I have decided to do some research into other thriller films, I will watch some opening title sequences that include people being stalked. This will give me some inspiration and help me in the preparation of my own title sequence.
I have decided to look at One Hour Photo and Halloween.
1) One Hour Photo
It begins with the name of the Company and immediately, we see a man's hand snatching a camera off the table really quickly and everything else is very fast-paced. After a few images, some words appear in white writing in black background and disappears quickly. This makes it stand out to the audience and gives them enough time to read what it says. "He knows your name", "He knows your life", "He knows where you live", gives the impression that a stalker is involved in this film. There are photographs of a family which is only shown briefly and quickly and after that, a girl appears holding some photos looking rather anxious and worried. This could signify a bad memory or someone unknown might have sent pictures to her which are distressing. At the end of the title sequence it says, "You're a very lucky man, you have a wonderful family" - this leaves the audience wondering what this could mean, whether this is the stalker speaking or the person being followed in this film. From watching the opening title sequence, it is clear that this is going to be a thriller film with someone going after another person with an unknown motive as it was from a point of view where someone is watching the characters silently and possibly takes photographs of he or she follows.
2) Halloween
3) Sleeping With The Enemy:
Saturday 6 December 2008
Our Initial Ideas
Me and Emily have agreed on the title of our opening sequence: "He's Coming After You" and the filming location, which will take place at Abbey Wood Ruins.
The narrative structure of the film will be Non-Linear as it will have two scenes (at the park and at the stalkers house) occurring throughout the film.
After several attempts in trying to come up with a Logline, we decided that this will suit our title sequence the best:
"An obsessive stalker deeply in love with his ex-girlfriend, avenges her by murder".
Change in Scene 10:
We have decided to change the last scene of our title sequence. Our original idea was the stalker walking behind the person grabbing her shoulder, dropping her iPod in shock in slow motion and the heart monitor going flat (signifying that the stalker has killed her).
We have changed it to the person walking through the park, the audience sees the stalker coming out from behind the trees, instead following her like expected, he turns around and walks away in the opposite direction. The person carries on walking and meets a friend at the other end of the walkway and starts off a brief conversation; the person talks about how she thinks she was being followed by someone.
This is the conversation between the person and the friend:
Friend - "Hey, are you alright? You look a bit worried."
Person - "Yeah, I'm fine, just thought I was being followed."
Friend - "What, again! That's like the fifth time in two weeks!"
Person - "I know, it's probably nothing."
Friend - "I'm not so sure. I don't think you should be walking through here on your own anymore. It's getting too freaky."
Person - "It's fine, honestly. As I said, it's probably nothing. Now come on, let's go." (The person looks over her shoulder).
In addition, we have made changes to scene 7:
- Our first idea was the door opening to reveal a room covered in pictures of the person being stalked and the camera filming all the pictures and everything else in the room.
- Me and Emily decided that it would be rather difficult to get a whole room completely covered in pictures.
- A door opens and the camera moves into the room to reveal a small table in the middle of the room, covered in pictures of the person being stalked. The camera moves forward and has a close-up shot of the pictures on the table.
Things to do for the change in this scene:
- Get white sheets to cover up the computer desk and chest of drawers to give the room an eerie effect, the house is not an original family home but the stalker lives in a strange ghostly home.
- The blinds on the windows will be messed up, hanging half down and the other half is caught up. It will also be half open and half shut to make the room look quite dark and this will give the room an creepy light and a strange atmosphere.
In our Media lesson, after listening to Granite and Axe Grinder by Pendulum, me and Emily decided that the song Granite will best suit our opening title sequence.
The music sounds eerie, especially at the beginning of the song, which builds up suspense. The only problem is finding copy-right free music, if we are unable to find it, we will have to use another music.
Granite by Pendulum:
Axle Grinder by Pendulum:
The narrative structure of the film will be Non-Linear as it will have two scenes (at the park and at the stalkers house) occurring throughout the film.
After several attempts in trying to come up with a Logline, we decided that this will suit our title sequence the best:
"An obsessive stalker deeply in love with his ex-girlfriend, avenges her by murder".
Change in Scene 10:
We have decided to change the last scene of our title sequence. Our original idea was the stalker walking behind the person grabbing her shoulder, dropping her iPod in shock in slow motion and the heart monitor going flat (signifying that the stalker has killed her).
We have changed it to the person walking through the park, the audience sees the stalker coming out from behind the trees, instead following her like expected, he turns around and walks away in the opposite direction. The person carries on walking and meets a friend at the other end of the walkway and starts off a brief conversation; the person talks about how she thinks she was being followed by someone.
This is the conversation between the person and the friend:
Friend - "Hey, are you alright? You look a bit worried."
Person - "Yeah, I'm fine, just thought I was being followed."
Friend - "What, again! That's like the fifth time in two weeks!"
Person - "I know, it's probably nothing."
Friend - "I'm not so sure. I don't think you should be walking through here on your own anymore. It's getting too freaky."
Person - "It's fine, honestly. As I said, it's probably nothing. Now come on, let's go." (The person looks over her shoulder).
In addition, we have made changes to scene 7:
- Our first idea was the door opening to reveal a room covered in pictures of the person being stalked and the camera filming all the pictures and everything else in the room.
- Me and Emily decided that it would be rather difficult to get a whole room completely covered in pictures.
- A door opens and the camera moves into the room to reveal a small table in the middle of the room, covered in pictures of the person being stalked. The camera moves forward and has a close-up shot of the pictures on the table.
Things to do for the change in this scene:
- Get white sheets to cover up the computer desk and chest of drawers to give the room an eerie effect, the house is not an original family home but the stalker lives in a strange ghostly home.
- The blinds on the windows will be messed up, hanging half down and the other half is caught up. It will also be half open and half shut to make the room look quite dark and this will give the room an creepy light and a strange atmosphere.
In our Media lesson, after listening to Granite and Axe Grinder by Pendulum, me and Emily decided that the song Granite will best suit our opening title sequence.
The music sounds eerie, especially at the beginning of the song, which builds up suspense. The only problem is finding copy-right free music, if we are unable to find it, we will have to use another music.
Granite by Pendulum:
Axle Grinder by Pendulum:
Tuesday 2 December 2008
My research on Saul Bass
Saul Bass (1920-1996) is a well-known graphic designer of the mid 20th century. He had created over 50 title sequences for Preminger, Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick, John Frankenheimer and Martin Scorsese.
I have researched three of Saul Bass's title sequences in depth and included my analysis:
1) North by Northwest
In this title sequence, it is fast paced and everything moves constantly. There are loads of people walking quickly in order to get to where they ought to be. It is set in a busy place, possibly during rush hour where everyone has to go work or go home. At the beginning, the title appears quite quickly onto the screen from the top and from the bottom, in different directions which represents the title sequence as being very fast-paced. The music is fast and changes with the titles. As it appears, it disappears with the same pace it came on with. I like the end of the sequence where the viewers see a bus driving off even though there was a man who arrived at the bus stop just in time to catch it but was unfortunate enough to miss it. The door closes and the bus moves off whilst the man is disappointed. There isn't much communication between the people as they are busy rushing to get to their destinations. Despite the number of people in the area, no one cares about anyone else apart from themselves getting to their preferred place.
In my opinion, I don't really like North by Northwest title sequence as I find it rather boring. The music stays the same all throughout the title sequence and not a lot happens during it apart people hurrying. An atmosphere of tension is created.
2) Psycho
The Psycho title sequence immediately builds suspense as soon as it begins. The music is fast which also helps to create tension and suspense. Throughout the sequence, a black background is used which gives the audience an atmosphere and a feeling of dark, evil and mysterious. By the music and background, the audience already know that this title sequence is based on darkness and that something mysterious is going to happen. I like the fact that the titles appear on the screen in pieces as if the words have been put together like a jigsaw puzzle and the words join up so the audience can read the title clearly. This gives the audience a sense of confusion where they can read the title once it has been pieced together. Some titles are 'moving' which gives a feeling of uneasiness. The words are kept in the dark which makes the audience wonder about what it is going to say but eventually can be read as it is in white, contrary to the black background. At the end of the title sequence, a black and white picture appears. This is possibly where the film is going to be set. There are no pictures throughout it until the very end where we see it vagely which makes me wonder where it is and why was it shown. This is one of my favourite title sequences by Saul Bass, it is very inspiring.
3) Vertigo
This title sequence begins with a close up shot of a woman's face in dark background, with the emphasis of her eye moving slowly from side to side looking worried and nervous. After that, the the titles appear. After watching this, it is clear that the theme of this film is going to be based on an eye. The sequence begins with shots of the eye where it moves from side to side, looking anxious about what might be happening around them. This beginning gives the audience sense that something dramatic is going to occur, making them feel tense about what could occur later on in the film. The eye widening gives the audience a clear message that something shocking is going to occur at some moment in the film. The various shapes that are included during the rest of the title sequence are all based around the shape of an eye. Saul Bass has used various shapes which are strange and a bit mysterious.
These are some other opening sequences that I have looked at produced by Saul Bass:
4) The Human Factor
5) It's a mad, mad, mad, mad world
6) Ocean's Eleven
7) Spartacus
I have researched three of Saul Bass's title sequences in depth and included my analysis:
1) North by Northwest
In this title sequence, it is fast paced and everything moves constantly. There are loads of people walking quickly in order to get to where they ought to be. It is set in a busy place, possibly during rush hour where everyone has to go work or go home. At the beginning, the title appears quite quickly onto the screen from the top and from the bottom, in different directions which represents the title sequence as being very fast-paced. The music is fast and changes with the titles. As it appears, it disappears with the same pace it came on with. I like the end of the sequence where the viewers see a bus driving off even though there was a man who arrived at the bus stop just in time to catch it but was unfortunate enough to miss it. The door closes and the bus moves off whilst the man is disappointed. There isn't much communication between the people as they are busy rushing to get to their destinations. Despite the number of people in the area, no one cares about anyone else apart from themselves getting to their preferred place.
In my opinion, I don't really like North by Northwest title sequence as I find it rather boring. The music stays the same all throughout the title sequence and not a lot happens during it apart people hurrying. An atmosphere of tension is created.
2) Psycho
The Psycho title sequence immediately builds suspense as soon as it begins. The music is fast which also helps to create tension and suspense. Throughout the sequence, a black background is used which gives the audience an atmosphere and a feeling of dark, evil and mysterious. By the music and background, the audience already know that this title sequence is based on darkness and that something mysterious is going to happen. I like the fact that the titles appear on the screen in pieces as if the words have been put together like a jigsaw puzzle and the words join up so the audience can read the title clearly. This gives the audience a sense of confusion where they can read the title once it has been pieced together. Some titles are 'moving' which gives a feeling of uneasiness. The words are kept in the dark which makes the audience wonder about what it is going to say but eventually can be read as it is in white, contrary to the black background. At the end of the title sequence, a black and white picture appears. This is possibly where the film is going to be set. There are no pictures throughout it until the very end where we see it vagely which makes me wonder where it is and why was it shown. This is one of my favourite title sequences by Saul Bass, it is very inspiring.
3) Vertigo
This title sequence begins with a close up shot of a woman's face in dark background, with the emphasis of her eye moving slowly from side to side looking worried and nervous. After that, the the titles appear. After watching this, it is clear that the theme of this film is going to be based on an eye. The sequence begins with shots of the eye where it moves from side to side, looking anxious about what might be happening around them. This beginning gives the audience sense that something dramatic is going to occur, making them feel tense about what could occur later on in the film. The eye widening gives the audience a clear message that something shocking is going to occur at some moment in the film. The various shapes that are included during the rest of the title sequence are all based around the shape of an eye. Saul Bass has used various shapes which are strange and a bit mysterious.
These are some other opening sequences that I have looked at produced by Saul Bass:
4) The Human Factor
5) It's a mad, mad, mad, mad world
6) Ocean's Eleven
7) Spartacus
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