Production company name and logo ideas

We decided to use a 'D', 'G' and a 'T' in our production company name as they are the first letters of each of our group members names. We them thought of the name DiGiTal as it was an appropriate name for our company and also it incorporated the letters we wanted to use. The picture of our planing for the logo starts off at the top and works its way down to the bottom as the idea developed.

First ideas.

First graphic design.

First attempt at a 3D logo.

Final logo design.

Production company logo with a dark red background for in this film.

Target audience for horror films analisis.

• Females aged 15-25 years old.
• They like: Gossip, texting, Facebook.
• They are in non-compulsory education.
• Middle class.
• Low income from a part time job.
• Shop at: primark, new look.
• They like chart music.
• They dislike: Male orientated activities.

• Males aged 15-25 years old.
• They like: Gaming, alcohol and Internet.
• They are in non-Compulsory education.
• They dislike: classical music, nature.
• Like shopping at: Game, HMV, Burtons, Tesco.
• Middle class.
• Limited money, Have part time jobs.
• Like Screamo, Dubstep music (high tempo, chart music).

Individual horror film research

I am choosing to look at Jeepers Creepers 2 as this film will be related to ours as in the opening scene on Jeepers Creepers 2 there is a young vulnerable teenage male, this is the same idea that we want to portray.

This film starts off with black screens with text on saying 'Every 23rd Spring' 'For 23 Days' 'He Gets To Eat', during these shots there is a very subtle rumbling noise like something is building up to happen.  The next shots are of a nice sunny day with a teenage boy helping out in his dads fields tying up some scarecrows, the lighting is very high key, but the noise that was in during the first shots has now gone and all you can hear is the eary noise of scarecrows squawking at each other, this starts to build suspense in the audience.


The second horror film that I would study would be 1408 as this has the sort of sequence we are thinking of using of a car travelling along a road.

As seen in my last post the title sequence uses a car travelling along a dark wet road, they do this to create a sense that something is wrong as a dark rainy day is normally associated with something sad, this is know as pathetic fallacy.

Title sequence and opening scene of 1408

Analysis of the title and opening scene of 1408:

*14 Seconds:  There is a black screen at 14 seconds with simply white text on top.  There is Non-diegetic sound in the background of rolling drums, both the black screen and the sound both give the connotations of horror/thriller.

*28 Seconds:  At 28 seconds the black screen fades to a shot with the sound still playing in the background.

*30 Seconds:  There is a shot of a long dark road with only one pair of headlights in the distance, the road is surrounded by trees and shrubbery this connotes that the road is in a dark wooded area, thunder and heavy rain add to the connotations of the horror/thriller genre.  The first actors name appears over this shot.

*33 Seconds:  Camera pans around across the road, the second actors name now appears as the car get closer to the camera.

*40 Seconds:  The car is right in front of the camera, this is when the title first appears wit a ghostly effect around it.

*45 Seconds:  The car reverses back down the road , this shows that the driver may be confused/lost.  A high angle shot looking down on the car is used to show that he is venerable.

*49 Seconds:  Non-diegetic sound from the radio says "open the gates of hell".  This again suggests the horror genre.

*56 Seconds:  P.O.V shot is used to show the drivers view of the sign that says "You are leaving Fairfield county, Please come back".  This again shows that he is lost because this is the sign that he reversed up to, to take another look at it.

*1.02 Minutes:  The driver looks at a map, this again adds to the suspicion that he is lost.

*1.09 Minutes:  There is an extreme close up of the tyre. this suggests that something is going to happen involving it.

*1.15 Minutes:  A car pulling up to, what looks like, a house. the lighting is very low key. the house is surrounded by shrubbery, this shows that it is isolated.

*1.25 Minutes:  There is a long shot of the man walking over a long dark bridge in the rain, this connotes that there is only one way in and out of wherever he is going.

 *1.30 Minutes:  There is, what looks like, a P.O.V shot, but not from the character that walked over the bridge, this suggests that he is being spied on.  The house which you can see in front of the man looks nice, warm and welcoming.

*1.38 Minutes:  The lighting now changes to high key lighting, the inside of the house looks very old fashioned as if there is not very many visitors so they have never re-designed it.

*1.52 Minutes:  The man meets an old couple behind the front desk of what we now know to be a 'B and B' / hotel.  As the camera pans around we see yet more old fashioned furniture and rooms.

*2.00 Minutes:  The old man says to the man "oh you probably want to hear all about our haunted history".  This finalises the audience's thoughts as to the fact that the film is going to be a horror/thriller.

Title sequence and opening sequence of Se7en

00:00 – 00:05 A book opening with the production company ‘New Line Cinema’ appearing in a white font in front of the left hand pages.

00:06 – 00:07 A blank black screen with the text 'An Arnold Kopelson Production'  appearing in white font.

00:08 – 00:11 Screen fades to a high angle shot above two pictures of crippled hands on a table. The text in 'A film by David Fincher' then appears in the same white font.

00:11 - 00:12 there are three very quick cuts of a drill, a razor and another surgical tool.

00:13 - 00:14 Another black screen with the text 'Brad Pitt' wrote in the same font.

00:15 - 00:17 The music changes accompanied by some quick cuts of man shaving off his skin with a razor.

00:18 - 00:19 Yet another black screen with the text 'Morgan Freeman' written in the same font.

00:20 - 00:23 The next few shots are of someone developing some pictures in a dark room.

00:24 - 00:25 A black screen with the title of the film 'Se7en'.

00:26 - 00:28 The intro now fades into a scene of someone opening a book. The flickering 

00:29 - 00:30 A dark screen that has a book in the background. 'Gwyneth paltow' appears in white text in front.

00:31 - 00:34 There is a shot of someone writing in a book They are using a large black pen. The name 'Richard roundtree' appears in front.

00:37 - 00:38 Another black screen appears with 'R.Lee Ermey' on it.

00:39 - 00:40 A shot of someone cutting up some sort of old film tape.

00:41 - 00:42 Yet another black screen with ' John C. McGinley' appears.

00:43 - 00:48 A selection of quick cut shots of cutting up a photo and sticking it into a book.

00:49 - 01:01 Someone crossing out words on a page.

01:02 - 01:11 Now there is someone crossing out the eyes of a young child in a photo.

01:12 - 01:14 They then completely cross out his face.

01:15 - 01:16 Screen splits in two the top is of someone developing a photo an the bottom is of someone writing in a book.

01:17 - 01:19 Some shots showing a book appear in quick succession.

01:20 - 01:25 There is a close up of someone sewing up the edges of a book.

01:26 - 01:29 Then a shot of some fingers with a cloth like bandage wrapped around them.

01:30 - 01:36 Another close up of someone fiddling with a needle.

01:37 - 01:42 A shot of fingers trying to thread a needle.

01:43 - 01:47 A shot of a hand made book.

01:48 - 02:07 A few images now come up in quick succession all showing the book and images with some credits overlaid on top of the images.

Horror Film Research

The top 10 U.S horror films according to the IMDb are:

1) What Lies Beneath (2000) --  $155m

"The wife of a university research scientist believes that her lakeside Vermont home is haunted by a ghost - or that she's losing her mind."

2) Gremlins (1984) --  $148m
 
"A boy inadvertently breaks 3 important rules concerning his new pet and unleashes a horde of malevolently mischievous monsters on a small town."

3) The Blair Witch Project (1999) --  $141m
 
"Three film students travel to Maryland to make a student film about a local urban legend... The Blair Witch..."

4) A Christmas Carol (2009) --  $138m
 
"An animated retelling of Charles Dickens' classic novel about a Victorian-era miser taken on a journey of self-redemption, courtesy of several mysterious Christmas apparitions."

