Target audience

We decided our  target audience should be aimed at people aged  over 15, we chose this age market because we feel the narrative would appeal to a teenage audience  the most and would play on their mind as the girl being stalked in our opening is a teenager herself. We have rated our film at age 15 because the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC), an independent, non-governmental body which has classified cinema films for a number of years, states that for 

a film that contains:

• frequent strong language

• portrayals any sexual activity
• strong violence
• discriminative language or behaviour

Should be rated at age 15, we feel our narrative may include some of these factors so we think it would be suitable to rate it at this specific age group. 

Filming schedule

We decided to film the majority of our footage in February as we had a holiday from sixth from within that month; we planned to use Paige's garden to film some of the scenes in as she had a garden shed that worked well for our stalkers isolated room. We planned to film the other shots in a large grass area next to a local park near Leah's house which was convenient to us as it wasn't very far away from where Leah lived.

February 15th - on this day we decided to film the parts in Paige's garden; we started filming at around 4 pm because we though the lighting outside wouldn't be too bright but also not too dark by this point, we needed a source of natural but not too harsh lighting. We filmed Joe (playing the villain) walking through Paige's garden, running his hand across the banister leading up to the shed in the garden, opening the shed door, looking over the stalking timetable and all the other shots that he was included in. We successfully filmed all the right footage with Joe in that we needed on this day.

February 17th - on this day we went to the local park near Leah's house to film the footage of Leah (as she playing the role of the victim). We started filming at the park at around 2 pm, we chose this time as we needed brighter, harsher lighting on so it was clear to see her on camera. However because of the intense brightness on this day, the shot of the phone with the text reading "I'm watching you" couldn't be read clearly by the camera as the light was reflecting on to the screen meaning you see the camera through it and could hardly read the text message. We realised we had to re-schedule a time to film this shot.

February 18th - on this day the weather wasn't suitable for filming outdoors so we decided to film the footage from the computer of the stalker on Leah's Facebook page; these shots took a lot of time accuracy and plenty of trial and error shots as it was difficult to film from the computer screen with out catching the cameras reflection. eventually we secured all the right shots that we needed and had completed another section of our filming. Later on on this day we filmed the shots of our friend Joe (playing the villain) sitting by the computer screen including his hand resting on the mouse and him pressing his lips together.

February 23nd - on this day we filmed all the remaining filler shots that we needed including the padlock, the burning timetable and re-filming of the phone, the lighting was darker on this day so it was clear for the camera to pick up the writing on the text message.

When returned back from the holiday we uploaded and edited all of our footage, but because we had filmed some shots horizontally they didn't look right once they had been uploaded, for this reason we had to re-do some filming over the a few weekends in order to get the best shots that we could.

We had finished the majority of our filming by mid March, but still had to change and develop some scenes which we were pointed out through our feedback.

Discarded Ideas

When we first started this project our initial ideas were not completely planned out; we knew that it had to be an opening sequence for a thriller film however we did not know exactly what plot and narrative we were going to follow which would enable our product to fall into this specific genre.


We had various ideas at first about what storyline we were going to follow; one of the ideas we discussed was based around a detective who was investigating a serial killer (similar to the narrative in Se7ev) although we thought this was a effective and interesting narrative we didn't really feel comfortable with this specific storyline as we thought it might be quite hard to give the suggestion of a serial killer and we believed we could adapt more to a storyline easier to portray.


We chose to base our opening sequence on a stalker. We believed the storyline we have chose now fits us perfectly as we could experiment with different camera positions much more effectively and could really adapt with it and develop on the idea of a stalker.

We were inspired by films such as the Stalker, Fatal Attraction and One Hour Photo. We gained ideas from watching these movies, to then develop onto our own, to create our opening sequence 'The Pursuer'. 

Inspirations

After watching and analysing many other thriller based films that appealed to us we have found many inspirations, including; Seven and Memento for their interesting narratives and opening credits, but particularly Notes on a scandal which inspired us the most as its also a stalker based film which involves characters in a similar age group and situation to ours. 

A directors that has mainly influenced us is Christopher Nolan; a British-American film director, screenwriter, and producer. Most known for working on The Dark Knight Trilogy, the science fiction/heist film inception and (the ones that inspired us the most) psychological thrillers Memento and The Prestige. In Memento constant use of photos inspired us to incorporate photo's into our opening sequence, in our opening we have used photos took from a social networking site to bring it more up to date and to link to our target audience (teenagers).  

Another influence to us was Alfred Hitchcock; probably one of the most famous thriller directors. His style of work is very unique and recognisable. He was known to be the master of suspense, we wanted to create the same high levels of suspension within our opening sequence with the tension building soundtrack, quick and snappy shots, and no real reveal of the villain involved. 
We tried to create a similar feel to our villain as he did in his hit film, Psycho. In Psycho the protagonist didn't speak much which created high suspension and tension, in our opening sequence the villain doesn't speak at all; giving it the same apprehensive feel. 

A final highly influential director we found was David Fincher; an American film and music video director who is known for his dark thrillers, such as Seven, The Game, Fight Club, and Panic Room. the opening sequence for his thriller Seven inspired us immensely. We took many ideas from the opening of seven but tried to put our own twist on it; we used a similar stalker based opening involving collection things to do with the victim but instead of presenting them in books and on printed photo's we showed it all through a computer to appeal to our target audience.
    

Preliminary task

In our preliminary task we filmed a scene with a teacher and a student discussing coursework that has been handed in late, we used a variety of shots to create the appearance of realism and continuity.

These include:

The 180 degree rule
The 180 degree rule is a basic movement that states that two character in the same scene should have to same right or left relationship with each other. this type of angel is used to create continuity between shots, reversing the angle would appear odd looking. For example if an over the shoulder shot was being filmed, it should be filmed over the right shoulder of the character to make the scene look ordinary and normal.

