Casting Options

After emailing my brother and his band I found out that we can not use them for the shoot day because of their work and other commitments therefore we kept with our original plan of using the chosen cast members from our school. However, unfortunately Ben was not able to make the shoot day due to important commitments so we decided on trying Alfie instead. He does also fit the specification of the character therefore it doesn't really make too much of a difference. Maybe it's better because other wise we will have all brunette males and we need some variation. Also, Alfie is a good guitar player therefore it will be easier to keep along with the track and the syncing will look more realistic. I am happy with this decision and the cast list is looking good. I am excited to see what happens on the day!

Casting Options

We decided to consider using the actual band members of 'Pandora Fox' to use as the case which would be very useful as they are familiar with the song and they have the look we are going. At this stage it is only an option but it would be useful. We are still thinking about using the cast members we have chosen however if the band members are available it would make things that bit more realistic and effective.
The band is actually my brother and cousins band so it is easy to use it as it isn't copyright. It also allows me to contact him easily.
Here is the email I sent to him asking him if there would be a possibility of him being in the thriller:

When he replies we can begin to work out what option is best and whether or not they could act it well enough.

Research Into the Band rehearsal section

For our band rehearsal section we needed to research how to make a music video. Although it's technically not a music video, it's still a band rehearsing a separate song we have chosen therefore we want it to look like they are rehearsing the song. Therefore I looked in lip syncing and how we would shoot the section regarding the play back etc. We will basically have to treat this section of the scene as a music video.

Lip syncing:

I researched how to lip sync a video and although this is a short video, it gives us enough information to lip sync audio with the rehearsal to make it look like the actors are actually playing the song. In our case we will be using the song 'Bird On The Wire' for our band to rehearse to.

How to make the music video: Planning and Shooting

Shooting the music video

• Record the track that you are playing back on set as you shoot. This scratch track will help you synchronize the shots with the clean track in post-production.
• Instruct the singer to sing properly – no half-hearted singing or, worse, miming. If they mumble or mime, it will not look right when you lay the shots against the song, because the tension and movements of the face and body will not be consistent with the sound of the song. They must sing as if you were making a real recording of the song.
• Remember that recording the singer while you shoot and using that copy of the song for the music video is not an option. It simply doesn’t work. You need the definitive recording of the track before you shoot, and the singer must match it exactly. It takes a little practice, and as the director, it is your job to make sure it is being done properly
• Shoot plenty of angles, and make sure that most angles cover the entire song. If you do not shoot enough angles of the whole song, the final edit of the video might be too slow.
• You should also shoot plenty of cutaways, also known as B-roll shots. Use these to give some variety to the video. Some directors intercut performance or dance routine shots with random cuts to shots in which the singer is neither singing nor dancing, but doing something vaguely relevant to the music video’s theme. This jump cut technique is usually disastrous in movies, unless it is used to achieve a specific effect, but it works nicely in music videos.
• It is inefficient to shoot complicated and time-consuming setups that only cover a small part of the song – don’t schedule too many of these.

Editing the music video

• Review all the takes and choose your favourite take for every shot. In practice, you may prefer different sections from different takes. That’s okay, providing of course that there is a cutaway between the two clips.
• Use the waveform picture in your editing application to align the scratch track with the master copy of the track. In this way you will achieve perfect synchronization between sound and picture. Having synchronized the video clips with the track, disable the scratch sound tracks, but don’t delete them from the timeline, because you might need them again later. In this way when you scrub the timeline you will only hear the master track and you will see your music video take shape.
• A nice trick I have used to edit a music video efficiently is to place all the selected clips on the timeline, one above the other on stacked video tracks. They must all be in their correct positions relative to the song, i.e. they must all be synchronized – except, of course, for the cutaways, which can be placed wherever you like.
• To cut from one shot to another, you simply use the razor tool and delete all clips above the one you want. In this way you cut the video without having to drag and drop clips, because that step was taken care of when you synchronized your selected clips with the song. In this way you are effectively switching view from one angle to another, a bit like real-time editing of TV shows. This technique is not applicable to movies, but works very nicely when editing music videos.