5) Godzilla (1998) -- $136m
 
"A enormous, radioactively mutated lizard runs rampant on the island of Manhattan."

6) The Ring (2002) -- $129m
 
 "A young journalist must investigate a mysterious videotape which seems to cause the death of anyone in a week of viewing it."

7) The Grudge (2004) -- $110m
 
 "An American nurse living and working in Tokyo is exposed to a mysterious supernatural curse, one that locks a person in a powerful rage before claiming their life and spreading to another victim."

8) Paranormal Activity (2007) -- $108m

"After moving into a suburban home, a couple becomes increasingly disturbed by a nightly demonic presence."

9) Scream (1996) -- $103m
 
" A killer known as "ghost face" begins killing off teenagers, and as the body count begins rising, one girl and her friends find themselves contemplating the "Rules" of horror films as they find themselves living in a real-life one."

10) Scream 2 (1997) -- $101m
 
"Two years after the events of the first film, a new psychopath dons the "Ghost face" costume and a new string of murders begin."



All quotes are taken directly from http://uk.imdb.com/search/title?genres=horror&sort=boxoffice_gross_us,desc

Title sequence analisis(Italian Job)

The Title Sequence for the Italian Job (2003) is simple yet effective.  

At the very start we are shown the production company, Paramount, and there logo: 

Then the main title sequence is shown.  They create a mood of mystery as they never cover the whole screen they just give a strip along the centre of the screen with the video clips in, with just a plain black screen around it.  

The credits where then shown over the top of this black section, these included the director, music, producer, etc.  

There was no dialogue in the sequence just a subtle beat that changed tempo in rhythm with the videos.

There were only two shots of a person both of which the same person and who seems to be an important part in the film most likely to be the main character.

The title sequence does not give very much away and therefore creates great suspension.

Film preference questionaire

I made a questionnaire on what peoples preferences were to film genres, how often they go to the cinema etc, I gave out 10 of these questionnaires.

This is what my questionnaire looked like:

"Age:

Gender:

What is your favourite genre of film?

- Comedy
- Sci-Fi
- Horror
- Action/Adventure
- Love/Romance
- Other (If so state what)

Do you think it is better to watch films at home or at the cinema?  Why?

How often do you go to the cinema?

- Never
- Less than once a month
- 1-2 times a month
- 3-4 times a month
- 5+ times a month

Why don't you go more often?

Do the actors that are staring in the film or director change your likelihood to go and see the film?"

The age range of people I asked was from 12 to 44.  I made the age range as wide as possible to get an idea of what the best overall film genres etc.

The most commonly voted favourite genre of film was comedy with 5 votes.  I also found that the male group of people mostly go to see Action/Adventure, whereas the female group of people go to see comedies but as the female age range gets older they go to see Love/Romance films.

7/10 people voted that it was better to go to the cinema to see films because it was a bigger screen and was a better atmosphere.  Most of the younger people i asked said that they went because there could get popcorn and things to eat that they wouldn't normally have at home.

6/10 people voted that they went to the cinema 1-2 times a month,  and nearly all of the reasons why they didn't go more often was because it was too expensive or there was not a cinema near them.  The older people that I asked also said that most of the films that come out nowadays are mostly aimed at the younger generation.

8/10 people said that actors or directors did not influence if they went to see a film at the cinema or not.  Both the people that answered yes were female and they were also in the elder age range, this is most likely because some women go to see films if there is a male actor that they find attractive in it.

Prilimanary task

This is my finished short film.

We had to make a film of a person entering a room and talking with another person.
After Editing it we had to export it and then render it though windows movie maker.

We had to make a film of a person entering a room and talking with another person.
After Editing it we had to export it and then render it though windows movie maker.
We had to used the 180 degree rule, match on action and shot reverse shot.

This is my timeline that I edited the video with.

I learnt how to edit the video, add titles and add a fade to black using Adobe Premiere Pro.