Transition test

For today, I am testing different transitions to use for the affect of the home video. I can not make use a handful of transition because they do not provide the feel of a home video. The ones I have tested here are simple fading transitions.

Title names and credits

This opening sequence shows the name of those involved. For my thriller opening, I am going to include.
A Lion Entertainment production
Actor, Anjali Derashri, April De Alwis, Roshni Mepani
Director of Photography: John Reed
Special effects: Arron Dellwis
Casting by: Donna Robbie
Costume design: Kate Brewer
Make-up: Alan Kennedy
Sound track by: Purple Planet
Edited by: Heath E Wigg
screenplay by: Ricky Lincoln
Directed by: Roshni Mepani

Effect Test

For the effect of the home video, I shot the footage using a HD camcorder  so I now need to edit the image to make it more like a home video.  For this effect I could use the "bad TV" effect. I could also change the saturation of the image and make it more like a home video shot by a group of friends on day out in the park.

Alternatively, I could simply blur the video to make it appear more like a home video shot with a modern camcorder.

Similar films

*MENTAL IS A LIGHT HEARTED COMEDY HOWEVER I HAVE TAKEN THE MESSAGE FROM THIS FILM FOR MY THRILLER* 

Mental is a film released in 2012 directed by PJ Hogan and stars Toni Collette. The last film Toni Collette and PJ Hogan worked on together was Muriel's Wedding. This film was based on a real life event that the director PJ Hogan faced. Muriel's Wedding was about PJ Hogans sister and her wedding. While on the set of this film, Pj Hogan and Toni Collette were talking about Hogans nanny - a woman named Shaz. Hogans' dad had seen a woman waiting to go somewhere and decided to help her out and trusted her based on the fact that she had a dog. He then asked her to act as a nanny for his children because their mother had been taken into an institute.Hogan had said Shaz was the one person who helped his family through the time even t though "she was nuts". Within the first few days she was instantly able to better the girls' lives and towards the end she was taken in to the same institue as girls mother. So the young sisters broke in and helped Shaz to escape. Over the course Shaz helped the girls to see they did not have mental disorders but those around them did.

This is similar to my thriller with the aspect of the disorder. The main character in my thriller suffers from Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). If the film was to continue past 3 minutes I would show one of the friends in of the main character swapping around the medication so that the condition would not be able to be controlled. Towards the end, it would represent something similar to the end of Mental. This would show the different sides to normality, the friend swapping the medicine would be seen as the troubled one and one character with DID would be seen as the perfectly "normal" person.

This here is a review of the film which explains the concept of the film:

Here is the trailer of the film.

Inspiration for first scene of "Slice" *possible name

This is a short video that was filmed from a phone. The video shows two friends dancing around and another friend in the background laughing. This was the inspiration for my thriller. For my thriller, I want to create the atmosphere and feeling of home video with a similar effect of this video. Another aspect I like about this video is the image is not very clear, the lighting casts darkness over the two people dancing and the sound of the person laughing is distorted alike the song in the background.

Another inspiration for the beginning of the thriller is the opening to another film called "A Model Daughter: The Killing of Caroline Byrne". This film is based on true events and is the reason for the home video at the beginning. Although the atmosphere is different to the first video, they have similar effects. The lighting in this opening is fairly clear because the outdoor lighting.





Here is another old home video. This video is not of the effect I want because is a little too clear, and it does not look like something negative is about to happen. However, it is a home video with the general atmosphere of a home video.

Bourne Identity and Blade Runner NICCS table

This breakdown of analysis was for the film Blade Runner. I found the genre of this film through IMDB.com - however I was informed the genre for this film is generally listed as "man on the run". There was a lot of clear iconography throughout, setting the scene and atmosphere for the outlook of the film.

This is the analysis for the film Bourne Identity. Compared to Blade Runner - this does not have as much iconography however, there are more settings or typical locations used. The settings used helped to clear the narrative.

pre Hand Research, looking through other blogs and titles.

This is an example of an opening created by some previous students. I really liked the soundtrack to this opening because it suited the series of events well. The series of events follow a female around the London Underground featuring a handful of stations. Looking through this opening for the first time, I can not see any errors or weaknesses.


This opening seems to follow a school girl walking home and being targeted by some fellow students. I think there could have been a better choice of music used for the soundtrack, possibly Birdys' version of Skinny Love or How to save a life by The Fray. However I liked where the song being played on the ipod was shown to emphasise the meaning behind the song and how it would relate to the sequences unfolding. There is also use of continuity editing at 1:54 - this could have been more crisp and on point. The same for the shot at 1:22. At this point the 3 friends are continuing to walk down the street however you can see where the cut has been made and that they have stopped and started from the point of which the walked down the street. To improve this is think the clip could have started a second later or have the actors walk in and out of the shot, not just to start walking from a standstill. There is also the start 1:18 where there is a fade to white which would usually be used to show time passing or a flashback.

This screen grab is from another previous example of work. This close up of the back of his head was supported by a crescendo in the music which gave the essence of a climax in the narrative or just the idea of something that is crucial to the plot being revealed.

This next screen grab is what happens next as the shot zooms in. I like the effect this has for the sequence. This scene then shows the person again and shows a doll being taken apart. I think this picture builds up the scene well for what is about to occur. At the end there is sound coming from speech. The first voice is muffled to show someone talking who is far from the person in the shot.

Sweeney Todd opening tittles. 

For the opening tittle of Sweeney Todd, the actors playing the two main characters can be seen. Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter's names appear, both surrounding by a what seems  to be an old wall with wallpaper pealing at the sides. This gives the effect of an eerie atmosphere. Both of these actors are represented by an outline silhouette of their faces in character. Both backgrounds have blood smeared down the sides, for Jonny Depp the blood is dried and is running down his outline. For Helena Bonham Carter the blood is more animated and more of a drip running down an object. 

For the next two credits, the actors names are again surrounded by blood by not their facial outline. For Alan Rickman, the blood seems to be a continuation from the previous sequence showing Helena Bonham Carter. The title is for Sacha Baron Cohen. This title shows the actors name in swirling pool of blood. By this fourth tittle, the essence of blood and eeriness is made very clear. The reason for the two sets of actors could be due to the role of the character they are portraying but it also shows the story unfolding and moving on through the names and characters. 


As the credits change from the actors to the crew, the essence of eeriness and blood is lost. This is to show the change in job role and the change from within the eeriness to creating it. 





The blood and eeriness comes back into play to show the essence of the film. The blood is running towards a drain suggesting the camera will follow the blood down into the depths. 

The blood is followed down and is then let lose into the stream of sewers. Showing the large gush of blood shows someone with quite a large role in the making of the film such as an Executive Producer.

 

This final screegrab shows the director with a misty background. This shows the final credit. The misty effect also prepares the audience for the opening scene of the film.

This is the timeline for the opening titles of "Russell Howard's Good News"

Bait 3D. Rebecca. se7en

Over the Christmas break I watched three thrillers. The first was Rebecca (1940). When looking around for Rebecca, I found three adaptations, the original film and adaptation of the book seemed to have the best reviews. This film starred Laurence Olivier, who is extreamley well known. I first came to know of his name thanks to the annual Olivier awards (British Tony Awards - West End/Broadway awards). Rebecca follows the story of a rich man called Maxim De Winter. He meets a ladies companian who he later marries. They return to live in his mansion in Manderlay. However the presence of his ex wife still lingers around the area. It is known the first Mrs De Winter was in a sailing accident and was found two miles up coast, then burried in the family shrine. Throughout the first half of the movie, the second Mrs De winter is surrounded by the presence of the first wife. The second Mrs De Winter clashes with the main maid (Mrs Danvers). This is because loved the first wife more than anything else and was troubled by her death but more so troubled when Maxim decided to re-marry. Mrs Danvers does everything she can to keep the memory of Rebecca (first wife) alive, for all the residents of Manderlay. She even tricks the second Mrs De Winter into dressing the same way. However in the second half of the film it is revealed that Maxim had indeed killed Rebecca by placing her on the boat and poking holes from the bottom, therefore allowing water to seep in to drown the boat - making her death seem accidental. The person burried in the family shrine is not Rebecca, it is an old lady, Maxim identified wrong so that he could forget Rebecca as she was not who he thought she was. She was a lady who liked to sleep around and was pregnant with someone else. The story of Rebecca comes to light much more when some divers go down into the ocean and find the boat with Rebeccas' body inside, it is at this point Maxim reveals all to the second Mrs De Winters. Due to this new light in the story, a court case is required to find the reason for the death of Rebecca and why Maxim identified her wrong. The judge and police believe Maxim identified wrong due to his state of shock at the sudden death of wife. They then go to prove the death was caused due to Rebecca committing suicide. This is stopped when a partner of Rebeccas goes to reveal all about how Maxim killed Rebecca because she was pregnant. A visit to Rebecca's doctor shows Rebecca was not pregnant but in fact she was dying of cancer. As this is proven, her suicide is said as the most likely cause of death. Back in Manderlay, Mrs Danvers learns of the fact of Rebecca having had cancer and is shocked as Rebecca did not inform Mrs Danvers about her problem. When this happens, Mrs Danvers sets fire to the mansion stating she can't see Maxim and the second Mrs De Winter happy in a place where Rebecca's presence lingers.

Bait 3D was released in 2012. Bait is the story of people trapped in a supermarket after a sudden tsunami takes over the area. The 6ft great white sharks of the area are also around the area, with two great whites in the supermarket. One of the great whites is in the supermarket, while another is in the downstairs car park. The film starts of with a general beach scene, there is one lifeguard who usually sets the buoy, but his friend sets the buoy this time as the usual lifeguard is slightly hungover. It is then revealed the hungover lifeguard (Josh) became engaged to the other lfeguards' (Rory) sister. As Rory sets the buoy for the Josh the shark alarm goes off but Rory is too far out to hear the alarm. Hearing the alarm, Josh goes in after Rory to get his attension back to shore. Josh gets to Rory and just as he is pulling Rory up from the ocean the shark attacks. Rory is pulled down with Josh holding Rorys' neckless. A year has passed, Josh and Tina have called off their engagenment and Tina is now with someone she met in Singapore. Josh has quit as a lifeguard and is now working at a super market. As the tsunami arrives, everyone in the supermarket and car park is drowned underwater. Josh is the first to be seen swimming out of the water and perches himself on a shelving rack. After this, more people are seen emerging from the water, as they wonder how to escape they have no idea about the 6ft shark. They figure out about the shark after and then their fear kicks in. In the car park there are three people trapped and one dog. Towards the end, of the people in the car park is mauled by the other 6ft shark in the area. The other two people are perched on a car. They finally escape having lost 4 members of the survivors to the sharks. They escape using an electric fire set off by the main electrical intake switch. The people in the supermarket kill the shark by fishing it out, but they do not realise the shark is just captured and is not dead. The shark in the car park was shot by a gun, as one of the people in the supermarket is the daughter of a policeman and remembers he keeps guns in his car. She went down to the cap park after realising her boyfriend is trapped in the car park. The people upstairs in the supermarket are about to escape when they see the shark has escaped from its rope, they run out and escape.

se7en was released in 1995 and centres around the seven deadly sins. The sins are:
Lust
Wrath
Gluttony
Greed
Envy
Pride
Sloth.
This film centres a seriel killer who murders people who possess traits of the the sins. After the first 5 victims are found the killer hand himself in to the police. He claims there is one more person who he has killed. That person turns out to be the pregnant wife of the detective who is investigating the case.