Stylistic coherence

• One of the characteristics of high-end music videos is their high level of visual and stylistic coherence.
• Very simply, that means that every shot in those music videos looks like it was designed, lit and directed by the same person. This makes the whole music video gel together very well.
• The importance of this is that many music videos for which I am asked to give feedback tend to lack visual coherence: the shots in the music video do not match particularly well in terms of art direction and lighting, and the music videos just don’t feel like a coherent whole.

However, we don't need to worry so much about the effects as we are just filming a band rehearsal and we would like to make it as realistic as possible.


I looked into the film 'Freaky Friday' that involves a scene where they rehearse with their band and it is a very similar concept we are going for. We will try to go for the kind of look of the scene regarding the way they look like they are genuinely playing the song where they are most likely playing over a backing track. They are also in a garage which is the setting we are looking at so we can use the same kind of shots as they are.

Choosing the song

When it came to choosing the appropriate song we needed to really think about what kind of genre we were going for as we realised this would determine everything about the thriller: the theme, the feel and style of actors however it is only the opening therefore the atmosphere of it could change as film went on. We considered a pop type genre but didn't really look into any specific songs. This led onto the idea of using of pop/rock kind of song and immediately I offered to use my brothers bands song as that would mean we wouldn't need to waste time asking for permission to use it and not being sure. I immediately knew he would let me use it so I was fine with checking with him face to face. Being able to have my brothers song straight away allowed us to move past this stage pretty swiftly which was very useful time wise. 

So, we had the band and now we needed to choose the most suitable song of theirs. I played the group a few 'Pandora Fox' songs and in the end it was between these two songs:

They were pretty certain with 'Bird On The Wire' however did enjoy the others. This was the song that just stood out and we decided it was perfect for our thriller. We got a lot of inspiration from the videos already made regarding the fashion sense, type of shots and style of it all. This allowed us to push through to the planning of the rest of the opening.

Research Into Fight Scenes

This was done by Ben:

To gain an understanding on how we would make the fight scene achievable we researched into the fight scenes looking at large budget films and their fight sequences and small budget, and large budget TV fight sequences. 

Ways to shoot the sequence:

• The fight is shot in many small pieces; In movies you can see how camera always changes many positions during fight scenes. The camera position faces so that the fist blocks the view of impact, finding the right angles is key to make the sequence seem as realistic as possible actors keep the distance between them so actually there is no real contact between them, The sound and the impact effects are added later on.

• Each scene is reviewed to make sure that actor that gets hit timed accordingly to the first actor that is hitting him so that it looks believable to a viewer. Also actors can perform parts of the fight in slow motion to make the best timed hits and other complicated awesome moves, It is edited and fixed later on so it looks like real time.

• Decide what kind of fight you want it to be. It can either be a classic kung fu fight like the Bruce Lee, Matrix movies, Krav Maga like Bourne Ultimatum or Boxing like Rocky (realistic, real life fight scenes).

This fight scene from X Men is in slow motion and is extremely effective. It is an a alternative way of approaching a fight scene which works well but would be so hard to shoot:

Here is a more natural fight scenes and more usual. They are still very effective however require a lot of camera and acting skills. We would need to look into this technique more as this would suit our kind of thriller:

• Make sure that the person you cast, if not having had training in that particular martial art, can at least pull off some of the moves. If you are shooting a kung fu fight, make sure the person can pull off high kicks and knows at least a couple of takedowns, etc. If he doesn't, get someone who has trained in the art to teach him
• Max is physically fit and has good agility so will work well

• While shooting, do not make the fight continuous. Create pauses in the fight after every few seconds and register the fighters expressions by zooming into his face etc 
• To make it realistic we need to see him feel the impact and react

• Make sure you have some funky moves in your fight. Only boxing punches in a fight is really boring. Include the high kicks frequently, the takedown now and then.
• Use the variety of punches and kicks to show the severity of the fight

