On Saturday 17th January 2015, we are doing our second shoot for our production. This will focus heavily on the Kitchen scenes, which is the first half of our production when put into sequence. This is taking place in the same location before - Harry's House in Tunbridge Wells.
We will need:
Kettle
Frying Pan
Meat
Camera
Tripod
Knife (for a mirrored reflection)
Meat mallet
Suit for male antagonist
Cardigan, shirt and blouse for female antagonist
Basement shots we are looking to film/re-film:
Shots linking first and second room --> walk
Shots from second to third room --> walk
Him in Orla's room --> walking in, turning on light and AT WALL
Close-ups of the newspaper wall
Lots of high angle and low angle shots, close ups, deep focus and shallow focus shots.
Specific kitchen scenes we are looking to shoot:
Opening shot is a close up of the wall/kitchen surface crabbing across kitchen utensils (knives/pans etc).
Close up on gas cooker
Facial expressions while cooking
Red steak close ups
Meat hammer coming down on the steak repeatedly
Boiling water
Tracking shot from behind the wife going left while she cooks.
The shoot was a Harry (a friend of Freddie's) house in Tunbridge Wells
I arrived at 11 30 and left at 6, we didn't start shooting until about 2 though.
2. What scenes were you focusing on?
We were focusing on the basement scenes as these scenes make up most of the opening. We decided at the beginning to just focus on these scenes and we will tackle the kitchen scenes on a different day because the location of the kitchen is easier to work with.
3. What was your individual contribution to the shoot?
Before we started the shoot I helped with the script a bit but mainly did the make up and costume of the actors. I also helped set up some of the set. When we started I was involved in directing some of the actors and helped make some of the creative decisions about lighting and placement of actors and props. I also filmed some of the shots and did the lighting for the dimmer scene.
4. To what extent did your storyboard affect your use of camera and framing?
We kept to the storyboard for wherever possible but we had to make some changes due to the location, some of the basement was not ready to be filmed in. We kept the same general idea but their is a lot of change of the angling and positioning of shots because on set we had to work out what looked best.
5. What do you think worked particularly well?
I think our camera angles and shot variation went well and will be effective. I also think our location was very good and was iconic for the horror film genre. Our props were also very effective as we used a dog cage, a chain and we constructed a wall of newspapers with victim's circled. As seen below.
Wall of Newspaper
6. What were the challenges of this particular shoot?
I think a big problem was we had a large cast and there are 4 members of our group so with all of us it was quite cramped and hard to make sure everyone was quiet when filming. Another issue was the lighting but I think we overcame that using a spotlight. Another issue was the set wasn't exactly as we expected and a lot of work was needed to set it up how we wanted.
Crowded Staircase
7. How will you use this experience to inform your next shoot?
I think now we've started editing we can see what we still have left to do for the next shoot, I also hope to do more of the filming on the next shoot. I also think we could try to use more varied shots and take a lot of options for each shot so we have some choice and have too much film rather than not enough.
'John Cassini Reginald E.Cathey Peter Crombie' - 0.53.5-0.57
'Hawthorne James Michael Massee Leland Orser' - 0.57-1.00.5
'Richard Partnow Richard Schiff Pamala Tyson' - 1.04-1.05.5
'CASTING BY Billy Hopkins, Suzanne Smith Kerry Borden' - 1.11-1.14
'MUSIC BY Howard Shore' - 1.16.5-1.19
'COSTUMES DESIGNED BY Michael Kaplan' - 1.22-1.24
'EDITED BY Richard Francis-Bruce' - 1.24-1.26.5
'PRODUCTION DESIGNED BY Arthur Max' - 1.26.5-1.28.5
'DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY Darius Khondji' - 1.35-1.37
'CO PRODUCERS Stephen Brown Nana Greenwald Stanford Panitch' - 1.39-1.42
'CO EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS Lynn Harris Richard Saperstein' - 1.43.5-1.46.5
'EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS Gianni Nunarri Dan Kolsrud Anne Kapelsum' - 1.50-1.53
'WRITTEN BY Andrew Kevin Walker' - 1.53-1.56
'PRODUCED BY Arnold Kapelson Phyllis Carlyle' - 1.58.5-2.01.5
'DIRECTED BY David Fincher' - 2.04-2.07
Typography
The font is made to look messy and hand written as if drawn by a pencil. It uses 2 layers of the same font at times, overlapping each other. Both of these effects connote schizophrenic tendencies as the font suggests the subject in the clip keeps a diary and the overlapping is both erratic and disorientating.
The font is capitalised when referring to titles and non capitalised when showing names of cast and crew. This is because capitalised font takes longer to read and so out of respect for the cast and crew they have written it in the most visible way they can.
Every title is in white and every title is against a dark if not black image. This is done to highlight the credits without drawing too much attention away from the visuals.
