Evaluation Activity 1 - In What Ways Does Your Media Product Use, Develop Or Challenge Forms And Conventions Of Real Media Products?

1: The Title Of The Film

When we envisioned the title of our film we were certain that it had to have a clear link to the plot of the film while also being vague enough to not give too much away. The title comprises two main elements a key word and a date. By doing this we have created two separate yet interlinked points of interest for our viewer: a buzz word to spark interest and the date to generate intrigue as to the significance between the two.

The title itself challenges blunt titles that reveal the essence of the film like "Psycho" and "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" by giving information about the film but at the same time not making it patronisingly obvious to the target audience, this allows them to become more deeply engrossed in the production as they have no idea what is going to happen. By teasing the audience with this information we leave them curious and wanting more, so as to make them want to watch on.

Numbers and periods of time have appeared in titles of films before, famous examples include "1408" and "28 Days Later" our title attempts to develop this concept further by adding supporting information to the date as well as making the period of time specific to the day, by doing this the target audience will get a feel for the importance this has on the plot.

Short, simple titles have long been a mainstay in the horror/thriller genre normally using one or two key words to grab the attention of the potential market, films like "Halloween" and "Severance" have used this technique in their titles to great effect, drawing in the masses with their bold striking titles, our own film makes great use of this technique by limiting itself to one key word that sounds interesting and will promote interest in the targeted demographic.

2: Setting And Location

When compiling the final scene for our opening we decided to carry on with the theme of making the normal environment terrifying, we developed this by setting this particular scene in the living room of a normal house in the middle of a street, the stereotypical home of the target audience. We thought this development would be more effective than cutting to an isolated abnormal location as this way we create the feeling of utter dread that our distressed teen displays when he feels his own home, his safe haven is being invaded by the killer. This theme is becoming more and more common in the horror genre and films such as "Scream" feature the killer performing murders inside the houses of the victims.

3: Costumes And Props

Our main area of costume and prop design came in the place of our villain, who would not have to conform to any of the expectations of the target audience in essence we were given free reign with the production of this character. 

The villains costume consists of:

• A long black coat, again developing the climate of the film while simultaneously concealing the body from view leaving the muscular build of the character unknown.
• Thick black gloves further conceal the character, show's the careful nature as they take no chances in leaving prints, and black connotes death.
• White bandages covering most of the face, suggests damage has been done and is in the process of healing, further conceals the true identity of character.

Props the villain interacts with:

• Doll suggests innocence, playfulness, loneliness, delicate, toy of a young girl and embodies the image of villain’s deceased sister.
• Red Balloon, shows vulnerability as it cannot control it's actions, is a favoured object of children, red was chosen to signify the danger villain poses to others.
• Calendar, a record of the past, omen to the future, used to highlight date of siblings death.
• Unsent Birthday Card signifies the unfulfilled life of sibling, regret of the villain for not being there for her.

The combination of these visual elements helps to create a striking villain with clear signs of psychological trauma. He becomes threatening and dangerous yet at the same time the audience can relate to his madness and sympathise with him, in this way he is able to transcend his role of a villain and instead can be viewed as a sort of antihero in the film.

4: Camerawork And Editing
Our use of the camera in particular has given us the core material that we needed in order to necessitate our film being classed in the role of the horror/thriller genre. The way this was done through the initial shot taking allowed the editing process to flow seamlessly as the raw footage already gave a clear indication to the type of editing needed in order to ensure that each shot reached its full potential in giving the viewer one of the many pieces that make up this films psychological puzzle.

As we wanted our target audience to associate the film to the horror and thriller genres when they first laid eyes on the film we decided that our initial shots and longest filming sessions should be based upon the title sequence, as this would be the best vehicle for transmitting our intentions to the audience. The way we created the desired association with the aforementioned genres was by utilising a lot of close ups and extreme close ups, these claustrophobic shots suit this style of filming best as they restrict the view of the audience to the scene as a whole, teasing them and creating a very atmospheric and striking image, prompting viewers to wonder just how much is being kept from them, spawning fear and paranoia for what might appear next.

A POV shot is used during the middle of the title sequence, during the editing process this was given several distortion effects to represent the state of mind of the character, in particular the shaking was used to show the fear and dread the character feels as the date of his sisters death looms ever closer, both in time and in the shot itself. The shot starts out as a long shot but very quickly zooms in to the calendar with fades to create an effect of the space around the audience's view shrinking and making them feel claustrophobic and tense.

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5: Title Font and Style
In order to successfully augment elements of our films plot we felt it was necessary to choose a font which we could link to a key plot device of the film as well as looking aesthetically pleasing and interesting to the audience. As it was the main title to promote the film the font would need to be something different and eye catching that would make the potential viewer wonder "just why have they done that?" this interest would hopefully be enough to influence the public to choose our product instead of a competing film.

As the plot of the film is centred on children, we thought it would be a good idea to make the font of the title appear as though it was written by a child, this would give the title a unique look that both appeared innocent while at the same time being eerily creepy. The idea for including this came after watching the film "The Children", this 2008 UK film used a similar technique for it's title in promotional campaigns and exuded a sense of innate unsettlement. We then built upon the theme of a child's writing by incorporating it into a blackboard style, a traditional image of schools in years gone by, relating back to the age of the deceased sister. The effect was simple to deploy as well, a simple black background with the font placed on top in white. This theme was carried over to the credits in the title sequence but used red for the names of individuals while retaining the white for their roles, by doing this we successfully combined the three symbolic colours of the horror genre, black, white and red.

The font's used for the news broadcast were fairly standard and produced a professional easy to read look. Keeping the business image was important to impart the effect of realism into our film however we wanted all our titles to follow the same basic colour scheme. It is for this reason that the text colour for the news titles is white and the background is various shades of layered red, linking our feature together and keeping it tied firmly in the horror/thriller genre.

6: Story And How The Opening Sets It Up

Plot
The story involves five families who suffer a murder each in the last three years, the murder takes place on the same day and the victim is always a parent. The latest murder occurs on the birthday of the male lead that is having an uneventful evening babysitting for his next door neighbours. While they are out one of them is brutally murdered and after the child is put to bed, the killer abducts them and leaves a set of clues for the male lead. An identical set of clues is also left in the homes of the four families who were targeted in years previous; they had all but abandoned hope of ever seeing their child again.

In a twist on the ideas of the iconic "Saw" franchise the parents must perform acts of crime, self sacrifice and bloodshed in order to unlock the next clue, eventually revealing the location of their child who, if not reached in time, will die. The act's lead all five families to cross paths at varying points, leading to either co-operation or mutilation. Eventually the victims must consider how much they value there child and if they are willing to pay the ultimate price to get them back.

The mastermind behind all this is a psychologically troubled young man in his early twenties, who once lost his younger sister due to a lack of care from the parents, this led to him loathing and eventually killing them both in a fire, during the process he received third degree burns to the right half of his face. Entry into a mental asylum did not help him overcome his demons and five years after his release he stages the ultimate test of parenthood.

How it is introduced
The title sequence develops much of the previously mentioned features of the characters background through the use of the sister’s picture, birthday card, calendar with a marked date, and parents photo becoming blacked out, showing the ties his sister has on him and the lack of ties his murdered parents now have with him. The bandages covering the villains face and the candle that he blows out are symbolic of the fire that had once killed his parents and scarred him.

The opening scene introduces the most recent murder to the audience and begins a chain of events that follow, it also briefly mentions the killings of previous years by stating "it is the fifth in a series of killings", opening the possibility for previous victims to appear.

When we first meet the male lead, he is downstairs watching the T.V with the child already asleep in bed, when he is rung by his friend he becomes engrossed in conversation about the shocking events of the day. This distraction provides the villain with ample time and little effort required to sneak in and abduct the child, while the teen frets on about the recent murder.

7: Genre And How The Opening Suggests It

Genre
As previously mentioned our film falls into the genre of horror/thriller and involves many psychological aspects. We wanted to create a gripping film that was able to expose the issue of child neglect in a way that would get the audience to really relate to it on an emotional level. That was how the film came to be and that core idea guided our choice of props, costumes, shot selection and even casting.