• Make sure you film the fight from all angles possible. Choose a suitable setting and make sure the fight is performed throughout the setting for e.g. the street or the garage
• Use all the angles to give punches certain impacts

This video involves an extremely intense fight however includes a range of cool shots we can consider in our title sequence:

• Use handheld camera and vocalize reaction this means it gives the shots a more realistic look it also means you can cheat the audience the shaking and fuzziness at impact means we never see any punches land. Vocalizing the reactions means it will heighten the drama of the sequence.
• Getting the reactions on the day and then putting them in over the top when editing

“So you’ve got a stunt pilot and two stuntman who have to be on rigs. What you have to do there is you have to choreograph the fight. So a large section is outside the body of the helicopter as well as inside. You can’t put Daniel Craig, in a flying helicopter. It’s too dangerous. You have to create rigs. But the helicopter is spinning, then it’s barrel rolling, then corkscrewing, then it’s looping the loop. That needs three different hydraulic rigs, because you have to make a static helicopter move in three different ways. So immediately, that’s four different sections. You’ve got the live helicopter, which has to be shot by another helicopter. You have two helicopters flying in the square, one shooting and one that’s spinning, with stuntmen in it. Then you’re cutting in and out to a series of different rigs, The real helicopter is shot with nine different cameras from all around the square, as well as the camera off the other helicopter. Then you’ve got people underneath. You have stuntmen underneath, that have to be added in post. What you’re doing is knitting together sections you’ve shot seven months apart, with different people on different rigs, so it looks absolutely effortless and completely coherent. And it’s tricky!” 

                 - Sam Mendes

Talking about filming the opening of the new James Bond film Spectre. A large budget film has many options and has long schedules to film complex fight scenes. This is how they achieve visual masterpieces. The suits one punch is achieved simply by changing camera angles having a straight cut to the other side of the face of the guy being punched. With good reactions this punch looks very realistic also the dubbed sound effect of the impact of the punch helps to further highlight the punch. The small budget opening titles, The Hurtwood Media 2014 piece ‘food chain’ effectively manages to film a fight scene by using the handheld camera to make the beating seem more violent, Also slamming the hands into the garage door provides a vocal reaction and then once the boy is on the floor the added visual effect of the fake blood helps to show the brutality of the beating showing a during and after reaction to make it seem realistic.

The targets to seek when knocking someone out would be the temples, top of the head and ridgeline of the chin.

Top of the head: Often referred to as the “crown shakra” in many arts and yoga, the top of the head is a vulnerable place of the body. It is the last area of the skull to form after we are born and thus the weakest in terms of structure. A heavy blow to any region in this area can start an internal chain reaction of bleeding that can pressurize the brain and cause concussion or death. This impact can result in long-term damage that is often not noticed immediately. It’s what doctors often refer to as shocks to the brain and can come from any major impact to the skull area. This is why many competitions have strict rules around attacking the head/skull region of the opponent.

Temples: Located along the sides of the forehead, behind the eyes. The temples are a common weak point of the body and a major pressure point. When we feel headaches, often they are located or associated with the temples. Thus a common technique to relieve that headache is to rub the temple area. Likewise, a strike to this area can cause a person to blackout. 

Ridge of the chin: The ridge between the ear and the chin are filled with vital pressure points that link the head to the rest of the body. Pressure applied to the jawbone with the palm of the hand can actually alter or guide the opponent to whatever direction desired.  

Location Options

The location can obviously make or break the sequence therefore we had to really consider what we wanted to go for. I researched into the different places we can go and worked out if they would be suitable. Because we were told to go closer to school and save time I thought we may as well go on school grounds to make things easier.

Pre Production: Costume

We have looked at different examples of music videos that the year above at our school have done. We chose one, which actually Max is in, to be inspired by costume wise. We like the look that Max Boast and Thomas have in the video ''Jungle''. The boy singing is Max Boast who is gonna be the main actor and character of this thriller. We want our band to have the same kind of look as him and the drummer. However, I think the guitarist looks like an outcast with his rock kinds of t- shirt so we will go away from that kind of idea.

