History of Opening Titles/Credits Research

Horror opening title fonts that are usually used and examples of them plus why they were effective to use: 

- Halloween - 

ITC Serif Gothic 

The colour matched the pumpkin and therefore the atmosphere of halloween. It also created a false sense of security and juxtaposition of the light colour and elegance of the font to the picture of the angry looking pumpkin holding a knife. The small pointy spikes at the corners of the letters also looks quite sharp and intimidating. 

- Scream - 

Futura

The capital letters create boldness and match the word it is being used on "scream" as well as animates the poster and draws your attention to the title. This is also done by having be the only the coloured on the poster as the rest is black and white. By having the font be quite simple, the small dagger looking symbol on the letter "M" is emphasised, showing a sense of slasher and horror. 

- Nosferatu - 

A modern serif typeface 

This font has small flicks on the end of the letters which makes it look quite elegant, like calligraphy, however the boldness of the font and the colour black makes it look quite gothic and dark, matching the vampire aesthetic of the film and indicating the horror effect. 

Which was the first film to use text in the opening title sequences?

Of course films originally started with subtitles within the film as films used to only be silent, and usually with the cast coming up before the film started, however there was a time when the opening credits were played during an opening scene to help set the atmosphere in the movie as well as shortening the length of the movie itself, therefore allowing for more scenes and longer dialogue. Films originally has opening credits before the film started that usually lasted 15 minutes, in order to prevent piracy and to credit the actors and production/creative team, but in 1954, the film "The man with the Golden Arm" was released and Otto Preminger brought on graphic designer Saul Bass to design the opening for the film. This was the first film to have the title sequence be important and essential to the film, with animation and movement in the background of the titles to help set the atmosphere of the film. 

History of Opening Titles/Credits Research

Horror opening title fonts that are usually used and examples of them plus why they were effective to use: 

- Halloween - 

ITC Serif Gothic 

The colour matched the pumpkin and therefore the atmosphere of halloween. It also created a false sense of security and juxtaposition of the light colour and elegance of the font to the picture of the angry looking pumpkin holding a knife. The small pointy spikes at the corners of the letters also looks quite sharp and intimidating. 

- Scream - 

Futura

The capital letters create boldness and match the word it is being used on "scream" as well as animates the poster and draws your attention to the title. This is also done by having be the only the coloured on the poster as the rest is black and white. By having the font be quite simple, the small dagger looking symbol on the letter "M" is emphasised, showing a sense of slasher and horror. 

- Nosferatu - 

A modern serif typeface 

This font has small flicks on the end of the letters which makes it look quite elegant, like calligraphy, however the boldness of the font and the colour black makes it look quite gothic and dark, matching the vampire aesthetic of the film and indicating the horror effect. 

Which was the first film to use text in the opening title sequences?

Of course films originally started with subtitles within the film as films used to only be silent, and usually with the cast coming up before the film started, however there was a time when the opening credits were played during an opening scene to help set the atmosphere in the movie as well as shortening the length of the movie itself, therefore allowing for more scenes and longer dialogue. Films originally has opening credits before the film started that usually lasted 15 minutes, in order to prevent piracy and to credit the actors and production/creative team, but in 1954, the film "The man with the Golden Arm" was released and Otto Preminger brought on graphic designer Saul Bass to design the opening for the film. This was the first film to have the title sequence be important and essential to the film, with animation and movement in the background of the titles to help set the atmosphere of the film. 

Shoot Day Reflection Video

The video (click on photo):

Shoot Day Reflection Video

The video (click on photo):

Preparation for Evaluation Questions 2

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Target audience profile:

Age Range: 12+ (preferably up to 40)

Where they are based: Western countries, United Kingdom, United States of America, etc. - possibly urban but mainly countryside areas 

Why is this important?: The characters would be in the countryside and surrounded by trees in and old style house, which would appeal more to those in the countryside as they would possibly relate and be more scared by the film as it is showing a setting similar looking to where they live. 

