Research into Film Certification

Usage of Music in Films

When adding the finishing touches to our thriller, it was clear that we needed to add non diegetic music to enhance the atmosphere of suspense needed to grip viewers. 

One vital thing we needed to make sure is that we didn't do was use copyrighted music in our film, as this could cause the owners to remove our thriller from public websites and even give a chance to sue us. One way of avoiding this is by using non copyright music, free on a number of websites (http://freemusicarchive.org/curator/creative_commons/) or by making our music via programs such as GarageBand.

Our Title Sequence

(1) Black Cloud Media Presents

(2) A Film by Jack Oxley

(3) Starring Micheal Rhodes

•  Royce Balogun

(7) Also starring Jack Oxley

(8) Then 3/4/5 of the following - you choose - each on separate title

1. Editing - Jack Oxley
2. Music - Micheal Rhodes
3. Cinematography or Director of Photography - Micheal Rhodes

(9) Then Producer - Royce Balogun

 

(10) Directed by Jack Oxley

(11) Animus - The Title

(12) Finish with a fade out & fade music out

Alfred Hitchcock - A Master Of Suspense

Sir Alfred Hitchcock

Sir Alfred Joesph Hitchcock was an English film director and producer, who pioneered many techniques, especially in employing a kind of psychological suspense in many of films, which left many audiences on edge throughout most of the film.

Born in London on the 13 of August 1899, Alfred was raised as a strict Catholic and attended Saint Ignatius College. He was originally an estimator for the Henley Telegraph and Cable Company, during this period he would frequently visit the cinema and would read US trade journals thus beginning his interest in films.

Hitchcock learnt of a Lasky studio being opened in London and was able to secure a job as a title designer, as he was a very skilled artist. He designed all the titles made at the studio for the next two years. He got his first chance at directing when the director of Always Tell Your Wife fell ill and Hitchcock was named director so that the film would be completed; it was also at this time that him and his future wife Alma Reville began to collaborate.

Impressed by the job he did directing Always Tell Your Wife, he was then hired to direct the film Number 13, this film could not be completed due the studio closing closing before production was finished. He made his first trademark film, The Lodger in 1927. He made number of films in Britain after that such as The Lady Vanishes (1938) and Jamaica Inn (1939), some of which helped him gain recognition in the USA.

In 1940, the Hitchcock family moved to the USA, where he directed several successful flims including the critically acclaimed Psycho (1960), North by Northwest (1959), Sabotuer (1942).
in 1979, he was awarded AFI Life Achievement Award in which he famously dedicated to his wife Alma and was also knighted in the same year making him a Sir.

He died peacefully in his sleep, due to renal failure on the 29th April 1980. 

Research into Studio Idents

What is an Ident?
This is a small clip, lasting a few seconds which helps identify what production company produced the film; it is shown before the actual film.

There are famous of examples of idents, some synonomous with the film industry.


All of the 6 major film companies have idents, some screenshooted here.

Lionsgate Films Ident 

This ident features many gears and mechanisms interlinking with each other to open what looks like door to see the Lionsgate logo.
The gears and mechanisms could represent the many features and parts a great film needs to become what is it. Idents mostly use non diegetic sound to accompany it to show it  

Universal Pictures Ident

This shows a globe of the world with the word 'Universal' covering it. This could show how Universal Pictures has become worldwide brand synonymous with the film industry.
Idents can also be adapted to fit in with the films themes and ideas.

The Universal logo turn into a sliver vehicle rim to fit into The Fast and Furious' themes of cars and racing.

British Independent Film Studios

British Independent Film Studios such as also have idents for example Warp Films,
these may not be as popular as the major film companies they are still used to represent their respective companies.

Analysis of Past Students Work

To give us an idea of we are intending to make when we are filming and editing our Thriller opening, we were shown in class past examples of thriller openings that past AS level students made. We were asked to critique them on several categories namely:

• Idea
• Cinematography
• Sound/Music
• Performance

We were also asked to comment on what we liked and disliked about them and also what grade we thought they would get.  

 

 

 

This is very good example of a thriller opening and personally the best I saw out of those shown to me.

 The idea of a boy who seeks revenge against a hitman to be quite interesting as it leaves an enigma,  which I want desperately to be solved. The music used also adds to this already mysterious tone and the performance made the actor playing the hitman is almost perfect as he is the typical antagonist, cold, cunning and powerful.


 

 

 

This to me, was quite dull compared thriller openings I saw.

The idea of revenge was good although the way it was carried out was poor, the black and white scenes looked really amatuer and didn't match the tone of the cemetery scenes. I also disliked the fact that one pieceof music was used as it gets quite boring after a while.

Script for My Thriller

Script
(Open with high angle shot of Trevor tied to the chair in the wasteland setting. This followed by a combination of shots from different angles assissted by cinematic booms. )

Cross fade to Alex and John (The Boss) in a dimly lit room and the two men proceed with the following conversation:

Boss: Give this to the boy tomorrow and let him take the hit
Alex: But Boss, this guy ain't a bad kid-
Boss: I don't care what he is or what he has done, you know what his brother did to me. Give him this package, let him take the fucking hit and call me when he has it
Alex: (reluctantly while standing up) Yes Boss
Boss: Oh and Alex, remember who the boss is ...

Cross fade in to a direct shot of Trevor strapped to the chair and then cross fade out to the cutty sark

(Suspenseful Music is played over the top of Alex walking towards Trevor while he stands by the river thames, the two men interact for a moment and then Alex hands Trevor the package. The shot then changes to Alex walking away when he stops and makes a phone call.)

Cross fade to another shot of Trevor strapped to the chair in the wasteland location. This time the camera is closer to Trevor than the previous shot.

(Cross fade back out to Trevor at his house watching the envelope package anxiously before picking it up and viewing its content. Faster music is now playing over the action while Trevor gets up and walks out his front door hesitantly. He begins to walk from his house onto the street through a series of different shots until the camera fades while there is heavy breathing and a fast heartbeat played over the black screen.)

Fade into a close up of Trevor's face while he is strapped to the chair, he is panicked and frantic and then a hand holding a gun to his head emerges from the right hand side of the screen. The screen turns black and there is a pause until a gun shot sound effect is heard ...

Our title then emerges and this concludes the opening to our thriller film.

Reaserch into Title Sequences

A film's title sequence is very important as this is one of the audience uses to get a feel of what the film is about, if a certain film is made by a certain director or is starred by a particular actor; may be the deciding factor whether the viewer may want to continue to watch it.

Also details such what studio produced it may also tell the viewer a little about the film as if it is produced by one of the major film companies, it could mean that a lot of time and money has been put into it, which in turn means it's of good quality.

6 of the major film studio which dominate the film industry.

In order to understand how important the title sequence is, I carried out some reaserch using www.theartofthetitle.com

I also noticed that there is a certain format used when displaying the title sequence; the order of the people involved in making the film is always shown in the same way regardless of genre or production company. It is as follows:

(1) 'Your Production Company' Presents

(2) A Film by 'One name - usually the director'

(3) Starring or With

(4) Male star

(5) Female star or other way round

(6) Title of film - or could be at the end

(7) Also starring - 2/3/names - each on separate title

(8) Then 3/4/5 of the following - you choose - each on separate title

1. Editing
2. Music
3. Cinematography or Director of Photography
4. Casting
5. Set Designer
6. Costume Designer
7. Script

(9) Then Producer(s) - can be more than one

(10) Always finish with Director - one name, usually the same as A Film By...

(11) Could put title here

(12) Finish with a fade out & fade music out

I also looked some famous examples of title sequences to se why they were so effective in catching the essence of what the film was about.

 Catch Me If You Can

A good example would be this, the Catch Me If You Can title sequence, it is brillant capturing the essence of the film, the classic situation of a 'cat and mouse chase' between two characters. As the young man goes into various disguises to maintain distance, there is always always that bigger man (The Detective) who is figuring out his every move. 

Flowing type and smooth lines are a playground for this pursuit, which smoothly adapt to the the colorful jet-set world of our young man’s creation, slowly fading to reveal the darkened truth.



Se7en

The title sequence in Se7en is perfect in setting the tense and mysterious tone of the film. It is creepy and dark, which shows a man preparing for what seem to be a sinster deed, this draws in as there is an enigma and watching will sove the mystery behind it. The font used to display the names also enhances this effect too.

Analysis of Production Company Name

In beginning, we did not really care what our production company was called; we were more focused on the actual filming of the thriller itself so we named it Pacific Films as a working title but as we were gathering up ideas and finishing filming, we decided that we needed a title that fitted with the seriousness and mystery surrounding our thriller. 

One member decided we should use the name Black Cloud Productions, we liked the dark and mysterious meaning it has behind it; we thought it would fit in well with the ideas we had for the overall thriller.

Also as we needed to make an ident for our production company, having an ident which does not match the seriousness and mystery of our film opening would quite so the name also fitted in well  as we the ident built around it.

 

Rough Copy of Our Thriller

A rough copy of the opening of our thriller, Animus 

 A final cut is coming soon.

Animatic for My Thriller - Animus

Here is an animatic for our thriller, Animus, it shows the basic plot line for the opening of it.