We found a picture of a band that will be quite useful for our costume ideas. The guy on the very left is more of an idea of the style we are going for however the rest do sort of fit the ideal. This costume would add a good feel to the opening as it immediately gets a taste of the characters personalities as you can see what they like and how much effort they make.

We also considered this option however,  we thought it was too rocky and that most audiences would rather sympathise with more with people from their first image then the second one. Also my group and I wanted to create our own kind of style. This gothic band sort of style is too cliché and heavy.

Costume design is one of the most important factors in the filmmaking industry. Along with the script, actors and music, the clothing and various costumes worn throughout a film have a very important role to fulfill. They can make the characters interesting and believable, sad or funny, good or evil, and they can greatly influence-sometimes at a subconscious level-how the audience sees the characters that wear them.

Pre- Production: Props

We are going to need to consider props for the important key scenes like the garage scene and the fight scene:

Garage scene -

• Cigarette buds on ashtrays and filters lying around to show they all smoke and are into drugs. It will also show their uncleanliness. 

• Record discs, to show their clear love of music.

• Musical instruments (guitars, drums, microphones, wires)

• Cushions for the couch which needs to be very ragged and torn just to enhance the rough atmosphere

• Beer cans scattered around the room and general drinks showing their love of alcohol and usual musician life style. It would be cool if they were crushed as well.

Overall our job is to make this garage look dirty, letting the audience know and understand that this is where they practice their music, hang, chill and their main place to enjoy each others company; it is basically their little haven.

The band scene practice in the garage of the movie " Freaky Friday" has inspired me. I want the same kind of setting, however this is a girl based band and we know girls are way more tidier then guys. So take this exact setting, throw in a bunch of clothes everywhere, some beers on the table, a few posters, a big amplifier and some other stuff and this will be our garage.

Pre Production Planning: Storyboard

Below is our first draft for our storyboard:

Pre Production: Narrative Action

• Max picks up beer

• The band prepare to practise their song ‘Bird On The Wire’

• Callum begins the song, bringing the beat in on the drums and chews gum aggressively 

• Max gets ready to start singing and shows his frustration towards Callum, the drummer, as he has been getting the song wrong

• Max briefly checks the takeaway menu and throws it down in frustration 

• Alfie sorts out his amp as he is about to play the guitar in their practise

• The band begin to rehearse their song properly as they are all in the swing of things

• They reach the end of the beginning of the song and Callum messes up his little break/solo section as he just enters in his own world and forgets what they had practised previously

• Max tells the band to stop playing and to take a break as he is so annoyed by Callum’s mistake

• Callum gets equally as annoyed and gets his phone out, shaking his head with irritation

• Alfie sits down and takes a drink, trying to avoid the tension between Callum and Max and just just starts to practise on his guitar

• Max sits down on the couch and picks up his beer just to try calm down and relax for a moment

• Max gets an unexpected text from a random number and has no idea who it is

• He panics and follows the directions of the text: call the number

• He picks up his jacket and walks outside just to get some privacy whilst phoning the number 

• He zips up his jacket when he finds somewhere to place his beer

• The he walks away from the garage to have some silence

• The attacker begins to follow Max very closely and has been hiding behind the garage all this time

• It then becomes clear that he was the one who sent the text and this whole situation was planned out in his mind

• Max is just about to ring the number when the attacker swings a baseball bat on his head

• Max passes out and is seriously injured

Pitch Feedback

Our feed back we received from our final pitch: 

• Lay off the drugs-doesn't appeal to some audience members

• Make sure it isn't just speaking to one specific audience- create a wider audience range. 

