Production company research

Rogue are a entertainment production company set up in 1997 owned by relativity media. The company has recently made two supernatural horrors: my soul to take (2010) and the unborn (2009)
My soul to tkae was unsuccessful at the box office, and was poorly received by critics. 
The unborn  was released to an overwhelming negative reviews.Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a rating of 11% based on 114 reviews, with the site's consensus stating: "David Goyer's Unborn is a tame genre effort with cheap thrills and scares that border on silliness." Meta-critic gave the film a 30 out of 100, based on reviews from 16 critics, indicating generally unfavorable reviews . We therefore decided that this production company may contribute ideas that would be detrimental to our film and they have not produced a supernatural horror which has done well in the box office recently. 

The Ring opening titles deconstruction.

0:03 Production company

0:09 Director 

0:14 and 0:21 Main actors

0:29 Film title

0:30 Actor

0:35 Actor

0:41 Actor

0:46 Actor

0:51 Actor

0:56 Casting director

1:02 Composer

1:12 Editor

1:22 Photography director

1:17 Production designer

1:28 Producers

1:39 executive producers

1:49 Screenplay writers

2:01 Director

This opening sequence is quite unconventional as it uses a series of strange images that do not seem to have any relevance to the film instead of starting the narrative. The starts slowly and softly and build pace and volume throughout conforming to the stereotype of horrors. The same image at the end and the start of the opening credits is very effective as it is repeated and therefore the audience will remember this easier. it also builds intrigue as the audience doesn't understand the relevance of this to the plot. The typography stands out simply because of the colour and also is it looks like a persons handwriting. this film opening subverts the convention that the film should be shown at the very end of the opening titles. 

Blumhouse Productions

As Blumhouse is a top production company which mainly specialises in horror films, we decided to do some research into how suitable it would be for our own opening.

Brief Background

• Best known for their micro and low budget films
• Recent productions include

- The Paranormal Activity sequences

- Sinister

- The Purge

- Insidious

The animation for Blumhouse is effective, especially when put in the title sequence of a horror film due to it's low key lighting and ominous atmosphere. As well as this, there is also a supernatural element as we see a ghost figure of what seems to be a young girl, which is in addition to the shadow effect (where the actual 'Blumhouse' name is revealed), therefore this suggests that Blumhouse would be a suitable production company for our genre. This is further suggested through the non-diegetic sounds of the flickering lights, a common convention in horror films as it further emphasises the idea of poor lighting and darkness.

Suitability for Audience

In order to try and understand what would be suitable for our target audience, we decided to list the types of age ratings and their restrictions recommended by the British Board of Film Classification.

U-Universal viewing which should be suitable for audiences over 4 years old

• Aimed at very young viewers
• Children animated films
• Shouldn't address any significant issues, e.g. discrimination, sex, violence, drug use
• Moments of emotional stress are quickly resolved

Examples of 'U' rated films:

• Up
• Despicable Me
• Rio

PG-Parental Guidance which should be suitable for general viewing, however some scenes unsuitable for younger audiences

• General viewing
• No themes unsuitable for children 
• But will explore challenging issues such as bullying and bereavement 
• Violence and bad language will be mild
• Passing references to drugs/sexual material, but no focus on this

Examples of 'PG' rated films

•  Underdogs
• Black Nativity

12

• Generally, not suitable for those under the age of 12 (unless accompanied by an adult in some cases)
• No dark or unsettling tone to upset viewers
• Use of strong language may be used
• Brief and discreet sexual material may be used
• Some horror films may be accepted in this category but only moderate physical and psychological threat is permitted. Also as long as the horror sequences aren't too frequent or have an overall disturbing tone.

Examples of 12/12A' rated films:

• Divergent
• Jaws
• Red Eye

15

• Strong threat and horror allowed but no sustained focus nor sadistic threat
• No themes are prohibited, but must be suitable for 15 year olds
• The following are likely to be seen:

- Strong language

- Violence

- Drug taking

- Nudity

Examples of '15' rated films:

• Insidious
• The Purge
• Cabin in the Woods

18-Suitable for adults only

• No themes prohibited
• Issues tackled may even be offensive for adults
• Strong horror
• Strong blood and gore
• No limit on use of strong language or violence

Examples of '18' rated films:

• Orphan
• Friday the 13th (2009)
• The Chainsaw Massacre 

Opening Title: Film Title

This was done on final cut pro, which is the software that we are using to create our actual film opening. 

I took the font that we were using for all of our other titles to make sure the opening title was in-keeping with the whole film opening.  

I manipulated the font to make it slightly blurred any more suitable to the supernatural horror genre. I then downloaded a font that allowed me to manipulate the font further, by changing the 't' in ritual to a cross symbol.

This links well to the supernatural horror genre of the film opening, making the title more interesting and effective.

Editing

Editing

We are now nearing the end of editing our film opening so I decided to finish some final editing sections to help improve both the quality of the opening and of my editing skills.  

 First of all I had the job to insert a title screen to inform the audience that the opening is now reverting back to a week earlier.  To do this I selected the T tab on the right hand side of final cut and inserted a black screen with the same text font as the named titles.  I chose a black screen rather than a picture in the background to put emphasis on the words and to create a caesura to build the tension.

 I then inserted a clip transition after the "1 week earlier" to create a smooth change before the last section of the opening.  I chose a blur transition because it ran the same time as the church bell sound.

 After reviewing the opening I decided that the second church bell did not sound completely right for the situation.  After listening to the final cut sounds of church bells I found a better noise layered it in.  After watching it a few times I decided to take off the increased speed of the girl turning around so it was back to normal pace.