Hobbies and Interests: those who are more interested in horror films will find our product more appealing, especially those who appreciate more paranormal/slasher movies and enjoy a good adrenaline rush

Education/Jobs: those who are younger and possibly students will maybe relate to this product more, as the main characters will be children in their teenage years who also go to school, and the main character in our opening sequence is a boy of the age 14/15, which is clearly visible 

Income: in our film the, room is quite big for a living room, which would probably show that the character is quite wealthy. The other characters in the movie would probably, therefore, also have the same amount of wealth. This would then probably appeal to those who receive an average income or who live a moderately wealthy lifestyle, as it would possibly scare them more as they can relate to what they are seeing more than those with a different lifestyle

Preparation for Evaluation Questions 2

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Target audience profile:

Age Range: 12+ (preferably up to 40)

Where they are based: Western countries, United Kingdom, United States of America, etc. - possibly urban but mainly countryside areas 

Why is this important?: The characters would be in the countryside and surrounded by trees in and old style house, which would appeal more to those in the countryside as they would possibly relate and be more scared by the film as it is showing a setting similar looking to where they live. 

Hobbies and Interests: those who are more interested in horror films will find our product more appealing, especially those who appreciate more paranormal/slasher movies and enjoy a good adrenaline rush

Education/Jobs: those who are younger and possibly students will maybe relate to this product more, as the main characters will be children in their teenage years who also go to school, and the main character in our opening sequence is a boy of the age 14/15, which is clearly visible 

Income: in our film the, room is quite big for a living room, which would probably show that the character is quite wealthy. The other characters in the movie would probably, therefore, also have the same amount of wealth. This would then probably appeal to those who receive an average income or who live a moderately wealthy lifestyle, as it would possibly scare them more as they can relate to what they are seeing more than those with a different lifestyle

Preparation for Evaluation Questions

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

A media institution is a company that owns and creates the media product. We would probably get ghost house pictures to create and sell our film as it has produced similar horror films and work, such as poltergeist, which is a movie we looked at as research, the grudge, and the possession. 

A film distributor is responsible for the marketing and selling of a film. There are many different film distributer companies, some of the more well known ones are: BFI, Discovery Film festival, Disney, Guerilla, Lionsgate, Paramount pictures, Parkland entertainment, Picturehouse entertainment, Sony, Universal, Vertigo, Warner Bros., 20th century fox The main 5 distributors, also known as the big 5, are: Disney, Paramount, Sony, Universal, and Warner Bros.

These companies all have a wide range of films that they have distributed, Disney has released quite a few horror films, however they are more family friendly and are not usually gory, unless they have also been released by a subsidiary of Disney, such as marvel or 20th century studios.

Paramount pictures has released quite a few popular horror movies, one being a quiet place, which won Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Sci-Fi/Horror Movie in 2019. It has also released a movie called Friday the 13th, a classic horror movie about murder and bad luck, which our opening title sequence fits perfectly, as it fits a mysterious murder, as well as the irony of the boy watching the ghost show and then getting haunted himself. 

Sony has released, ghostbusters afterlife, which, while being family friendly, also has effective horror scares and jump scares. 

Universal has released the classic horror movie "the mummy", which is a horror film and also includes slightly haunting images within the film, although is hasn't released many horror films, and the few they have have not been very popular. 

Warner bros have released recent popular horror film classics, such as the conjuring 1 + 2, Annabelle, the shining, gremlins, Beetlejuice, the exorcist, Dracula, and many more, it would therefore be a very good film distributor for our film as many people would associate it with this paranormal, frightening and fantasy films which have proven very popular with both the younger and older audience. 

The age range of these films are usually 12A and anything above as the scares that come with a horror film may be too much for kids younger than that. This shows that these companies are more aiming towards a teenage or young adult audience, which would also be the best age range for horror movies as most teenagers crave adrenaline, therefore gravitate towards horror films as a source for that. 

These film distributors usually have a high budget as they are the 5 most popular and successful distribution companies in the industry. You can also tell that they are high budget by the high quality of most of their films, especially in recent years and even in the past 10-20 years, most of the films these companies have made have been quite high quality. 

The film distributor company that I think would suit our film the best would be Warner Bros. This is because the horror films they have produced have been extremely popular as well as truly frightening to watch, as well as secures high ratings for them, and I think the company could help make our film very successful and a true horror movie. 