• Choose a suitable song for the band to be practicing, only a snippet

• Try and keep the location of the shoot close- we don't have that much time

• Find a quote, which is a truism and link it e.g. 'Some old bastard said about 100 years ago that history doesn't repeat its rhymes' talking about Winston Churchill

• Find someone well know from the music world

How we approached these changes:

• We left the drug idea and decided to just have cigarettes and alcohol around the place instead of the musicians smoking them. This would distract them and cause the focus to be on irrelevant things

• We decided on going for a large age group even as big as a 20 year span of ages

• We researched into songs we could do and decided on rock/pop music probably 'Pandora Fox'. We chose the song 'Bird On The Wire' as it is easy to get permission from them and it is a cool, rocky kind of song, which is what we are going for

• We decided on something even in school grounds maybe or in one of the boarding houses so its not to hard to get there. We left the Camberley idea and places too far away so that we get use of as much of the time we can get

• We found a usain bolt quote that will fit well, 'It's always a wake-up call to get beaten'. Even though he isn't from the music world he is still an inspirational sportsman 

• Thought about different handheld shots we could do e.g. around the faces, moving around instruments 

Final Idea Pitch

Pre production ideas from hurtwoodhousemedia5

What Is a Thriller?

To help with understanding what we were actually asked to produce I wanted to research what a thriller actually technically consisted of. This will help me develop a lot of the further factors that involve making my thriller extremely exciting and unusual.

An Ideal Character & Location list

Character list:

Main character:

Sex- male

Age- 18 Size- 5’9-6’2

Ethnicity- white Look/style- Grungy (medium-long hair, chilled, Standard)

Cast possibilities: Joe Hellman, Max Boast

Drummer:

Sex- male

Age- 18

Size- 5’7-5’11

Ethnicity- white

Look/style- Rocky (long hair, rock look)

Cast possibilities: Callum, Ben

Guitarist:

Sex- male

Age- 18

Size- 5’8-6’0

Ethnicity- white

Look/style- (short hair, standard look)

Cast possibilities: Orlando, Alfie

Hit man:

Sex- Male

Age- 20-25

Size- 5’8-6’3

Ethnicity- white

Look/style- bulky (physically fit, clean cut look)

Cast possibilities: Adam Grant

LOCATIONS:

Lock-up garage - somewhere that is a suitable size to fit a band in and all the instruments and also space to be able to move the camera around so that we don't need to limit our shots. It needs to have an element of 'grunginess' to it and it would be ideal for it not to be too attractive to fit in the band rehearsal theme.

Street - somewhere quite quiet so that we don't have members of the public constantly walking past and perhaps interrupting. Also somewhere slightly creepy just to add to the tension of the thriller.

Thriller Idea Development

Here is a journey of our first couple of production meetings that allowed us to establish what we were going to begin to develop. I am looking forward to seeing the result of our developed out come.

My Ideas

                       

Post Prelim Production

After my group finished our shooting we needed to do edit the clips together to create one final piece. We split into groups within our main group and I worked with Ashen to create the short scene.To begin with we looked through our different shots and decided which ones to use for different sections. We found that we had accidentally included bits in the studio that wasn't in the set so what we should have done was cut out the top area of the frame. This would have made the scene more realistic to watch. However, we had to use what we had.
We started with our establishing shot which was intended not to include the dead body on the floor on the left of the shot. This restricted the proxemics however it created a mysterious feel to the scene. We then put the different shots together that roughly matched the story board we were given and which had believable continuity. We discussed how we could make it unusual and even more effective and we decided to use shots where the character that was talking wasn't focused on. This evoked the reality of the scene as we would generally be focused on the other characters reaction, not the character who is talking.
We came up with a really effective ending as the shots change rapidly until a black out occurs. This all happens whilst the audience discover the body we were focusing on the whole time.My overall understanding of the post production process improved as I learnt how to think out side the box and to think about things that would create more of an eerie atmosphere. I also began to think about the continuity of the scene and how I can alter timings in the shot to create a more realistic piece.

