Our Final Sequence!

Our Final Sequence!

CCR Task 4

 "How did you integrate technologies - software,

hardware and online - in this project?" - Click on picture 

CCR Task 4

 "How did you integrate technologies - software,

hardware and online - in this project?" - Click on picture 

CCR Task 3

"How did your production skills improve 

throughout this project" (Click on picture)

CCR Task 3

"How did your production skills improve 

throughout this project" (Click on picture)

CCR Task 2

"How does your product engage with audiences and

 how would it be distributed as a real media text?"

Target Audience
Our main target audience that we wanted to pitch to for our film was mainly teenagers to young adults, possibly ages 15-30. Both men and women could easily watch it and enjoy it the same. We would mainly be pitching it to people who enjoy adrenaline and the rush that comes with horror movies and slashers, as well as younger children who are in school/high school in western cultures so they can relate to the main characters in the movie, as they would be teenagers as well. Our target audience now has a slightly less age range than I had previously thought before, but I feel it is more realistic. Overall though we have mainly kept to this previous idea of the target audience, which I think is good.

Link to blog post about target audience

6 moments that would appeal to our target audience:

One moment I think appeals to the audience is right at the start from the first shot of the boy sitting on the sofa alone. There is darkness around him which conveys the fact he is alone, meaning there is isolation of the boy so no-one would be able to help the boy. Isolation is a key convention of horror films that adds the sense of no help from others, therefore more vulnerability for both the character and the audience. The fact we also used a young, teenage actor as the character helps amplify this idea of vulnerability compared to an older, and stronger killer. This sort of idea happens in a lot of other popular horror movies, such as scream. 

By using the ghost TV show, this already sets up the type of horror film that we are producing. This moment, therefore, introduces the "haunted" house that is going to be a recurring feature in the overall film. The TV presenters add a slight comedic relief to the film, which gives the sense that everything will be ok, and therefore creates a false sense of security for the audience that causes them to watch further and question whether everything really is safe. 

One other moment of our sequence I think is when we first see the boy from behind him, which resembles someone watching him from behind. because the camera is made to be so close to him this indicates a very close space that he is in, creating a claustrophobic element to the scene which adds to the horror conventions. I think the audience would enjoy this because this moment is the moment we realise there is something else happening that is not so innocent. This then helps strengthen the idea of isolation for the boy because we can also see the rest of the room, and see that there is no-one else there with him to help him from the danger he is in. 

In addition to this, I think another moment would be when there is pleonastic diegetic, sinister music that starts playing halfway through the sequence. We made sure this music starts playing at the same time as when the TV presenters going down into the basement of the house on the TV show. This then shows a link and connection from the TV show where there is tension starting in both the show and outside of it. The music helps create tension and an ominous atmosphere, which then builds adrenaline in the audience which they should enjoy. This then also causes the audience to want to watch further to see what is going to happen to the boy, even though they can already guess that it won't be good. 

I would say the TV going static is also another good moment. We do not see the character do anything to the TV himself, so therefore something else must have done it instead, adding more sense of mystery with the audience wondering what and where is the person or thing that has done this. The music carries on playing through this ending scene of the sequence, meaning the music was not just apart of the TV show, showing something sinister is about to occur, leaving the audience wondering what that would be. The TV going static then causes the boy to get up and kneel in front of the TV, leaving him in a vulnerable position because he cannot see what is behind him, and also nowhere to run to because of how small and claustrophobic the room this scene is set in is. This was also seen in opening scene in Friday the 13th, of which we took some inspiration from. 

One final moment I think appeals is the ending, where it is left on a cliffhanger, especially with leaving the mystery of who the murderer is. We cut off the video before we see the boy being stabbed, however we can tell it has happened from the action of the mysterious figure lunging towards the boy with the knife in his hand. especially through the silence at the end with only the TV static shows the boy did not have time to think about what was happening and so we did not hear the scream from him. 

