My choice: AUDIO!

We studied audio in October and even completed a research project on it. We had to create a scene using solely audio for our assignment. In addition to internet audios from YouTube and other resources, we were told to incorporate Foley. This project was quite useful in teaching us how to edit audio, make foley, and change timing, as well as the volume. This project has given me the courage to believe that audio won't be an Issue for our project.

Our opening scene will have a haunting, mysterious, and rather menacing instrumental background. As the opening scene lacks dialogue, we think this will work appropriately. Although we haven't picked the music yet, we are looking for an uncopyrighted audio to prevent further issues.

In terms of what comes after our film opening, this will be a little different for us. Since discourse has never been a part of any of our other projects, we will need to try new things to get this done right.

We were thinking of having a little microphone to use because it's very tiny and clips onto clothing. It is a super simple device and I think it will be really efficient. Our worry is that since the mic will be inside the shirts of our actors that the audio could end up being muffled. Miranda has used this during volleyball games but on the outside of the shirt never inside. It is our only concern for the audio. 

Casting!!

 After attempting to cast people various times, we finally got our cast!!  

I am not gonna lie casting is not very easy. Trying to find people who would work with each other and had time to film was complicated. People have very busy lives, including me, so it is hard to make all the times match up. 

These two actors reflect our characters in the sense that they are together in real life as well as their personalities.

We want to meet the two of them quickly to shoot the second scene for our opener. Both of them are responsible and trustworthy, and we have no doubt that they will work well on our project. Neither of them has any prior TV or acting experience, but our situation doesn't call for significant acting. It needs them to film in a cozy setting and be at comfortable with one another, which they are.

Sofia- Played by Sofia Bruno 

Luke- Played by Adrian Rendon  

Production Process 2 FILMING SET UP !!

 Today is filming day 1!! Before I began to film the opening scene, I wanted to look at videos of detective boards and how in movies or videos they are seen. I went online to look for some similar scenes. I couldn't find any in any movies where they are setting up the board. 

I did some digging and found this video on POND5 where a person is adding the red string to all the pictures on the board, and I noticed the camera would pan down and track the movements that the hand would make. I want to incorporate that into our filming and our shots, but I always want to include various other types of shots to include different angles. 

I also noticed they had post it notes on the board with information. I completely missed that in planning to film, and I thought it would be great to include some into the board to not only fill up space, but to provide information that will be relevant later on. I began to write this post in notes, and include them onto the board. 

Production Process 1

This week Miranda and I are supposed to begin our production!! I am very excited and nervous. Before we can even start filming our opening, we need a few props to properly shoot the scene.  This list includes a big cork-board, thumbtacks, black gloves, and red string. All these pieces are crucial for the first scene in our opening. 

Cork Board 

The most essential part of this entire scene is the detective board. The board will include all the pictures and memorabilia of Sofia and Luke. This will begin the climb of suspense in our film. The audience will be left with the questions like  "Who is making this board?", "What is the importance of these items?" We will leave with the audience with a sense of intrigue, and throughout the film, we will answer these questions and build on the suspense. 

Black Gloves

The back gloves are a big part in this scene. In the scene, we use the black gloves to hide the identity of the person who is obsessed with Sofia and Luke. They add mystery to the identity of the person and to the overall plot. 

Red String

The red string is literally what connects the whole scene together. The red string will be what is leading all the pictures and memorabilia to one picture of Sofia, where it is quite obvious she did not know it was being taken. The string will signal the audience to pay attention to these details since they will appear again in the film.  

Storyboard

After establishing the final idea for the opening and working on the script we began working on the storyboard. What is on the storyboard is the majority of the shots being used and what exactly the audience will see. We began drawing exactly what would pan out in every shot of each scene, with the credits appearing in between all the shots. The storyboard allows us to know exactly what shot is needed for the scenes while we are filming. It got all our ideas in order and helped us execute the plan. Below is our storyboard for the first two minutes of our film. 

mise-en-scene element (Lighting)

 Lighting

Lighting is one of the most crucial parts of making a horror/suspense feel real and supporting the film. It can create tension, mood, and how the audience feels about the scene. 