Completed Prelim Task

 

Prelim Task: Storyboard

In the session we had to create a short scene using a story board, we separated into groups of 4 and designated different roles for each person, I acted. My group used a Canon 5D to shoot and I was happy with this as it is quite an easy one to use and is easily manouvred around. We used the main studio so we had more space to shoot and we had a mini set that we used- a small fireplace area.  

Our idea to begin with was two people looking down at a vulnerable man, which the camera doesn't look at until the end, and one actor forcing the other one to stab him. The tension built at the end when one actor, myself, walked towards it slowly with a knife, drawing it up slowly. As I walked out the camera shows the body and the body is revealed.

We started off with our main establishing shot so the audience could understand the situation and then we followed the story board. Each time we shot we had to act out the whole thing again so that when we edit we can achieve believable continuity. When we completed the main shots we had to follow we added our own over the shoulder shots, extra close ups and other shots that added to the drama and made the task slightly more unusual.

                    

Actual coursework task

Video

Preliminary exercise: Continuity task involving filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. This task should demonstrate match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180-degree rule.

Main task: the titles and opening of a new fiction film, to last a maximum of two minutes.

All video and audio material must be original, produced by the candidate(s), with the exception of music or audio effects from a copyright-free source. Both preliminary and main tasks may be done individually or as a group. Maximum four members to a group.

Work of Kyle Cooper that stood out to me:

'Dawn of the Dead'

In contrast, 'Dawn of the Dead' stood out to me due to the graphic and shocking shots used in small flashes It also gives a sense of fear and looks very bloody meaning it is more of a thriller film. The dark colours used hints death and a sense of despair. The blood reds and the unpleasant colours bring out the uncomforting feel in the film. The use of short shots and flashes of different disturbing images creates an effect in which draws the viewer in.

The work of Kyle Cooper that stood out to me:

'Betwitched'

I liked the movement of this opening sequence and I liked the colours used. I liked the midnight blue colour as it contrasts with the black that outlined the city.This stood out to me because of the sparkles formed and the overall delicateness of the movement. It generally looked pretty to watch however there is an edge to it that attracts me to it. The graphics made the line of sparkles forming the word come out of the screen making it effective to watch.

Introduction to Kyle Cooper:

                        

Opening Sequence Analysis: 'Blade Runner'

The opening starts with a mysterious sound track that causes an immediate suspense and builds tension right from the start. It also notifies the audience it is most likely going to be a serious, action packed, intense film. When the main names of the companies who are presenting the film come on there is a dramatic bomb like sound which is very deep and impactful. This draws the audiences attention to the names and makes them seem very important; they ultimately want the audience to notice the names with this sound affect. They also bring the same 

sound affect on when they show the name of the film. It is in exactly the same font how ever in red. This affect creates quite a bloody image and quite dark. It links the film to danger, blood, fighting and action. Also the difference in colour makes the tile stand out which is the idea. The way they have made it the same as the titles, font wise, is effective because it is only subtle. It makes the titles more mysterious and it seems like there is something suspicious going on. The opening sequence carries on with nothing going on in the background, just black, and with the mysterious, dramatic but at the same time emotional, sound track going on in the background. It then starts with background knowledge of the film and context so the audience understand what is happening and get a taste of what to expect. They have the word 'Replicant' in red which links that word to the title. Then the audience would question it and think perhaps how the 'robot evolution.. identical to humans' are going to cause something in the film. All kinds of assumptions can be made by the audience in terms of the story line of the film. This is effective as it leaves the audience wanting more and keeps them watching the rest of the film.