I think we were quite successful in engaging our target audience, however I think we could have possibly have made it slightly shorter to add more tension, and therefore have the music starting quieter and then having it creep in by making the music get louder over time more gradually, to create more of a sinister atmosphere and the idea that the killer was slowly creeping into the house. 

POSTER:

Poster explanation:

The main image of the poster is a knife and a hand holding it, we cannot see the person's face, referencing to the mystery of the killer in the opening sequence. We chose the age certificate 15, although people who are young could also watch it. This is because we felt the themes of the movie would fit the criteria, for example violence and gore however not many sexual scenes, therefore a 15 would be appropriate. There is the main cast of the movie at the top of the poster and the title of the film, with the director and studio, at the bottom to separate the two, and a quote from the movie at the bottom as a tag line, and to also further indicate the type of movie this will be, which is horror slasher with some paranormal attributes, much like Friday the 13th. 

Annotation:

I would want Warner bros. to distribute our film because they have distributed some of the most famous horror films to date, such as Friday 13th, the shining, IT and the conjuring. Therefore the studio could help and give us more of a chance to get our movie out there into the world and give it a big name.

We could send our film to shudder because it is a horror specific streaming platform meaning we can get that niche target audience that we are aiming for watching our film. We could also maybe try to get in touch with ITV and film 4 because they both include independent films and include horror films and try to show them on their channels, and they are also two of Britain's most popular free streaming channels. Netflix is also a possibility, as they include quite a few horror films on their platform such as the nun, the conjuring, and many other well known films that have done very well, as well as having a whole horror genre that is very popular on their platform. One other company which is not as well known but could be a possibility I believe is ghost house pictures. they released poltergeist, one of the most well known horror movies to date. 

CCR Task 2

"How does your product engage with audiences and

 how would it be distributed as a real media text?"

Target Audience
Our main target audience that we wanted to pitch to for our film was mainly teenagers to young adults, possibly ages 15-30. Both men and women could easily watch it and enjoy it the same. We would mainly be pitching it to people who enjoy adrenaline and the rush that comes with horror movies and slashers, as well as younger children who are in school/high school in western cultures so they can relate to the main characters in the movie, as they would be teenagers as well. Our target audience now has a slightly less age range than I had previously thought before, but I feel it is more realistic. Overall though we have mainly kept to this previous idea of the target audience, which I think is good.

Link to blog post about target audience

6 moments that would appeal to our target audience:

One moment I think appeals to the audience is right at the start from the first shot of the boy sitting on the sofa alone. There is darkness around him which conveys the fact he is alone, meaning there is isolation of the boy so no-one would be able to help the boy. Isolation is a key convention of horror films that adds the sense of no help from others, therefore more vulnerability for both the character and the audience. The fact we also used a young, teenage actor as the character helps amplify this idea of vulnerability compared to an older, and stronger killer. This sort of idea happens in a lot of other popular horror movies, such as scream. 

By using the ghost TV show, this already sets up the type of horror film that we are producing. This moment, therefore, introduces the "haunted" house that is going to be a recurring feature in the overall film. The TV presenters add a slight comedic relief to the film, which gives the sense that everything will be ok, and therefore creates a false sense of security for the audience that causes them to watch further and question whether everything really is safe. 

One other moment of our sequence I think is when we first see the boy from behind him, which resembles someone watching him from behind. because the camera is made to be so close to him this indicates a very close space that he is in, creating a claustrophobic element to the scene which adds to the horror conventions. I think the audience would enjoy this because this moment is the moment we realise there is something else happening that is not so innocent. This then helps strengthen the idea of isolation for the boy because we can also see the rest of the room, and see that there is no-one else there with him to help him from the danger he is in. 