Preparation for Evaluation Questions

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

A media institution is a company that owns and creates the media product. We would probably get ghost house pictures to create and sell our film as it has produced similar horror films and work, such as poltergeist, which is a movie we looked at as research, the grudge, and the possession. 

A film distributor is responsible for the marketing and selling of a film. There are many different film distributer companies, some of the more well known ones are: BFI, Discovery Film festival, Disney, Guerilla, Lionsgate, Paramount pictures, Parkland entertainment, Picturehouse entertainment, Sony, Universal, Vertigo, Warner Bros., 20th century fox The main 5 distributors, also known as the big 5, are: Disney, Paramount, Sony, Universal, and Warner Bros.

These companies all have a wide range of films that they have distributed, Disney has released quite a few horror films, however they are more family friendly and are not usually gory, unless they have also been released by a subsidiary of Disney, such as marvel or 20th century studios.

Paramount pictures has released quite a few popular horror movies, one being a quiet place, which won Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Sci-Fi/Horror Movie in 2019. It has also released a movie called Friday the 13th, a classic horror movie about murder and bad luck, which our opening title sequence fits perfectly, as it fits a mysterious murder, as well as the irony of the boy watching the ghost show and then getting haunted himself. 

Sony has released, ghostbusters afterlife, which, while being family friendly, also has effective horror scares and jump scares. 

Universal has released the classic horror movie "the mummy", which is a horror film and also includes slightly haunting images within the film, although is hasn't released many horror films, and the few they have have not been very popular. 

Warner bros have released recent popular horror film classics, such as the conjuring 1 + 2, Annabelle, the shining, gremlins, Beetlejuice, the exorcist, Dracula, and many more, it would therefore be a very good film distributor for our film as many people would associate it with this paranormal, frightening and fantasy films which have proven very popular with both the younger and older audience. 

The age range of these films are usually 12A and anything above as the scares that come with a horror film may be too much for kids younger than that. This shows that these companies are more aiming towards a teenage or young adult audience, which would also be the best age range for horror movies as most teenagers crave adrenaline, therefore gravitate towards horror films as a source for that. 

These film distributors usually have a high budget as they are the 5 most popular and successful distribution companies in the industry. You can also tell that they are high budget by the high quality of most of their films, especially in recent years and even in the past 10-20 years, most of the films these companies have made have been quite high quality. 

The film distributor company that I think would suit our film the best would be Warner Bros. This is because the horror films they have produced have been extremely popular as well as truly frightening to watch, as well as secures high ratings for them, and I think the company could help make our film very successful and a true horror movie. 

Step by Step Account of the (Second) Shoot Day

We left school around 9:00 in the morning and travelled over to Ewhurst turrets, a boarding house of Hurtwood, and set up the cameras in the living room of the house. We wanted the scene to be set at night and we were filming in the morning, which was obviously going to be a slight problem, so we brought bin bags along with us to tape to the windows to block out any day light, and pulled the curtains across to make it less obvious it was bin bags. This ended up working very effectively as it is very dark in our footage. 

Then we moved the furniture around to fit the image of the living room that we had in our heads and put it onto the camera. We had Hugo, our actor, sit in a very relaxed position on the sofa opposite the TV because it makes the footage look more natural and realistic. 

We then needed to get the footage of the actual ghost show that we filmed on the first shoot day to play on the TV so Hugo looked like he was actually watching it and so he had something to react to. We did this by plugging in a USB to the laptop with the footage on it and then air playing it onto the TV. We then put a Lightbox on top of the TV to add more light onto Hugo's face so we could see him in the footage, and Nehir moved her hand in front of it to make it look like it was the light from the TV. We changed the colour of the light to green when the footage of the night vision on the TV show started playing, to make it look more realistic and reinforce that it was the light from the TV.

Albie was the camera man for most of the day, I was on sound, Nehir was on light, and Flora was helping direct at most bits. We took a wide shot, mid shot and extreme close up of the actor watching the TV show all the way through so we could cut to the TV going static whenever we felt like it was necessary to do so when editing it later on. We then took an over the shoulder wide shot of Hugo watching the TV so we could actually see the TV show, and then we kept the camera in the same position and did a close up on the TV so the audience can see the TV show being played so they can react the same way to the actor. 

Once we did that we then decided how we were going to visualise the scare that we wanted. We used Tom, another actor, and we decided that he should walk in from where Hugo got up to walk over to the TV to work out what was wrong with it in the sequence, so that it would be very creepy for the audience to watch, and wonder how he got there. We did a close up of Hugo from behind and had Tom walk in front of the camera holding a big, sharp knife, and made sure the knife was directly in sight of the camera and di a focus pull from Hugo to the knife once it was in shot. I went on camera for this part and Flora was on sound.

Before we finished, we decided to get a shot from behind the TV, so we could show that there was no-one behind Hugo when he got up to fix the TV, further adding the ambiguity and a better scare, and leaving the audience wondering "how did he get there?" We needed to stack a couple of cases on top of each other in order to put the camera on it so we could see Hugo over the TV, because the tripod would not fit on the table so we needed to make a makeshift one.

We then decided we had all the footage we need, Albie shouted "that's a wrap" and we packed up all the things, put them back in the minibus and headed back to the school. 

Step by Step Account of the (Second) Shoot Day

We left school around 9:00 in the morning and travelled over to Ewhurst turrets, a boarding house of Hurtwood, and set up the cameras in the living room of the house. We wanted the scene to be set at night and we were filming in the morning, which was obviously going to be a slight problem, so we brought bin bags along with us to tape to the windows to block out any day light, and pulled the curtains across to make it less obvious it was bin bags. This ended up working very effectively as it is very dark in our footage. 

Then we moved the furniture around to fit the image of the living room that we had in our heads and put it onto the camera. We had Hugo, our actor, sit in a very relaxed position on the sofa opposite the TV because it makes the footage look more natural and realistic. 

We then needed to get the footage of the actual ghost show that we filmed on the first shoot day to play on the TV so Hugo looked like he was actually watching it and so he had something to react to. We did this by plugging in a USB to the laptop with the footage on it and then air playing it onto the TV. We then put a Lightbox on top of the TV to add more light onto Hugo's face so we could see him in the footage, and Nehir moved her hand in front of it to make it look like it was the light from the TV. We changed the colour of the light to green when the footage of the night vision on the TV show started playing, to make it look more realistic and reinforce that it was the light from the TV.

Albie was the camera man for most of the day, I was on sound, Nehir was on light, and Flora was helping direct at most bits. We took a wide shot, mid shot and extreme close up of the actor watching the TV show all the way through so we could cut to the TV going static whenever we felt like it was necessary to do so when editing it later on. We then took an over the shoulder wide shot of Hugo watching the TV so we could actually see the TV show, and then we kept the camera in the same position and did a close up on the TV so the audience can see the TV show being played so they can react the same way to the actor. 

Once we did that we then decided how we were going to visualise the scare that we wanted. We used Tom, another actor, and we decided that he should walk in from where Hugo got up to walk over to the TV to work out what was wrong with it in the sequence, so that it would be very creepy for the audience to watch, and wonder how he got there. We did a close up of Hugo from behind and had Tom walk in front of the camera holding a big, sharp knife, and made sure the knife was directly in sight of the camera and di a focus pull from Hugo to the knife once it was in shot. I went on camera for this part and Flora was on sound.

Before we finished, we decided to get a shot from behind the TV, so we could show that there was no-one behind Hugo when he got up to fix the TV, further adding the ambiguity and a better scare, and leaving the audience wondering "how did he get there?" We needed to stack a couple of cases on top of each other in order to put the camera on it so we could see Hugo over the TV, because the tripod would not fit on the table so we needed to make a makeshift one.

We then decided we had all the footage we need, Albie shouted "that's a wrap" and we packed up all the things, put them back in the minibus and headed back to the school. 