Match on action
This shot if a more difficult shot to film because of the precise timing that needs to be considered; the shot is used to connect the shots together. an example would
First shot - a close up of the door handle being turned.
Second shot - a mid shot of that person walking through the door.

Shot/reverse shot
This shot alternates two shots to show a conversation between the characters in each shot; for example 
First shot - one character is speaking.
Second shot - shows the person who he/she is speaking to.

Overall we feel we have completed our preliminary task successfully with a correct and effective usage of all the required shots; we are most pleased with out shot reverse shot editing as these shots appear very clean cut, realistic and have a good sense of continuity.

Analysis of the opening sequence in Memento

 The titles in this clip are very simplistic; the light blue serif font stands out against the reds and whites in the shot of the Polaroid picture, this blue text links with the melancholy soundtrack as it connotes sadness. Over the course of the opening the instruments build up and gradually get higher in pitch which increases which heightens the emotion, builds tension and creates a sense of expectation. The string instruments create a melancholy feel to the clip, contrasting the violent imagery being shown in the shot. 

The diegetic synchronous sounds used throughout the clip of the Polaroid being shaken, the camera noises, the grabbing of the gun, the bullet rattling across the floor and the man shouting "What?" are all utilised to create an unsettling atmosphere and builds tension in the opening sequence.


Half of the clip is an extreme close up of a hand holding a Polaroid picture of a man lying dead on the ground with blood surrounding him; the extreme close up creates an intimacy with the picture and blocks the view of anything else in the shot making the viewer focus solely upon the picture. The still shot of the Polaroid picture shows it is relevant and important to the plot, it makes sure that the audience will recognise the motif of the Polaroids in later scenes. This furthers the idea of the audience’s intimacy in the murder and allows them to have a clear and detailed understanding of the murder. The key piece of editing in this clip is the fact that the entire opening is in reverse; this creates a rather surreal experience for the audience but it makes them think and forces them to focus on what is happening so that they can understand it. Every single cut is clean and quickly cut, building on tension, the simplicity of the cuts appears rather brutal; adding to the brutality of the scene.


The key prop in the sequence is the Polaroid picture, by focusing on the picture for such a long time it is clear that the picture and its contents; a dead man, something incredibly important to the plot. The picture relates to the title of 'Memento' as pictures are usually seen as mementos of events and the dead man is clearly a very important character in the narrative as well as is the holder of the photograph. The glasses of the dead man stand out against the blood spattered tiles in the location which could connotation intelligence but also of a naive innocence; this makes it appear to the audience as if the man was an innocent victim, contrasting the youthful murderer.

Memento opening sequence:

Analysis of the opening title sequence of Inception

We chose to watch and analyse the film Inception, inception is a film within the thriller genre and caught our attention within the opening sequence because of its interesting use of moving shapes and images creating the titles.



The first shot we see is a black screen with clear white writing showing the production company 'Warner bros. Pictures' straight away this gives the audience an insight of what the film may be like if they have seen previous films made by this production company and are familiar with it.


The obvious contrast between the background and the witting is effective as it allows the writing to stand out but it also useful because it means the text is clear and easy to read; suggestion the sentence given is significant, important, and also that they don't want you to miss it.

A puzzle type of effect if then created though out the next few scenes of the opening. Lines, curves and boxes are traced on to the screen which create a patterns which move throughout the rest of the credits. the credits continue in this way throughout, the puzzled effect creates a sense of conclusion, which is carried out in the opening sequence of the film.


The film starts with dramatic, tension building music which creates confusion for the viewers, it then immediately cuts to the protagonist lying face down on the shore of a beach but before hand having a strong establishing shots of the rough and noisy sea.


The first close up of the protagonists face is shown and is a low angle shot. In the distance there are small children playing in the sand, this creates confusion for the viewer as the two things don’t go together. The Protagonist then blacks out and the scene then continues to show a random unknown character finding him on the beach. The Protagonist is shown in dull, rough looking clothes in contrast to the high class soldier that greets. A low angle shot is evident to show to the viewers that the soldier has a high status.

The scene is then cut showing the protagonist being dragged into the room, this creates stress for the viewers as they still don’t actually know who or what the protagonist is trying to do or his aim. The location is also a mystery so this allows the viewers to ask questions and slowly feel further into the storyline. The low level non diegetic music is still being played while the close up of the protagonist eating, the character is hunched over the bowl as though he has not eaten for awhile, which builds more mystery. The room in which the protagonist and the new and another unknown character is released is dull but because of the low lighting with a large, grand table in the middle, this shows that who ever owns the house could be a higher class than the protagonist. There is then a close up of the spinning top which builds tension as the viewers waits for the moment in which it topples over, but never does so. 

The next scene takes place, and it shows the protagonist in another scene but the same location. He is with two new completely different characters, and all the characters in this scene are wearing smart suits all showing they are they same status. The protagonist then starts to talk, and the cuts and speed of the cuts grow faster. Over the shoulder and conversation shots are used effectively to make the viewers feel more comfortable which also makes it more natural to watch, a high angle shot is also used in this scene to show that the protagonist is more in control than any other character in the scene, the room then starts shaking which builds tension for the viewers and makes the two main characters look as though they are involved. There is then a close up of the protagonists ticking watch where time is slowed down, also creating tension the scene then changes dramatically again into a different location but with all the same characters as before. The Location is in a random hotel room/flat where another random character is released, there are diegetic sound effects used to create the bombing and shot gun noises, the music then becomes more dramatic as the unknown characters seek the main characters around the room. 

The first part of the film is very confusing and jumbled up which makes the viewer ask so many questions and are then immediately made to want to carry on watching the film and the Microelements are used to create this interesting and tension building confusion.