In addition to this, I think another moment would be when there is pleonastic diegetic, sinister music that starts playing halfway through the sequence. We made sure this music starts playing at the same time as when the TV presenters going down into the basement of the house on the TV show. This then shows a link and connection from the TV show where there is tension starting in both the show and outside of it. The music helps create tension and an ominous atmosphere, which then builds adrenaline in the audience which they should enjoy. This then also causes the audience to want to watch further to see what is going to happen to the boy, even though they can already guess that it won't be good. 

I would say the TV going static is also another good moment. We do not see the character do anything to the TV himself, so therefore something else must have done it instead, adding more sense of mystery with the audience wondering what and where is the person or thing that has done this. The music carries on playing through this ending scene of the sequence, meaning the music was not just apart of the TV show, showing something sinister is about to occur, leaving the audience wondering what that would be. The TV going static then causes the boy to get up and kneel in front of the TV, leaving him in a vulnerable position because he cannot see what is behind him, and also nowhere to run to because of how small and claustrophobic the room this scene is set in is. This was also seen in opening scene in Friday the 13th, of which we took some inspiration from. 

One final moment I think appeals is the ending, where it is left on a cliffhanger, especially with leaving the mystery of who the murderer is. We cut off the video before we see the boy being stabbed, however we can tell it has happened from the action of the mysterious figure lunging towards the boy with the knife in his hand. especially through the silence at the end with only the TV static shows the boy did not have time to think about what was happening and so we did not hear the scream from him. 

I think we were quite successful in engaging our target audience, however I think we could have possibly have made it slightly shorter to add more tension, and therefore have the music starting quieter and then having it creep in by making the music get louder over time more gradually, to create more of a sinister atmosphere and the idea that the killer was slowly creeping into the house. 

POSTER:

Poster explanation:

The main image of the poster is a knife and a hand holding it, we cannot see the person's face, referencing to the mystery of the killer in the opening sequence. We chose the age certificate 15, although people who are young could also watch it. This is because we felt the themes of the movie would fit the criteria, for example violence and gore however not many sexual scenes, therefore a 15 would be appropriate. There is the main cast of the movie at the top of the poster and the title of the film, with the director and studio, at the bottom to separate the two, and a quote from the movie at the bottom as a tag line, and to also further indicate the type of movie this will be, which is horror slasher with some paranormal attributes, much like Friday the 13th. 

Annotation:

I would want Warner bros. to distribute our film because they have distributed some of the most famous horror films to date, such as Friday 13th, the shining, IT and the conjuring. Therefore the studio could help and give us more of a chance to get our movie out there into the world and give it a big name.

We could send our film to shudder because it is a horror specific streaming platform meaning we can get that niche target audience that we are aiming for watching our film. We could also maybe try to get in touch with ITV and film 4 because they both include independent films and include horror films and try to show them on their channels, and they are also two of Britain's most popular free streaming channels. Netflix is also a possibility, as they include quite a few horror films on their platform such as the nun, the conjuring, and many other well known films that have done very well, as well as having a whole horror genre that is very popular on their platform. One other company which is not as well known but could be a possibility I believe is ghost house pictures. they released poltergeist, one of the most well known horror movies to date. 

CCR Task 1

"How does your product use or challenge conventions and 
how does it represent social groups or issues" (Click on picture)

CCR Task 1

"How does your product use or challenge conventions and 
how does it represent social groups or issues" (Click on picture)

Fourth Editing Day

 Today we had a look at sound. When watching our sequence we decided that we needed something before the end part to ramp up the tension, so we had a look at the sound effects and decided to find something that matched what we wanted to produce. 

We found a low pitched continuous sound that we put over the top once the tv show went the colour green over the top. 

We needed to turn this sound effect right down though because we couldn’t hear the audio. We made sure the sound effects stopped as the tv turned to static so we could built up that tension successfully and then add a sense of suspense with just the static. 

We then finally came up with a name for our film sequence. We have called it “The unwanted”. 

Fourth Editing Day

 Today we had a look at sound. When watching our sequence we decided that we needed something before the end part to ramp up the tension, so we had a look at the sound effects and decided to find something that matched what we wanted to produce. 

