audience that she is the victim, to distinguish from the killer. These are the elements or characteristics that we want our character to have or look like when casting for our opening sequence.

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Evaluation of Prelim:

Evaluation of Prelim:

The planning stages:

During the planning stage of our prelim task we all assigned each other roles to work effectively when it came to actual filming. Moreover we co-operated well together, listening to others ideas as well as contributing our own allowing us to find out about others in our groups ideas as well as compare them to our own.

How did the shot list and storyboard help you?

We each contributed our own ideas to the shot list. We all had different and creative ideas in where we wanted to shoot our prelim as well as what we wanted to do for each shot or scene. The storyboard and shot list helped us as it allowed us to plan our ideas first before we did any actual filming and thus allowed us to know what we wanted to do when we actually filmed.

Did much change between planning filming and editing?

When it came to filming our prelim we pretty much stuck to the ideas that we had planned in our storyboard and shot list. We also came up with a script to know what dialogue we would be saying in certain shots. One thing that we did change from our planning was our roles. Eventually myself and Billy became the actors for our prelim. When it came to editing our ideas changed as we didn't have an initial plan for what we wanted our piece to look like when it was all put together. When editing we wanted to add certain effects so decided to make our prelim look more serious by making it in black and white. This gave the video a sense of seriousness and made the characters look more professional.

What challenges did you face and overcome?

The only challenge that we had to face was the fact that we had a dodgy tripod. It was hard to film accurately and the way we wanted because of it so our cameraman had to have a steady hand. We also because of this filmed some shots without the tripod such as a mid shot of the secondary character in the chair. We also had trouble with digetic sound catching in our film from sound outside such as cars driving by. To overcome this we waited until it had settled down and made our environment more suitable by closing windows.

What was particularly difficult?

We found that filming in a room with another group was difficult because we had to wait for the other group to film and had to be silent when they were filming. Moreover when we were planning it was hard to stay on task but we got our ideas together and brought ourselves back on track. Whilst waiting for the other group to film in the room, we filmed any shots we could that were not in the room like the high angle and low angle shot on the stairs.

What has it made you think about for your main task?

Planning, filming and editing the prelim had made us think about various things for our main task. We need to think about the location that we are going to set our main task in as well as the actors that we are going to use. Moreover we need to think about the lighting to add effect as well as plan what editing techniques we are going to include when it comes to editing the video. Above all we need to think about time management. Things like how long we are going to want to plan and how long we are going to be filming for as well as the length of time that we are going need to spend on editing. These are the things that we need to focus on when it comes to the main task.

Have your skills developed in anyway?

One skill I have developed working on this prelim is my editing as well as applying editing techniques. I have learnt new skills such as applying and orientating text, as well as cutting shots together at different lengths. These skills that I have learnt through editing will help when filming and editing our main task.

Is there anything you will not do now in your main task?

We will make sure when it comes to continuity editing that our scenes are cut together tight in order to make our sequence look professional and not look sloppy. We will also make sure that the sound effects that we use fit the sequence, not sounds which don'f fit what we are trying to evoke or convey.

What ideas has it inspired for your main task?

We have been inspired for our main task to use montage editing in our final piece to confuse our audience as well as take them on a journey but make them unsure of what they are seeing adding elements of suspense and tension to convey our sequence as a thriller.

Storyboard for Prelim Task

Targeting an audience- how we are going to engage our target audience

Targeting an audience-How we are going to engage our target audience.

In this video post we talk about how we as a group plan to engage our target audience with our opening sequence through our ideas as well as techniques that we will be using such as different sound devices and camerawork.

Prelim task Script and Shot list:

Prelim task Script and Shot list:

• Enter scene with a low angle shot. Reverses to a high angle shot then into an over the shoulder shot of the male character approaching the door. Then cuts to a high front shot of the door being opened, demonstrating a shot reverse shot as the character walks through the door.
• Character approaches the table and sits down.
• "I know you have the answers"
• Second character being filmed from opposite side of the main character showing a mid shot of the body downwards. Second character spins round on his chair.
• "The answers to what?" (says the second character)
• "The maths exam" (dialogue exchanged between the main and second character)
• Use of a shot reverse shot again between their conversation. 180 degree rule being demonstrated during the shot reverse shot of the characters conversation.
• "Disclose this with no one" (the second character says)
• Throws a 'top secret' file across the table from an over the shoulder shot, then cuts to a close up of the file (signifying importance of the file)
• "Thanks" (character one)
• Final shot: Two shot of the two characters for brief second. First character gets p and walks out of shot with the file. Sequence end

Exploration of Narrative Theories

Exploration of Narrative Theories

The purpose of a film production/sequence is that it needs to attract the audience and appeal to their interests.This is similar with an opening sequence of a production as it needs to engage the audience's attention and appeal to them to keep them interested as to what's going on. 

There are two structures of a narrative:

Linear structure- This means that the story of the production is being told in order or chronologically. 

Non Linear structure- This means that the story's order is mixed and isn't being told chronologically. This is often shown through the use of montage editing.

There are two devices of a narrative:

Restricted- This means that we the audience only know as much or less than the main character. Less information is presented allowing us to make assumptions. Over the shoulder, close ups and point of view shots illustrate this device really well.

Omniscient- This means that the audience know more than the character. Use of long shots and extreme long shots allows us as the audience to see everything and interpret the narrative.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cifPv4QWTH0&safe=active (Memento opening scene)

• Non linear structure the clip is played in reverse showing the characters actions backwards, e.g the gun returning to the bullet after previously being fired.
• Point of view shot is used showing us that it is restricted. We do not know what's going on and only know as much as the character knows. Gives a sense of enigma as we don't know what is going on in the scene, we can only guess or interpret. 

Vladimir Propp's character theory: (thriller example Se7en)- see full synopsis or film

• The hero- Detective Somerset (Morgan Freeman). His job in the production is to uncover why the killer is killing people and to catch him and stop him.
• The Villain-(serial killer) opposes the hero who is trying to stop him. Makes things hard for the hero through killings of victims.

Tzvetan Todorov equilibrium theory: (thriller example the strangers)- see full synopsis or film

• The male protagonist and the female protagonist start of happy with a normal life enjoying themselves. The state of normality is disrupted by the psychopaths who are tormenting them through messages and violent assaults. Leaving the equilibrium of the protagonists lives unbalanced.
• Attempted repair occurs as the protagonists try to fight off the and remove the unbalance caused by the psychopaths. They attempt to flee to stop the unbalance.
• New equilibrium- the protagonists are killed leaving them away from the violence and torment with their lives at an end. New equilibrium from the psychopaths as they disappear leaving the violence behind them. State of normality for the psychopaths with a twist of the protagonists being killed, ending the normality of their lives.

Barthes' Codes: (thriller example Shutter Island)

• Enigma codes surround the main character (Leonardo Dicaprio) he is a mysterious detective who the audience do not know much about. Therefore the audience are able to connote certain things about this character and decode certain things about him. 
• Not only with the character but the location used in the opening sequence of the clip. The audience can denote that the director has set the production somewhere isolated but creepy like an asylum making the audience feel slightly insecure.