This is the rough cut of our opening sequence. We have compiled nearly all the clips, so all we have to do now is add the remainding scenes at the beginning and the music and voice over to our piece.
On Wednesday 24th February we conducted our 2nd filming session after school.
We returned to Catford to shoot the remaining scenes that were located there and re-film some of the ones that we weren't happy with from the first session. We didn't have any big difficulties except for some of the ones we had last time, there a lot more people and cars around as it was the beginning of rush hour, which delayed the shooting of some scenes such as Abby (Katie) crossing the road. It also rained during the shoot which made things a bit difficult but we still had a great time and are happy to say we have now finished shooting the end of the film!
Now all that is left to do is hoot the scenes set at Beckenham Hill Station. Time is of the essence so until we are able to set a time when we are all free to do this, we will be compiling a rough cut of the opening sequence ending with the footage we have.
We returned to Catford to shoot the remaining scenes that were located there and re-film some of the ones that we weren't happy with from the first session. We didn't have any big difficulties except for some of the ones we had last time, there a lot more people and cars around as it was the beginning of rush hour, which delayed the shooting of some scenes such as Abby (Katie) crossing the road. It also rained during the shoot which made things a bit difficult but we still had a great time and are happy to say we have now finished shooting the end of the film!
Now all that is left to do is hoot the scenes set at Beckenham Hill Station. Time is of the essence so until we are able to set a time when we are all free to do this, we will be compiling a rough cut of the opening sequence ending with the footage we have.
On Monday 15th February we had our first filming session. We decided to film first at Catford and get all the scenes that needed to be filmed there first. We went to the station at 10 and although it was a week morning and half term the station wasn't as busy as we thought it would be. There were only about ten people there at any one given time but this was still enough people to be a hinderance.
We filmed every scene loads of times and with the aid of our trusty clapper board, doing so was fun and easy to keep track of.
There were some people at the station that didn't want to be filmed so some of our takes had to be cut short. In other cases we had to wait around for people to pass by us before we could begin shooting.
In one shot where Abby (Katie) is coming out of the train station box office I had to go and stand on the other side of the junction so that the shot would be wide enough to fit in all of Katie's body, the box office, and some of the surrounding environment.
We nearly finished filming all of the scenes that needed to be filmed in Catford when the filming session was cut short because the battery died. This thwarted our filming schedule a little but we were still happy because we managed to achieve quite a lot.
Ultimately we are very happy with how much we were able to film and overall we believe it went very well.
Marina was able to register at freesounds.org and acquired loads of sounds that we wanted for our film, including train sounds, a telephone ringing, copyright free melancholy music and the sound of a clock ticking.
Now we are in the process of incorporating all of these things in to the film.
These are the schedules that we will use to help organise and guide us when it comes to filming.
Finding out that music in the opening sequence had to be copyright free was a real hindrance. We had loads of ideas for song choices including, 'For Blue skies' by Strays Don't Sleep, 'Broken' by Lifehouse, and 'Unstoppable' by The Calling. However as this is not possible we decided to take what we like from these songs and recreate it using copyright free music and sounds.
We wanted the sound of a clock ticking playing continuously throughout the piece - a sound like this is present in the song 'For Blue Skies.' The clock is to symbolise how time is of the essence for both Abby and her Mum. Hopefully we can get a clock sound off of free sounds.org.
To add to the tone of the film we hope we can find some melancholy sounding music to play also throughout the piece. This should enhance the chilling atmosphere of the film and really make the audience pay attention to what is happening on screen.
We intend to play the sound of the trains which will act as synchronous sound as it should match up with the images on screens. Adding to the feeling of urgency of the events going on so that it feels like a realistic portrayal of an event that happened rather than an event played back with the addition of a melancholy soundtrack.
The voice over conversation between Abby and her Mum is undoubtedly the most important sound that will be played throughout the piece. An example of the conversation can be heard on the animated storyboard. The actual conversation will be constructed much better than this one as we should have a better microphone and telephone sound effects e.g. dial tone, at our disposal. Additionally for the sake of the piece the part of Abby should probably not be read by me, therefore guaranteeing a better chance of it sounding authentic!
