Production Company Logo

Above is a compilation of a number of production company logos. We are going to be using these for inspiration when we are designing our own production company and logo. Personally we think the universal logo is the best as the logo over the world shows their dominance over other companies. It is also very simple but has a lot of meaning to it. All of the logos above are personal to the companies, we have decided to link our company more to the genre of the film we are making.

Budget

The gas mask and hazmat suit we bought for making our opening sequence specifically. The gun Elliot bought for his personal use as he is a professional airsoft player but we will be using it in our film. The camera and bipod were supplied by our media department. Catering costs will cover food and drink for the filming sessions. The total cost will be £40.00 without the gun.

Filming Schedule

This is a filming schedule I have created of the days we are going to be filming on this week. In total we will be filming for 6 and a half hours, on Tuesday and Wednesday we will be filming the establishing shots and on the Saturday and Sunday we will be filming the parts the characters are in. I think that in this schedule we will have over enough time to film our opening title sequence.

Script

This is the script I have written as to what will happen in our opening title sequence.

Pitch and location

Story Board 2

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Storyboard

Production Company

We have chosen our distribution company as Film 4 Productions, they are a British production company owned by Channel Four Television Cooperation. It has produced films such as Four Lions and most recently co-produced 12 Years a Slave.

If were actually to make a film we would contact them to distribute our film, they would be a very god company to work with as many of the films they produce/distribute are British Independent films. Film Four would enable our film to be screened across the UK and abroad easily as they are a big company. They also own a tv channel so could promote the film on this, their tv channel is on most peoples televisions in England. The Film Four titles will be at the start of our sequence to make our opening sequence seem more professional. We will be creating our own production company and titles which will go along side the Film Four titles.

Soundtrack Research

The soundtrack we will use for our opening sequence will differ from original horror opening sequence soundtracks, from my research i have found that they mostly use symbols and orchestra. They play this quietly over the top and it gradually gets louder, building tension. Although this is a good technique we want to be different. our music will play alongside the titles and will be more subtle and use real sounds within the music that is playing. A good example of this is Se7en they use music playing over their opening title sequence and within it you can hear sounds of what is going on such as the strings tightening.

Casting Shots

Below are some casting shots of who is taking part in the production of our opening sequence:

Fist we have Aaron he is an excellent camera man one of the most experienced and respected in the business. He is also the director of the project, this is his first film as a director but we're sure he will do a great job. He will not be appearing in the opening sequence as he is behind the camera.

Secondly we have Shay Devese, he will be the main character in our opening title sequence he will be hidden behind a hazmat suit and gas mask to create a mystery around him for the audience. He will also be carrying a gun to show that danger is surrounding him.

Last but not least we have Elliot he is an actor in our opening sequence and will be playing a dead body, he will be dressed in hiking boots, a jacket and walking trousers so he looks like he has just gone out for a walk and has died but the audience will not be able to tell the cause.

The Stepfather Opening sequence

The opening sequence to The Stepfather starts straight off with an establishing shot showing us a street which looks like it is in the American suburbs. There are only a few titles on screen and then it gets straight into the film. The camera switches to a view of the house it is fading into, which is a big house suggesting a well off family. We then meet the first character, his face and clothes covered in blood hinting at the fact a murder has already taken place, making the audience wonder as to what is happening straight away. This character then showers, shaves and changes his clothes showing us a different side to him, he looks like a sophisticated upstanding member of society, until he walks out the door and we see a gory mess that he leaves behind, there is a dead woman in the other room and as he closes the door we see a girl holding a teddy bear who is also dead. The fact he has committed a murder and walked away calmly seemingly with no worries suggests to the audience that he has done this before and maybe will do it again later on in the film.

Overall the opening sequence is very effective in setting the scene for the audience as to where the film is based and it also highlights who the main character may be for the rest of the film. The mood is set for the rest of the film, it is probably going to be about a serial killer and from the name of it he marries his victims and then kills them. Criticisms of the opening sequence would be that the titles are too short, some people prefer to see everyone who is involved in the production of the film.

Scream opening sequence

This opening sequence is for the original scream film in 1996, it took Alfred Htchcock's idea in killing off the main character quickly, this time it took under 15 minutes for Drew Barrymore to be killed off. The opening sequence itself is very good at setting the mood for the audience for the rest of the film.When the film title appears on screen we hear screams and loud noises, hinting at death and that jumpiness may be a theme throughout. A sense of mystery is created immediately when a person rings her phone but she doesn't know who it is so hangs up, he then continues to call her persistently until she starts talking to him. Then the caller 'accidentally' announces he is watching her when she asks why he is asking for her name, this causes her to hang up and then he starts to threaten to kill her "You hang up on me again and I'll cut you like a fish". Music is playing quietly in the background and then when he starts to threaten her it gets louder this helps to build tension and suspension, also when it peaks it gets really loud so could make some viewers jump.

Overall I think that this is a very good opening sequence, although doesn't have titles which I will be using and is a bit longer than I need to make my opening title sequence. I could use some ideas from this such as the use of music to create tension. It is also good as it doesn't reveal to much about the film itself.

Saw opening sequence

This opening sequence is for the first saw film, which was released in 2004. It is very effective for the audience as it sets the mood for the rest of the film. The lighting is dark creating a sense of mystery about what is happening as we can't see where the characters are or what is happening to them, this also means that the scene is likely to be jumpy as in most horror films traditionally when it is dark and you can't see much something jumps out the screen and scares the audience. The camera focuses on the key with the light falling down the plug hole highlighting the importance of it and that it could've been used by the prisoners to help them escape. When the man wakes up and gets out of he bath a voice can be heard talking to him, but the audience cannot see who it is, again creating a mysterious feeling around what is going on. When the lights flash on the camera changes to the characters view and it goes out of focus and back into focus to show that he is adapting to the light, suggesting he has been in the dark for a long time and his kidnapping happened some time earlier.  

Only four titles are shown in this opening sequence, these are the two production companies (Twisted pictures and Burg/Koules/Hoffman) after these it shows the directors title (James Wan) and finally it shows the film name (Saw). By just showing these titles it makes it short and sweet and then breaks straight into the film, for some audiences this would be better as they prefer just watching the film rather than seeing who is in it, but some audiences like to see who is playing the characters. So only having some titles has benefits and positives.