Our final opening title sequence

OUR FINAL OPENING TITLE SEQUENCE - 672 HOURS 

Our opening title sequence shows an opening to a cruel and frightful life that an innocent girl has been living for a long, life-threatening month. Ruby, the protagonist in our opening title sequence, has fought to live, whilst in brutal conditions, locked away by her anonymous abductor.

Please use the following link to YouTube to see our film if the quality present is dissatisfactory. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdEHNfDSwqI

Makeup done on the filming days

We spent about half an hour on each of our filming days, creating the 'battered and bruised' look on Ruby's face.
Grace and I took turns to produce bruises and cuts all over Ruby.

Below are some photos showing what makeup we used along with what the outcome was.

Final draft

Below is a time lapse of myself and Grace creating Ruby, our actress' makeup look, to make the audience believe she has been beaten and abused.
We used dark eyeshadow shades to create bruises and fake blood to show any cuts and scratches. We used the makeup on her face, neck, arms and legs to show the horrific conditions she has been put through.
We practiced this makeup look before hand so on the days of filming we knew what do straight away. The makeup was very effective as when we showed people they said it was very believable and "terrifying".

We needed 3 days of filming to create our opening title sequence. This was due to the lighting changes at different times of the day. By extending the filming time to more than what we planned, it gave us opportunities to assess what we had created and work out what needed to be changed, added or removed to create the most believable opening title sequence.

Target Audience

As a group, we have decided that our target audience will be both male and female between the ages of 15-35. This is due to the fact that our film is a psychological thriller and may contain brutal violence, sexual violence along with frightening scenes and disturbing content, therefore will be classified as a 15. The reason we feel that our film will appeal to both men and women is because our film is not gender specific and allows both genders to portray the film in a similar way.

We have created 2 avatars that show our typical viewers. They are both aged 17 because our film is based on current issues in our modern society, mainly affecting teenagers, which older generations may not be able to relate to as much.

Actors' costume planning

RESEARCH FOR COSTUMES
We will be using 2 or 3 boys to act as policeman in our opening sequence for the last few shots. We also thought of having 1 woman detective to create a convincing scene, and is also part of gender representation as we do not want to portray a negative view of women in power.

To ensure our actors costumes look authentic and realistic, we have thought very carefully about the clothing, props and shots we will use to create convincing police-like characters.

The clothing we will get our actors to wear are:

POLICEMEN

• Black trousers
• Black boots or trainers 
• Black top
• Black jumper 
• Black gilet or jacket
• Possibly a police hat.
• Guns / walkie talkie

WOMAN DETECTIVE 

• Black top
• Skirt
• Walkie talkie

Makeup testing

This video shows our makeup testing. The white pale makeup makes our character looked washed out. We used different types of makeup to show bruises around the neck and face and it shows the dark bags under the eyes. On the neck, we did hand prints to show the audience that our character was abused. This is also shown through the scratches and blood on their face.

Research into using a drone

10 tips to using a drone to film

We are planning to include a drone shot within our opening sequence, we will do this by attatching a GoPro camera to a drone that we will hire from a company, as we are inexperienced with using drone technology the company have said they will fly it for us on the conditions we include their company name in our credits.

1) If it’s your first time flying make sure you practice in a field far away from people, cars and houses. It’s all about muscle memory, fly on a daily basis for a few months in different locations before using it on set. Practice, practice, practice.

2) Depending on where you’re flying check the rules, do a quick Google. For example you’re not allowed to fly a drone in London unless you have a permit. But you can fly over the parliament buildings in Budapest no problem. As this is a new technology lots of countries are still catching up and don’t have any drone rules. Always use common sense when flying.

3) The best results are produced when flying the drone slowly with long nice fluid movements. Get close to an object and slowly rise above it to reveal the amazing vistas in front of you.

4) Never fly above crowds, it’s illegal and very dangerous.

5) Make sure you don’t fly above 400 feet (122 metres) or near airports. The last thing you want to be doing is crashing into a plane.

6) The drone really shines when you can get shots that aren’t possible with a helicopter. For example when I was shooting in Scotland I got a shot from the drone flying through a castle window and it looks amazing. Be creative and try and get shots that nobody has seen before.

7) Experiment with the settings on your camera that you’ve attached to the drone and see what results it produces. The more you can understand about this technology the better equipped you’ll be as every shoot is different and may require a different look. For example if you film at 30 frames per second and then slow it down and convert it to 25 or 24 frames per second in post and the footage will have an almost dream like feel to it.

8) Plan each shot before you take off. Each battery on a drone lasts about 15 minutes so you want to maximise flight time. Like any shoot the more you plan the better the results will be (keep spare batteries to hand too).

9) This is an obvious one but always check the weather conditions before flying the drone. Drones are pretty good in wind but if it’s super windy or raining and you don’t feel comfortable flying the drone wait till the wind has calmed down or the rain has stopped. It can be unsafe to fly in high winds and more than likely the footage will be unusable.

10) If you want to produce something amazing it’s got to start with a great idea. Always put the shots and story before the tools. Audiences want to see people, stories and experiences that they connect with on an emotional level. As filmmakers we create content that entertains, moves and inspires people. Drone technology won’t turn you into a great filmmaker but it will enhance your skills as a story teller and if used well will make your work shine.

Iconography

Why iconography is important:

The physical attributions in a scene of a film give a lot of obvious indications to the audience and helps construct the plot line and creates the mood and atmosphere to make the audience feel a certain way. In a psychological thriller, the audience is meant to feel on edge, building up suspense and is very gripping.

Examples of iconography in a psychological thriller:

Small, confined spaces
Small. confined spaces create a feeling of being trapped and a sense of claustrophobia. This makes the audience feel uneasy and maybe even stressed whilst watching.