Lighting in Horror/Suspense Films

The way lighting is used in horror/suspense films can achieve all these things:

• Builds Suspense
• Enhances the fear of the unknown
• Create the atmosphere for the character 
• Direct the audience's attention to specific areas (Emphasizing danger)
• Isolation
• Foreshadowing

How We Are Going to Use Lighting 

The first shot of the Film Opening is multiple close-up shots of a detective board being created. For a scene like this, having bright lighting would not achieve the effect of suspense we want our audience to feel. We are going to be using low-key lighting with high contrast and deep shadows to support our idea of suspense. During the first scene, we will also use flickering lights to create unpredictability and a flashlight to highlight certain parts of the board we believe the audience should care about. During the zoom-out that shows the entire board the low lighting is going to get brighter to make sure the board is scene perfectly and then it cuts to the title screen. Having the low-key lighting is to give an eerie sensation to the scene and that something is not right. 

The lighting will only showcase the important aspects of the shot. 

Character Development

Character Development

 

A lot of time was spent making sure that every aspect of the characters helped to develop the film's purpose. 

Sofia- 

Sofia is our main character, the whole film revolves around her. She embodies the energy of someone who is like a "ray of sunshine." She is a sweet young woman who has the perfect life. House, boyfriend, job, she has it all. But even with her having it all she is still as humble and sweet as when she had nothing. She is a kind-hearted, trusted, social, and optimistic person. She is always trying to see the best in people. 

When Sofia pieces everything together about Jess, she is in disbelief. She feels so betrayed by Jess. After this encounter, Sofia doesn't know who to trust in the messed up world she lives in. She enters a stage of fear and refuses to trust anyone.

Luke- 

Luke is your typical jock man who is super focused on his athletics. But he doesn't let it get between him and Sofia. He is a protective, loyal, and observant person. He is so in love with Sofia it is all that matters to him. He is the kind of boyfriend who genuinely loves his girlfriend and wants to see her happy in life. 

When he first meets Jess, imminently, he knows something is wrong and that Sofia won't be safe. A sense of unease is all he feels when speaking to Jess. He tries to warn Sofia, but being the optimistic person she is says there is nothing to be worried about. Luke was going to let this slide because Sofia was excited for a friend. He is hoping that he is worrying for nothing. He worries a lot for the safety of others, especially Sofias. 

Jess- 

Jess is a young woman in her mid-20s who always dresses perfectly. Head to toe in a perfect outfit, with her long hair and smoky makeup. Jess has a history of obsessing over men who are taken, but that information is figured out in the later parts of the film. In our film opening, she moves to a new town in hopes of ending up with Luke. She is seen as a new neighborly person who just wants to fit in at the start of the film and throughout the film it becomes clear she is crazy, and crazy for Luke. She seems normal but is hiding a darkness under her skin. She is embodying a slow-burn horror. 

When Sofia confronts her about being obsessed with Luke, Jess doesn't deny it. Instead, she is relieved that Sofia knows and goes on and on about how Luke should be hers that she is in love with Luke, and how Sofia should not have him. 

Todorov's Narrative Theory of Equilibrium

Todorov's Narrative Theory of Equilibrium is the media theory that Miranda and I would want to incorporate into our movie's opening. Even though Todorov's theory has more than three sections, we were only taught about equilibrium, disequilibrium, and new equilibrium. These three sections, in my opinion, will go nicely with the story of our movie. Not all three sections of Todorov's Narrative Theory of Equilibrium will be used during our film opening because we are just being told to do a film opening and not an entire short film.

Equilibrium is the first part of Todorov's theory. This includes introducing the characters and starting the story for the viewers. In connection to our opening, this would be part of our second scene, which introduces two people in the first shot. They do routine everyday activities that provide viewers with background information about the relationship they have. 

Disequilibrium is the second section in Todorov's theory. This contains the first disturbance, which takes place before the film's climax and affects the protagonist's life. The protagonist's goal is to attempt to make things right after noticing the issue. The opening portion will not go over this aspect of Todorov's idea. After a chance meeting with a new character at the end of the second scene, one of the characters in the story realizes something is strange. Since the new character is not a part of the main character's everyday life, this new character would act as the disturbance in our film. 

New equilibrium is the third section of Todorov's theory. This usually occurs at the ending of a movie after the main character finishes fixing their issue. Since it is shown at the end of films rather than the beginning, this section of Todorov's Narrative Theory of Equilibrium would not be featured at all during our film opening. 

I was able to gather all this information about the three sections of Todorov's Theory from thorough research. Mainly, I was able to get the most valuable information from a website called Media Studies, which provided many examples of each section of the theory to further explain how they all corrolate. e

Script

A script is the written text of the film; it includes the location, the movement, the dialogue, and what the characters do. It is telling the story with descriptions and dialogue to provide a guide for the film. It makes filming easier because, essentially, it is a plan of what will be happening in the scenes you are filming. From the script to the actual filming, changes are made depending on the situation during filming. For example, if a scene was supposed to take place inside the house with two certain characters, but then there was a realization that the dialogue did nothing to support the plot or story line, then changes are made to make sure everything serves the purpose of the theme and message of the movie. 

I have created a rough draft of what the script would be for the second scene in the film opening. I researched horror scripts to understand exactly how to include everything that was needed and how to format it. I used the Halloween script as research to how to write a script/screenplay correctly. I found the script on the https://thescriptlab.com/property/halloween/ website, which also provided scripts for many other films. 

That being said, I have included the rough draft of the script I created for my film opening. 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1AzWXSxtzzu2cBW1fboVM6sFf_vV1K5p7HtJp3NyZeps/edit?usp=sharing

 

Film Opening Idea

After a lot of research and brainstorming, Miranda and I finally came up with what we think is an AMAZING opening for a horror/suspense film.

The overall idea for the film is for this girl to slowly have things go bad for her and get worse and worse. At first, she thinks it's just things that happen and that it's happening to everyone, but slowly, she realizes that it's targeted towards her. And through these terrible occurrences, there is a girl who just happens to always be near her when it happens. They get closer, gaining each other's trust, just for the main girl to realize that this new girl is the reason everything is happening. The new girl is doing this because she is obsessed with the girl's boyfriend and will stop at nothing to get him, even if it means hurting the girlfriend. The girlfriend soon finds out she is a psychotic girl with a history of being obsessed with people's boyfriends and hurting others. 

To start it off, a close-up shot of a gloved hand is going to appear and will be grabbing two items, a thumbtack with string attached and a picture. Then, it is going to show that said hand will be placing it on a board and a zoomed-in tracking shot of the string along the board. A series of shots similar to this one will appear one after another but with different pictures and items. For one, instead of just a picture of the young girl and her boyfriend, it could be a picture of just her from afar or a screenshot of her social media or even of her house. It could also include items of something she used with a label and such.After the mystery person sets the final item on the board, the camera will trace the red string, landing on a picture of just the girl. Then, it zooms out, showing the entirety of the board and that all the strings lead back to her. Side note: During all these shots, the credits will be slowly appearing but not including the actors in the film as those credits will appear in the second scene.  After that, it will cut to a black screen with the title that we are yet to come up with. Then the second scene will being. 

It will start with a camera pan to the girl in the pictures waking up to her alarm with her boyfriend besides her and they just start to doing normal things as they would until randomly a vase falls and shatters catching the girls attention. At the same time the doorbell rings and she goes to answer it, and it's the new girl just hoping to introduce herself. As they both are talking the boyfriend has a dark feeling that he knows the girl from somewhere but can't remember. And the film will end with a shot of the boyfriend telling the girlfriend that it all seemed odd but they girlfriend disregards it. 

Group Meeting Reflection

During class, we were separated into random groups, and we meant to discuss our ideas for our 2-minute film opening and receive some feedback. 

At first, everyone introduced themselves and began talking about ideas we had in mind. I spoke about my idea for my film opening to be a series of close-ups which will end into the final result of a "detective" board with a variety of images with red string all leading to one young girl, then cut to the title, and then the scene will continue with the young girl doing something in her day to day life. 

The others in my group liked my idea a lot more than I was expecting them to. And they gave me a bunch of cool ideas. One idea is to not give away who is pinning all these pictures and memorabilia on the board, to have the person pinning them wear gloves. To be able to give the scene more of a suspense tone and leave the audience wondering who the person is and if they are dangerous. I really liked the idea because it was going to give my film a different feeling than if I had just had the hand pinning it and clearly giving who it is away later in the film.  

My friend in the group also mentioned that in a film that she watched that had a similar opening to mine, they included the credits on post-its as they were applying them to the board. I spoke to my partner Miranda about it, and we absolutely loved the idea and thought it was such a creative way to include the credits on the screen without having to edit it onto the film. But as we thought deeper about how to incorporate that idea into our film, we realized that it could be really easy for the credits to "get lost" in a sense on screen. With the plan of having the shots fast-paced, it could be easy for the audience to not notice the credits and completely disregard them. This is completely what we don't want because, after all the research we have done for the credit sequence, we want it to be noticeable. 

