Meeting with production group #4

This meeting was to explain the future tasks that will be given throughout the week and the deadline set on a final idea for the opening sequence.

By Friday

• Decided on idea for opening sequence 
• Do shot-by-shot list
• Create an initial storyboard draft

To complete all of this by Friday, the group decided to meet on Thursday to discuss more about the sequence and perhaps to give suggestions.

Similar product #3 -Lovely Bones

Summary of "Lovely Bones" (2009)-  

"Lovely Bones" is an American, thriller film about a girl who is murdered and watches "from above" as her family seeks for her killer and inner peace.

link to trailer

Our opening sequence's main character was inspired by the film's character- the killer George Harvey.

We used the character as a reference for the main character's costume and overall look.

Development of idea "Peeping Tom" #3

• Rough shot by shot bullet point list of opening title sequence: 
• Entering the car; 
• Closing car door; 
• Black screen scene- car motor, driving, radio noise; 
• Get out of car; 
• Open trunk- closeup of large black bag; 
• Shot of man's feet walking to the forest- leaves/branching cracking; 
• Over the shoulder shot (to high angle) of man crouching down and opening bag- revealing camera, tripods, lenses, etc. 
• Variation of shots of the camera's set up; 
• POV shot of camera- sound of camera clicking (snap), cross cuts to camera's Dark screen and photo developing of birds- extend it; ... 

Description of different endings: 

Lily's/ Luiza's- Man goes to back to car. He extends his arm with the car key and unlocks the car. The scene straight cuts to car as it lights up. The camera does a focus shift, blurring the car and slightly zooming in to a woman nearby. In the opposite street a woman (doing something such as in cafe along drinking a cup of coffee, walking, talking on the phone angrily?). Cross cuts back to the man. He raises the camera to him and takes a picture. Finally it cross cuts to the camera's dark screen and finishes with the main sequence's title. 

Jake's- Man takes a picture of a bird. As he looks at image, he notices a figure on the background. He focuses and sees a woman. Rough sketch of storyboard: 

'American Horror Story: Freak Show'- analysis of opening title sequence

Analysis 'American Horror Story: 

Freak Show' opening title sequence Kyle Cooper was one of the creative directors for the series' title sequence. All AHS opening title sequence effectively create an unsettling mood and introduces the thriller/horror genre of the series. The freak show sequence was made with stop-motion and GCI. The clear theme shown is carnival/circus by the use of iconic circus soundtrack, colour scheme (red and white), carnival amusements, etc. The imagery becomes disturbing as the characters are twisted. These are the cast of the series being introduced such as Twisty The Clown and Legless Suzi.

link to intro

'Se7en'- analysis of opening title sequence

'Se7en' is an American crime thriller about two detectives who attempt to catch a serial killer. The opening sequence effectively sets the tone and mood as well as introduces the genre of film. This is conveyed mostly through the use of disturbing imagery and soundtrack. 

The actions throughout the sequence inform the audience a detailed, careful set up is being made by the killer whose identity remains unknown. The soundtrack is mixture of unknown, electronic like, high and low pitched sounds. 

The actions of taking down notes, cutting up images, removing fingerprints with blades, etc are all filmed in closeup and extreme closeup shots to emphasise the importance of the moment.

The shots vary in shot duration to create a glitching sort of effect- a long shot followed by one or two shots of short duration. This along with the music equally builds up tension and creates an unsettling atmosphere.

link to intro

Kyle Cooper- Research Task

Kyle Cooper is a successful graphic designer known for his many opening title sequences for major motion picture movies. 

Background

• Achieved an MFA in graphic design from Yale School of Arts Achieved a BFA from university of Massachusetts.
• Joined an advertising company in LA as a creative designer. 
• He gained recognition for his work 'Se7en' (1995).
• Kyle Cooper Demo Reel/Telefone Tel Aviv Facts: Cooper's greatest influence is Stephen Frankfurt's opening title sequence of 'To Kill a Mockingbird'. Cooper is said to be one of the most influential creators since Saul Bass 

Awards

• 5 Emmy Awards 
• Win on 81st Academy Awards 

Examples of opening title sequences directed by Kyle Cooper:

• Home alone (1990) 
• Home alone 2 (1992) 
• Seven (1995) 
• Mission: Impossible (1996) 
• Men in Black (1997) 
• The Mask of Zorro (1998) 
• The Avengers (1998) 
• The Mummy (1999) 
• The Mummy Returns (2001) 
• Spider-Man (2002) 
• Spider-Man 2 (2004) 
• Superman Returns (2006) 
• Spider-Man 3 (2007) 
• Iron Man (2008) 
• The Incredible Hulk (2008) 
• Orphan (2009) 
• Sherlock Holmes (2009) 
• American Horror Story (2011)

Thursday's lesson- Rule of thirds, Camera height, Depth of field

Rule of thirds
The process of diving the screen in three horizontally and vertically.

Where the line sits is important= the point of interest 

By placing the subject's head on the first line it makes the shot look better.

By positioning the subject's head in the left or right corner line it makes the shot balanced and better.

Changing the camera height to match the subject looking at table below tilt camera down- naturally not very exciting shot go down at the same height as the subject more visually appealing

Depth of field must chose/create an interesting background create distance between the subject and background

Similar product #2 -Disturbia

Summary of "Disturbia" (2007)- 

"Disturbia" is an American film about a teenager who's put on house arrest and finds a new hobby spying on his neighbours until he discovers one of them may be a potential serial killer.

The film shares the same thriller/crime genre as well as the concept of voyeurism and "technology"- usage of cameras, etc. 

link to trailer

"Disturbia" was another film suggestion to further develop our idea. This helped us create ideas for interesting shots and compositions.

I like the usage of camera to create shots with an eerie/vintage feel. I also like how they include POV shots to indicate stalking/spying. 

Similar product #1 -Lake View Terrace

Summary of "Lake View Terrace" (2008)- 

"Lake View Terrace" is an American action/crime film about a police officer who taunts his next door neighbours for being an interracial couple. 

This film shares the crime/thriller genre and theme of spying, voyeurism, etc.

link to trailer

The film was a suggestion given by the teacher to help develop our idea. 

Watching this trailer, 

I liked the different shots and their interesting composition. I personally liked how they used POV shots to 'stalk' the couple.  

This gave me some ideas on shot ideas. 

Development of idea '"Peeping Tom'" #2

I decided to scrap the doll house idea and develop my initial idea- of a disturbed man developing his obsession for stalking. 

The opening sequence would show the main character- a man in his mid 30s- driving to the forest to do birdwatching. We would show a slow paced montage of pictures being taken until a woman passed- turning his focus to watch her.

This idea came up from watching scenes from "Disturbia" and "Lovely Bones".

link to trailer

link to trailer

Meeting with the production group #3

Lily discussed her title sequence further and shared the developments she made. She shared some interesting ideas such as a drowning in the bathtub scene, a dinner scene, etc. However, the teachers did bring to our attention that these scenes are rather complex to shoot. There are many issues to this such as needing multiple sets of dry clothing to film different shots of the same scene- in the drowning bathtub. This would also apply to the dinner scene. 

I also made some developments of my own and after discussing it with the group, the feedback given was equally productive. My idea of filming the model house is too complex. It would require a lot of work to produce this. 

 The teachers weren't quite satisfied with the developments made, therefore, they gave us some movie recommendations to perhaps bring some new ideas: "Disturbia" and "Lake View Terrace". 

  

Meeting with the production group #2

We were told to chose one of the ideas we came up with and pitch on the next meeting to Adam and Matt. We struggled on choosing only one therefore we picked two/three ideas we like best from each member. 

In the meeting each of us pitched in our ideas. Matt and Adam gave feedback, short comments on how we could develop them and movie suggestions to look into.

We came to a conclusion to not settle on one idea and instead develop mine and Lily's ideas for our opening sequence as it were the two most preferred ones. Our group wanted to go through with Lily's as it seemed like the most interesting one. However we kept mine as a possible choice since it was the most achievable one.

Development of idea "Peeping Tom" #1

After watching Netflix's documentary "Voyeur", I came up with an idea for the opening title sequence. There was a scene showing a small model of the motel.

link to trailer

The opening sequence would be a slow paced montage of closeups and extreme closeups of a small model of house- sort of doll like. A man's hand would occasionally go through the ceiling and place mini objects such as vases, furniture, etc. 

Near the end, the camera would zoom out and reveal the man's face as he is placing the ceiling of the doll house.

We would then hear the sound of a car. An over the shoulder shot of the man is used as he peaks out the window. It then cross cuts to a family of four, the husband, wife, older brother and younger daughter walking in the house in front. Followed by a closeup/POV to suggest his focus on the subjects. 

Finally, the camera would zoom out to reveal the house- identical to the model- revealing the man's true intentions.

Meeting with production group #1

My production group was assigned by our media studies teacher Adam. I was put in a group with two of my colleagues: Jake and Lily. I was very pleased with the group I was put in as we're all close friends. 

We had our first group meeting Friday on Teams to discuss our initial ideas and give feedback. We also discussed the work that will take place in the following weeks. 

After our meeting I decided to create a group chat on Snapchat to communicate upcoming meetings, share opinions or thoughts on our opening sequence, etc. We used the group to organise our weekly meetings after school.

Feedback on my idea

link to feedback video