Final Thriller Opening Sequence

Planning my Title Sequence

After carrying out my research I noticed that each individual title doesn't suddenly appear on the screen, they slowly fade in and out. This is an effect I can easily use in my own title sequence using the effect 'cross dissolve'. Looking at the title sequence from 'Heat' I found out that the titles appear on each side of the screen, I liked this effect and will try and use this in my own sequence.
The font was heavily important for my titles, as they can establish the genre of my thriller film.
I chose the font 'I Still Know' from the website Dafont.

I would like each individual title to stay on the screen for around 3-5 seconds, i will come up with a final time when I can see how it works with my opening sequence.
I will have my font in white as apposed to black and my opening sequence is very dark so white would stand out more.
When the opening scene starts i will instantly begin to cross dissolve my opening credits across the screen, ending with the longer titles eg, director, costume designer, and then final the title of the film in the same font, in large black writing on top of a plain white background.

Props

Props- As my opening scene is based around a homeless man, he wouldn't have that many belongings however the few that he would have would be extremely important and key to telling us something about the character as this is what he chose to bring with him.
A basic prop to establish the fact that he is living there, is an old sleeping bag, this shows he hasn't just got there and  the state of the sleeping bag will show that he has been living there for a while. Another prop I have chosen to use is an old picture of a women and a child. This will create an element of mystery, as the audience will wonder who they are and why he chose to leave them and live here by himself.
Further more I am also going to use a gas stove and mess tins, to boil water for a drink,  as this create many interesting opportunities with different camera shots with the boiling water. It also shows he chose to leave his home as he came prepared introducing a new element of mystery.

Actor Profile

For my opening scene, there is only one character used, and he is a very mysterious character, and lots of questions are posed from when we first see him. I have chosen a specific actor to portray the gritty, troubled role of his character, to enable him to fit in with his location. The mise en scene is highly important for this role as I have to show he has been living in this location for a while and I want to make it look realistic. The first way in which I will achieve this will be to make him look dirty as he has had no where to wash. Another easy way to make him fit the general homeless stereotype is by wearing torn clothing to suggest he has been living in rough conditions for a while now.


Costume- The costume worn by the main character within the opening scene has to be simplistic but also effectively portray something about the character through the mise en scene. I decided to have my character dressed in plain dark clothing which has been well worn, however the dark colours introduce the element of him being a thief; crime being one of the major conventions of thriller films; it also doesn't suggest a lot about his personality as I want the character to remain a mystery. I also believe the character should be wearing frayed gloves enabling the audience to instantly see he has been there for a long time, or using makeup to show the character is injured to add an element of mystery. His plain trousers will be ripped and dirty to suggest hes been living on the dirty ground for a while now and these are the only clothes he has.

Risk Assessment

Possible Risk/ How to prevent the problem from happening

Damaging the electrical equipment if it rains- As I am filming outside no large lights will be used so it will only be the camera on its tripod that needs protecting. I will do this by carrying around a large domed umbrella to shelter the camera if it rains.

Exposure- As I am filming outside on the ground, the actor could be overly exposed to the cold weather. I will prevent this by only filming in short 30 minute sessions, and ensure my actor is dressed appropriately for the weather.

Offending local people- Due to filming in a public place there is the risk of offending or disturbing local people. But to prevent this from happening I have chosen an area which is out of the way of where the children and families don't usually go, and I will have a piece of paper explaining what I am doing if anybody asks.  

Unstable ground- This could be a possible risk for both the actor and the equipment, but it can be easily prevented. For the opening scene, my actor is filmed only on the ground so there is minimal movement so the risk of the actor falling over has been reduced. Also the equipment could be more easily damaged if balancing on unstable ground, so I will take a large flat surface to balance the tripod on for extra stability. 

Use of a gas stove/ boiling water- This will only be a short part of the clip however it provokes a big hazard for the actor getting hurt. I will prevent this by using the gas stove to boil the water, off camera on a stable surface and then add the props to the scene when turned off. When the actor is in contact with the props, he will be out of his sleeping bag so he has easy ability to move, and will be sat up right away from the hot water, to minimise the risk of the actor getting hurt if there is any spillages. 

