Opening title sequences.

The opening sequence of a thriller nearly always contains a title sequence, probably the most famous designer of title sequences is Saul Bass. Bass was involved in the production of a lot of Alfred Hitchcock's title sequences, although not a Hitchcock film one of Bass's most famous opening sequence was for the film 'The man with the golden arm' which can be seen here: Furthermore 'North by Northwest' was probably bass's most famous Hitchcock opening title sequences, it can be seen here: By looking at both these bass title sequences one can notice a pattern, Bass tends to use the line going down the page and in effect pushing the title on or off the page. It adds an interesting effect of cynicism. Bass also uses white lines generally. The film 'The man with the golden arm' was a taboo subject in 1955 when it was released due to it being about a heroin addict. Bass's use of the Black on white paper in the opening scene caused a stir due to its connection to the arm which is associated with drug use. This shows the power Bass's image has projected. Moreover Bass's work has been emulated in 21st century productions such as Catch me if you can (2002)

Celluliod pictures

Here is a picture of the Celluloid pictures crew, from the left- Dauud, Ricardo, Johnnie (me)

Mise en scene

The concept of Mise en scene is basically the referral of everything that appears before the camera and its arrangement-composition, sets, props, actors, costumes, and lighting. It also incorporates the positioning and movement of actors on the set, which is called blocking. This is why it is nessacary to have have directors, this is also a small part of their job on set. 

For thriller films, the mise en scene is usually low- key for lighting, the sets are dark and associated with black that is considered a sinister colour. Red is also a common colour used. In the movie 'We need to talk about Kevin' in every scene something red is shown, this represents 'Kevin's' association to the devil.

Thriller conventions

I have been speaking about thriller conventions and how we are incorporating them into our opening sequence. But in order to fully understand I going to do more research. Firstly, we are basing our sequence on a spy thriller; such as Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy or James Bond. The conventional prop to see in this type of thriller are:
-Fake blood
-Guns
-Suits/overcoats
-Knife
-Handcuffs







Furthermore, red herring-we shall be using this in our sequence. A red herring, as the name suggests, is a decoy or distraction from the actual target or objective, designed to 'lead' them -usually the protagonist- in the wrong direction. Agatha Christy used it in her spy thriller Novels. It tends to be a regular feature in detective or spy thrillers. Also in the film Memento, the main character and protagonist Lenny is constantly searching for the 'Red Herring'

Lastly we are also using a cliff hanger. This is one of the most common conventions in Thriller movies is a cliff hanger. Naturally as we are only doing an opening sequence its no surprise that our movie will feature a cliff hanger at the end.

Shooting script

Shooting Script

Our company

'Our company' is called Celluloid Pictures. We found it quite difficult to think of a name at first. But then we had the idea of Celluloid as its the compund of nitrocellulose and camphor which form 'Celluloid' which is then the substance used to make film reel. We then added pictures as it composes as catchy name-

This is our animatic storyboard. It includes the basic scenes and sounds we shall be incorporating into our opening sequence, furthermore it shows the title sequence that will show during the sequence. Where it says 'working title' that is where we are still looking for a title for our production. From doing this I learnt that the approximate duration of our openming sequence will be around the standard 2.00 minute mark.I also learnt that the props we will have to include will be ones that fit the thriller conventions. We will need-fake blood, suit, alcohol containers...The research I had to do in order to complete this was just a genral look at other animatics such as the Gorillaz one I posted earlier. To do the sound for the shower we had to record an actual shower, the other sounds mostly came from Imovie.