How It Is Suggested
The horror/thriller genre in general loves to use dark, confined spaces in order to evoke the maximum fear in the audience; shadows also play a huge part in this. Bearing this in mind our opening sequence utilised a locale which offered little to no natural light, this was mostly achieved by filming at night.

In order to make the atmosphere as gloomy as possible we chose to use candlelight as our preferred method of lighting, this provided faint and small areas of light that illuminated the objects we wanted in focus and not much else, creating the kind of ambience that would not of been achievable with other lighting options. 

To limit the amount of light in the shot even further the shot was darkened using red filters as the colour is synonymous with danger and the horror genre in general, heightening the audience's expectations.

 In order to maximise the effect of our lighting we decided to use many close ups this developed the claustrophobic atmosphere associated with the genre while also giving the target audience a restricted amount of information, but in greatly magnified detail, this teasing of information is typical of a thriller.

The pace with which the shots appear and end is also stereotypical of the genre as the fast cuts and transitions make the viewer feel bemused at what it is they are actually seeing, leaving them to piece the puzzle together at later points in the film.


8: How Characters Are Introduced
Characters are introduced to their respective roles very quickly in our film, this was done so that the audience is able to associate the character to there given stereotype and react to them accordingly. Later in the film these stereotypes are expanded upon and the audience is able to empathise with the individual as opposed to their social role.

The villain is introduced by a series of objects and actions that both describe his past life and his current temperament at the start of the film. It is only at the conclusion of the characters first appearance that we eventually see his face and assumptions about his age are able to be made. The psychotic deeds performed by the character help cement his role in the film as the psychopathic villain.

The news reporter has no formal introduction when we first see her, she literally has the very news channel she works for to bring her in, her role as the presenter is firmly sealed by her first appearance however it isn't until later in the film that we delve deeper and discover that she became a widow last year and lost her only child at the hands of the villain.

The antagonist of the feature is introduced in a distressing situation, receiving a call he believes to be from his friend the situation soon turns sour as he hears his friend isn't there anymore. The character then shows deep concern for his friend and anger towards the unknown caller; this reveals his virtuous and caring nature that makes him a good lead character.

The joker of the film is introduced doing a trademark prank on his unsuspecting friend, by doing this the audience is comfortable that the heavy film will have some uplifting segments to ease the tension and he therefore fulfils this expectation of them. Once he is revealed he shows a sense of remorse for what he did as he asks the tricked friend if he's alright and that he was "sorry for worrying him", this develops his character and shows that he has a conscience.

9: Special Effects
Special effects played a big part in the title sequence of our film opening, in order to truly capture the maddening, psychotic presence of the villain we needed to create a multitude of clashing on screen distortions that would add vibrancy and character to the static shots we had during pre-production. The effects included a Zoom-tilt-flash combo as the opening shot to immediately grab the attention of the audience and leave them wandering what could possibly happen next as there expectations are abruptly dashed.

Another effect we used to good effect was creating a tiled effect which also zoomed in on various aspects of the shot, giving us 4 extreme close ups on a shot, this effect drew particular attention to the killers glove stroking the card in the bottom left segment, without the effect this shot would otherwise have been an ordinary close up.

The lighting effect we used most of the shots in the opening sequence served to enhance the shadows the objects cast naturally against the candlelight. This was helpful in creating a tense, glum atmosphere and served to promote the potency of the actions recorded on screen. The effects used at the start of the zoom sequence towards the calendar served as a visual representation of the villains fragmented memories.

Reminiscence - Second Draft

The second draft of our horror film opening is found below. Further editing was applied from the previous version, music was also included and all the post production work was done in Final Cut Pro X ver 10.0.2

The addition of music to the title sequence created a dynamic increase in the atmospheric presence the sequence was able to emit, we were also able to utilise the musics jumps as cues for the pacing of our shots, this synergy between music and image creates a more striking piece of film.

The music used in the title sequence is embedded below.

 

A large amount of the already dark shots present in the title sequence were put through 3 red filters of varying intensity so as to darken the shots and establish an emphasis on key elements of the shot by creating separation between the foreground, middleground and background elements of our shots.

So as to further accentuate the centrepieces of each shot, two separate lighting effects were added:

• Glow - This effect added a subtle gradient of brightness to the shot, with the lightest areas being in the centre of the shot and dispersing into a lower intensity towards the outer regions.
• Memory - The addition of this light distortion effect created a cloudy dreamlike impression, as if what we are seeing is an image from the past or perhaps a vision of the future, this allows the audience to interpret what they see for themselves because of the level of vagueness it creates.

The credits present in the title sequence were greatly improved from the previous version, they now incorporated the running theme of the child's handwriting in them. The handwritten effect of the titles was added to by utilising a shaking effect to demonstrate the state of mind of our killer; unstable. They also took on the red and white colours that would tie it in to the rest of the sequence and it's aim more effectively.

Another new addition to this version of the film was the inclusion of audio effects, this is present in the final scene of the opening in which we distorted the voice of one of the teens, this was done in homage to the scream series' 'Ghostface' who would ring his victims and use a voice distortion device. This short moment creates an immediate spike in the tension levels of the audience by providing a false scare. We thought this would be suitable as the age of the character portrayed fits that of someone who would of grown up watching the films made at that time.

Reminiscence - Film Certificate

Horror/Thriller Franchise
Horror films are usually given a certificate of a 15 or 18. This means that the film can only be watched at a cinema or bought by a person over this age. The BBFC have specified guidelines that are used to specify a film a certain age.

Our Film
Our film will be given a 15 certificate as there is mild use of offensive language and strong terms, however they are used appropriately as an indication of the characters emotional states and not out of context. There is no nudity present in the film. The only references to sex is in the form of conversation and no visual forms of the act are portrayed.  There are strong scenes of violence however injuries are only briefly shown and not dwelled upon at any point. Murders are never shown on screen, only the end result, because of this any easily accessible weapons are not glamourised in their use, preventing the possibility of imitation. The killer produces a strong sense of threat to all in the film, however there is little use of gore.

It was important for us to secure the 15 certificate as this opens up our film to a larger amount of demographics, culminating in more potential views.

Below are the BBFC Age Classification Guideline For Films aiming to gain a 15 certificate.

Theme: No theme is prohibited, provided the treatment is appropriate for 15 year olds.

Language: There may be frequent use of strong language, but the strongest terms will be acceptable only in terms when justified by the context. Continued agressive use of strongest language is unlikely to be acceptable.

Nudity: Nudity may be allowed in a sexual context but without strong detail. There are no constraints on nudity in a non-sexual way or educational context.

Sex: Sexual activity may be portrayed but without strong detail. There may be strong verbal references to sexual behaviour.

Violence: Violence may be strong but may not dwell on the infliction of pain and injury. Scenes of sexual violence must be discreet and brief.

Imitable techniques: Dangerous techniques (eg: hanging, suicide or self harming) should not dwell on imitable detail. Easily accesible weapons should not be glamourised.

Horror: Strong threat and menace are permitted. The strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable.

Drugs: Drug taking may be shown but the film as a whole must not promote or encourage drug misuse.

Reminiscence - Opening Scene Shot List

Opening Scene
During the opening sequence we decided that we would need to utilise several other camera shots while still including some of the staples of the genre to make sure that the intention of the film did not wander but also that the film itself remained watch able and full of fresh content for the viewer.

For the News segment of this portion of the film we decided to utilise mid shot's and medium close ups, the former was used as the second shot in the news reported and incorporated a low angle to give the reporter a more authoritative tone while at the same showing her insignificance in the presence of the street buildings that tower over her, the panning towards the housing is done to emphasise the latter point. The MCU's were used as they allowed us to adequately portray the emotions on the reporters face as she read the broadcast, at certain points highlighting her fear and dread at being on the scene of a crime committed by the killer. MCU's are also a stereotypical shot used of news reporters in real broadcasts and we thought it would be best to follow the styling and conventions utilised by the real world versions to create realism.

1. Date in white text flies in from left while the time flies in from the right, also in white, introduces audience to setting, left year less to purposely make the audience prey on the idea that it could of happened recently.
2. Mid Shot of Reporter, lasts about 10 seconds as she informs the public of the terrible news in the traditional news camera range.
3. Mid Close Up on a Low-angle with a slight pan to the left, shows the reporter as the authority on this subject but also shows her insignificance as the buildings behind her tower above her.
4. Close Up, as the reporter concludes the attention is firmly focused on her and her message before a slight zoom out to return viewers back to the full picture.
5. Fade to the news logo with Jingle.

The next segment of the opening scene features the protagonist of the film, Shane and his teenage friend Josh, the initial shot is an extreme close up of a ringing phone, this shot reintroduces the genre of the film by again restricting the information the audience has access to, the cut from the news sequence is sudden and therefore gives the audience no idea of where this phone is, creating disorientation and confusion. 

We then switch to a mid shot of the antagonist as he answer's the phone, this shot was used as it allowed us to capture the full range of emotion shown through the characters body language as he becomes increasingly worried when his friend fails to reply. This sequence of shot reverse shots then features an extreme close up of an unknown characters face, this shot combined with the previous utilises the 180 degree rule as the character is facing the opposite direction the other. The extreme close up was done to add mystery and promote fear when combined with his words, the hidden face of the character utters the words "Josh is gone he's not here no more", this combined with the shot choice makes the character appear threatening and powerful. Another mid shot of the antagonist follows as he displays increasing amounts of distress and frustration. We then see a mid shot of his friend on the sofa, relieving the tension in the scene and introducing the character and part of his nature. Two long shots of the characters are then used, still utilising the 180 degree rule to give a better impression of their surroundings and feed more information to the audience. The second of these two shots utilising tracking on Josh before switching to a match on action cut as he approaches the window, revealing a dark street full of mystery and danger.

6: Extreme close up of a ringing phone, places importance on the phone call while restricting  the view of  surroundings to the audience.
7: Mid shot of Shane answering the phone, shows the nature of the character through full use of body language.
8: Extreme Close up of Josh as view of his face is restricted, he appears to be more intimidating, especially when coupled with a voice changer box.
9: Close up of Shane as he struggles to comprehend what has happened to his friend, develops his character more through use of facial expressions and tone.
10: Mid close up of Josh on the sofa chilling, reveals the nature of his character and lowers audience tension levels as they realise he was just joking around.
11: Mid shot of Shane, shot shows him more relaxed as the camera tracks his movement and his posture is less defensive, gives the audience a good look at the characters living area.
12: Mid close up of Josh as he is told about the murders, worried he gets up and heads to the window as the camera tracks his movement.
13: Match on action cut to an Extreme close up P.O.V shot as Josh looks out of the window, only to see nothing but darkness, tension levels rise in the audience as they have no idea what is out there as the shot fades to black.

Reminiscence - Title Sequence Shot List

Title Sequence
The film itself being very short at 2 minutes needed to immediately hook the viewer, the best way we thought we could do this was by creating a disturbing and gripping title sequence that gave the viewer lots of information in a short space of time.

1: Fade in from black to production company logo, shot is short, lasting about three seconds, music has a   spike in wave magnitude when logo appears to set the thrill factor the film aims to produce throughout.

2: The initial shot of the title sequence was originally a close up shot of the birthday card's exterior design, however during the editing process we were able to artificially create a zoom action which then produced a 45 degree arc to the right into a Dutch tilt before arcing a further 90 degrees to the left in order to replicate a mirror Dutch tilt. This was done to highlight the madness of the killer as his mind wanders to shift his focus to new thinking as well as to create a disorienting effect on the audience.

3: ECU shot of villain caressing the birthday card, only part of villain shown at this point is the black gloves, they provide a stark contrast to the white of the card making them stand out and introducing the opposing forces of light and darkness, as without his sister the villain succumbs to evil thoughts. The fact the gloves are black suggest to the audience the character is a killer as black is symbolic of death, it is this reason that focus was put on them in particular. In the editing process we used a tiling effect to break up the shot and appear fragmented like the mind of the killer. The shot builds tension as the audience's view is very limited and the shot itself is very dark.

4: Fade to black before credits of the main actors appear sliding in from both sides on a slight angle, this is used to create the feeling that something isn't quite right with them. The text shakes and creates copies during it's schizophrenic movement, this showed the nervousness and fear that the villain and his victims portray in the film. The colours used for the titles are red and white as these are commonly found in horror films.

5: An ECU, over-the-shoulder-shot (or OSS) of the villain writing in a birthday card, the shot not only features as a cut-in; drawing focus to the attire of the villain in the form of his gloves but is also filmed from slightly above, this is used to demonstrate the power the villain is perceived to have. The writing does not just go from start to finish, rather it deviates between latter stages of the message and earlier parts to create a creepy, disjointed look. During editing we utilised several lighting effects to place even more focus on the gloves.

6: Another ECU with distortion on message in card to highlight the sister that is pivotal to the plot, also visualises the way the villain interprets events, different to the normal member of society. A vertical tilt was used to lower the card out of view, symbolising the end of the sisters existence.

7: In the same style as shot 4 there is a fade to black that preempts the credits of the producers of the film, the titles are on more of an angle than the previous titles, showing the degenerative state of the villain, as he deviates further and further from the norm. The shot kept the shaking and colours of the previous titles to create unity and film identity.

8: First in a series of three POV shots, this one being a long shot. The shot is tiled creating a cluttered look representing the mess inside the killers head. There is a slow zoom in accompanied by a mild level of shaking, this is done to begin a feeling of apprehension and uncertainty in the audience. The lighting is very low key and serves to place emphasis on the red balloon against the cold and dark colours in the scene.

9: The second POV shot is a mid shot that fades in from the previous long shot. Like the previous shot, this one utilises a tiling effect as well as a slow zoom in, the level of shaking increases as this happens, with the focus on the calendar that appears behind the balloon and a date centred around, the reasoning behind the apprehension is made apparent.

10: The last POV shot is a close up of the aforementioned calendar the tiling effect is lost as the villain's mind narrows his focus down to the day of his sisters' death, as the zoom in has reached a climax the shaking increases to it's maximum intensity to signify the importance of the date to the villain.

11: A cut in mid shot of the card being held by the outstretched glove of the killer, camera is positioned at a high angle to demonstrate the villains power over all he surveys, with the surrounding area appearing distinctively smaller under his grasp. The frame of the villain is still not shown so as to immerse the audience in the theme of the film, secretive and mysterious, typical of the thriller genre.

12: This shot is positioned almost identically to the previous and best utilises the image of the card being thrown as it descends it begins to shrink under the villains power. A rough cut is used to transition the previous shot to this one in order to create a disjointed feel, again representing the state of mind the killer occupies. Three candles provide the light for this shot and when altered during editing are able to create an eery flash that creates disorientation and helps transition the shots. The candles also symbolise danger through the flames that occupy them. 

13: The next shot is a close up of  the villain's glove forcefully grasping and lifting a doll into the air, the shot uses a sepia filter to create the appearance of an image in the past. This effect combined with the intensity the doll is picked up with suggests to the audience that the villain has anger issues. Underneath the doll is a photo of the sibling in an infantile state with a name underneath, this serves to tie the action on screen back to the sister.

14: The next shot is a mid shot of a photo of the  villains family swooping closer to view in slow motion under the influence of a yellow tinted filter. Lightening effects were added to create a blurred vision that suggests the memory of the family is beginning to fade.

15: This shot uses cross cutting to return to the doll, in which the killer confirms earlier suspicions of agressive behaviour by snapping the neck of the toy. This striking on screen action creates shock and horror in the audience as they relate the damage done to the doll as possible injuries to a real person.

16: The shot returns to the image of the family as it comes ever closer to view, heightening tension as their importance is highlighted by the return visit to them.

17: Deviating from the whole family focus, the next shot returns the attention firmly to the sister with a close up of a photo taken of her. This close up is multiplied to create the feeling of her overtaking the life of the villain. The photo itself is the only visible object in the shot with the rest being consumed by total darkness, this symbolizes the sister as the only good thing in the villains life. The photo is then distorted as the camera makes a sudden pan to the right, this shows that the life of the sister has become compramised.

18: A final return to the family photo builds unbearable tension when combined with the previous shot as it links them to the death of the sister.

19: The penultimate shot of the title sequence is a close up of the family photo being defaced by the killer, as he scribbles out the faces of the parents as retribution for their part in the death of his sister. The act itself symbolises the villain removing them from his life, as he does this in a black pen the inclination is that he has killed them. The scribbling is portrayed in a similar manner to the card writing, with random stages of completion appearing, creating continuity in the sequence and further endorsing the schizophrenic feel.

20: The climactic final shot in which the face of the villain is finally revealed is a close up shot wherein the villain fades into view from the darkness, his face lit up by a solitary candle, before blowing it out and returning to darkness. This shot gives the villain an overwhelming sense of power in that the viewer is shown right from the get go that he can disappear from view and only show you what he wants you to see, this takes the power away from the viewer and leaves them in a state of helplessness. The darkness surrounding also creates a feeling of claustrophobia as there is nothing in immediate view apart from the villains face, he literally becomes the space around the audience.

21: Fade in from the previous shot as blood begins to drip down the screen, leading a winding trail that eventually leads to the title which has "Reminiscence" and "16/11/01" connected ominously by the blood spatter. The colour scheme of Black, White and Red is at it's most effective here as the white title represents the sliver of good left in the villain after his murderous acts (represented by the blood spatter) have turned his heart to darkness (the background).

Reminiscence - Music Updated

Title Sequence - Mechanolith

Due to clipping problems and audio quality shrinking during the exportation of the combined music track that would of been used for the title sequence, it was decided that we would use one of the tracks from the compilation in an unedited format.  The individual track that was decided upon for use in the title sequence was Mechanolith, the track was sourced from http://incompetech.com/m/c/royalty-free/ and was a solid fit for the sequence, combining an epic orchestral score with the haunting synthesizations of an industrial house style. The track was also a length of 55 seconds which was a good fit for the length we wanted our title sequence to embody.

This sound in the title sequence fit's the genre perfectly, it provides emphatic crescendo's backed up by an industrious house sound that synthesises several uncomfortable sounds into a powerful mix that blends well with the shots used and tells a story with it's peaks and softer string-like middle section.
The writing used throughout tells the audience it is going to be a horror film also, it is unusual and familiar while at the same time possessing an air of eeriness.

Reminiscence - First Draft

Embedded below is the first draft of our horror film, this was formed during the early stages of post production and as such much of the footage is raw and has little or no effects/transitions applied to it.

The purpose of the draft was to establish the storytelling element of the film by selecting the most prominent shots available from the ones taken. After selectingthe key shots for the title sequence we then set about improving the raw footage of the opening scene.

The news report was then edited to include a headline on a static newsreel at the bottom of the shot, as well as opening and closing transitions that were included to replicate the feel of a real news broadcast on a television network. The realism was added to by the inclusion of the jingle that was added to be the broadcasts theme, it worked well in it's role as it was short, loud and attention grabbing.

We received feedback from a focus group chosen from members of the public who best fit our target audience's demographic. When concerning the shot selection and editing currently in place the response was largely positive leading us to continue in a similar vein to that we had started the post production process in.

Improvements were suggested and taken onboard however and this included cutting the scene involving the mother and child as this was deemed to distort the focus of the film and add little or nothing to the plot. Another cut was the hand that appeared in the final scene, this was removed because it was thought that this was more humorous than scary as the concept had already become a horror cliche and was half expected.

The updated version will include a soundtrack to the opening as well as additional lighting and style effects in order to create an edgier atmosphere.