The animation of the text moving around is very jerky and sporadic imitating the mind of someone who is mentally unstable internally, but not necessarily visually.
The titles and the images on screen never overlap each other.
The two biggest A list actors (Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman) who feature in the film have their names not only at the start of the sequence but also alone against black backgrounds to focus the viewer's attention completely.
Relationship of text and visuals
I have learnt from this that the text should always reflect the visuals to fully immerse the audience and to fully connote a mood or bring out an emotion. In the case of Se7en the audience are left feeling disturbed and almost dirty (foreshadowing the mood and events to come) but also intrigued as to who the man in the sequence is supposed to be and what relevance he has to the narrative of the film.
I can also see that by placing the most important names with the least exciting visuals at the beginning of the clip with the slower cuts accentuated the viewers captivation.
How this can help us
I think that when editing our production we now know to add titles away from the centre image in an opposing but not too obtrusive colour. Most likely white.
Also we know that a cut to black in between shots would not go amiss and could create dramatic effect through the minimalist style.
For our production we could use a similar font to Se7en connoting animalistic, savage undertones while keeping an air of humanity and civility.
Produced by Alvaro Augustin, Guillermo del toro : 1.32-1.37
Executive producers Belen atienza, Elena Manrique : 1.41-1.46
Pans Labyrinth : 1.54-1.58
Maia d'Aboville, 2011 : 2.02-2.04
Music Pan and the Full Moon BY Javiere Navarette : 2.06-2.08
Typography:
The text is a mixture of black and white, these are quite neutral colours as they don't contrast with anything other than each other.
The names rotate out of the screen as if we are scrolling around a piece of paper, animation is also used to add a horror effect to the titles such as the movement of the trees or the eye following the text.
The writing appears in different places around the screen depending on where the animation is
Throughout the title sequence the corners are dimmed and flickering, this creates an old/spooky look to the title
The font itself is quite simple, I think this is so the effect is not taken away from the animations
Our production:
From analysing this extract I have noticed that if you have animations surrounding the titles you can get distracted from the names very easily. However the animations do add another element rather than just names, for our production we will not be using any heavy animations since firstly we have very few names.
The titles from Pans Labyrinth are on a different background to the actual film but our film will probably have the titles overlaying the content.
The shoot occurred in Tunbridge Wells, at Harry's house.
We filmed on Saturday, 10th January 2015, from 13:00 until 18:30.
What scenes were you focusing on?
Our group focused solely on the basement scenes, which is about 65% of the entire opening.
Our initial plan was to film both the basement and kitchen scenes, but due to limited time and actors, we decided that it was easier if we just got the basement scenes done and finished, and then worked on the kitchen scenes another day (because they can be in anybody's house).
What was your individual contribution to the shoot?
Before we arrived on location, we started at one of the team members house - I helped write the script.
On location, I helped assess the different rooms, and analyse which parts of the basement we wanted to use.
Once the actors began to arrive I then helped prepare them and put their makeup on.
Once the filming began, I helped direct the actors and started filming.
Throughout the day, along with Fred, we filmed the vast majority of the scenes and experimented with the cast and crews input on shots/angles/ideas.
At the end of the shoot, I stayed to finish the scenes and clear up the basement.
To what extent did your storyboard affect your use of camera and framing?
Overall, we didn't use our storyboard as much as we would have liked - this lead to some shots being missed out, or some being shot differently to how we initially thought,
However, this was because some of our initial ideas on the storyboard weren't possible within the conditions, and it either looked better, or worked better by changing it.
We did try and use some of the framing that we initially drew up in the storyboards, because this was possible within the conditions/location, and still worked well.
What do you think worked particularly well?
I think our use of location and props was very effective. The overall look of the shots really emphasised the horror-genre, and also enabled the audience to follow our story.
Also, our dark lighting works well in some scenes because it enhances the horror aspect, however, in some scenes it was too dark.
One of our most effective scenes was at the beginning where a member of our cast is in a cage - the lighting and shadows of the cage bars cast over his face, along with the makeup, all create an overall very generic horror-style appearance (as can be seen in the photo below).
What were the challenges of this particular shoot?
Some of the challenges we found was ensuring that all the shots came together, and allowing continuity when editing. For example, we have found that we are lacking some shots which join scenes, like when our antagonist moves rooms, we are lacking shots that move him from room to room, and therefore doesn't support continuity. To solve this we will aim to re-shoot some shots on our second shoot.
Another problem we found was that our initial ideas for the location were hard to achieve. For example, our 'photo wall' of newspaper cuttings and drawings was hard to accurately portray, and therefore it meant we were reluctant to film it, and therefore this pulled a significant hole in an important frame in our storyboard. However, similar to before, we are aiming to re-shoot this part, and spend more time on the photo wall, and maybe use the second batch of shots in the final edit instead.