We have associated are production company (celluoide pictures) most strongly to the small independant film company Warp Films, here is a short bit of info about Warp:

Launched in 2001, Warp Films leads the way in exciting and original British Filmmaking. The company has been behind an array of critically acclaimed and award winning films, including several BAFTAs. Warp Film productions include Rubber Johnny, Dead Man's Shoes, This Is England, Donkey Punch, A Complete  History of My Sexual Failures and Four Lions.
Currently in post-production, as part of Warp’s digital slate Warp X, is Kill List, written and directed by Ben Wheatley. Shortly due for release after its premiere at Sundance 2011 is Tyrannosaur, Paddy Considine's directorial debut, starring Peter Mullan and Olivia Coleman.
Richard Ayoade’s debut feature Submarine starring Noah Taylor, Sally Hawkins and Paddy Considine premiered at the Toronto in 2010 and was released in the UK during March 2011 and June 2011 in the US. Warp Films' development slate currently includes projects with Shane Meadows, Chris Morris, David Slade, Frank Cottrell Boyce and Lynne Ramsay.
Warp's most recent television production for Channel 4, Shane Meadows' This Is England '86 has received numerous plaudits and reached record viewing figures^. Warp is currently developing several television projects with Channel 4 and the BBC.
Upcoming short films for Film4 include The Organ Grinder’s Monkey, a short written and directed by Jake and Dinos Chapman, and Matt Holness’ debut short A Gun For George.
Warp Music Video and Commercials has an impressive roster of directors including Shane Meadows, Richard Ayoade, Robert Hales, United Visual Artists and Eric Wareheim. Their inaugural commercial 'The Boost Mobile Shuffle was for the prestigious Super Bowl 2010 spot. They have made music videos for Flying Lotus, Vampire Weekend, Tinie Tempah, Arctic Monkeys, Kasabian and The Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
Warp Films' first film My Wrongs #8245–8249 & 117 by Chris Morris won the Best Short Film award at the BAFTA Awards.Warp is closely associated with Chris Cunningham, who was responsible for Aphex Twin's videos Come To Daddy and Windowlicker. He is responsible for an abstract short film called Rubber Johnny, which features the music of Aphex Twin and was released on May 23, 2005.
Shane Meadows has made three films with Warp Films Dead Man's Shoes, This Is England - which won a BAFTA - and most recently "Le Donk & Scor-zay-zee".
The Chris Morris film Four Lions was twice-BAFTA nominated.In April 2008, Australian film distributor Madman Entertainment announced "a collaboration" with Warp Films. Warp and Madman plan to make "at least 2 films together over the next 3 years." with Warp setting up an Australian branch in Melbourne. The first film to come from this collaboration is the Australian drama, Snowtown Warp Australia also announced the development of Partisan, a feature film by Ariel Klieman and Sarah Cyngler in 2010.
Warp Films are currently crowd-funding four short films shot at the All Tomorrow's Parties festival by Vincent Moon, using the website Kickstarter.com. The project will need to reach its goal by 15 October.

Film	Year	Director	Notes
A Complete History of M Sexual Failures	2008	Waitt, Chris ! Chris Waitt
All Tomorrow's Parties	2009	Caouette, Jonathan ! All Tomorrow's People & Jonathan Caouette
Arctic Monkeys At the Apollo	2008	Ayoade, Richard ! Richard Ayoade
Bunny and the Bull	2009	King, Paul ! Paul King
Curtains	2009	Barratt, Julian ! Julian Barratt	short film
Dead Man's Shoes	2004	Meadows, Shane ! Shane Meadows
Dog Altogether	2007	Considine, Paddy ! Paddy Considine	short film
Donkey Punch	2008	Blackburn, Oliver ! Oliver Blackburn
Four Lions	2010	Morris, Chris ! Chris Morris
Fur TV	2008	Waitt, Chris ! Chris Waitt
Grow Your Own	2007	Laxton, Richard ! Richard Laxton
Hush	2009	Tonderai, Mark ! Mark Tonderai
Le Donk & Scor-zay-zee	2009	Meadows, Shane ! Shane Meadows
My Wrongs #8245–8249 & 117	2003	Morris, Chris ! Chris Morris	short film
Rubber Johnny	2005	Cunningham, Chris ! Chris Cunningham	short film
Scummy Man	2006	Fraser, Paul ! Paul Fraser	short film/music video
Submarine	2010	Ayoade, Richard ! Richard Ayoade
The Mighty Boosh Live: Future Sailors Tour	2009	King, Paul ! Paul King
This Is England	2006	Meadows, Shane ! Shane Meadows
This Is England 86	2010	Meadows, Shane ! Shane Meadows & Tom Harper
Tyrannosaur	2011	Considine, Paddy ! Paddy Considine