Risk of the Location- If something was to go wrong when filming in an area like this, there could be a big risk of problems if your transport is far away. However I have chosen a location within a 5 minute walking distance of my house, so if somebody was to get hurt or the equipment was at risk of getting damaged, I can get home quickly.

General Risk of Something happening to the actors and crew- If anything was to happen to anyone involved with the filming, I have developed a call sheet for communication, so a variety of people know where you will be at what time so if something was to go wrong, or for you to not turn up somewhere they know where to find you.

Thriller Location

Location- My initial idea for the location of my opening scene was an old wooden play house in the garden, however after I discussed this with my teacher, I realised it posed the question of why is he in somebodies garden, and do they know he is there? As I only have 2 minutes to create my opening scene, this could complicate the narrative a bit too much so I decided against it; unless all the shots are filmed from the inside just showing an old battered location and the audience would not know it is in a garden.
I then began thinking of other public areas where I could film my opening scene, and some of the ideas I came up with was an old empty room however this could be a quite difficult to access; a large skip in a public area, however I think the best location would be under the bridge near my local park as the location is dirty and old, yet sheltered and would suit the plot perfectly.
After visiting this location I noticed its a good place to film,as there area where the man would be living is sheltered so its realistic, and all the trees surrounding the area create an eery atmosphere.

Film Schedule

Monday 10th February- 5pm
In the evening I will go out by myself, to my chosen location with a camera to check the lighting at that time to to ensure it wont be too dark when i am filming the next night.
Tuesday 11th February- 5pm
Myself and my chosen actor will aim to film the first half of my opening sequence dependent on lighting as it may get too dark.
Saturday 15th February- 4pm
In the late afternoon, I will aim to finish my opening sequence and re-film any clips i'm not happy with from the first time.
Saturday 22nd February- 4pm
This will be an opportunity for me to film any clips which didn't work effectively when I was trying to edit them on adobe, and therefore a final chance to make any improvements.

Audience Research

Recently I created a survey which I ask a varied group of people to decide the final name for my thriller, and also their general opinions on the thriller genre.
These graphs show the variety in age and gender within the audience demographic.

                                    
The next general questions I asked were How often do you watch thriller films? and Why would you choose to watch a thriller film?
The main reason for asking these questions was to try and identify a trend between age and the thriller genre, however the responses were very varied and thriller films seem to be enjoyed by all different ages.
The most common answer for how often thriller films are watched was once a month which was said by 80% of the people participating within the survey.
Some of the reasons people said they enjoy a thriller film is for the 'scare factor' and also for the 'exciting storylines'.

The most important question I asked was the preferred title, out of my 4 ideas. This proved to be derivation, some of the reasons for this was due to the mystery the word provokes which links in well to my opening sequence as people don't know how he ended up were he is, and who he is.

The final question I asked was what features attract you the thriller films? I decided this was important as I would need to include these key features within my opening sequence. Every person I asked replied with 'the suspence' others suggesting the 'mystery' which are very similar. I feel I will achieve this by making the audience instantly question why he is where he is, and open with a slow pan of his strange location hopefully effectively building the suspense.

Story Boarding

After planning the narrative, and location etc for my opening scene, it was time to storyboard. However I found this very difficult as until your in the location it is hard to plan what camera angles and shots to use. I came up with a basic storyboard which will be developed during filming when I can see which shots are working and which aren't.

In my storyboard i have labeled the finalised basic camera shots, but this will probably be altered during the filming
process.

Thriller Opening Scene Planning

Basic Story line- For my opening scene, I thought of a simple plot than would enable me to really experiment with the camera, and explore lots of detail within mise en scene. I would like the camera to open with a shot of an old abandoned location with a man living there whilst fading the opening titles in and out as well as establishing the location. He is the focus of my opening scene and it basically shows him waking up and living in these appalling conditions. It will end with me using a large torch to create the effect of car headlights like someone is coming, and his reaction will shows hat he isn't a person he wanted to see effectively building tension with the unknown character. The opening scene will then end with a cut to the title of the film in a large bold font.