A final problem was the lighting, in some scenes it was too dark (despite it looking good in other shots) and therefore it is hard to see what is happening on screen - as shown in the photo below.
How will I use this experience to inform our next shoot?
Overall, I think I will more closely look at the smaller aspects of the filming, for example, the continuity shots, and ensuring we look in detail at our story board.
Another thing I will try to emphasis in our next shoot is the lighting. Throughout reviewing our footage we have noticed that a lot of our shots have come out a lot darker than intended, therefore, if we use more lighting (that may look brighter on camera) when we put them into the editing software, they will eventually look darker anyway.
Finally, we will try and use more moving shots, most of our shots are static and this limits our capabilities. Therefore, we will try and use more moving shots, and follow the characters more, this will break up the shots and give the audience more perspectives.
'Co-Produced by John R.Leonetti, Aaron Sims' - 3.05-3.10
'Executive Producer Brian Kavanaugh-Jones' - 3.12-3.17
'Produced by Jason Blum, Steven Schneider and Oren Peli' - 3.20-3.25
'Written by Leigh Whannell' - 3.27-3.31
'Directed by James Wan' 3.34-3.42
Typography:
The text is red which then fades to white and then fades out like smoke.
The use of red emphasises the theme of horror, and draws connotations of blood and death, which is representative of the genre.
However, the title of the movie (at 1.22) is still in red, but a different font, which is bolder and fills the whole screen. This puts the audiences focus completely on the title, and the sinister music in the background begins to create tension.
When there are two names present on the screen, then they will slide away from each other as they fade out. However, when there is just one name, it simply fades.
Every time the titles fade out, they disappear letter by letter (in a random order).
The title always appears in the dark area of the screen - on screen will be an object, which is relevant to the story, however, there will be a black faded area around it, which is where the title will appear.
The red titles in comparison to the black background really enhances their look, and grabs the audiences attention.
The font is relatively simple, and in capital, this makes it easy for the audience to read and allows them a chance to look at the cast and crew (any recognisable names, etc).
Text Relationship:
From this, I have learnt that if you want your titles to be the emphasis of the opening, then you should put them at the start, when there is no acting, and use bold/bright fonts. This will put the audiences full attention on the opening credits, and they won't be distracted by anything else happening on the screen.
Furthermore, the use of genre-specific connotations, such as a red coloured font, creates a strong link between the films aesthetic appearance, and the genre itself. It reminds the audience what they're about to watch, and builds tension from the very beginning.
Research and Production:
For our production we will also put the titles on the screen whilst action is present (although Wan didn't show action, he did show props etc), because we will be limited for time, so by fading to black, this will use precious time.
We will also try and use quite simplistic fonts, this will make the reading quite simple and emphasis our theme of on-the-surface 'normality'.
Also, we will place our titles in the corner/out of the way of what is occurring on the screen, this is because we want our main focus to be on the action on screen, and therefore, titles that are obstructing the audiences view will detract their attention from the actual opening.
Hazelle Goodman, David Andrews, Francis Guinan (actors)- 32 seconds
Enrico Lo Verso, Mark Margolis (actors)- 36 seconds
Ivano Marescotti, Fabrizio Gifuni, Ennio Colt
orti (actors)- 40 seconds
Louis Digiaimo (casting director)- 44 seconds
Janty Yates (costume designer)- 48 seconds
Hans Zimmer (music)- 51 seconds
Pietro Scalia (editor)- 55 seconds
Norris Spencer (production designer)- 58 seconds
John Mathieson (director of photography)- 1. 03 minutes
Branko Lustig (executive producer)- 1.06 minutes
Thomas Harris (novel writer)- 1.09 minutes
Ridley Scott, Dino De Laurentiis, Martha De Laurentiis (producers)- 1.14 minutes
David Mamet, Steven Zaillian (screenplay)- 1.18 minutes
Ridley Scott (director)- 1.25 minutes
Typography
The denotations of the text are clean cut and abrupt, because the font is clear and plain and is black and white.
The connotations of the text are that Hannibal is like this, clean and organised killer.
However the first text is the title which is red and in a fancy font denoting blood, murder and theatricality.
The positioning of the text moves around the 4 corners of the screen, except for the film title and director which are placed in the middle of the screen to set them aside and show their importance.
The animation of the text is quite plain, the text will appear as the clip changes and disappear with the clip as if the word is part of the picture.
The text is connected to the visuals because the are both black and white and they both appear and disappear together.
I find in the psychological thriller genre it is very common to have the credits over a montage of clips.
I also found that the later titles get more important people than the early ones.
Our Production
I thought the use of very plain text except for the main title worked very well because it shows the importance of the title and the plain text would not distract from our action.
While I think the use of montage works well for this clip I don't think we will use it in our film opening because we want to get straight into the action.
I think having the title first was effective, we were planning to have our title last but we may reconsider this.
