Our Production Company Logo

Blog Feedback

This sheet shows our blog feedback from our teacher which overall we are very pleased with. We have completed the suggested areas of improvement by editing the schedule dates on our posts which for some reason were in a slightly strange order. Also, we have been encoraged to put up spontaneous posts, so have started with this one in response to our feedback. Currently, our project is coping well as we have a set idea of what we will be doing and are now producing storyboards to display our ideas visually and to gain a sense of how we will produce our opening sequence. We are also working on our final outcome for our production company logo, and we believe we have a very strong idea for it which will be both representative and fitting of our genre. So far, we are happy with how our work is going.

Production Company Logo - Fonts

We like these fonts as they all portray a sign of horror and give off a supernatural effect. 

We both think that the first font is the most effective due to the heart monitor waves, signalling life and death, by a heartbeat.  The misplacement of letters add an element of dis-belonging. 

The second and third font and thick and dramatic. They both look like the letters have been painted. We could use either one in a red font, to create a look of blood covered writing, immediately revealing our genre. 

The fourth font is thrilling. It has been scratched away in certain places, showing entrapment and fear. However, the shape of the letters, we think, is too straight (perfected) for our logo. 

We think the first font is most fitting for our Production Company Logo due to it's abnormality and link to life and death. 

Logo - Initial Sketches

Our Inspiration

 We like these Production Company logos as they are all black and red. Also, they all immediately show the genre of Horror/Thiller. We particularly like the idea of using an eye in our logo. It shows the idea of supernatural possession and strikes fear suddenly and quickly. The word insomnia will appeal to many young people, as the adrenaline of the film will keep them awake. 

This logo is simple yet suggestive. 'The WoodShed' logo is mysterious. Also, many people have wooden sheds in their gardens, creating fear and adrenaline as 'The WoodShed' is true to life. 

The use of the blood covered hand is scary and intimidating. Also, the dripping blood makes it look fresh and fearful. The font is bold, dramatic and 'in your face'. Just like the genre of the film. The word 'REVOLT' comes from 'revolting' revealing part of the contents of the film, suggesting it is revolting to watch. 

Our Initial Sketches

These are our initial sketches. We have kept with our thought of black and red colours.  All of the five designs use the idea of blood, death and are true to life. The one we can improve most on is 'THRILLER HOUSE' as it is plain and simple, not showing our genre. The skull is dramatic but doesn't have the theme of blood or possession. Our two favourites are 'PSYCHOTIC STUDIOS' and 'RED-EYE ENTERTAINMENT'. This is because both portray the theme of our film (supernatural possession and death) and both are dramatic. 

Production Company Logo - Initial Ideas

We wants to have a mainly black and red theme for our logo. This is because both colours are dark, mysterious and dangerous.  Here are some examples of what inspired us:

We like the harsh use of barbed wire, like the feeling of entrapment. It also accompanies the word 'twisted' as quite horrific. The black background creates a suspicious and mysterious atmosphere, creating an element of danger. This immediately shows the genre through this logo. 

We like the colour contrast. The dripping hand print automatically creates a deadly, fearsome atmosphere with an element of death. It also relates to real life and looks like someone has been possessed. The bold font is dramatic, like the genre of horror. 

We both like the use of the eye, as it looks like the person is possessed. It also creates an element of fear for the audience immediately, as if they are being watched. it also is true to life and looks deadly, revealing the genre in seconds. 

Target Audience & Production Company

Production Company

We have chosen Warner bros. as an inspiration because it is mainstream and targets a large range of audiences. Also, from this logo, we can see the genre of the film already being portrayed, before the film starts. We want to incorporate this to set the audience of edge. 

We also like DreamWorks as they show the theme of their movie in the production company logo straight away, to reveal the genre. Also, their logo is simple, yet individual, they can change the effects surrounding their logo to fit with the genre of their film. 

Target Audience

Our target audience are males and females under 25. We read our 25 word pitch to our peers at school (aged 16-18) and family members (aged 30-45) and found that people our age generally showed more interest and were more encouraged to see our film than the aged 30-45 year olds. This shows that our film won't appeal to an older generation. The younger generation find horror films thrilling, most adults find it disturbing. 

Certification

We would certify our film 'The Hanging' as a 15. This is because is contains 'strong bloody violence' and some 'strong language'. Our death scene is filmed in semi-darkness, masking most of the blood detail. Also, if our certificate was a 12A/12, people may be put off by the fact young people may watch it. Some people won't see a film without the intention of being scared and having adrenaline rush. Our audience will be British as the film is based and set in britain, with british actors.

25 Word Pitch and Feedback

Supernatural. A girl, abused by her father and hung at her own will, seeks revenge by traumatising and killing everyone in the Haunted Woods. 

After sharing our 25 word pitch we got this feedback:

Here are our responses to the constructive criticism: 

'Is she dead?'
Yes, she is dead. However, her soul is alive and possessed  bringing her body back to life and haunting victims at night. 

'Could it be placed in any other setting than the woods?' 
Well, we plan the woods as it is a common place our target audience go to, causing fear when watching our opening sequence. Also, our main character gets hung in the woods, it's essential we film it there. 

'How is it going to fit into two minutes?'
We have very quick shots, adding to the element of surprise. We only kill one victims. Also, the audience don't see the girl getting hung, we see a quick 1 or 2 second flashback. 

'How old is she?'
She is under 11 years old. We want her to be young and look innocent. Also, the naivety adds to the irony of her being a possessed murder. 

Initial Storyline and Synopsis

Synopsis

A teenager walking in the woods is confronted by a young girl who appears innocent. The teenager then sees dramatic flashbacks of the girl hanging herself. After, the teenager is brutally murdered. A passer by witnesses the events and immediately tells the police. However, no evidence proves the witness wrong. The witness then sets out to find out about the girl. The witness discovers the girls house and diary, later discovering she was abused by her father. However, the girl pays a visit to her old cottage haunting the witness and giving them hallucinations and flashbacks of her father abusing her. The witness runs back home, but the girl follows. In a panic, the witness tries to save the girl, telling her what she is doing is wrong. She succeeds, the girls soul leaves her body. The witness buries the body back in the woods.

146 words

Initial Ideas

Clare: We initially knew that our genre was going to be a horror/thriller because this was the one that grabbed our attention the most. The initial idea is before we are introduced to any characters, there are a few establishing shots showing the surroundings in the woods and to set the scene of suspense and isolation, inspired by both 'The Shining' and 'Twilight.' We could also add in some opening credits at these parts. Then we see a teenager is walking home alone through the woods near night time, she is talking on her phone and receives a phone call, but when she answers it's a silent tone. She ignores this and continues to walk through the forest, however we can see that she is all by herself by the surroundings and eerie music playing alongside. The girl starts to hear noises and see's strange things. And then she notices a little girl dressed in old fashioned style clothes standing alone and holding a teddy bear, inspired by 'Orphan.' She daringly walks towards the young girl to ask her if she'd like some help, but the girl does not move and continues to stare. As we view the young girl, there are random flashbacks of her being hung and dead, as inspired by 'The Shining.' The opening sequence ends showing a POV shot of the young girl with a knife walking towards the camera and murdering the teenager. The scene ends with a loud scream and cuts straight to the name of the film which we are yet to create. The idea is quite simple and not too complicated so we are able to add in various shots and improve it. Also, it only requires two actors, a knife, rope and a phone.

Amanda: Another initial idea we have considered was inspired by  two films: 'The Ring' and 'The Shining'. We would start with an establishing shot of a field, with woods behind it, near night time. Two girls are joking about the myth of a girl in the mental hospital next door who kills anyone in her way. However, in the background we see the girl in a quick flash. It then cuts to the girls in their room when their tv turns on and phone rings, but just a beeping tone. The girl appears in the room, we see a flashback of her being hung, to reveal her past. We see her holding a teddy covered in blood. The opening sequence ends with roughly the same ending as our other idea, showing a POV shot of the young girl with a knife walking towards the camera and killing the two girls. The scene ends with the possessed girl laughing and cuts straight to the name of the film. This sequence only requires a knife, a teddy, a rope, and three actors. 

Influences

Genre

Clare: We decided that our opening sequence will be a horror/thriller after previously watching clips which inspired and influenced us into this particular genre. The main film was Orphan, a 2009 horror film which centres a couple who, after the death of their unborn child, adopt a mysterious nine-year old girl. The story is chilling and dramatic, and we aim to create something similar in our opening sequence. This film also gave influences for whom to focus our work on, which is a young girl who wears Victorian style clothes, and who appears innocent but is far from it.





Amanda: The Ring is a great influence to our opening sequence. The Ring (2002) is based on a young journalist who investigates a mysterious videotape which seems to cause the death of anyone in a week of viewing it. A young girl shows the trauma of her life to others right before killing them. She drowned in a well in the middle of a forest, by her mother and kills others in traumatic ways as revenge. The stroy is thrilling and disturbing. We want to create this feeling through our opening sequence. The film gave us influences such as having a innocent girl becoming evil, basing the film in the woods at night. 

Opening structure

Clare: We decided that we wanted to base our opening sequence in the woods or in an open area, as it gives us a lot more freedom when filming. We were given this influence from two separate films. Firstly, the images on the left show establishing shots from a classic thriller called 'The Shining.' The opening sequence to this film consists of long shots and establishing shots to show the audience where it is set. The shots show mainly nature in an empty place, which represents the affect of isolation. It is also combined with non-diegetic music played into the sequence and this music helps to emphasise the loneliness and suspense of the horror. I thought that these two aspects of the opening sequence were the most effective and may be something we use in ours because through these shots and the music provided a viewer can straight away recognise the genre and sense that these scenes being displayed are where something dramatic is going to occur.

Amanda: The two images above are from 'The Ring (2002)'. They are both wide shots of the country land that Samara Morgan (the main character) lived in. The lonely tree shot creates an eery sense of isolation. Where as the landscape of the woods show an element of entrapment. Both shots show the vast emptiness of the surroundings and are quite chilling. In the film, the non-diegetic sounds of murmurs and high pitched screams also create a spine-chilling atmosphere for the audience. We aim to create this same effect in our opening sequence. Both shots immediately show the viewer the dramatic, thrilling genre of the film.

Clare: Another opening sequence that influenced us was from 'Twilight.' This opening sequence consists of establishing shots, similar to 'The Shining', but also uses POV, close ups and panning shots at an upbeat pace to create suspense and mystery as we witness a deer being chased through the woods. From this opening sequence I liked the panning shots of the surroundings including the low angles looking up at the trees to create a threatening and dangerous feel. Also, I felt that the POV shots of the deer and through the 'runners' eyes showed immediate action, as the non-diegetic music increased with the pace of the running. The colours are dark and represent the deer being in a lonely position as it is being chased on its own with no help and the surroundings appear dangerous and unfriendly opposed to the lighting being bright which would suggest a much safer place. This opening sequence influenced us to firstly focus on the location and surroundings of our opening scene before then focusing on the main character, to show that they are in a lonely setting where nobody can help them if something were to happen. 

Shots

Clare: 'The Shining' contained a scene which we thought would be extremely useful in our opening sequence and contained the type of shots we were looking for to demonstrate to the viewers what happened to the main 'killers' without having to create a back story at the beginning which is quite long and boring. The scene opens with an extreme long shot tracking of a boy as he rides his tricycle away from the camera and down a hallway.                                                                                 
The boy goes through the doorway in the distance and turns, riding out of sight. The boy turns the corner and comes to an abrupt halt when he sees the two girls standing at the end of the hallway. There is a reverse angle reaction shot of the boy in close-up that focuses the viewer’s attention on his wide eyes and the rapid rise and fall of his chest. Clearly, he sees the girls and is extremely terrified. The key feature to this scene (as shown in the bottom image on the left) is that as we see the girls standing in the hallway there are random jump cuts to a disturbing image of the girls dead on the floor and covered in blood. This shot is short, but it quickly demonstrates what may have happened to the girls and why they have come back to haunt the young boy. After this, we view the girls cutting from different distances away from the camera, in an attempt to scare and jump the viewer, which the creepy music played throughout the scene. 

         

Amanda: 'The Ring' has a brilliant scene which is very influential for our opening sequence. The girl, Samara comes out of the television and kills her victim who watched the tape 7 days earlier. The fact she comes out the well at the beginning of the scene shows she died there, therefore not needing the backing story. She flickers, just like the tape, showing that she is not really there. However, seeing the victims face after, shows that she is actually real and must be feared. These two shots are excellent for showing the dramatic, jumpy effect we want to create. The clip cuts from Samara, to her dead victim. The quick jump creates a shocking and spine-chilling feeling for the viewer. The non-deigetic music is dramatic, and has a strong beat, getting quicker and quicker as she moves towards Noah (the victim)


Opening Credits and Title

Clare: At the beginning of the film 'The Descent', we see the opening credits appear straight away alongside the scene with three women water rafting, and we thought that this fitted in nicely instead of having all the credits shown after the title. We may introduce this idea into our work because we think it would

be better suited for our genre. Also at the end of the opening sequence we see the title of 
the film slowly fade across the screen over a black background in a very mysterious and intriguing manner. This is another aspect we think is effective and fits the genre specifically.

Mood Board

On this page we demonstrate our individual mood boards

Clare:


Amanda: