Treatment

Treatment

To edit the film opening I used Premier Pro. Within this programme, there is a large range of editing tools and devices that allowed me to perfect the final product. The following is a description of how I edited the opening and what tools I used.

First, I uploaded our footage, text, the company logo and other secondary images (Such as the BBFC Certificate) into Premier pro and watched the unedited film to make sure that all of the footage was there and editable. The audio in the film was very distracting to the Mise-En-Scene of the film as at points you could hear the camera focusing; Therefore, I decided to mute the raw audio and later choose an ominous soundtrack and other sound effects to later add to the film opening.

I then began editing the film. I started by choosing specific parts of the opening footage to cut and replace with cut-off scenes that held credits such as the name of Actors, etc. I used the cut tool in Premier Pro to do so - I made the cuts at points in the footage where the camera was trying to focus so that our overall footage looked as clean and polished as possible. I decided to keep a few of the moments where the camera was focusing in the overall film as I felt that they added to the ominous Mise-En-Scene.

After the footage was cut and credit scenes were implemented into the timeline, I added default fade transitions into the cut sections of the film so that there were not quick cut transitions between scenes. This added a flow to the opening which kept the creepy atmosphere. As the default transition's time frame was 0:25 seconds, I had to extend the time to 1:25 seconds. This allowed the fade transition to be seen properly and added to the ominous atmosphere. 

Next, after the primary footage was in place, I added the secondary images to the film opening. The introduction consisted of the BBFC Certificate, the company logo and the title. The BBFC Certificate is shown on screen for multiple seconds along side the logo and the title. After a certain amount of time, the Certificate and logo faded out leaving the title of the opening on screen. The title then fades out and the opening footage starts.

During the cuts in between the main footage, there are small second long segments that have been composed specifically for credits. In these scenes, there are blank spaces and within these spaces, I have added the names and roles of my group. The text I used was a very sharp, Gothic font coloured red. The text itself looked out of place of the scenes; I, therefore, added dimension to the text by adding drop shadow at a 45-degree angle to blend the text into the scenes. To further experiment, I added a keyframe onto one of the credit scenes: This key frame made the text travel from one side of the frame to the next and made the opening a bit more interesting.

At the end of the footage, I added a different logo to cooperate all of the groups work into the final film. This logo fades into a more detailed title screen which then fades to black.

Following this was the addition of audio - I used two different audio clips within the opening. One of the audio clips was a non-copyrighted, sinister music piece that overall tied all of the visuals together and made the footage more frightening. The music clip was continuous throughout the opening. I also used a separate audio clip which was a woman's scream. The scream is featured at the start of the footage when the original title screen fades into the footage - This is also when the music clip begins to play. 

Afterwards, I watched over all of the footage and noticed two things that I felt would distract from the Mise-En-Scene. In the entire film, there is a warm hue as the film used a lot of candle light and yellow toned lights. I, therefore, simply, colour-corrected the entire film to a white hue. This gave the film a cool colour tone and, in effect, created a more chilling atmosphere.

Furthermore, a segment of the opening was filmed outside where garden lights were used; These lights have a white hue and overall made that particular segment too bright. To fix this brightness problem, I added an oval shaped vignette over the footage. The vignette was placed in the upper right third of the frame. The vignette darkened the edges of the frame, fixing the brightness issue, and also highlighted a key scene within the footage. 

I then, finally, re-watched the footage and felt that the project was ready for rendering. The finished, treated opening was rendered specifically for a YouTube viewing and uploaded to YouTube. 

Written by Timothy Amaryllis

Resultant Footage

Edit Production List

Final Evaluation for the Film Opening

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

httpsf://bubbl.us/7959019

Evaluation of my Final Product from RebeccaIH

Evaluation from ryangriffiths1999

Evaluation2 from ryangriffiths1999

Evaluation-By Rebecca Harris
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Firstly, the technologies I have used to construct my product are photoshop and premiere pro. My group and I used Photoshop to design our company logo. We found this beneficial due to it being a quick and cheap process as well as making a final product which looks professional and realistic. In addition, we used Premiere Pro to edit and construct our final media production of a film opening. This was also beneficial due to it, again, being a quick process as well as it helping us construct our final media product and including tools such as colour correction and transitions.

However, to get to that point, we used Youtube; IMDB; and Rotten Tomatoes to research other horror/thriller genre films such as 'The Boy'; ' Insidious'; 'Woman In Black'; 'Ouija' and 'Poltergeist'. We researched the story plot as well as watching the trailers and film openings to them to gather ideas on how we should construct our horror film opening and include some conventions to indicate that it was a horror genre. For example, the use of dim lighting, blood and props used such as a knife. 

Furthermore, to film our final media product, we used a video camera (Nikon DSLR D3300) which has a resolution of 24.2 MP and a crop sensor size. It has a total of 24,780,000 pixels and an image processor of EXPEED 4, which gives high definition when filming. Using this gave my group and I an advantage due to one member already owning one, as well as everyone knowing how to use the camera, therefore the process of filming was quick and simple. 

Overall, as a group, we have learned that technologies are important tools when producing and researching media products due to gaining information and understanding key concepts of different genres, as well as gathering new ideas from other products to create our own. For example, we researched 'Insidious', which was the film that we mainly influenced our film opening on due to it meeting many conventions of the horror genre, which we were inspired with and therefore used some of the connotations ourselves. For example the blackouts, dim lighting, hysterical screaming and use of dead victims.

Planning Film Opening- Site Plan

Bottom Floor of Tim's house:

Top floor of Tim's house:

Production Schedule-Budget Proposal

Overall, the group had a very low budget due to having a member of our group, Tim, allowing us to film our opening scene in his house, the makeup and having majority of the props such as the candles and a knife. He also purchased the meal which was the bottles of water due to the whole cast eating before arriving at the filming location. In addition, I provided the group with the tarot cards. 
Having a low budget helped my group as we didn't have to spend a lot of time filming therefore this helped us have more time to edit the film opening, and make any changes such as more filming incase there was a lack of continuity editing or an error in the lighting or equipment used.

Planning Film Opening- Storyboard

A storyboard is a graphic organizer in the form of illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence. -Wikipedia.
These are used within the media industry to plan a film, TV series or project to have a clear and understanding view of what to film, when, where, the duration of the shots, as well as the types of editing used and cinematography.

Evaluation

Firstly, we chose Tim's storyboard due to it meeting many conventions of the horror genre. For example, the mise-en-scene used in the storyboard is the location of a house, which is stereotypical for a teenage horror/thriller genre film as well as the equipment used being normal household objects such as candles and knives. Also, the costumes used for the characters are casual as the story plot is set in modern times (for example the antagonist wearing black), however the stroyboard focuses more on the dialogue of the walk-through of the house after the murders. The lighting within the film opening will be dim due to it being another key convention within the horror genre due to it forming a tense and eerie atmosphere which, using Barthes Enigma Theory, will be using the symbolic coe due to it connoting darkness and mystery such as why the teenagers are dead and what caused it to happen? Therefore, this makes the target audience watching question on what's happening and engages them to watch more.  

Secondly, the cinematography used within the storyboard are many extreme close ups when credits of the producer, director and actors are shown whilst showing props such as candles, tarot cards and a knife with dripping blood, which are key conventions of the horror genre as teenagers tend to play with ouija boards and tarot cards and end up getting into a dangerous situation. Also, many medium shots are used to establish the scenery around the audience and make it more realistic due to the cinematography throughout the whole film opening being in a point-of-view shot. Again, this will engage the target audience to watch the film and make them feel like they're in the scene themselves walking around the house. In addition, long established shots are also used to show the scenery as well as the dead victim (damsel in distress) and the murderer's (antagonist) body language as well as their facial expressions. According to Propp's character theory, every film uses at least two or more of the eight character types which are: the hero, villain, princess, dispatcher, donor, helper, father and the false hero. In my film opening, i'll be using the villain and princess. However, the princess will be the victim who cannot be saved and is a male, which portrays Propp's theory due to not following the stereotypical role of a princess.

Furthermore, the editing which will be used are mainly fade-in's and fade-out's as the film opening is a walkthrough in a teenagers house, which extends the duration of the shots as well as the opening itself. This is a key convention of the horror genre due to other film openings such as Insidious (which our opening was inspired by) having slow paced film opening which engages the audience to watch more and fears them by building tension. Also, blackouts will be used to build tension as well as fearing the audience as to wondering what will happen next (Barthes Enigma Theory). Blackouts are a key convention of the horror genre as they work well with dim lighting and it's also easier to edit scenes between them. This therefore helps consume time when editing as well as decreasing the pace of the shots.

Finally, the sounds which we will be including in our film opening are non-diegetic sounds. For example, in the beginning we tend to use screaming as the title shows the signify that an event has occurred and therefore, using Barthes Enigma Theory, making the audience question on what's going on by using the enigma code. Also, we intend to use continuous slow-paced eerie music throughout the whole film opening to build tension and create an eerie and frightening atmosphere for the target audience watching. These sounds are key conventions within the horror genre due to the use of exaggerating screaming and slow-paced music, which is used in many films such as Insidious and Thir13en Ghost. This helps engage the audiences attention and make them watch it, which also helps my film sell easier and more successfully to the target audience.

Planning Film Opening- Sample Script

Film certificate and age certificate shown with the company logo on before the clip. The certificate fades out to just show the film title with a non-diegetic hysterical scream.

FADE IN.

INT. / NIGHT TIME/ HOUSE.

POV shot walking through a door. The lighting is dim, therefore the only lights guiding the audience are the candle lights which are scattered around the house. The pace of the walking is slow from the front door to the living room, leading to the window. Diegetic sounds of footsteps are heard. 

FADE OUT.

INT. / NIGHT TIME/ GARDEN.

POV close up shot of looking at a dead man on the floor, focusing on the face. Credits saying "Mavis Productions Presents..." at the top left corner of the screen while the face is covering nearly three quarters of the screen with the view of blood dripping on his arm and on the floor.

FADE IN.

INT. / NIGHT TIME/ LIVING ROOM.

POV looking out of the window at the dead mans body, then turns over to walk out of the living room towards the kitchen at a slow paste. The lighting is still dim. Diegetic sounds of footsteps continues as the audience are walking around the house.

FADE OUT.

INT. / NIGHT TIME/ KITCHEN.

Close up POV shot of three tarot cards next to a candle. Credits saying, "Directed and Produced by Timothy Amaryllis" is at the bottom left corner in an old fashioned text and in red. Lighting continues to be dim.

FADE IN.

EXT. / NIGHT TIME/ GARDEN.

POV medium shot walking into the garden towards a dead body. Eventually the focus is on the dead body at a high angle shot and then backs off and looks up at a low angle shot to a window with a figure looking out. The audience then looks back down and enters the kitchen again heading towards the staircase.

FADE OUT.

INT. / NIGHT TIME/ HOUSE.

Extreme close up shot of a candle with Credits saying, "Starring..." in the bottom left corner of the screen. Lighting is still dim.

FADE IN.

INT. / NIGHT TIME/ HOUSE.

POV medium shot of the camera heading up the staircase slowly heading towards a very dim candle light which is placed on the right side of the end of the staircase. The camera then turns and heads towards the bathroom where two candles are on the bathroom floor whilst the other rooms are dark. The camera then looks down onto the two candles for at least five seconds and then looks back up and turns around looking at a spare room. There is a single candle light on the window seal and after three seconds, the camera slowly looks down onto the floor and backs off back into the hallway.
The camera then is looking at a mysterious person dressed in black, slowly walking into another room whilst holding a candelabra.

FADE OUT.

INT. / NIGHT TIME/ HOUSE.

Extreme close up of a knife with dripping blood on it with text saying, "Ryan Griffiths" which is placed in the top right corner of the screen and another text saying, "Rebecca Harris" on the bottom left corner below the dripping blood. The lighting is still dim with only a candlelight giving off light. The duration of this scene is about five seconds.

FADE IN.

INT. / NIGHT TIME/ HOUSE.

POV medium shot of the camera continuing to follow the mysterious person with the candelabra towards the other bedroom. The camera then reaches to the end of the hallway and turns to the left, looking at the person with the candelabra. Two seconds into this, the door slowly closes. The lighting is still very dim.

FADE OUT. 

BLACKOUT.

(THE END).

Main influences- Insidious

Firstly, I chose Insidious due to it using many conventions of the horror genre which inspired me to make my film opening similar to it. For example, the mise-en-scene used were dim lighting, which makes an eerie atmosphere by (using Barthes enigma theory) using the hermeneutic code which does not give a clear storyline which then makes the audience wonder what will happen next, therefore they will want to watch more. In my film opening, I will include dim lighting by filming in the dark and using candles to give a little light and create a tense and frightening atmosphere. Using Barthes enigma theory, my aim was to mainly use the symbolic and proairetic code to symbolise the danger which was about to commence and therefore making the audience want to watch more.

In addition, the location is at a house, which I will also be doing in my film opening as my storyline is a stereotypical teenage horror/thriller genre movie, which includes sleepovers and death. Houses are also a stereotypical location for psychological thriller films as it seems more realistic to the target audience watching and therefore take more interest into it. Using Barthes Enigma Theory, the proairetic code is used, which builds tension and refers to an action or event that may occur, which then makes the watcher want to watch more. This code also works with the hermeneutic code to develop the story's tensions to keep the watcher interested. However in my film opening, I will be using a low angle point of view shot on the house, whereas this trailer for Insidious just uses a point of view shot and shows a wider image of the house.
Also, both Insidious and my film opening are set in modern times (21st century), which is shown in Insidious by the modern house at 1:33, whereas old fashioned houses were made of straw roofs and wooden beams. This helps the film be sold at a wider scaled audience and the film itself will seem more realistic, therefore the target audience watching will be feared more which is the main aim of producing a horror/thriller genre film.

Moreover, the editing used are fade-in's, fade-out's with credits at 1:30-3:42 which are used at a slow paste to create tension and blackouts were used to maintain the tension and make the audience watching wonder what will happen next (proairetic code) at 1:27-1:30. Also, a few fast cuts were used when showing the main title with the use of loud non-diegetic sounds of screeching violins and heavy drums at 1:20-1:27. This is another key convention of the horror/thriller genre as loud music and fast cuts are used to frighten the audience and make them jump. Insidious used this to then show their title after is and make it zoom in a little towards the audience to make sure that the audience will remember the film as it is frightening and the text and font used is dark but old fashioned, with the colour blood red to connote danger, anger and lust.

Furthermore, the cinematography used were close up shots at 2:45 of a woman sleeping. Close-ups are used to emphasise the characters emotions and makes the audience sympathise with them. However at 3:35 in the Insidious film opening, the close up is used to focus on the woman sleeping to distract the audience from other events that may spoil the storyline or may occur in the future. In addition, another close up shot is used at 3:30 to show a portrait image of a happy family, whom are stereotypically victims in horror/thriller films because they're more sedimental and therefore more likely to be vulnerable when an event occurs. However in my film opening, I will be using two teenagers as my main victims as the story plot includes them playing with tarot cards and facing their dreadful fait. 

















Also, medium shots are used to give the viewer a partial view of the scenery within the house, which is also used with a point of view shot as if the audience themselves are walking around the house (which is also shown by the use of panning used at 0:37-1:20).





Using Young and Rubicam's 4C's model, Insidious is aimed at the strugglers due to them seeing themselves as victims whom seek escape, therefore they tend to watch more sic-fi and horror movies. They are ranked E/D audience as people whom are ranked C and above are the succeeders and explorers whom are people who tend to be driven by discovery and have a strong goal orientation and are more organised. They also tend to watch things such as documentaries and films based on real life stories such as war or period films. Therefore in conclusion, my horror/thriller film The Sleepover will be aimed at the strugglers due to them being the main target audience when it comes to producing horror/thriller films. 
Using the GEARS model, my film wouldn't be ideal for young children as they will be too scared and horror genre films are too graphic, whereas elderly people will find it boring as it's not realistic and prefer to watch documentaries. Therefore my target audience will be aged 15-21.

Production film opening- Call Sheets

Makeup:

For the makeup, we used pale white foundation to make Wendy's face ghostly as well as black eyeshadow and lipstick to make her look similar to the dead bride in Insidious who is our main antagonist in our film opening of The Sleepover. However, we didn't use a bridal outfit but still made our antagonist wear black to connote death. We also used candles for our antagonist to carry to create dim lighting and not show much of her face as it creates a tense and eerie atmosphere.

Production film opening- Shoot Plan

A shoot list is an essential document designed to help you stay on track the director and cameraman will use this document with the story board to direct actors and shoot the film.  As a team we need to show evidence of a shot list for the 2 minutes of the film opening. 

    

S.B. Shot #	Angle	Movement	Notes
1			Black screen with Mavis productions logo
2			Film opening title card ‘The Sleepover’
3	EWS	Slowly zooming until the characters are in view	Teenagers are seen in the living room watching television and laughing
4	Panning	Panning	The lighting is dim there is some candle light that can be seen with background noise from the television
5	2 person mid shot	Over the shoulder	The two are discussing their boredom and trying to figure out what to do with themselves
6	Eyeline match	Eyeline match	One of the teenagers sees the tarot cards left in a pile on the table and then look at each other in agreement
7	Extreme Close up	Close up	An extreme close up of the cards lying on the table/floor
8	Two person MS	Two person MS	The two are chatting whilst looking at the cards and reading each other’s tarots
9	Close up	Close up	Close up of the cards revealing that the two have been dealt, the tower, death and the hanging man
10	Extreme close up	Extreme close up	One of the teens is visibly panicked by the cards they have just seen and the terror is seen in their eyes
11	Two person mid shot	Over the shoulder	The first teenager looks close to tears and the other is trying to talk them out of their hysterical state although their attempt seems futile
12	Panning	Panning	The camera pans to the candles which are now flickering more than usual this carries on until one of of them eventually goes out the camera follows the trail of smoke it leave
13	MLS	MLS	In this shot we see the two teenagers one of them still in a state of panic although their conversation is muffled and the camera pans to the TV which suddenly turns to static
14	Close up	Close up	The Tv remains static and the teenagers both begin to panic
15	Two person close up		Both teenagers look frightened as the light becomes more dim
16	Long shot	Long shot	Camera cuts to the window where it can be seen that there is a storm outside
17	Close up	Close up	The two are once again visibly scared by the lack of lighting as they are left with only candle lighting
18	Panning	Panning	The camera once again focuses on the window where we see a mysterious figure pass momentarily it then immediately cuts back to the two teenagers
19	Two person mid shot	Over the shoulder shot	Both teens are shown talking and the camera is shown as if the two are being filmed  by the intruder and seem very unnerved by the situation
20	Close up	Close up	The two are shown conversing but still visibly frightened  until they are interrupted by the sound of someone entering the house forcefully
21	Extreme close up	Extreme close up	One of the teens looks very startled by the situation the camera zooms in to show their reaction
22	Medium  wide shot	Panning	One of the teenagers goes to investigate what is happening whilst the other stays back cowering in fear they also bring an object with them to fight the intruder off
23	Wide shot	Wide shot	The door is shown opened it then immediately cuts between the teenager and the mysterious figure who are both in the house and close to each other
24	Tracking shot	Tracking shot	The mysterious figure enters the room where the other teenager is hiding  a struggle between the two is depicted
25	Close up wide shot		The two are shown restrained with the mysterious figure standing over them and appearing to be taunting them
26	Extreme close up	Extreme close up	One of the teenagers faces is shown they look as if they are struggling for their freedom from the ordeal
27			The screen fades to black and the audience do not find out the fate of these teenagers

In order to ensure that our film opening will conform to the conventions of the horror genre we will have to include the following in relation to make up and costuming to ensure that it is made clear that our film opening comes from the horror genre. 

For our film opening the following makeup will be required

• Basic natural makeup 
• Fake blood
• Gothic makeup (e.g.black eyeshadow to be used on the character of the villain)
• Special effects (wounds etc.) 

 In order to conform to these conventions within our film we have decided that the actors are going to wearing casual clothing that mostly consists of the colour black or other dark colours so that they conform to Barthes' enigma codes which would have the semantic code in which the colour black would carry the connotations of death and danger and are also quite mysterious colours that would create tension within the scene and  leave the audience feeling tense or anxious.

-Research conducted by Ryan Griffiths