We found a low pitched continuous sound that we put over the top once the tv show went the colour green over the top. 

We needed to turn this sound effect right down though because we couldn’t hear the audio. We made sure the sound effects stopped as the tv turned to static so we could built up that tension successfully and then add a sense of suspense with just the static. 

We then finally came up with a name for our film sequence. We have called it “The unwanted”. 

Third Editing Day

We started adding titles to the film sequence and we realised that the titles were too long, as we shouldn’t be able to say them and read them more than 3 times, so we cut them down. We put the titles in place during the shots of Hugo watching the tv rather than the tv show. 

We then had to come up with fake names for the actors and the production team, which we used a random name generator for which actually worked quite well, and then we had to find a good font to use that would match the sequence for the genre of our film, which would be horror/thriller. 

The font we decided to use was X typewriter. 

Third Editing Day

We started adding titles to the film sequence and we realised that the titles were too long, as we shouldn’t be able to say them and read them more than 3 times, so we cut them down. We put the titles in place during the shots of Hugo watching the tv rather than the tv show. 

We then had to come up with fake names for the actors and the production team, which we used a random name generator for which actually worked quite well, and then we had to find a good font to use that would match the sequence for the genre of our film, which would be horror/thriller. 

The font we decided to use was X typewriter. 

Saul and Elaine Bass - Research

Elaine Bass - Biography

Born - 1927

An American title designer and Film maker 

She was originally at the New York high school of music and art but dropped out in order to pursue a professional career in singing. from the ages of fourteen to eighteen she was releasing records as the leading singer.

She then went to work in the fashion industry, after singing with her sisters, at the age of eighteen. She found a job in the department of Capitol Records. It was there that she heard about Saul Bass hiring an assistant. She got the job and worked there from 1955 to 1959, and it was then that she co-designed the sequence to the movie Spartacus in 1960 uncredited. 

Elaine and Saul then got married the following year., where they then created film title sequences together for the next forty years.

The couple were not only asked to design big film sequences, but also short films for various companies and certain events, some of which even being Oscar nominated, such as "Notes on the popular arts" and "The solar film".  

Saul Bass - Biography 

Born in 1920

An American graphic designer and Oscar winning film maker 

He has worked with many big film directors and designers, such as Hitchcock and Stanley Kubrick, and has designed some massive film opening sequences, such as "Psycho". 

He studied part time in the art students league. In the early 1940s he started designing for advertisements for films, most of which designed by Otto Preminger. He then designed the film poster for Carmen Jones, and was then asked to design the opening sequence as well. 

He became widely known, however, after designing the opening sequence to Preminger's "The man with the golden arm", and all the work after that is what made Bass a graphic designer. Once him and Elaine got married and had children, they decided to focus on their family, designing title sequences and directing, this was from the 1960s to the 1980s. In the 1980s they were rediscovered however by James L. Brooks and Martin Scorsese, and they created the sequences for Goodfellas and other notable works. Bass' work has then inspired many other famous works, and is used in later films, such as "Catch me if you can" and "X-men: first class". 

List of films he has designed (chronological order):

- Carmen Jones (1954)

- The Big knife (1955)

- The man with the golden arm (1955)

- The racers (1955)

- The seven year itch (1955)

- The shrike (1955)

- Around the world in eighty days (1956)

- Storm centre (1956)

- Attack (1956)

- Johnny Concho (1956)

- Edge of the city (1957)

- Saint Joan (1957)

- The pride and the passion (1957)

- The young stranger (1957)

- Bonjour Tristesse (1958) 

- Cowboy (1958)

- Vertigo (1958)

- The big country (1958)

- Anatomy of a murder (1959)

- North by Northwest (1959)

- Psycho (1960)

- The facts of life (1960)

- Exodus (1960)

- Ocean's 11 (1960)

- Something wild (1961)

- Advice and Consent (1962)