Step by Step Account of the (First) Shoot Day

We first set up the camera in front of Ewhurst place on the tripod and asked our two actors to stand in the positions we wanted them to in front of the camera. We took a few takes before we were able to move on, we also used a handheld camera to do some close ups on the actors faces that we can use to cut to if we wish in certain places when editing. At first, we did not know how to start the scene as we had pictured it in our heads but did not know how to stage it or work it with the camera as it was our first time doing it properly. However, after a while we got the hang of it and was able to direct it to a proficient level. 

We then decided to take some individual, close-up shots of the building to use as a small transition from seeing the actors outside and seeing them inside. We also had the use of the focus pull from behind a dead tree and went from focus on the tree to the house, to add a creepy atmosphere. We walked around the house after that, trying to find good places to set up the camera next and film. After making the room darker and turning out all the lights, using our night vision apparatus on the camera, we filmed the next part at the top corridor of the house with our actors standing across the other side of the stairs. 

After that we went down into the basement of the house to have a look if it was right for the scenery of what we wanted to film, which we quickly decided it was. We used more of our night vision equipment as there was no light in the basement, which added to the fake tv show ghost hunting look and atmosphere. We took a few takes here as well using the handheld cameras following around our two actors, and we got someone to create loud noises as the ghost for our actors to react to and to be picked up from the mic. Once we got a few takes of that, switching around who was working the cameras each time, we headed back upstairs and packed away the equipment, and headed back to our school. 

Our next shoot is on Friday 4th March to film the boy sitting in the living room watching this TV show.

Step by Step Account of the (First) Shoot Day

We first set up the camera in front of Ewhurst place on the tripod and asked our two actors to stand in the positions we wanted them to in front of the camera. We took a few takes before we were able to move on, we also used a handheld camera to do some close ups on the actors faces that we can use to cut to if we wish in certain places when editing. At first, we did not know how to start the scene as we had pictured it in our heads but did not know how to stage it or work it with the camera as it was our first time doing it properly. However, after a while we got the hang of it and was able to direct it to a proficient level. 

We then decided to take some individual, close-up shots of the building to use as a small transition from seeing the actors outside and seeing them inside. We also had the use of the focus pull from behind a dead tree and went from focus on the tree to the house, to add a creepy atmosphere. We walked around the house after that, trying to find good places to set up the camera next and film. After making the room darker and turning out all the lights, using our night vision apparatus on the camera, we filmed the next part at the top corridor of the house with our actors standing across the other side of the stairs. 

After that we went down into the basement of the house to have a look if it was right for the scenery of what we wanted to film, which we quickly decided it was. We used more of our night vision equipment as there was no light in the basement, which added to the fake tv show ghost hunting look and atmosphere. We took a few takes here as well using the handheld cameras following around our two actors, and we got someone to create loud noises as the ghost for our actors to react to and to be picked up from the mic. Once we got a few takes of that, switching around who was working the cameras each time, we headed back upstairs and packed away the equipment, and headed back to our school. 

Our next shoot is on Friday 4th March to film the boy sitting in the living room watching this TV show.

Communicating With my Group

Me and my group had a teams call with Adam to discuss the things we needed and our final preparations for the shoot day tomorrow and Friday the following week:

I also thought I'd email my group over the holidays so I could stay up to date with everything they were doing to plan for the shoot day:

Communicating With my Group

Me and my group had a teams call with Adam to discuss the things we needed and our final preparations for the shoot day tomorrow and Friday the following week:

I also thought I'd email my group over the holidays so I could stay up to date with everything they were doing to plan for the shoot day:

Final Preparations For Shoot Day

Props/food that we need to bring - white sheet (Penny)

                                                      - popcorn 

                                                      - remote control 

I decided to email to Ian Barter in order to secure Ewhurst house and its basement for our shoot as our location:

(we had no access to water in our houses due to storm Eunice so we have not been able to go into school yet, but hopefully we will be able to)

I also emailed James and Mike and Hugo (our actors) to make sure they were still able to act in our shoot and to confirm what it is they'll be doing, of which they have all now confirmed to be ok with:

Here are pictures from our shoot. We all took a turn on the cameras and the microphone, but Albie was the  operator for the camera, this was a picture of the scenery from outside and with the view of the camera: