After our initial production meetings, we have all agreed on the second idea; Embers. We believe this idea is more practical and is more effective because of its realism. Room 7 is an unlikely situation that doesn't often occur whereas murder is a, horrific, yet common thing to happen. We also felt that a location shoot would look much more effective than shooting on a fake set in a studio
Here is a simple synopsis of the title sequence:
Begin with a boy running through a forest, he is panicked and scared (just commit a murder) we see flashes of the murder combined with the shots of the boy running. He slows as the music reaches a climax, when we see a very quick shot of the boy swinging a log for the final hit on the victim. On the impact we cut to a mother sat at home, accompanied by a doorbell, the sound from the previous moments echoes out. She walks to the door, where the police tell her that her son has commit murder. We hear no sound just simply the intense music and sirens. In slow motion we see the woman break down before the title appears.
Today we were placed into random groups in which we will make our Thriller Opening Sequence. In my group is: Me, Grace, Bertie and Ksenia.
We had our first discussion, where we proposed each of our ideas and decided which ones were the strongest. We combined and developed them to produce two main ideas, which we felt could be effectively portrayed on screen to evoke tension in our audience. 'Embers' and 'Room 7' are the ideas we came up with:
Idea 1: Embers
Begin with slow motion flashes of someone screaming in a forest, flashes of fire and water. The person is clearly distraught. As the tension reaches its peak, fast cut to a close up of a mother, breathing heavily, accompanied by a doorbell, change to slow motion, music kicks in. Police at the door, without audio they tell this mother the bad news that her son has commit murder in slow motion to an epic song, she breaks down.
The whole film tells the story of a family that was once very rich but has now broken apart. After being provoked by a bully the main character a boy of 15 takes out his family problems on the bully and kills him accidentally. The Father who works as a detective, investigates the crime without knowing his son is the criminal. The mum discovers what the boy has done without telling her husband. Arguments begin to start in the family as the Father knows that they are hiding something. The father begins to have an affair, whilst the Mother and son try their best to destroy every bit of evidence the father finds which could lead him to discover who the murderer is. After a huge family argument, the Mother, who is drunk, engages in a physical fight, when she discovers that he has had an affair. He ends up hitting his wife as she goes crazy, and the son screams at his dad before he makes the revelation the his son is the murderer. He has the choice to either protect his son, or put him in prison. He decides to turn in his police badge before leaving the town and not reporting the crime.
Idea 2: Room 7
Opens with a man waking up in a room, it is cold and bleak, He is dazed and confused, lots of intense close up, with slow movement of his head, after a few seconds he properly wakes up, he is out of breath and scared. He realises he is in danger. He stands up and walks over to the wall, where there are scratching saying things such as “Help Me!”…. “Your going to die in here”… He looks at his distorted reflection in a smashed mirror. There is also a table with scalpels and surgical equipment on. We see the mans fear. He slowly walks towards it, there is a key hole, he bends down to look through the keyhole, pause for a few seconds, suddenly an eye appears through the key hole, shot of the door which says “Room 7”
The film is about a testing facility which is secretly funded by the government. In order to understand certain things about humans, testing which includes torture is necessary. A 17 year old boy is kidnapped and brought to the lab. Although speaking to the subjects is banned, a cleaner at the facility makes contact with the boy. The cleaner helps to free the boy, so they can expose the truth to the public, and get the place shut down.
Opens with a man tied to a chair in a room, room is cold and bleak, similar to a mental hospital cell. He is dazed and confused, lots of intense close up, with slow movement of his head, Suddenly fast cut to him in same position yet this time he is screaming and moving his head, blurring on his face, cut back to normal dazed and confused, this happens a few times before he properly wakes up fast, heart beat noise can be heard, he is out of breath an scared. He realises he is in danger and tied to a chair. He manages to wiggle a zippo lighter out of his pocket which he uses to burn the rope, and untie himself. He stands up and walks over to the wall, where there are scratching saying things such as “Help Me!”…. “Your going to die in here”… and religious cross symbols. He then sees a door, he slowly walks towards it, there is a key hole, he bends down to look through the keyhole, pause for a few seconds, suddenly an eye appears through the key hole, hot of the door which says “Room 45”.
The entire film is about a Man who she he reaches 18, is expected to take over the family buisness. He believes this is a psychological testing lab. He soon finds out that this is not the case. The business is an underground extreme testing lab, which consists of a series of rooms going all the way up to room 50. People are selected to be brought into the rooms where they are tested to their limits and challenge in a series of ways, every case is different. Some victims put through challenges to see how they cope under certain circumstances, others are tested on their mental stability, and some are tortured. All however, of those who enter the rooms, come out either dead or mentally unstable. The boy next in line to become leader of the rooms sees the immorality in the business and works together with a victim in room 45 to shut down the rooms, and stop this forever. Most of the scenes are conversations involving flashbacks between Victim 45 and the boy next in line, they each tell each other their stories, and see the gruesome mistreatment occurring through out the rooms.
Urban location. One teenager starts a fight on innocent teenager. He fights back and they get into a big fight in a backstreet or on small bridge. The innocent boy defending himself either badly injures or kills the other boy, by either, pushing him over a wall into a river, or pushing him back onto a spike, or rock onto his head, The boy is terrified, and panics and runs away, side shot of him running, the camera slowly drops back, and on screen we see the title “Confess”.
Film about a boy who spends four years covering up his accidental crime. After putting the wrong person in jail, four years later, the case is brought back up. he confesses and gets put into jail. The wrongly convicted man takes vengeance upon his family, and the boy plans escape to save his family from what he is going to do.
Begins with black screen, only hear a conversation between two people, discussing a document of great importance. Ink dropping on the page. We see extreme close ups on writing, like in the opening sequence seven. Then suddenly this fades the music stops, there is a pause. Suddenly we see a shot of a man bursting open a door, in the woods, he is chasing after a man holding the document. Chase sequence through urban streets, lots of close up and handheld, Begin to intercut with extreme close up from sparks of a lighter, tension rising and rising, when finally the man reaches a corner where he looks down and sees the document on the floor slowly burning away. Extreme close up on the document, it burns away the screen to reveal the title. Embers.
British Gang warfare. Failing gang that used to be very powerful, but there are only a few members left. The document that could have saved their gang is gone and burned. They must now try to save their gang and prevent attacks from opposing gangs.
Bleak day with rain, man digging a grave, slow, big tension,bit of dialogue, “keep digging”.
Guy comes running through the woods, sees whats going on. the guy points the gun at the new runner, the man digging suddenly turns, swings, hits him in the face with his shovel.
Cuts to title “undertaking”
Whole film about a man who owes money to an important group of people. He Is in a dangerous situation at the beginning, which goes in his favour as he avoids death. He struggles to find the money so he plans a robbery.
This sequence follows a man wearing a hoodie, through a council flat. The man is clearly determined as he walks up a flights of stairs, carrying a baseball bat, carelessly dragging it along behind him. When he reaches a specific house, he rings the doorbell and waits. As the door is opened he swings the bat and on impact the shot cuts to the title 'Turf'.
From the opening sequence I imagine the film to be set in an urban estate dealing with the rivalry between gangs over their neighborhood and how they assertauthority. The man has either been order to do what he does, or is out for revenge. This title sequence suggests lots of violence and conflict between criminals in a low income estate.
I believe the casting was very appropriate, the man appeared old enough to commit such a violent act, yet young enough to be in the crime, gang scene. he looked around 25, made to look slightly younger by the costume with a hoodie. It was believable that this man would be in this situation. His body language and expression conveyed the violence and sense that this man means business and you wouldn't mess with him.
This man is a very mysterious and shady character, he creates lots of enigma, thus drawing us in. As there is no dialogue throughout the sequence just simply ambient diegetic sound of sirens, the baseball bat, and his footsteps. There is no dialogue to reveal anything about this character. We merely base our judgement on his costume, his gesture, and his actions. We can tell this man is violent, and determined. He shows no hesitation whatsoever when making his way to the flat of his victim. This is clearly a regular occurrence in his world and he has little fear, because of it.
The sequence consists mostly of static tripod shots, of the actor, occasionally cutting away to close ups on spider webs, windows and walls in the council estate, illustrating the lower class urban setting. these static shots are very affective in building tension. In my opinion the occasional pan shots featured that track with the hooded character as he turns a corner almost break this tension. cutting from static to moving shots doesn't always work in a sequence such as this. I believe it breaks the realism of the scene, and reminds us that there is someone operating the camera. I find the go pro shot from inside the bag interesting. It is simply a creative POV shot, that adds another dimension to the scene. The handheld movement conveys an unstable atmosphere, and things are about to turn bad. This is also true for the close up handheld shot at the end of the sequence. We know there is impending danger from the instability and shakiness of the camera.
This sequence features no music, which I believe is an effective decision. It is very real, as we only here the diegetic sound in the scene. The sound of sirens reinforces the bad neighborhood setting, and further builds tension as the sound increases in volume through out the sequence.
Saul Bass was a renowned Graphic designer known for his work on title sequences, film posters and corporate logo's. His work was extremely influential, his inovative ideas and unique perspective of the world engaged his audiences and practically changed the Graphic Design industry. He has worked with some of Hollywoods most prominent film makers including Alfred Hitchcock and Martin Scorsese. among his most famous works are the title sequences from the films 'The Man With The Golden Arm' 'North by 'Northwest', Vertigo and the most famous film 'Phsyco'.
He is also responsible many famous logo such as Quaker oats, Kleenex, Continental Airlines and Dixie. I think the success of his Graphic design in Logos is successful because of its simplicity.
His work has a slight cartoon like style, which i find very interesting, it is similar to the work by Kyle cooper in 'Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
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