ellipsis teaser trailer

el thriller opening

Feedback on Rough-Cut

After showing the rest of the class the rough cut for Ellipsis, our opening sequence to a thriller, we recieved the following feedback:
- To make all scenes black and white, where some where still coloured.
- To change certain parts of the music so that it fitted better with the images.
- That we should possibly add some more shots better explaining the plot, however this is impossible but we can re-edit the scene to give it the desired clarity.
- To add diegetic sounds (for example a can opening).
- Above all we must add the remaining titles.

Our Opening Sequence Music

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqfPOKUZqnI

Filming & Editing

We have filmed our opening sequence and are currently in the editing process. After discussion within the group we have come to a few decisions regarding the features we will include in the edit. For example, a large part of our film is being treated with a black and white effect. The filming process was relatively easy, with few slip-ups, one of which was a problem with the location we were using, however we overcame this obstacle and filming went on as planned. We feel the editing process won't take much longer, and hope to be finished within the next few lessons.

Ellipsis Title Demo

Our Test Footage

Script

Location 1: Warehouse, day
Location 2: Elizabeth Way, day

Location 1
elipsis shaves his face and gradually puts on his shirt and jacket

Credits For Our Thriller

- Main actors - Will Burton, Dan Monroe, Sam Chester 
- Music by - Alice Black
- Sound supervisor - Robin Cotton
- Camera operator - David Burton
- Production manager - Stan Fielder
- Set designer - Susan Lee
- Costume Designer - Andy Pond
- Editors - Frank Smith, Connie Cooper
- Producers - Ryan Lamb, David McLaren, John Green
- Executive producers - Omar Djen, Lila Tate
- Writer - Arthur Callahan 
- Assistant director - David Goldstein
- Director - Phillip Lake


Font: 'All Over Again'

Props

Nathan: Suit, white shirt, lighting, shaver / shaving foam, old clothes, scope, chair / white sheet.

Dan: Black bin bag, old clothes, gun / two of them.

Dylan: Cigarettes, ashtray, old clothes, zippo lighter?

Angus: Old clothes

Music

I have been working on the music for our thriller opening sequence, and in doing so drawing on inspirations from many films. For example the use of a roaring brass / string ensemble hitting the same deep note is prominent in the theme music for Inception, while the dull, sinister drone underneath the whole piece of music is reminiscent of that used in Donnie Darko. I have tried to create a disconcerting, unrelenting tone which will emphasize the dark feel of the sequence.

checklist

script/dialogue  /
storyboard
location recce
casting scripts run through
Costumes /
Props /
make up
shooting schedule|
lighting other
equipment
titles and graphics
special effects
sound effects
music/sound pad /
test footage

locations

Characters

Main character: A man in his mid 20s; We don't actually see his face in the opening sequence, he remains mysterious.

We will only show one character with visual clarity, with others feature in small, short clips. At no point will a character's whole body be in shot.

Thriller Ideas Mind Map

costumes and props

props: ashtray, cigarette, bb gun, scope,  car?

costume ideas: suit/ jacket, ideally black white shirt. smart dress.

Thriller Moodboard

fonts and colour schemes

This font is very simple, clearly readable and bold.

This font looks like it has been written in liquid to give a horror like effect.

This is a jagged and distorted font, which would give the tile of our film a creepy and dramatic feel.

- Colour of fonts

- Possible colours of font

- We believe that we should split the colours of the font in half for instance half the title in black and the other in red 

However we could also just use single block colours i.e.

black red gold white 

job titles in order of appearance

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcRr-Fb5xQo

In order of appearance in the opening title sequence of MADMEN
- Actors appear first with many well known names being used
- Special guest appearances are then shown
- Casting by
- Editor
- Head production designer
- Director of photography
- Produced by
- Executive producer
- Title of film
- Created by, written by and directed by

music

music ideas for thriller opening sequence
in many thrillers the main genre of music in the opening sequence is either classical bold and attention grabbing or in some cases a more upbeat sort of music is used
however is some opening sequences of the sub genre of thriller use a slower creepier genre of music.

locations

Warehouse

multi-storey car park

abandoned building 

darkened room

bunker?

elizabeth way bridge
Grafton at night
night time ?
short scene over bridge
bridges in cambridge?

possible film names

film names by dan ?
Deception
bullet
mindgames
revenge
sector 114
factor O
expressed

learning experience

while making our logo we had to use programs such as paint shop, final cut and garage band.
We used photoshop to create the original images and effects on the titles, although with some difficulty with getting the canvas size correct we finally decided the mood of the titles.

We then imported each layer separately into final cut, however we needed to make the screen size the same as the images so they stay square and do not get compacted. We finally added the effects and edited the sequence several times. when this was done we imported it into garage band to add sound effects to give it a overall professional feel.

opening title sequence

new balloon productions

film production logos

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPkfLALLXKY&feature=related
This is the 20th century fox logo, with the loud bold music and clear statue of there name this creates a respectable and successful look to the company.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBYtgfrT85g
the pixar logo is very simple and represents the work they do. by incorporating animation into there logo it is easily recognisible which type of film they are a specialist in.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9PtpALF_3w&feature=related
The dream works logo is different and unique and again simple. Clever changes during this presentation of the logo is what give it this uniqueness.

opening sequence for Vantage Point

the opening sequence for vantage point does not include any of the actors names or co-starers. Instead it only shows the picture companies name and other businesses that are involved as well  as the film name.  however the actual sequence sets the scene to the actual film; showing well known buildings and tourist attractions, this lets the viewer understand where the action is set.

The genre of Vantage point is a action-thriller this is a hybrid genre and are commonly used together.

i like the effects used to create and set the scene within the titles, also a sepia colour pallet is used so not to much attention is taken away from the titles. However i dislike how it is a very short title sequence and does not include much information on the actors within the film and also how it doesn't show you any background evidence.

Minority Report Opening Sequence

The main genres of Minority Report are thriller/sci-fi. The title sequence is made up of an electronic design also including close up designs of different buildings. http://www.flickr.com/photos/54866963@N06/5354666384/

preliminary task

What didn't work:   within our preliminary task we found out that we had filmed the shot reverse shot wrong, this is because the characters switch side of the the shot. however there were nomore major problems.

Our Preliminary Task

Definition of Thriller

This is a genre of film that creates excitement, suspense, anxiety and tension . The sub-genres are mystery, crime and psychological thrillers. The idea of a thriller is to keep the audience cliff hanging at 'the edge of their seats' as the plot reaches towards its climax. Also the tension is usually created through the main characters.

Continuity editing

180 degree rule
This is when two characters in the same scene should always stay in the same place / relationship to each other, e.g.  if one character is on the left of the shot he should stay on the left through out the scene while the other stays on the right.

Match on action
this is when a cross cutting of shots in different locations that are occurring at the same time are being shown simultaneously. parallel editing is used to help create this effect.

Shot reverse shot
this is when one character1 is shown looking at  character2 usually over his shoulder. this is then reversed showing the character2 looking at character1. this creates a illusion of conversation and the viewer gets both sides of the story.