Title of the Film:
The title of the film I gave it a lot of thought and it can be found in the eighth key frame, it is called "Soul Harvester" and it is displayed on a black background and I used the same font as the rest of my titles throughout and it is in the colour of white. the genre of my film is horror/thriller and i thought this title was most appropriate. Many horror films keep their titles simple as it gives a more eerie effect.
Examples of the plain but eerie titles can be found by looking at these links:
"Soul Harvester" is a metaphor for death which I thought was appropriate for my film because it is about a serial killer who kills lots of women. It also can be interpreted a different way if you read it as harvest souls it gave me a thought that farmers cut down many crops during the harvest season and this serial killer is killing so many women it is like what the farmers do.
Setting/Location:
The location I chose can be seen in frame 5 and 6. It was set in my house situated in the Brent. My road is a private road so there are rarely any disturbances so i thought this would be the most appropriate place. It worked out to my advantage aswell because the upstairs front bedroom window have blinds and I really wanted to do the shot where we see him looking at the girl through the blinds (frame 5) which I was very happy with. We rarely see much of the location or the setting because mainly I wanted to focus on the key character with the extreme close up shots (frame 2 and 4). However I think the setting of when we did see the girl walking home it could have been a little darker to make it a bit spooky. Other than that I am really happy with the shots i captured and how it has turned out.
Costumes and props:
Costumes and props are very important in a film because they also show the personality of a character. for example: if you are trying to show someone is a clown you would dress them up in bright colours and makeup and as a prop juggling balls.
For my actors their costumes and props are most important:
Serial Killer: we see him wearing smart clothes because throughout the film I want to portray him to constantly have to be dressed nice and that is just his personality smart dress smart person. at the end we see him with a shovel. this also is throughout the film would play a vital role as he would use this quite often such as burying bodies, killings, etc.
Victim: The victim dresses as a normal six form student just coming home from a day at school. Her props are her bag which shows she is a six form student.
We also see a prop of a dead girls bracelet this is in contrast with a killing before he come after his next victim and he kept it as a rememberance.
Camerawork and editing:
Throughout the filming of my opening sequence, the camera work was very simple but very effective. I think if i had used to many different camera angles and shots it would have been too confusing and over done. I used the schools camera to capture my footage because it was easier to do my extreme close up shots of the killers face, i also used the tripod to keep it as steady as possible. This was my main shot throughout. I tried to keep it simple by just using over the shoulder shots, extreme close ups and match on action because it created the same mood and effect throughout. I think the more shots used the more confusing and chaotic it would have been. sometimes that works but I did not think lots of different shots would have worked for this particular film i was producing.
When I came to editing I had too much footage which I did not need to use as some of it did not connect this was not a problem because I didn't have to put it in. It took many takes to do certain shots to make sure it was perfect so i had a few to choose out of which took up more time which i could have used to make everything as perfect as possible. I didn't use any sound effects as the music took control throughout the film as it linked in with each shot and title as it all synced. I also used editing on dipping to black and white which was very important especially for key frame 4 and 5. key frame 4 I used it to overlap with another shot like he was looking at the bracelet. The lighting also mainly came from the light outside of the room we filmed in however i tweaked it a little to make it a bit brighter to show it was a flashback. I think I could have improved on the ending by putting a sound like a crush when he hit down the shovel like it was the victim from earlier.
title font and style
the title font and style can be seen in key frame 8. I kept it white on a black background not too over the top just something simple because it works better and makes it more eerie. I thought this would work throughout and it would be more eyecatching then in all different colours because it looks more professional and it also attracts the audience to watch the film.
story and how the opening sets it up:
The story is about a Serial Killer but for some reason the pattern of his killings are only women which would not be revealed until the end of the film. However as we get more into the film we go back into his past killings and what brought him to do this. I think the opening suggests this very well because we see flashbacks of killings which can be seen in key frame 3 and with the blood I think emphasizes that he had killed the girl. Also we get a feeling of the insanity that goes through his mind in the close up shots knowing that he is a killer. I think the opening supports the story very well.
Genre and how the opening suggests it:
The genre of my film is horror/thriller this is because it is eerie with violence however a very unanswered film until the end which will summarise it up. i think the opening suggest this by the beginning with the writing of what has happened. this works for many other films such as the strangers and instantly tells the audience it is a horror.
This is the beginning of The Strangers it instantly tells us the genre of the film because of words such as 'crimes' and 'brutal events' telling us a bit already.
also i think it suggests it by how silent it is giving the eerie effect and leaving the audience questioning what is going to happen after the opening of the film. Also the piano music is very slow and dark instantly making it feel like a horror. Also i think the effect of having many close up shots of half of his face instantly makes an uncomfortable mood. The lighting also of the memory flashbacks contrasting with the blood also makes it very dark and mysterious which i think has worked very well to make it the genre I wanted it to be. i think my genre contrasts mostly with the film The Strangers by the way it is set up and tells the audience instantly with the beginning part of the writing shot.
click on "the strangers" which is highlighted in orange to watch the opening sequence of the 2008 film the strangers
how characters are introduced:
The first character is introduced within the first set of footage i had caught (key frame 2 + 3) I decided to open with the serial killer first because I wanted to get across to the audience how his mind works and how uncomfortable he makes the audience feel. Also he will be the main character throughout the film so I thought it was most appropriate. The second character is the victim where we see her come in closer to the end of the opening sequence because she is just another victim not a main character (key frame 5). I thought it was very effective to bring the character in because it adds more tenson to the fact that the audience have learned that the main character is a serial killer and he is insane and she is next to be killed making an uncomfortable atmosphere.
special effects:
I used very little special effects because I only had the music and relied mainly on the lighting that come through the room I used to film my footage. However I brightened the lighting a little by changing the contrast level on Premiere Pro. I also used dip to white and dip to black effect to change shots and to fade the titles.
No comments:
Post a Comment