Shadows
Shadows make the audience feel like someone is always following and watching the 'victim'. Shadows also demonstrate how although there may be darkness, there must be a source of light, which could hint a possible escape.

Darkness
Darkness scares the audience as the feeling of the unknown is present. Darkness suggests that something bad may happen and it shows it is quite a sinister genre of film. When darkness is broken by a source of light this may portray a feeling of freedom.

Distinct sounds
An example of the generic sounds heard in a psychological thriller are diegetic conversations that suggest something bad may happen, also screaming and scratchings on the doors or walls of a location. Non-diegetic sound heard may be atmospheric music, that build up suspense and make the audience feel tense.

Very small amounts of light
Very small amounts of light can suggest a small chance of escaping or even survival. But could also suggest that wherever there is light there is hope. In a psychological thriller, there is normally minimal light to disturb the audience.

Objects in rooms that create thrill (sharp objects/ concealed objects)
Concealed objects create suspicion and a tense atmosphere as the 'villain' may be hiding something that could harm others. Sharp objects such a knives and axes also suggest harm and sometimes even murder.

Title ideas

After research, we have seen that 4 weeks is 672 hours. This is the amount of time that the character in our opening title sequence would have been locked away for so we feel that this would be an affective title and would keep our audience engaged as it will not give away a lot of information about the film plot.

Shooting script

We created a shooting script to keep us on track and keep us focused on what we need to achieve during our days of filming. We keep organised by having a folder which we will take with us whenever we are shooting.

 

 

Research on lighting

For part of our research, we looked into how we could create the best shots using lighting.

 

 

Risk Assessment

Actress profile

Our chosen actress for our opening scene is Ruby Foy, who is part of our media group.

Ruby is perfect for the role because of her image, her age and her ability to perform professionally in front of a camera.

 

In the above images, you can see that Ruby has hair that is suitable for our opening sequence. This is because she has long hair that we can style to create an unwashed, scruffy look to portray the harsh conditions she is being kept in.
Her defined jawline could illustrate the fact that her character has been starved and makes the harsh conditions more believable. Her small figure also demonstrates this.

It is also ideal that she is in our group, as she will be available when we need her for filming, instead of relying on a person who cannot always be available to film. This will speed up the process of filming.

Location recce

For our first location, we decided that my neighbours barn and surrounding woodland would be an ideal place to film, as the barn is quite run down and untidy. This suits our genre as a psychological thriller needs a location to create suspense and thrill. It is also ideal that this location is by my house and I know the owners of this private land, it will be easier to get in contact and use the land when we need to.

Our second location is at Ruby's plot of land as it is away from any other people and has a barn that has potential to fit the brief of our wanted location. An only downfall of this location is that it is used for storage and is next to other buildings so doesn't have a field or surrounding woodland.

Our props list

Before we start filming, we will collect all our props ready for shooting so we are not panicking on the day if we had forgotten something. Most of these props we can probably find around our homes but if not we will purchase them with plenty of time before we start filming so we are ready and organised.

   This is our props list we created:


•       Water dripping from above (make a hole in a bottle of water and let it drip out)

•       Chalk – for the markings made on the wall

•       Spider web and possibly a spider

•       Old, dirty bucket

•       Dirty blanket

•       Wooden objects for behind the bucket and blanket

•       Makeup for bruises, scratches and dirt on the girls face and body

•       Clothes for the girl – worn out, dirty t-shirt

•       Axe

•      Chain and padlock

•       Excess wood to smash in half (instead of barn door)

•       Red and blue flashing lights

•       Drone – to take the aerial shot

Timetable

For preparation for our filming, we created a timetable that we will stick by when filming, including the characters and props required. This will help us to organised and remember what we will need for shooting. When we are shooting at our location we can refer back to this timetable to make sure we are doing the right thing.

Date	Time of day	Location	Characters	Shots required	Props required	What happens
4/2/17	Midday	Barn		Medium	Dripping water	Water dripping onto the floor
4/2/17	Midday	Barn		Medium	Scratched wall	Focused shot of scratching’s on the wall
4/2/17	Midday	Barn	Ruby	Close up		Girl’s hand twitches
4/2/17	Midday	Barn		Close up	Spider web	Spider web in corner of the barn
4/2/17	Midday	Barn		Close up	Bucket, dirty blanket, wood	Bucket, blanket and wood left on the floor
4/2/17	Midday	Barn	Ruby	Close up		Girl’s heavy breathing with chapped lips
4/2/17	Midday	Barn	Ruby	Close up		Girl’s heavy breathing chest
4/2/17	Midday	Barn	Ruby	Close up	Axe	Girl walking, dragging axe
4/2/17	Midday	Barn	Ruby	Close up	Axe	Girl walking, axe swinging
4/2/17	Midday	Barn	Ruby	Medium	Axe	Girl with axe on shoulder walking to door
4/2/17	Midday	Barn	Ruby	Medium	Axe, padlock, chain	Girl swinging axe to break door
4/2/17	Midday	Barn	Ruby	Medium	Axe, padlock, chain	Girl swinging axe to break door
4/2/17	Midday	Barn		Medium	Padlock, chain	Door swinging open to release bright light
4/2/17	Midday	Barn	Ruby	Long	Axe	Police POV of girl standing with axe outside
4/2/17	Midday	Barn	Police officers	Long		Girls blurred POV of lights and police
4/2/17	Midday	Barn	Ruby	Long	Axe	Police POV of girl collapsed on ground
4/2/17	Midday	Barn	Ruby, police officers	Aerial	Axe	Girl on floor and surrounded by police