We needed something to trigger the girl to turn around.  So to continue the story line we added in diegetic sounds  to make it seem as though she was being followed by the priest who is to exorcise her.
After listening to the sounds available on final cut I inserted male breathing and footsteps to seem as though he is following her.  The a snapping of a twig then triggers her to turn around, I then inserted a clip of the priest's eyes to inform the audience that it is him that is following her.  This looks quite effective as it helps to build up the tension and varies the camera angles.

Backing Tracks

Firstly, I decided to look at common types of instruments/sounds which are used in supernatural horror.
I particularly liked this sound as its echo effect is effective for supernatural horror as it gives the impression of distortion. As well as this, the whisper is also effective as it helps to add a mysterious and sinister atmosphere. I also liked the low pitched piano keys as it creates a harsh sounds and further adds to the sinister atmoshpere. Whilst the symphonies help to create an innocent child-like impression, I feel as though the singing takes away from the suspisious atmosphere which we are trying to create in out opening.

Religious Backing Tracks-Church Scene

As we want a song for the church scene, I decided to look for a backing sound which could be used for this.

I feel as though, if played at a low volume, this could be effective in our Church scene as the low pitched chant gives a more sinister portrayal. Also, this alongside our location and priest, further subverts common conventions and would be more effective for our audience when they discover that the priest is the antagonist.

I feel as though with is clip, we could manipulated this to make it seem more sinister. For example, similarity to the above, we could add an effect to make this more echo-y and slowed down in order to make it sound more distorted, which would therefore allow us to conform to supernatural stereotypes.

Title Sequence

Title Sequence 

In order to conform to the components of a film opening, our opening would have to include opening credits; the titles.  I have previously completed many blog posts on deconstructions of supernatural horror openings so I used this research as a starting point for our titles.  A particular film that I liked for their titles was Insidious.

 

As I wasn't sure what exact titles to put into the sequence I watched the Insidious opening again and took down all the vital credits they used to apply them to our opening.  

To add in a title on final cut I went onto the right side bar and selected the capital T to view the selection of titles. After going through all the examples I found a title which faded out slowly which reminded me of smoke.  This was very appropriate for the genre and our opening as we used candles to reflect the religious aspects of the film.  The smoke affect also created a mysterious and ominous atmosphere which I feel adds depth and interest to the credits.  

 After putting in the main production company name that we created, I then inserted the associated production companies.  The font I chose for the titles was optima as it had a slight gothic look about it because of the slimness and points of the letters.









To manipulate the text further I decided to change the colour of the text to make it more genre appropriate.  After using the colour wheel and trying different combinations I finally decided on black text with a hite glow because mixed together they made a light grey.  This colour fit in with the smoke effect and the dark atmosphere of the genre.

 This is a section of the timeline with the titles fitted above the footage.  It includes the production companies, members of the group with a main film role and the two actors we used.

In conclusion I feel that the title sequence is fitting with the genre of supernatural horror and our specific opening themes.  They look professional and interesting which are two qualities vital for the success of our opening.  One thing I would improve on is the timing of the titles in correlation with the changing of the shots to make it look effective and smooth.

Finding background music

My task was to find and manipulate background music to our film opening originally we found a child singing and when we put it to the footage that we had edited it did not fit very well. Another idea that we had was to find s child singing hymns as it would be appropriate for the genre and work well as we have a priest in our film opening. But we could not find any legal free background sounds like this so I then looked for background music that was eerie and would work well with the visuals that we had. 


I found a website which provided this. I then downloaded the sound and layered it over our footage. 

The music did not need any manipulation as  it seemed to fit the footage very well. I also found another sound effect from the same website to add to the flashbacks. The sounds work well together. 

Editing Footage

We have edited a large chunk of our footage so far as a group, however, the following is some of the remaining footage left to add.

Cutting clips

As some of the clips had parts which needed to be cut out, there were two ways in which I did this. One way was to select the arrow icon before selecting blade tool. Next, I would blade the area before simply selecting the section which I had cut and delete it. Another way would be to simply select the clip and drag the highlighted parts at the end of the clip.

Transitions and Effects

At the beginning of the opening, we used the 'Flash' transition in order to make it clear to the audience that the next clip would be a flashback, therefore, I decided to use this a few more times in order to re-enforce to our audience of the flashbacks.

In addition to this, I decided to use effects on the close up of the priests eyes, which were similar to that of the possessed girl. To do this, I selected the highlighted clip before clicking on the right hand side tool-bar and selecting "reverse". After this, I also selected the same tool-bar and selected "re-timing". As I wanted to increase the speed, I dragged the re-timing handle to the left to create a fast motion effect.

Sound

In one of our flashback clips, there is a short scene of a close up shot of the priests feet as he circles the little girl. To heighten the suspense, I wanted to layer a non-diegetic sound of footsteps. To do this, I selected the music note icon on the left and searched for the effect of footsteps. The one which I found was slightly faster than that of our priest. Therefore, I decided to try to use the same method when increasing the speed of a clip, but in terms of slowing down the speed. Prior to this, I made sure to select the clip and drag the sound like to a mute in order to remove any diegetic sound.

Evaluation

Positives

• I was able to cut out unnecessary parts of our clips (e.g. talking and laughing)
• I think that the 'Flash' effectively allows our audience to identify our flashbacks
• The 'Cross Dissolve' transition creates a smooth transition from one clip to another

Negatives

• I was unable to put the non-diegetic sound of footsteps and the walking clip in sync
• I could have experimented with more transitions