There's been a lapse in my research

before we finish our pre-production I wanted to check over some thriller opening clips (on top of what we've already looked at) as at the moment our group gets confused every now and then between writing for a trailer, and writing an opening sequence. The first example of this I would like to look at is the opening theme for the TV series Survivors, a thriller-esque drama about a deadly flu virus that kills off around 99% or more of the population (the remainder being immune to the virus). The opening is really effective as it uses a theme song that rises in tempo (see the video below) and raises anticipation as it builds up, whilst keeping a sinister, chilling air about it. The imagery is very effective as well, the opening uses a montage of clips of people just, well, living really. Normal busy streets, children on swings, people crossing a high street, a few smaller scale clips of just a few subjects, for example a couple enjoying a day on the beach, whilst a creepy cell effect multiplies and grows to cover the screen until the adtual title comes up on screen after the montage. It is very effective as it strikes at the viewers emotions with different camera angles such a POV shots, aerial shots, tilted shots, and several others to keep it mixed up, but all the time showing the normality that is about to be shattered by this virus. This isn't an opening sequence as such, but it is a title sequence (a main part of our opening sequence, so researching this is useful) as the credits are just slipped into the opening theme, by being subtle yet obvious, in a normal size font, so not tiny or too large and bold, so you can see the main producers, yet the don't break the flow of the story build up. Also using quick cuts between each clip and the credits fit with the music well and really make the show immersive right from the off.

quick ideas

in regard to the lighting most of the first scene were using torches as were setting it at dusk/night i think itd look really effective if we could either get two really good torches or maybe even car headlights and just have them shining down the road so its not directly on chris but gives the illusion of a car hence when you see him walk towards the camera he could be walking towards the car.

i think this could look really effective because it will highlight chris and provide enough light for us to see what hes doing because hes moving but it can also make the scenary look slightly creepier by adding shadows from the trees and surroundings.

Intro outline

Hey guys All of us here

Scene One is essentially set in stone for us now we have a detailed understanding for what we want to do for it. a few minor details such as specific location still need to be addressed but other than that we are sure of what we are going to do.

Sound - will be diagetic and will be a piano scale by In Fear & Faith (used with permission)
Weather - most probably overcast as we are filming in Jan/Feb time
Time - Twilight/ Dusk possibly slightly later depending on lighting availability
Location - still a bit hazy...either ind. estate, private road or bridleway.

Main plotline will be Chris coming out of a ditch and walking along a road towards a camera whilst dragging a dirty spade that will be slightly out of focus. the camera will track him until a certain point and will then stop tracking to allow chris' image to fill the screen at which point he will bring the shovel around into full view, the lighting should show mud and blood on the spade. we could then have the next scene coming in from a fade to black.

We were thinking of mixing the title sequence in with a montage of quick cuts showing small clips of possible progression of the killers resolution to commit the alluded murder, we were then thinking of possibly incorporating some minor credits into scenery e.g, like on cartoons when a character opens a fridge and a producer's name is spelled on the fridge magnets. we may not do the exact same thing but that is a fair example of what we were thinking of doing.

We've got a vague idea of what we want to do in the next scene the opening shot will be of a family happily sitting down to a meal most probably breakfast a complete contrast to the scene we previously saw of chris with the shovel. we were thinking of having diagetic music coming from a radio. We will elaborate on this idea later when we are all together .

Musings

I'm off to Geneva tommorrow so this may be my last post for 5 days
if anyone's wondering; Geneva is in Switzerland (see the map I painstakingly labelled on paint below). Oh and Chris I found that Tag gadget you were after :D. I doubt i'll be able to contribute much from Geneva. Repping Iceland.


However maybe my host family will show me the courtesey of the use of they're computer. Time will tell. I think that in order for our introduction to be a success it will need to incoorporate some mystery, suspense, action, and possibly to a lesser extent horror (although this could be to build suspense). these conventions should combine and overlap in some way through the use of Camera, Editing, Mise En Scene and Sound. If we can pull it off and expand on this outline I think we can create a good piece of coursework.