The setting and date of the film is then displayed in a large, clear font on the screen so the audience can understand exactly what is going on. Films don't usually do this as they usually only use an establishing shot however this film is set in the future therefore the audience need to know this; it would take them a while to get it however they could assume this through the use of robots etc. in the film. It does then open with an interesting establishing shot, using a drone to fly through the city and to be able to capture the whole city view and atmosphere. The moving of the shot is affective as it builds tension. This is supported with the sound track getting louder and building all the while the drone is moving. They could've also perhaps used a helicopter or something able to fly. The fire coming out of the buildings is all special effects and this is effective as it adds drama and shows how there going to be some war events going on- leaving the audience wanting to see what is actually going on. There are also sound effects of fire explosions which emphasises the fires impact on the city. Throughout these next couple of shots there are strange flying space craft looking machines which brings into context the time and era of the film- it is clearly way in the future. An eye is shown just before this shot and therefore it demonstrates a point of view, perhaps some kind of creature looking over the city. There are still sci-fi kind of sound affects that make the audience drawn to where the carera is flying over and the happening around the buildings. There are lots of colours and the picture has been enhanced to make it more aesthetically pleasing.

The human eye is very effective as it contains all the lights of the city reflected in the Iris. This captures the explosions in detail but at the same time from someones perspective. The eye doesn't blink one showing how it is watching and taking note of the setting. Perhaps the human is wanting to stop bad things going on or is planning on something. I especially like the way the explosion curves round the iris maybe suggesting the destruction of human. A victory sound track is played in the background when the camera drown in a angle looking up to the building suggesting it has high levels of prestige and importance. It then cuts to this colour graded shot of blue inside the building which creates a cold,  mysterious, eerie atmosphere with one man standing alone, with little detail due to the mist in the room. The character seems to be smoking or using chemicals as smoke is coming up of from in front of him.  The audience are left with wanting to find out who that character is and why he is standing in a smokey room. Perhaps it is his high shown previously and he has all these cunning plans. Or could he be the baddy in the film? Who knows? The creepiness and eeriness of the room suggests this but who knows.                                                                              

Opening Sequence Analysis: 'Se7en'

The beginning is in a montage format as many shots are played creating tension and an interest from the viewer however, the montage isn't done in a chronological order therefore it twists the rules of a montage; they usually create a story. Due to it being made up of a montage, the shots are fairly short (sometimes in slow motion reflecting the slow beat in the music particularly at the beginning). The majority of the short shots are disturbing images that gives hint onto roughly what will happen in the film e.g. the blood, crossing out the identity of people etc.

 The points In which reflect the idea of dehumanisation and hiding regional identity are sometimes slowed down so the reader can really take in what is happening and read what is being crossed out by the actor. The montage is made up of the makings of something and research done into this creation. It creates an anticipation and a need to see what happens next. As the sequence builds up and gets faster towards the end, there is a stain on the audience as they don't know what to expect, only knowing that it is going to be a dark, tense film.

There are many different transitions and different fades e.g. cross fades, fade to back or straight cuts. The fades give a creepy feel and reflect the overall darkness of the film as it is a horror. It also creates a sombre tone as it links in with slow motion. This allows the audience to be groped into the opening. To add to this, some shots flicker and mix in with the titles on the screen creating an eerie feel and it generally adds interesting effects on the strange shots. The opening sequence consists of only close-ups with a depth of field to them. Only the actions of the actor are shown which hides their identity and makes the audience wonder what kind of person he is and intentions. The viewer will immediately aim to guess the intentions but not in full confidence. Because of the lack of identity and an established setting, there are no long shots or mid shots in the sequence. Most of the shots are still, focusing the audience on the context of the shot and the main focus. The depth of field on the close-up shots focus on the objects and bring into context their importance and what is happening on them e.g. the book, the pen, the drawings etc.

The objects reflect what could happen in the film therefore have a significance in the opening. It also adds to the tension. The titles that are written up resemble hand writing, made with ink and a fountain pen. The font is quite unusual and strange adding to the atmosphere of the sequence and fitting in with the crooked breaks in the short shots. It also adds a suspicion of the investigation and what the character is planning on. The text is white so it appears more boldly against the black background. 

All of the shots are dark and eerie reflecting a serious, dull, suspicious feel. Throughout the opening the main characters identity isn't shown once however we begin to find out a lot about him through the setting, his props and what he is doing with them. The is effective as it captures the audience into the film and all we want to find out is the purpose of this character.