Titles changed before final cut

After the rough cut and the feedback, I decided to change all the titles as the one I had initially done didn't go with the opening sequence and didn't look right.

After Effects- glass shatter effect

This is the main effect that we used for the title to reinforce that force of the accident. To be able to achieve that, we used after effects as it gives us full control over the effect i.e changing to number and size of glass particles. Even though I initially didn't know how to use it, YouTube videos such as the one showed above helped me with steps to create this effect.
Also, I came across a lot of challenges and problems whilst creating this effect such as reducing the glass particles but through the use of a variety of tutorials I was able to overcome that.

Existing Filming Production Company Research

To add to my research, I decided to research existing production company
that have produced thrillers.

New line cinema

It was established in 1967 by the then 27-year-old Robert Shaye as a film distribution company, supplying foreign and art films for college campuses in the United States.
Wes Craven's A Nightmare on Elm Street was produced and released by New Line in 1984. The franchise was New Line's first commercially successful series after a devastating financial slump. This low-budget flick had a production cost of $1.8M and grossed over $25.5M at the US box office.
Some thrillers they have produced:
Stunts; an action thriller about murders of a number of stuntmen in Hollywood. The film was directed by Mark Lester and released in 1977.
Nightmare on Elm Street 1&2
The 1992 film, Alone in the Dark
Blind Date which is also known as deadly seduction produced in 1984


Merger with Warner Bros.

In 2008, New Line Cinema was merged with Warner Bros, its parent company. This merger was blamed for the disappointment of 2007 film, The Golden Compass, in which New Line spent more than $200 million on the promotion of the film, yet only grossed $70 million in the US market.

Feedback for rough cut

After editing the rough cut of our film, we showed it to the other media students and we were able to get positive and negative feedback and also good criticism of our product in order to improve our final product.

1. Too many repetitive shots: Initially we wanted to make the character very ambigious and not give too much away in order to engage the reader from the start. But from the feedback the shots of the protagonists' friends was a bit repetitive.

Response: we will make other shots a lot more longer and avoid repeating the same shots. We would also cut between individual shots to make them more consistent.

2. Zoom into characters face after accident is too long

Response: we would cut that shot to a certain point to avoid disengaging the audience.

3. Sound; Heartbeat goes on for too long: As it was a dream, we wanted sound that would fit into the feel given off by dreams. 

Response: Use a variety of diegetic sound to make it eerie. We decided to keep the heartbeat but make it shorter.

4. Take the opening title off and add more titles: The title at the beginning doesn't necessarily go with the rest of the movie and the tiles. It also comes out for about a second and then goes off. This doesn't allow the audience to read what it says. 

Response: Add more titles such as the producer and director. Create new titles for distribution label.

5. At the end the sound stops and doesn't fade in. you can clearly hear the cut.

Response: Fade in the sound.

6. Off the centre at the last frame (at the end of the dreams)

Response; Re film the hospital scene. 

7. At the hospital scene the blood doesn't seem realistic enough.

Response: make the blood look realistic or just use a bandage.

8. The scene with the friends doesn't look like a point of view shot 

Response: We would film using a handheld camera to make it look more realistic and more of a point of view shot.

9. make the narrative clearer.

10. The glow/ dream like effect during the dreams makes the end product seem less of a thriller.

Response: work on glow.

Positives 

Excellent camera quality especially the handheld camera used in the hospital scene. Also the close up of the character at the beginning was good.

Creativity in the accident scene.

Extreme close up after the accident.
Dissolves of different parts of the body at the hospital scene.

Editing for Rough cut.

Editing process
This was one of our last parts of editing for our rough cut, here is Saddef using the mac's to edit the scene of me as the actress, this was the penultimate scene, which was part of our female character's bad influences which she experiences in nightmare/dream form.  We were successfully able to work out a way to place these shots, to establish a clear relationship between the dreams and the character 'Noor El Ein'.
Hanah Eltaher

Props used on set.

Props used on set

Mise En Scene

Above is the photographic evidence of our props that we used in our hospital scene, this is the setting that we all found relevant to the hospital room. The lightening I discovered was the perfect opportunity for us to achieve this professorial hospital like appearance. Additionally the lightening added to this dream like concept that we were trying to create. The hospital bed was created by a table and a cloth borrowed from the D&T Department, this worked very well as it we were able to achieve realism. The red paint was used from the Art Department, and this helped us create the illusion of blood on the our actress Saddef's bandage. The clipboard was added with the post stick note, with the 'hippo-campus damaged' scrawled clearly messily onto there, to emphasis the rapidness of this accident and allows the audience to guess the upcoming events. One difficulty we faced was the plaster that we used it was a blue plaster, which did not soak in the paint and appeared very falsely, we substituted that for a cloth, we worked very well. 