- Its a mad, mad, mad, mad world (1963)

- The cardinal (1963)

- In Harm's way (1965)

- Bunny lake is missing (1965)

- Not with my wife, you don't! (1966)

- Such good friends (1971)

- That's entertainment part II (1976)

- Tonkō (1988)

- A personal journey with Martin Scorsese through American movies (1995)

List of film credits they have designed together (chronological order):

- Spartacus (1960)

- West side story (1961)

- Walk on the wild side (1962)

- Nine hours to rama (1963)

- The victors (1963)

- Films for the "New York world's fair" (1964):

---- From here to there 

---- The searching eye 

- Seconds (1966)

- Grand Prix (1966)

- Why man creates (1968)

- Notes on the popular arts (1977)

- The solar film (1979)

- Quest (1984)

- Broadcast news (1987)

- Big (1988)

- The war of the roses (1989)

- Goodfellas (1990)

- Cape fear (1991)

- Doc hollywood (1991)

- Mr Saturday night (1992)

- The age of innocence (1993)

- Higher learning (1995)

- Casino (1995)

One sequence they designed that catches my eye...

https://www.artofthetitle.com/title/west-side-story/

West side story. This is mainly because it is a musical and I love musical theatre, but also because it depicts the time this film was made and set in and the theme of conflict of the film extremely well. The sequence has the prologue playing through the opening credits, with an abstract image of grey lines, and the background changing colour, starting at the colours red and orange, and goes through the colour wheel until it lands on dark blue, where the title "West side story" comes up underneath the abstract picture. The image then fades into the picture of the buildings of New York City, of which we are then taken over the city with an aerial view, which apparently Saul was responsible for, and then slowly cuts into the streets of New York and the characters known as "the Jets" are sitting in a basketball court. The prologue is playing the whole time in the background while this sequence is happening. 

Saul and Elaine Bass - Research

Elaine Bass - Biography

Born - 1927

An American title designer and Film maker 

She was originally at the New York high school of music and art but dropped out in order to pursue a professional career in singing. from the ages of fourteen to eighteen she was releasing records as the leading singer.

She then went to work in the fashion industry, after singing with her sisters, at the age of eighteen. She found a job in the department of Capitol Records. It was there that she heard about Saul Bass hiring an assistant. She got the job and worked there from 1955 to 1959, and it was then that she co-designed the sequence to the movie Spartacus in 1960 uncredited. 

Elaine and Saul then got married the following year., where they then created film title sequences together for the next forty years.

The couple were not only asked to design big film sequences, but also short films for various companies and certain events, some of which even being Oscar nominated, such as "Notes on the popular arts" and "The solar film".  

Saul Bass - Biography 

Born in 1920

An American graphic designer and Oscar winning film maker 

He has worked with many big film directors and designers, such as Hitchcock and Stanley Kubrick, and has designed some massive film opening sequences, such as "Psycho". 

He studied part time in the art students league. In the early 1940s he started designing for advertisements for films, most of which designed by Otto Preminger. He then designed the film poster for Carmen Jones, and was then asked to design the opening sequence as well. 

He became widely known, however, after designing the opening sequence to Preminger's "The man with the golden arm", and all the work after that is what made Bass a graphic designer. Once him and Elaine got married and had children, they decided to focus on their family, designing title sequences and directing, this was from the 1960s to the 1980s. In the 1980s they were rediscovered however by James L. Brooks and Martin Scorsese, and they created the sequences for Goodfellas and other notable works. Bass' work has then inspired many other famous works, and is used in later films, such as "Catch me if you can" and "X-men: first class". 

