"True Blood." An inspiring title sequence.

http://www.artofthetitle.com/

I believe the opening of this sequence if very effective. It’s fast paced and energetic which sets the sense of anxiety and pressure already by the start. They set the scene at the beginning which already creates a slight derelict and mysterious image and then go onto adding characters and imagery into the sequence. They way they jump from each shot is done well, jumping from filming done by a hand held camera to a steady camera shot back to a hand held camera shot creates a sense of discomfort and unease. During these jump shots quick flashes of images which can’t be identified but are presented as something daunting and frightening come up which also give you a sense of uneasiness. They present images of a disturbing nature which includes the rotting of the fox which is disgusting and distressing. They also manipulate time and edit the sequence well which creates tension and suspense. The contrast of all the different images that represent different ideas forms a feeling of confusion and uncertainty but also grabs the audience’s attention and makes them want to understand. Scenes of violent nature are also presented in contrast to scenes of sexual and culture nature which adds impact. They make images e.g. the child licking his lips with red juice all over his mouth be seen in a different way where the red juice is seen as blood. They have managed to grab certainly my attention to the film by not revealing too much information and making me want more and see more.

The Treatment

“Asylum” is the name of our production we will be filming. The sequence is based upon a family with two children whom are moving into an old house which used to be a metal asylum which is not known to them. The estate agent that is selling the house to them is married to an intellectual psychopath who is living underneath the house together joined with mental patients and knows everything. The reason for this is due to that fact that the mental patients need human flesh which they are attempting to get from the people who are buying the house.
We the audience experience disturbing footage of the house and what it used to be like. We experience sudden flash backs of the house and the events that occurred in the house. The whole sequence will be filmed by a hand held camera (video camera) used by the Dad. This will create more tension and make it more realistic. He will be walking around the house into rooms and down the corridors showing the camera the new house but as he enters that these spaces sudden flash backs of what a dreadful and disturbing place it used to be like will jump back. However, the family don’t see this footage and only we the audience know what’s going on. This makes it more frustrating and creates tension. We experience tragic and dramatic events that happened in the house which included: the escape of the mental asylums, the mental asylums being chained to chairs, abusing the doctors and nurses, them running around madly attempting and sometimes killing people. After adventuring around the house, having seen lots of flash backs of alarming imagery the last shot will be of a metal asylum escaping the house chasing a nurse trying to kill them. They will run into the camera to add anxiety and nervousness then the title will come up, “Asylum.”

Target Audience Profile

Our film is targeted at male and female ages 16-24. Our ideal profile audience type would be an 18 year old boarding school male. This male would enjoy sport activities such as rugby and football and is good at socialising. At the weekends he enjoys going clubbing and meeting new people. He would enjoy all types of music including: Hip hop, rnb, indie, alternative and would be open to listen to any other genres. Films he would enjoy watching would be action and comedy films such as: Saw, 28 days later, Saving private Ryan, Disturbia, Fight club and The Butterfly effect. The male would get pleasure from watching Southpark, Family Guy, Skins, Scrubs, Friends and all sport channels as he is interested in rugby and football. This would be our ideal audience.

There is plenty of detailed evaluation here, Imi, which demonstrates your understanding of this process. It would be useful to have some sense of the 'real' film products which have influenced you and shaped your thinking for the main task.

James

"Momentum" Previous Hurtwood Thrillers

"Momentum" Previous Hurtwood Thrillers Evaluation

From the beginning this sequence already gives you a sense of eeriness, mystery and confusion. Many shots are either extreme close ups or close ups on random objects which sometimes cant be identified. This creates suspense as you don't know what these objects are but you want to know. The dark and dim lighting gives away little identity of the character which creates even more tension combined with the continuous sound of the clock ticking which adds suspense and makes you feel like your waiting for something which in the end is the gun shot. I found the build up to the climax had been done well, however the actual part when he shoots himself, the sound effect is poor and not effective. The sound should be much louder and realistic.

"Stare" Previous Hurtwood Thrillers

"Stare" Previous Hurtwood Thrillers Evaluation

This sequence was filmed by previous Hurtwood Students. Already at the beginning of the sequence tension is high due to the emptiness and eeriness of the location, the changeable lighting and the non-diegetic sounds. Its everyone's nightmare to be on a train by yourself at night and for something to happen like that which makes it even more intense and scary for the people who are watching. There is no talking either in the whole sequence which creates suspense as well as the loud eerie sounds which create tension and confusion. They build up the tension well before seeing the girl, but I feel when we do see the girl we see her for too long which dampened the excitement and mystery. However, the final cut at the end makes me want to go out and see this film as it leaves you wanting more.

My Preliminary task film

Preliminary Task Overview

I am very happy with my outcome of the filming. I feel I managed to grasp the task well and use what I have learnt previously to better use. However, there are a few things I would have changed. First of all I would have liked to have more variety of shots to choose from. For example, we only had one take of Mell walking in to the room which didn’t give us much choice and wasn’t as effective as if could have been. I also think I needed to take more care over the continuity to make the film more realistic and so the sound and lighting don’t vary. I would have also liked to have more shots of shot/reverse shot of the conversation so the viewers could become more involved in the film and conversation.
We had some issues with the sound and making sure the sound e.g. the door slamming happened at the right point. If we had more time I would have liked to have pre-recorded the main sounds and then link them up with the action after. This would have made it more effective and the sound would have sounded more realistic. I could have also made sure that the microphone was positioned correctly and facing towards the sound.
Overall I believe the preliminary task went well and the mistakes I have learnt in previous tasks have been accounted for. Even though a few still did occur we managed to over come them and I was very happy with the end result.