Evaluation.

Opening sequence.Black Sails (2014)

Black Sails

In the first shot here we get a slight glimpse of the scenery, which we can make out to be a sea. This is a dark shot and thus conveys the image of a dark and gloomy film. It also shows the first credit of this opening sequence.

In this second shot it almost mirrors the first one, with the exception of it being a bit brighter, the sea shot and credit however, is similar.

Again, this shot is similar to the first two, but, following a pattern, it brightens up from the previous shot. There is also a credit shown.

We finally have a change in shot as the credit goes from the middle of the shot to the top left. Also the picture of the sea changes to what I can make out to be a statue of some sort, the fact that we can't make out what is it easily, again represents a sinister and gloomy feel. 

Similar to the first three shot, this shot, followed by the one after, has the same layout and picture, but simply brightens up, thus making the image a lot clearer.

As I said in the image above, this is a similar shot as the two shots before this but brightens up. Following a pattern that may or may not continue as the opening sequence goes on.

We then suddenly go back to the same shot as the first three but a lot brighter and the credit drifting off to the left more. 

We then cut to a completely different shot n which we see another statue, this time though we can clearly make out that it is of a women, there is also a credit in the bottom left hand corner.

Again we cut to a different shot all together, we are given a long shot of another statue of a female. She is surrounded by other statues. There is also a credit in the bottom left hand corner. As there is no title before hand (e.g. Directed by:) we can take the assumption that it is the credit of an actor/actress in the film.

In this next cut we get an extreme long shot of what looks like a male statue rowing a boat. As it is a complicated shot, we can assume that the film is going to be along the same lines in terms of genre. There is also a title in the bottom left hand corner, again with no title, making it a staring credit.

In this next shot we get another extreme long shot of a very complex looking model in which we can see a man/women sitting in the middle, suggesting power and dominion, possibly something we see more of in the film. The pattern of the credits changes as it goes from a single credit at a time to a flurry of three credits at once. It also have a title before hand suggesting that this person is not an actor/actress in this film. 

Here the same exact same shot appears but the credit shows at the bottom left.

In the next cut, the shot completely changes and we get a completely different photo, with the credits again changing positions.

We then get another change of shot and the credits again change position.

Again the shot changes with the credit position also changing. 

We then get a shot of a women head coming out the water with her blindfolded, suggusting that this film may contain fortune, giving it a dark, sinister feel. 

We then get a sexual cut of a man grabbing a women's leg, conveying that there may be some sexual scenes in this film. The position of the credits also change.

Once again the shot changes to a statue of a man screaming, possibly a war cry. The credit stays in the same position this time. 

There is then a clever shot of a male statue falling as if he has just got shot, with 'blood', that is part of the statue coming out of his neck. The position of the credit also changes.

We then get a close up of the statues head and shoulders, again with blood coming out of his neck, almost like he has froze whilst dying. You can also see that his facial expression shows pain and horror, indicating what this film may be about. There is no credit in this shot.

There is then a different shot of a close up of a male with a rag covering his mouth. Again there is no credit.

The shot then zooms out and two credits appear on the top left of the screen.

There is then the same shot but a bit darker and a different credit in which there is only one. 

Again a completely different shot is shown, with the credits changing position. We can get a good indication from this opening sequence so far that there are some war scenes.

There is then another completely different shot with a close up of a mans arms, holding some sort of trident. There is also a credit in the centre of the shot.

The same shot is shown here but it has zoomed out significantly, showing the rest of the scenery. There is also a credit shown in the bottom right hand corner.

We then get shot of a man falling off the boat. There is a good change he has been forced to jump into the sea as his ship has been either hijacked or destroyed, again suggesting a violent war film. 

There is then a close up of the falling man, this time with no credits shown.

There is then a long shot of a ships mask, which looks very unstable, there are also 3 credits in the bottom left hand corner.

Finally we have the title shot, which is a picture of two men trying to reach for a flag on a pole on the left hand side and then the title showing up in a reasonably familiar font in the centre.

The title is then followed by 3 title shots, with the backdrop being the sea, the same way the bopping sequence begun.

The penultimate credit shot

The ending shot of the opening sequence.

Screenshot of music used in opening sequence.

Garageband screenshot

We creating the music we would use in our thriller, we had a vague idea of what we wanted it to sounds like, but was finding it hard to create. We referred to such soundtracks as the one used in se7en and the music used in the opening sequence of Texas chainsaw massacre: The beginning (2009).

We ended up using this piece of music for our opening sequence as we felt it had a gloomy, sinister sound to it which was idea for the ethos of our film.

Final copies of scripts and storyboards.

This is the final copy of our story board we used for our opening sequence.

Planning and securing location.

We mainly filmed at this location in Aldenham School. It is a resolute woodland area. We felt it was the ideal location as it looks very natural, but at the same time had the right qualities for filming. 

We also filmed in Mcgills house, a day/boarding house in Aldenham school. We filmed in the Mcgills kitchen as it features provided a good, gloomy feel to the scenes shot.

Thrillers that inspired me in planning my thriller. Number 23 (2007)

The number 23 opening sequence

In the opening sequence for this psychological thriller Number 23 (2007), the typewriter effect is utilized, as in our opening sequence. We thus got our inspiring from this as we felt that is created a sinister, mysterious feel which we would hope would inspire the audience from the very start and continue throughout.

Also, the use of blood is very frequent in this opening sequence, which again inspired us in the production if our opening sequence. We choose to use inspiring from successful thriller as we felt it would increase our chances of getting production deals with company's such as Platinum Dunes, due to their previous track record of producing films of Number 23 type.

Shooting schedule.

We never really had a planned out shooting schedule but we had a vague idea of when we would be filming, editing etc. However we where sure we would do the majority of our filming in the half term.
We eventually came to the conclusion that all the scenes filmed inside (The kitchen scene's) in school term. In this case was at approximatly 7 o clock on a Tuesday night. We took the decision to film at night as we wanted the outside climate to be dark as it coensides well with the ethos of our film, dark and gloomy.

The shot's in the forrest/woods were all filmed in the half term as we felt it would give us much more time to make sure all the shots were perfect. This turned out to be a good decision as it took us 3 days to film all the shots to our liking. Another reason why we choose to give ourselves a prolonged time frame to film the forrest shots was because of the weather. We filmed in late January/early February, meaning the weather was very unpredictable. Un fortunately we had 2 whole weeks of horrible weather so it was difficult for filming to flow smoothly.

We also had to plan our filming schedule around the free time of our Rene and Grace, our actor/actress. This was not very difficult as they both had a lot of time, which was very helpful for Sachin, Alex and myself. We finished all our filming by late February and commenced editing straight away.