We wanted the sound of a clock ticking playing continuously throughout the piece - a sound like this is present in the song 'For Blue Skies.' The clock is to symbolise how time is of the essence for both Abby and her Mum. Hopefully we can get a clock sound off of free sounds.org.
To add to the tone of the film we hope we can find some melancholy sounding music to play also throughout the piece. This should enhance the chilling atmosphere of the film and really make the audience pay attention to what is happening on screen.
We intend to play the sound of the trains which will act as synchronous sound as it should match up with the images on screens. Adding to the feeling of urgency of the events going on so that it feels like a realistic portrayal of an event that happened rather than an event played back with the addition of a melancholy soundtrack.
The voice over conversation between Abby and her Mum is undoubtedly the most important sound that will be played throughout the piece. An example of the conversation can be heard on the animated storyboard. The actual conversation will be constructed much better than this one as we should have a better microphone and telephone sound effects e.g. dial tone, at our disposal. Additionally for the sake of the piece the part of Abby should probably not be read by me, therefore guaranteeing a better chance of it sounding authentic!
After making the main decision of which train stations to film in, we had to decide where we should show Abby walking home .
Marina's
Mine
We decided to go with Marina's walk up as it was more picturesque and lent itself better to the atmosphere we were trying to create. In the background of her walk up you can see loads of cars and the bridge of Catford train station. This represents to the audience the idea that the film is set in an urban area. Whereas my walk up is more sparse with less buildings and more greenery which may send out he wrong impression of the film being set in a more rural area which is not really what we wanted.
The options were Marina's house or mine.
Marina's
Mine
We decided to go with Marina's walk up as it was more picturesque and lent itself better to the atmosphere we were trying to create. In the background of her walk up you can see loads of cars and the bridge of Catford train station. This represents to the audience the idea that the film is set in an urban area. Whereas my walk up is more sparse with less buildings and more greenery which may send out he wrong impression of the film being set in a more rural area which is not really what we wanted.
This is a casting shot that we took of our actress Katie, who will be playing the lead part -the only part! - of Abby.
This is our script, excellently written and presented by Marina in its final stage!
This is an animated version of our storyboard. It took the better part of a week to make and I have to say I'm pretty proud of it! I cropped each box on the storyboard and saved it individually, before compiling them in Windows Movie Maker.
I had a lot of difficulty getting train sounds off of the Internet as I couldn't register to freesounds.org with my email address. After finishing the piece and conversing with my partner I realised she had an email address compatible with registering, so this will prohibit their being a problem when it comes to making the actual piece.
So instead of posting the storyboard silent I put on a piece of music. I chose the song 'For Blue Skies' by Strays Don't Sleep as it features a lot of the aspects that Marina and I were going to try and recreate using different copyright free sounds. For example, the clock ticking, and atmospheric sound. Additionally this was the song I was going to suggest to Marina that we use for our opening scene before I found out you could only use copyright free music. No copyright infringement was intended by me doing this.
Finally I set about trying to make an example of what the voice over conversation between Abby and her Mum would sound like. I did not have high hopes for this as I have a very low quality microphone and just really didn't think it would work but...it didn't turn out too badly! My Mum, always keen to help me, kindly stepped in to read Ellen's lines and I read Abby's. This will not be the final voice over as unintentionally there's a comedic value to the conversation due to just how many 'takes' it took to get it right. So enjoy and laugh it up...we did!
I had a lot of difficulty getting train sounds off of the Internet as I couldn't register to freesounds.org with my email address. After finishing the piece and conversing with my partner I realised she had an email address compatible with registering, so this will prohibit their being a problem when it comes to making the actual piece.
So instead of posting the storyboard silent I put on a piece of music. I chose the song 'For Blue Skies' by Strays Don't Sleep as it features a lot of the aspects that Marina and I were going to try and recreate using different copyright free sounds. For example, the clock ticking, and atmospheric sound. Additionally this was the song I was going to suggest to Marina that we use for our opening scene before I found out you could only use copyright free music. No copyright infringement was intended by me doing this.
Finally I set about trying to make an example of what the voice over conversation between Abby and her Mum would sound like. I did not have high hopes for this as I have a very low quality microphone and just really didn't think it would work but...it didn't turn out too badly! My Mum, always keen to help me, kindly stepped in to read Ellen's lines and I read Abby's. This will not be the final voice over as unintentionally there's a comedic value to the conversation due to just how many 'takes' it took to get it right. So enjoy and laugh it up...we did!
During our opening sequence our protagonist spends a lot of time in train stations so it was imperative for us to choose a good location. The contributing factors to making the decisions where; the availability of the train station as we wanted the station to be deserted when we filmed there; its accessibility, how easily Marina, Katie and I could get there; and ultimately what the station looked like.
The stations in the running were: Catford, Beckenham Hill and Lower Sydenham.
Catford Station
Beckenham Hill
Lower Sydenham
In the end we decided to go with Catford Station and Beckenham Hill. We choose Catford as it fulfilled the criteria, being practically completely deserted on weekends and in an area all of us can get to without too much difficulty. Also we concluded that this station would be appropriate because of its history; having been the location of a few crimes, Catford Rail Station has a gloomy and eerie feel to it and has an atmosphere which we believe would set the perfect tone for our thriller. We choose Beckenham Hill as it also fulfilled the criteria and is deserted on the weekends except for the odd person and it is also in close proximity to all of us. I don't think its been the location of any crimes like Catford but it is a creepy looking station!
The stations in the running were: Catford, Beckenham Hill and Lower Sydenham.
Catford Station
Beckenham Hill
Lower Sydenham
In the end we decided to go with Catford Station and Beckenham Hill. We choose Catford as it fulfilled the criteria, being practically completely deserted on weekends and in an area all of us can get to without too much difficulty. Also we concluded that this station would be appropriate because of its history; having been the location of a few crimes, Catford Rail Station has a gloomy and eerie feel to it and has an atmosphere which we believe would set the perfect tone for our thriller. We choose Beckenham Hill as it also fulfilled the criteria and is deserted on the weekends except for the odd person and it is also in close proximity to all of us. I don't think its been the location of any crimes like Catford but it is a creepy looking station!
Recently we watched the documentary ‘Bass on Titles’ by Saul Bass, who was an American graphic designer and Academy Award Winning filmmaker that is best known for his design on animated motion picture title sequences.
During the documentary Bass spoke about his work on several titles including West Side Story, Seconds, and Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. Below we will be talking a little about what we were able to take from the documentary and how we will apply it to the titles in our own film. Bass believed the experience of the film should start with the very first frame and thought the opening title should be considered as a part of the film, a prologue to the film even. Not just time for popcorn runs and quiet pre-film chatter.
Returning to the idea of the opeing titles of a film acting as a prologue, Bass spoke about Seconds (1966) which I have to say are some of the creepiest titles I've ever seen. In these opening titles Bass foreshadows the events of the film whilst also setting the tone. The film is about a man who starts a new life, and the altercations that follow, after having extensive plastic surgery to his face. The titles show different facial features like the eyes, nose, ears and mouth, surreally distorted and amalgamating into each other in black and white with the accompaniment of the eerie church organ. However, this, in terms of an opening title really works as we found ourselves engrossed in them even though they were scary and we really wanted to look away.
Overall the titles in our opinion are incredibly sinister and sets a very apparent tone for the film to come, chilling and maybe a bit disturbing.
The Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World titles were different to the rest as they were animated. It had a very comic feel as the drawings were simple and punctuated with bold colours. The titles featured loads of little jokes centered around a drawing of a globe/ world thus relating to the title. They were quite humorous and reminded us of the opening titles to Rat Race. Fun and happy and accompanied by uptempo music, creating a light tone for the film ahead.
Bass, during the documentary, emphasized the importance of accomodating the audience; for example, in this case West Side Story (1961). In order to allow the audience the opportunity to compose themselves after the tragic ending to the film, Bass created visually attractive titles accompanied by musical scores from the film in order to elongate the viewing experience. Giving the audience time to sit in their seats, compose themselves and reflect on the events of the film. This was, more recently, also the case with a film we saw called My Bloody Valentine (2009) the credits of the film were interesting to watch so you didn't feel rushed to leave by the blandness of the credits or from the attitudes of other cinema goers. Almost everybody remained in their seats quietly, almost as if the film was still on. Whereas with the most recent Harry Potter film Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (2009) the second the film finished - even a bit before actually - everybody was getting out of their seats and preparing to leave, as the ending credits were unimaginative leaving the audience less than compelled to reamain after the ending of the film to watch. We were surprised that so much thought for the audience went into the designing the ending titles for a film and this is definately something that we will keep in mind when designing our titles. Although spoken in a monotonous voice we find a lot of what Bass said to be very interesting.
In conclusion when it comes to creating our film titles we are really going to think about the impact it will have on the audience and what the presentational devices we use say and mean about the film.
During the documentary Bass spoke about his work on several titles including West Side Story, Seconds, and Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. Below we will be talking a little about what we were able to take from the documentary and how we will apply it to the titles in our own film. Bass believed the experience of the film should start with the very first frame and thought the opening title should be considered as a part of the film, a prologue to the film even. Not just time for popcorn runs and quiet pre-film chatter.
Returning to the idea of the opeing titles of a film acting as a prologue, Bass spoke about Seconds (1966) which I have to say are some of the creepiest titles I've ever seen. In these opening titles Bass foreshadows the events of the film whilst also setting the tone. The film is about a man who starts a new life, and the altercations that follow, after having extensive plastic surgery to his face. The titles show different facial features like the eyes, nose, ears and mouth, surreally distorted and amalgamating into each other in black and white with the accompaniment of the eerie church organ. However, this, in terms of an opening title really works as we found ourselves engrossed in them even though they were scary and we really wanted to look away.
Overall the titles in our opinion are incredibly sinister and sets a very apparent tone for the film to come, chilling and maybe a bit disturbing.
The Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World titles were different to the rest as they were animated. It had a very comic feel as the drawings were simple and punctuated with bold colours. The titles featured loads of little jokes centered around a drawing of a globe/ world thus relating to the title. They were quite humorous and reminded us of the opening titles to Rat Race. Fun and happy and accompanied by uptempo music, creating a light tone for the film ahead.
Bass, during the documentary, emphasized the importance of accomodating the audience; for example, in this case West Side Story (1961). In order to allow the audience the opportunity to compose themselves after the tragic ending to the film, Bass created visually attractive titles accompanied by musical scores from the film in order to elongate the viewing experience. Giving the audience time to sit in their seats, compose themselves and reflect on the events of the film. This was, more recently, also the case with a film we saw called My Bloody Valentine (2009) the credits of the film were interesting to watch so you didn't feel rushed to leave by the blandness of the credits or from the attitudes of other cinema goers. Almost everybody remained in their seats quietly, almost as if the film was still on. Whereas with the most recent Harry Potter film Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (2009) the second the film finished - even a bit before actually - everybody was getting out of their seats and preparing to leave, as the ending credits were unimaginative leaving the audience less than compelled to reamain after the ending of the film to watch. We were surprised that so much thought for the audience went into the designing the ending titles for a film and this is definately something that we will keep in mind when designing our titles. Although spoken in a monotonous voice we find a lot of what Bass said to be very interesting.
In conclusion when it comes to creating our film titles we are really going to think about the impact it will have on the audience and what the presentational devices we use say and mean about the film.
This the storyboard of the opening sequence of our film. It depicts protagonist Abby at the train station where she deliberates whether or not to go home after the disturbing phone call she'd previously recieved from her mother telling her not to come home. Eventually she decides to go home and is shocked at what she finds.