List of films he has designed (chronological order):

- Carmen Jones (1954)

- The Big knife (1955)

- The man with the golden arm (1955)

- The racers (1955)

- The seven year itch (1955)

- The shrike (1955)

- Around the world in eighty days (1956)

- Storm centre (1956)

- Attack (1956)

- Johnny Concho (1956)

- Edge of the city (1957)

- Saint Joan (1957)

- The pride and the passion (1957)

- The young stranger (1957)

- Bonjour Tristesse (1958) 

- Cowboy (1958)

- Vertigo (1958)

- The big country (1958)

- Anatomy of a murder (1959)

- North by Northwest (1959)

- Psycho (1960)

- The facts of life (1960)

- Exodus (1960)

- Ocean's 11 (1960)

- Something wild (1961)

- Advice and Consent (1962)

- Its a mad, mad, mad, mad world (1963)

- The cardinal (1963)

- In Harm's way (1965)

- Bunny lake is missing (1965)

- Not with my wife, you don't! (1966)

- Such good friends (1971)

- That's entertainment part II (1976)

- Tonkō (1988)

- A personal journey with Martin Scorsese through American movies (1995)

List of film credits they have designed together (chronological order):

- Spartacus (1960)

- West side story (1961)

- Walk on the wild side (1962)

- Nine hours to rama (1963)

- The victors (1963)

- Films for the "New York world's fair" (1964):

---- From here to there 

---- The searching eye 

- Seconds (1966)

- Grand Prix (1966)

- Why man creates (1968)

- Notes on the popular arts (1977)

- The solar film (1979)

- Quest (1984)

- Broadcast news (1987)

- Big (1988)

- The war of the roses (1989)

- Goodfellas (1990)

- Cape fear (1991)

- Doc hollywood (1991)

- Mr Saturday night (1992)

- The age of innocence (1993)

- Higher learning (1995)

- Casino (1995)

One sequence they designed that catches my eye...

https://www.artofthetitle.com/title/west-side-story/

West side story. This is mainly because it is a musical and I love musical theatre, but also because it depicts the time this film was made and set in and the theme of conflict of the film extremely well. The sequence has the prologue playing through the opening credits, with an abstract image of grey lines, and the background changing colour, starting at the colours red and orange, and goes through the colour wheel until it lands on dark blue, where the title "West side story" comes up underneath the abstract picture. The image then fades into the picture of the buildings of New York City, of which we are then taken over the city with an aerial view, which apparently Saul was responsible for, and then slowly cuts into the streets of New York and the characters known as "the Jets" are sitting in a basketball court. The prologue is playing the whole time in the background while this sequence is happening. 

Second Editing Day

We cleaned up all the videos and added a few close ups to make the video look more tidy, but we didn’t need to do much as we were quite happy with how we left things after last editing session.

We then unlinked all the audio from most of the cuts and got rid of it so we could only hear cut one for the most part.

We then edited this one part in the static audio at the end of the sequence as there was the sound of someone’s voice, so we cut it and carried on the static sound so we only hear that

We then changed the exposure of the shots of Hugo when watching the tv so we could see the image better and so it looked more realistic as it matched the colour of the tv show. As well as this we changed the shade of green so it was brighter and looked more amateur as that was our aim for the tv show to look. 

We then changed the volume of the individual clips that needed the audio so we could hear Hugo speaking over cut 1 of the TV show and over the sound of the static on the tv, and faded the sound of the static of the end. 

Second Editing Day

We cleaned up all the videos and added a few close ups to make the video look more tidy, but we didn’t need to do much as we were quite happy with how we left things after last editing session.

We then unlinked all the audio from most of the cuts and got rid of it so we could only hear cut one for the most part.

We then edited this one part in the static audio at the end of the sequence as there was the sound of someone’s voice, so we cut it and carried on the static sound so we only hear that

We then changed the exposure of the shots of Hugo when watching the tv so we could see the image better and so it looked more realistic as it matched the colour of the tv show. As well as this we changed the shade of green so it was brighter and looked more amateur as that was our aim for the tv show to look. 

We then changed the volume of the individual clips that needed the audio so we could hear Hugo speaking over cut 1 of the TV show and over the sound of the static on the tv, and faded the sound of the static of the end.