Hanah Eltaher 

Rough Cut

This is the rough cut which includes the titles and the sound inspired from other movies which we use as techniques to capture the audience.

Terms and Conditions of the sounds we used in our opening sequence

When searching for appropriate sound, we had to consider the terms and conditions of the piece before using it within our media piece.

Plans and targets

As my two other group members are going out film and create a setting to shoot a scene, I set myself targets to finish the main titles that would appear in our title sequence.

8.55-9.20: finish production company title
9.20-9.30: This would be used to finish the distribution company's logo.
9.30-10.20: create the main titles such as producer, editor, cast etc.
10.20-10.50: edit and add sound to the footage we have got so far using iMovie.

I will edit and create the titles using after effects as you are to come with a more smooth and finish. It has a wide range of effect that could be used in order to capture the audience. This software also allows us to perfect the accident to make it seem more realistic. It also allows us to change the colour of objects to what colour we want to use. This comes in handy especially especially when you don't have the props you need in a specific colour

Why are these sounds free?

Well for a few reasons really.

• Our project benefits teachers, students, faculty, and starving artist. They couldn't afford to buy them so we are forced to give them away for free. :)
• The Royalty Free Sounds section consist of Creative Commons and Public Domain works
• The owners of SoundBible.com were taught to share by their parents. Isn't that what your parents taught you?
• Because Free is way cooler than Fee. That one letter "r" makes a world of difference

Can these sounds be used commercially?

The Royalty Free Sounds can indeed be used for commercial uses. The free sounds can only if they are under the Creative Commons Attribution, or Public Domain License.

If you are like us and think this is a great concept please be sure to share us!

If you are like us and think this is a great concept please be sure to share us! 

http://soundbible.com/about.php

Psycho: Title Research- to show similarities

I also researched psycho. This Alfred Hitchcock horror film title is similar to the titles in seven and inception even though it is a horror movie. I choose to research the similarities between horror and thrillers as they both try to capture the audiences through dark lighting and dark themes. The title is also a dark background with upper case fonts.
This would then allow me to chose fonts and titles for our project.

Title research

In order to generate effective titles that would match with the concept of our movie and capture the audience from the beginning, I looked at the different variations in titles of thriller films and their effect and how well the add to the film.

Inception













This title is simple and is in plain upper case letters without any special effects or 3D effects to make it sophisticated and complicated. It is very simple and adds to the town of the film as adds a dark and 'unknown' feeling to the film. It almost makes the film very mysterious and all quite ambiguous. The dark background adds to the conventions of a thriller as the dark background goes with the themes that are been presented in the film. This is similar to films such as





And the sixth sense.





Seven



This title is quite peculiar in thriller films. It is a simple nine frame structure which shows represents the theme and different parts of the film. Each frame have a particular meaning and some level of importance to the film. The first one shows a book opening which may represent a new chapter opening.the second frame shows the title 'seven' coming into the frame. All the frames are important as they are the first things you see when you look at the frame. Also, they highlight the thriller conventions and as they show particular props such as the needle and the finger wrapped by the band to show pain.





Also the mirror effect of the title shown in the above gives the title some sort of ghostlike or sinister effect.




This frame above highlights what I mentioned earlier i.e. titles showing and representing the themes. Also the 'seven' title is in a simple font but is in both with a fading effect on it to suggest Its thriller qualities





Pulp fiction is also a very simple but effective title. It is a 3D effect in upper case letters with a dark orange highlights the edges and a lighter shade of orange inside. These two colours are light and do not necessarily go with the dark lightning or dark gothic feel of thrillers.But it is effective because of the dark background or perhaps may suggest it being more of a crime thriller rather than a psychological one. The fact that it takes over the whole screen also suggest how effective the background makes it.


The Silence of the Lambs



This main title is different from the ones above as it comes up when the actual film starts. The title shows in bold with a white outline. The fact that it comes up in the dark clouds goes with the dark gothic theme and thriller conventions such as dark lighting.

The Black Swan


This title exposes in depth into the theme of thrillers. It explores the gothic and sinister themes that goes into thriller. The standard upper case font and the blood shows represents the thriller aspects of the film.

By researching the above, I am able get ideas on how to create the titles of put projects the backgrounds and how effective they would be on the audience we are trying to capture.