This is the trailor to a big Warp Films success- This is England-

Locations

I now have a very clear understanding of where we as a group shall be filming. Firstly Our beginning shall be at Lambeth Towers in Kennington on Kennington road. We chose this location as it is the residence of one of my group partners. His bedroom shall be where we start our film. When filming here we shall have to acknowledge the time of day, as we want natural sunlight to stream through the window to fulfil the Mise-en-scene. This is a picture of Lambeth Towers:

Furthermore Are next location will be Chelsea Academy school. This location is a more convenient one as we can film during school hours. Furthermore our school features Mise-en-scene that we desire. We want lifts and a board room, both are within our school. It is a fairly modern building so it gives the sense of a contemporary feel to our movie which is what we are looking for. Here is a picture: 

Finally we are doing our finishing sequence at Lots Road Power Station. We have decided on this location as it a dereclict power station with a sinister feel about it. 

Animatic

Having composed a story board which shows the sequence of events that will feature in our opening sequence, we are now going to show it in an animated way which will enhance the audiences understanding of the purpose as to why we do it. Moreover it is a useful and detailed form of showing the sequence of events with sound and title sequences. This shows (without real footage) the rough duration and completed idea of our sequence. Here are some examples of animatics that have already been used: And this is an example of the actual video:

Garage Band tutorial

Furthermore I thought garage band was a useful bit of software to figure out, so i found this tutorial very helpful. It shall be a good aid as the non-diagetic features in our film will need music made from this software.

Tutorial into how to use I Movie

so as we are editing and finalising our opening sequence through I Movie on mac's. I thought this tutorial video would prove very useful.

Here are pictures of my storyboard. A story board is used as a plan for the final opening piece. Also directors use them to show the camera operators the sequence of events and which technical aspects to incorporate into their production

From completing these story boards I have found out the approximate duration of our film, with everything we wish to include in it. This has been useful for our time management. Also I now have a far clearer idea of the props we will need to use. Interestingly the props that we shall have to include will be ones that meet the conventions of a thriller genre. Such as; guns,fake blood, knifes...Moreover as a result of doing this story board I have found that we will want to change some of our scenes and some of our locations as they may take too long filming and eat into our 2.00 minute limit.

Things to consider.

Within our Opening sequence we are going to have to encorporate a variety of techniqual aspects. Firstly Sound. We shall involve as little dialogue as possible as it is difficult with equiptment that does not cost alot to recieve it well. We have within our Media Studies department a special sound reciever which can aid the camera in picking up diagetic sound. Within the film industry top production companys such as universal studios or 20th century fox will invest millions into sound equiptment. Obviously we do not have these kind of resources, but it is possible to produce a quality film by other means, and by using what we have to its best ability. Moreover another consideration will be the filming equiptment this has been one of the most ground breaking proliferations in hardware over last 50 years. We have HD cameras which can give great detail. It has 20 mega pixels. There quality can be seen in the prelimeration task have completed. In addition the editing and title sequence of our film will need careful consideration. The title sequence will just show are names and maybe the locations. We shall have to think carefully about the colour our titles are as we dont want them to significantly stand out against the feature.

This is a power point I put together illistrating the logos and film companys. We would associate celluoide (our company) most stronly with an independant and small company such as focus features.

Film Company's and Logos

I came across the idea of making a presentation about famous thriller directors

Famous Thriller Directors

This is some research I launched into the opening scenes of spy thrillers and thrillers

Opening Scenes of Thrillers

We have decided to produce a spy thriller, we have started brainstorming. Here shows some conventions and opening scenes of Spy thrillers

Technical Aspects Used Within Spy Films

here is a piece of text I did demonstrating the conventions of a thriller-Die Hard with a Vengence

How Does the Film Use Conventions of the Thriller Genre to Create Suspense

These are some classic and climactic thriller scenes. One can see how they meet the conventions