Ideas.

I have had to start working on the opening title sequence on my own, I have also had to come up with a new idea for what I am going to be doing for this. I have arranged who I am going to use for the acting for the anti-hero I will also be needed a female to act in this because of the story line, I have a few friends that I could ask, however if none of them would like to be in the opening title sequence then my mother has offered to be in it too.

The props that I will be needing are;

- Film camera

- Film

- Costumes

I am planning on filming sometime next week if possible.

These are the ideas that I have jotted down in the last week; 

-Stalker, which will be the anti-hero, there will also be a victim who will be a female character. I think that this would be best as this is sticking to conventions of a film noir and so this will show m understanding of the genre and it will also be clear to the audience what the genre is.

-I could use the dark room in the photography room for photo processing as I would like to involve the idea of old fashioned photography, so I will be using a film camera, and enlarge the photographs using the equipment in the dark room, I will also film the photographs being developed. However as I do not want to expose the photo paper to any light I will develop them before filming and then when everything has been done I will try to film it as if they are only just being processed. I think that the use of film photography is going to be very effective as this is going to be the main point of the opening title sequence because of the theme. I think that having this the way of the photographs being taken will be better for the type of opening title sequence that I am making. I also think that I will benefit more from this because this will allow me to film in the dark room, this will get me more footage and I think that the aesthetic of the dark room, with the red lights and the general look of the room will add effect to the video. This will add tension and the darkness and lack of lighting will enhance particular features of the character. I think that this will be better because this will only show parts of the body, creating an illusion of mystery and suspense to see the figure. If I want to use the dark room I will need to make sure that the dark room is not in use and preferably the photography room next door is not in use because there will be a lot of noise coming from there. I could use this at lunch time or during one of my photography lessons if possible. This would be best as I do not want to have the background noise to be the lower years talking, I want there to be only quiet natural noises, like footsteps and doors opening and closing. I also think that the silent noises in the dark room when processing are going to good, with the addition of the natural noises that are going to be going on. However I will add in foleying to enhance the sound so that it is heard more, this will be an excellent effect to have, this will also show my knowledge and skills in editing.  I would also like to have a range of closeups on the photographs to show that these are important to the film. I think that this will also be a good idea to use for possibly showing the titles, like the acting names and director etc. However as I am going to be the one that will be doing everything apart from acting then I will have to make up names so that the titles do not become repetitive, one problem with this would be that I will need to make it obvious that I have done everything so I will mention this in my evaluation, and also speak to my teachers about this. I would like there to be a lot of photographs that have been taken. I would also like to have a close up on the film rolls that have been used, if the majority of the photos have come out at good quality. Another thing that would be good to have in the video would be close ups of the equipment used in the dark room as this would be similar to 'se7en' and this is one of the main influences of the film. I think that if I were to do this, then I would have the red lights on as I think that this would be more dramatic and show the shadows, this would add to the theme of the film. I think that this would also be good to show the names\titles as this could add good aesthetics to it. However I will experiment with this during post production. I will not have this as a set idea, because if this does not work I will need other ideas so that I can use others and so that I have a range of ideas, which will also show creativity.

-This can be filmed at any time of the day, the continuity is less relevant as I want to communicate stalking over a period of time. Which means that this can be filmed at any time. However one disadvantage to this would be that I will need to film over a long period of time so that I can get many time frames.

-The end of the sequence will show that the victim has been murdered, as this will intrigue viewers to watch the rest of the film as this will reveal how the victim has died and who done it. This will be a classic 'who dunnit?' film noir. This will fit the conventions well, Also showing the knowledge of the genre, as I have tried many times to fit some popular conventions well. I think that this is a good idea to have because of the plot of the title sequence. However the murderer will not be the person stalking, this will be a separate character, the villain. I am thinking of maybe using this idea, however I think I will think about this more because while this is a good idea, it may become difficult to find another person to use for filming. While this would fit the conventions having the villain kill the female character, I think that this would be a lot more shocking to have the anti-hero be the murderer. However the face of the murderer will not be included in the opening title sequence so I guess this does not really matter who I use for the filming of the murder. This will create suspense and confusion, this will also make the viewers think about the video in depth and will also make them want to watch on, so that this cliffhanger can be resolved. This is a good technique to use, and is used widely in the film industry, usually only with sequels, however as this is not having a sequel and is only an opening title sequence this will still work well for me.

-Similar scenes in the opening title sequence for 'Se7en' I will analyse this and put a fully detailed analysis onto my blog so that I can compare the scenes from this to what I would like to do.

- One thing that I still need to think about is the title for the opening title sequence. This needs to be relevant to the film and must be fitting for both the genre and film. This is something that I need to think about well because if this title is not going to be fitting for the film then this is going to effect the video hugely. I need to make sure that this is a strong and memorable title. I want this to be a short and snappy title that will be able to recognised and linked to the film immediately, this will preferably be one word, two words possibly but only if necessary. I would like there to be scenery shots for the titles, for example actual title, actors, additional information that is needed. I think that this will be great for this particular type of opening title sequence, as the scenery shots will show the places iconic to the film, this will be places where the stalking is happening. This idea comes from the opening titles from the TV show The Walking Dead. I have done a post about this previously, this is on my blog. I think that if I do use this idea I will have a time lapse, showing the particular scene over a few minutes and this will be sped up and the name/title will appear, similar to The Walking Dead. These will all appear after the plot is shown. I think that this will be much better and have a greater effect on the video.

- I want this to be in black and white, except the dark room scenes because then this will show where they actually are. This will also add effect if the only colour scenes are the dark room scenes. However I would like this to be de-saturated because then this will not be as over the top in colour, and still maintaining the dark look. There is one problem that I could have with this, this is; that the change from black and white to red lighting could be seen as odd, because this is all going to be in black and white and then suddenly in colour. This is a film noir video and so having this in black and white will fit conventions, however if I wanted to be different, then I could have this all in colour, however I do want to have this in black and white because I think that this will be much better aesthetically. This would be the preferred look, although I do think that possibly having this in colour could be quite effective, I would change the saturation and brightness so that this was darker and still had the aesthetics of a film noir. This will be better if I change one of the brightness/contrast/saturation as this will darken the colour so that this isnt as bright and not an out of place colour.

-The music that will be used will be intense, dark music for the background. This will be good because this will enhance the seriousness and mystery of the film. I think that this will give effect to the film, as opposed to a different style of music. This will fit the genre well and will make it more obvious as to what the genre actually is. This will need to be continuous because I am not planning on having any dialogue in the opening title sequence. I would however want this to be quiet, as I would not like this to be shadowing of the film, if the sound is too much then this will take attention away from the video, this is not something that I want. If this happens then this could damage the quality of the film. Although, if this is too quiet this will not be fitting to the film, this is something that I need to think through well as sound is going to be very important to the film and the music will be the only main sound that will be continuously heard. I will also be including the sound effects and diegetic sound, this will not include dialogue though.