I was also able to give some advice/feedback on the ideas of the other people in my group. For example for Lee's project that focused on the main character was in a toxic relationship and there is another boy who is "in love" with the girl has to see as the toxic boyfriend drives up to the girls house and then is getting mad at the girl, yelling at her to get in the car and then driving off angrily. I had advised her to start the scene in a public area rather than at a house so they have more opportunity to have variety of location and to make it easier to film. I gave that as feedback because I think they could get more variation of shots of the boy seeing the girl being treated this way, and the location could be able to set the time for the film. 

I found this group meeting to be super beneficial. While Miranda and I were in different groups, we were both able to discuss all the feedback we had gotten and talk about how we could change or include those things into our film. 

Film Opening Schedule

My group has outlined a schedule for the entirety of the making of the 2-minute film opening. This schedule may differ depending on how the process goes. For example, if we do not film certain shots we need in a certain week, we may have to continue filming in the following week. 

Project Schedule- 

Week 1:

- Decide on group members.

- Discuss 2 possible genres with my group and decide on one.

Week 2:

- Brainstorm different ideas for opening.

- Watch several film openings as a group and decide what we would like to incorporate in ours and what we wouldn't like.

- Meet with Mrs. Stoklosa and receive feedback on possible ideas for the project. 

Week 3:

• Choose an idea for our opening.
• Make a storyboard or script of our idea.
• Research media theories and incorporate one in our idea.
• Meet with Mrs. Stoklosa and receive feedback.

Week 4:

• Research and plan how we would like to develop our character.
• Research and plan mise-en-scene elements correlating with our genre and idea.
• Research and plan audio for opening.

Week 5:

• Begin the filming
• Begin editing film opening.
• Document any filming, foley, or editing that is done.

Week 6:

• Continue and finish the filming process.
• Continue and finish editing film openings.
• Document any filming, foley, or editing that is done.
• Research for question #1 of CCR post.

Week 7:

- Make final adjustments to film opening.

	- Research for question #2 of CCR post.
	- Research for question #3 of CCR post.
	- Research for question #4 of CCR post.
	- Begin final reflection of project.

Week 8:

• Continue and finish the final reflection of the project.
• Create blog post with links to the final CCR's and completed film opening:

Color Schemes

I believe that having a clear color scheme in a film is really important. Having a color scheme can establish an atmosphere and can be symbolic. 

If a horror film was created with happy and vibrant colors, it wouldn't be able to achieve the feeling of fear that a typical horror film would. The use of color palettes sets the tone of a film. Dark and desaturated colors would create an oppressive atmosphere and world compared to a film that would give the sense that everything is okay and happy. 

But if a horror film were to use vibrant hues and it correlates to the plot, it could be used to create an unusual aura and unsettle the audience. After doing some research, I landed on the Raindance website, which used the example of Suspiria by Dario Argento, which used vibrant colors to make the tone of the film unsettling.

The saturated colors of red, blue, green, and yellow make the film seem out of the ordinary and like it is a dreamlike world. The colors create an uneasy atmosphere, which supports the idea that the main character is in a world where the normal rules don't apply. 

          

A horror film like Scream uses the color scheme to connect and create tension. During the parts of the film that don't have any shots that are meant to create fear, regular colors are used, and the scenes are filmed in outdoor areas to give a sense of normalcy. When it comes to the "scary" scenes and the scenes with tension, dark and bleak colors are regularly used. Black is the most common color used in these scenes because in horror, it symbolizes the unknown and tension. 

Analyzing horror/suspense film openings.

I analyzed 3 horror film openings from artofthetitle.com; these film openings were used to inspire and show me different methods of setting up the opening for a horror/suspense film. 

Get Out 

The film opening for Get Out is not my favorite. I think that for a horror or suspense opening, it should hint that something bad is going to happen throughout the film; this opening does not do that. This could have been a technique that the creators used so when the climax was happening in the film, it would be more shocking. Since, as a group, we are only to make the film opening, it would not be the best inspiration. My group is going to focus on hinting at the problem early on in the opening, and this film opening does not portray that. 

Most of the shots just consist of the woods from the point of view of a moving vehicle. The scene cuts to black and white photographs that we can infer is the man who was holding a camera, earlier in the opening. One of the shots is of a living room, which hints that the man and woman are involved with one another. The shots following that support that idea are shots of the woman going up the elevator with food, knocking on his door, and then kissing the man. 

The Black Phone

To effectively hint at the problem in the opening, I am going to take a route more similar to The Black Phone. The opening begins with a tracking shot of a boy riding a bike, and then it reveals a black van turning the corner. When the van comes into the frame, the background music decreases, and the screen turns black. All of this works together to hint that something went wrong with the boy and the van. One can assume that he got kidnapped by whoever was in the van. 

To support the idea that many viewers were gonna have, various posters, objects, and places were shown in a fast-paced movement to foreshadow the accident. One of the props that best supported the idea that the child was kidnapped was the constant appearance of the "missing child" posters. One of the posters even includes a picture of the child who was shown in the beginning. 

Terrifier 2

I consider the opening for Terrifier 2 to be an odd opening to the film. The opening scene establishes who Art the Clown is while mopping the floor, and then he proceeds to walk out carrying a trash bag. 

The camera then pans to a man on the floor who has been brutally murdered. The shot of the man bleeding on the floor allows the audience to know that something bad has happened and more is to come. The rest of the opening are shots of a girl creating a costume in a very decorated, crafty room. What made the opening scene very odd to me is that in between showing the young woman create the costume, a black screen would appear to show the credits. I wonder why the creators chose this method instead of having the credits appear during the shots. The black screen would not be on for long at most 19 seconds, but typically around 12. The random cuts to the black screen give a sign of inconsistency. 

Credit Sequences

My group (Miranda, Milver, and I) began watching various credit sequences on Art of the Title from past horror films to evaluate the techniques used in the credits. We examined the opening sequences of the films Seven, The Black Phone, and Terrifier 2. Analyzing these credit sequences provided our group with a clearer understanding of what we would like to include in our scene. 

Seven

My group plans to use Seven as our inspiration for the opening scene we create. We really liked the idea of highlighting certain items and props that are crucial to how the story unfolds. It gives the film an eerie feeling that we want to ensure is conveyed in our film. Even though it displays some credits on a black screen between shots, the tone and aesthetic of the film make it work, and we see the type of opening sequence. While the editing style is too advanced for us to replicate in our project, we really enjoyed the editing and found it entertaining and, in a way, informative.

The Black Phone

The credit scene in The Black Phone was one of my favorites. I like how they hinted at the problem in the plot in the first 5 seconds and continued to show the setting and the era. The viewers can easily grasp the concept of the film without having anything giving them exactly what happened and who created the problem. The credit sequence also gave off the movie aesthetic, and while it is not something that my group wants to include in our opening scene, we really like the aspect of that. 

Terrifier 2

While we watched Terrifier 2 opening scene with the credits, we noticed that instead of having the credits appear on the screen as the scene progresses, the creators made the decision to cut in between the scenes and include a black screen with the credits. As a group, we learned that this way of including the credits was not the way to go. I felt that it made it seem very choppy, and it wasn't engaging. The opening scene is the most important because it is what grabs the audience's attention and then encourages them to continue watching the film. 

Picking the genre from my Film Opening

This week, we began to learn about the possibilities of our film opening project. I've had a couple of ideas for the two-minute opening, but I have decided to make it a Drama or a Thriller film. Currently, I am leaning more toward thriller film options because I would be able to use more creative freedom and many more techniques than I could for a drama. 

Drama Film- 

Common drama films focus on emotional conflicts and go deep into character development. Drama has many sub-genres like crime, tragedy, and psychological dramas. They revolve around real emotions to connect the audience with the character's experiences. 

Thriller Film-

A typical Thriller film depends on suspense and emotional engagement. I feel like a psychological mystery thriller film would be the best type to create, it allows for the story to slowly develop and it uses suspense to maintain engagement. Gone Girl and Black Swan are two great examples of psychological thriller films. 

Film Opening- 

I want to focus my film on a young girl who moves back to her hometown after she inherits a house that was in the family, she will find out the horrid truth of her family. Thriller films are created to give the audience a sense of tension, suspense, and anticipation. I want to make my thriller a slow-burn film, allowing tension to escalate and for twists to appear. After researching common themes of psychological thrillers I want mine to focus on the theme of deception. 

I was looking up proper and common techniques for cinematography for these types of films, and I noticed that extreme and regular close-ups were essential to telling the story. They give the audience a sign of "This is important, keep watching." 

In Gone Girl (2014), they used extreme close-ups of Amy's journal entries to give Amy's version of the events. With lingering shots on certain pages and phrases, it tricks the audience into questioning if Nick is guilty. I want to use close-ups similarly, focusing on props that are an essential part of the development of the story. 

 

Slow zooms are also crucial in developing tension in the film, for example, a slow zoom into a character's face as they are discovering something allows the audience to see how the character is feeling, or a slow zoom into a dark area will allow tension to be created.  I want to be able to use various camera techniques to achieve tension and be able to develop the deception theme in the film.