Revenant - Opening Sequence

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Evaluation Presentation

Third day of editing

It is our third day of editing, and we finally managed to film our first scene (we filmed the second scene first). We borrowed a Canon XM2 followed by a fire wire to capture the scene on the imac, and as usual, it was jittering and taking forever, but we were use to it. After we were half way capturing, it suddenly stopped and a message popped up regarding frame rates. Our initial reaction was to check whether we chose 'DV-PAL' in the easy setup, but it was already checked. So we decided to just carry on and capture the rest of the film, and much to our delight, it continued without any interruptions.

The scene finished capturing, and now we’re beginning to edit. The first scene Hyder was editing had two things we did not expect; raindrops on the camera, and Kamran’s head in the way, but that was the best shot we had, so Hyder cut it just before Kamran’s head could be seen, and we decided that the raindrops can create verisimilitude.

During the scene where Kamran recorded Levani cutting the corner into the alleyway, we unexpectedly recorded him slipping whilst he’s running, Hyder tried it out to see how it would look like, and it turns out it worked really well! What a moment of happiness! Hyder: “Yay!”

The second issue we came across was the coughing scene we forgot to record from the start, but it was thanks to the many different shots we took that allowed Hyder to edit it together.

Unfortunately however, theres still a problem we haven’t resolved yet. The last part where Levani looks around, a man can be seen approaching down the street, yet when we cut back to it, he’s vanished and replaced with a lady in a red coat. Whether we record this scene again or somehow use effects is not yet decided.

Day 2 Filming

During our second day of editing, it was time to film our last scene, the forest. Our original plan was to film near a pond in regents park, but due to many people crowding the area, we couldn't film since we are trying to isolate our character as much as possible to create a sense of Alienation which heighten the tension

Location Pictures

We have gone location scouting to find suitable places to record footage for our opening sequence. Firstly, we headed to Regents Park to find our "Forest" scene. We have found some promising locations which suited our needs. Regents Park had plenty of trees and luckily it was the time of season that the tree's leaves had fallen. This adds to the eerie atmosphere we are seeking.

We have also found a location which looked like an alley. It was wide enough for our crew to maneuver around when filming. Getting enough space to film in the "alley" is crucial as the scene requires our character running. This concludes the requirement to have enough space for our film crew to maneuver to be crucial.

Costumes

What we're trying to do is make our character look very casual. So we have chosen to go with this outfit:

He's a normal college student (Messenger bag), who likes to keep himself warm in the cold London weather (Jacket). He's not to keen on wearing smart black shoes (All-Star Converses) and he sure doesn't like wearing smart trousers either (Jeans). He also likes to keep himself comfortable with a T-shirt underneath his jacket.

Now that our character is all set in this outfit, he's giving us the casual impression we're looking for. The reason being so that our Audience (which are targeted at 15 to 21) can relate to him because chances are, they may also be studying as well.

With our character similar to our audience, the audience will feel that they are more involved.

Creating Fake Blood (Make Up)

 For our opening sequence we will need shots where we can see blood on our character's hand. In order to produce our own fake blood, we have created a search on www.google.co.uk and had listed ingredients in order to produce some. It was only three simple ingredients that we had to get. Golden syrup, food colouring and flower.

The three ingredients will solely be mixed together. The golden syrup will create the thick liquid texture of the blood, the food colouring will create the colour and the flour will be poured if needed to make the blood thinner if it had appeared to be too thick.

Since we are producing a supernatural thriller, we have decided that our blood shouldn't look too ordinary. We have purchased blue food colouring. We added the blue food colouring bit by bit to the whole substance so we could get a darker look to the blood.

We were quite happy with our result. We have learnt to produce make up for our scenes using products that can be easily purchased from local stores.

Opening Sequence Storyboard

Shooting Script; Working Title: Exposure - Kamran, Hyder and Nowzad (Click Here)

The Opening Sequence Script - Kamran, Hyder and Nawzad (Click Here)

Pitch

Preliminary Task

We have created a storyboard for our preliminary task. Creating the preliminary task will give us practice and experience with editing and camera work. This will come useful towards producing our opening sequence.

Ghost Ship Analysis

The film is introduced with the title “Ghost ship”, and oddly enough, it is written in a posh feminine font in the color pink despite the fact that its suppose to be a horror film. The director may of done this to mislead the audience, as they might think this movie is based on love and romance.

In the establishing shot, we are put into the perpective of a helicopter soaring over the sea and following a large ship, showing the audience where our story will begin. The camera then crossfades into a shot of a women singing. The gentleness of the crossfade creates a pleasant and warm atmosphere for the audience to be emerged in. This is further emphasised with the mise en scene, as there are women wearing colorful dresses and men wearing smart, sharp and sophisticated clothing. There are bright lights and wine glasses which set the mood for a romantic dancehall, backed up with classical old fashioned music. This further misleads the audience into thinking that this film is based on love and romance.

A steadicam is then used, and as it gently moves backwards from the main singing stage, we see couples dancing across the screen. This really puts the audience into the delightful atmosphere the director has created. The camera then cuts to a close up of the main singer, which shows her passion for the music. The camera then juxtaposes to a close up of a bored girl. This is used to show the audience the contrast between the singer enjoying herself and the bored girl sitting down. Wide shots are also constantly used to show a group of people having a great time. When the camera cuts to an over the shoulder shot of one of the violinist, we can see the large amount of people they are performing to. A low angle shot of the singer is then shown, which suggests her control not only over her singing, but somehow the crowd aswell. The camera then cuts to a close up of the toy the girl is holding, which reads “I am bored”. This is done by the director to tell the audience that all except the girl is being slightly manipulated by the music and singing. The camera then cuts to a high angle of the dancehall, making the people all look vulnerable, and also worrying the audience . But they are soon comforted as the director uses a slight slow motion effect to ease the audience and assure them everything will be alright. A promise shortly kept.

A circling birds eye view of the boat pulls the audience away from the dancehall, and away from the cheerful atmosphere. A shot of a hand pulling a lever is shown, and a machine which has a thick steel tether wire wrapped up begins to uncoil. An eerie music begins to play, but the soundbridge still continues the singing of the woman, creating a mix of mystery and happiness, which leads the audience to having no clue whether to feel happy or anxious. Everytime a shot of the dancers are shown in this moment, it has a slow motion effect, this contrasts to when a parallel shot brings us back to the wire, which has a fast motion effect. The director has done this to show that tragedy strikes faster than how long happiness can last, making the audience even more anxious. A close up of the girl smiling is shown as she is dancing. This arguably gives the rhetorical question of whether she should be happy, the audience obviously know that answer to that. A wide shot is then used to show the group of people dancing. Shallow focus is then used to show a very sharp steel wire very close to where they are dancing. They are completely oblivous to the danger, which makes the audience want to do something about it (which they can't). Parallel cuts begin to take us back and forth between the steel wire un-coiling fast and the main singer raising her arms. This is done by the director to suggest that the singer can somehow control the machine with her arms. As soon as she brings them down, the camera juxtaposes to the shot of the wheel stopping and releasing the wire. Continuity editing is used to create immidiacy and make the next series of shots look seamless.

The wire begins to cut through many objects very easily. It cuts through the lights then cuts through some flowers which immidiately slice in half, emphasising how sharp this wire really is, shocking the audience and putting them on the edge of their seats. Match on action shows the reaction of the dancing man's face, which still has a smile on it. They had no idea what was coming. The music suddenly cuts off, and a whip pan follows the steel wire cutting through the dancers like butter. The wire comes to a stop and a very close up shows that its smeared in blood, which is quite gruesome. The camera starts to track through the dead frozen dancers, who have no facial expressions whatsoever. This is used to make the audience seem like they are in the middle of that dancehall witnessing the horror. Parallel shots is used back and forth from the frozen dancers to the blood drenched wire. A close up of a man's feet is shown with what appears to be blood leaking down his trousers. The camera then goes back to a medium shot of the frightened girl unaware of what had just happened. The director probably wanted to show the audience how they must feel at that moment. A shot of a wine glass is shown which falls apart in half. This prepares the audience for a very gruesome image. A wide shot of the girl hanging on to her grandfather is shown with the camera focusing on the her, all the blurred out images on the sides seem to be just falling apart. The camera then cuts to a very gruesome and shocking shot of a half chopped man crawling through a pile of dismembered bodies. The camera is in level with him on the floor to make the audience also feel like a dicapitated person. As the grandfather's head begins to fall apart, a high angle of the girl is used to emphasis her insignificance and lack of power, making the audience feel sorry for her. She begins to build up a scream, and a close up shot really shows her fear. She then screams and the camera cuts to the entire ship, then very quickly dives into the blackness of the ocean, thus ending the horrific intro.

It's very interesting how the director misleads us into thinking that the film is based on romance and love, when it couldn't be anymore different. I think what he was trying to do is catch the audience offguard, that way it can shock us even more.

What i've learnt from this intro is the art of suprise, which when executed well, can really catch the audience when they are outside their comfort zone, which is something all directors want when it comes to thrillers.

The art of suprise is definetly something we can include in our supernatural thriller to put the audience on the edge of their seats.

The Ring Two

The camera cuts back to the girl on the couch, and a fast Steadicam is used to circle from behind her. As the boyfriend storms into the room trying to figure out what had happened, a whip pan is used to keep up with his pace. The director used this to put the audience into the seats of the characters, feeling confused and scared. The camera then cuts to the boyfriend staring at the screen, with a high angle of the girl covering her face with her hands in the background, which shows her fear and lack of power. The camera juxtaposes into a wide shot of the boy staring at the screen, and the girl on the coach. A digital jittering effect is then used to immerse the boy (and the audience) into the world of the video tape, making the boy hover towards the well. The director used this movement to show his lack of power, and how this supernatural cause is bringing him closer whether he likes it or not. Straight after, the hands of Samara lash out on the edge of the well, and the sounds of violins begins to combine with the music. This is used effectively to take the audience by surprise and really scare them. The camera then continuously cuts back and forth between the girl screaming, the video tape, and the boyfriend's shocked face, which suddenly stops when the screen goes blank, bringing an end to the intro of the horror that is yet to come.

Some of the conventions from the opening sequence of this supernatural thriller is eerie music, a mysterious atmosphere, a poltergeist and some fast paste sequences which, when used effectively, can really immerse the audience and put them on the edge of their seat. Something really useful to consider when we make our own supernatural thriller as well.