Researching Openings to Thriller/Horror Movies

I have researched openings that are the similar genre to our opening which is Thriller/Horror movies I wanted to see where they had placed there credits, how long the credits lasted, colours of the font and if the writing was it capitals.

The Game

In the beginning the production company is named which is POLYGRAM underneath it says FILMED ENTERTAINMENT and underneath PRESENTS. This shot lasts for four seconds in white writing as the background is a puzzle so the writing stands out. The Presents is smaller than the production company showing that importance of the company. The next shot is writing A PRODUCTION FILMS underneath PRODUCTION 'A' and Production is smaller than the production company showing once again the significance of the company, the pause of the writing is for four seconds again. The next shot is of the Title THE GAME which is paused for four seconds. The background is unraveling the writing in each shot. All of the writing is in capitals and is shown for four seconds this may be because of the two production companies that helped make the movie have equal rights. The actors and the director is shown at the end of the movie. I really liked this opening as I liked the puzzle and that it relates to the title 'The Game' and I liked that everything was in Capitals which makes the writing stand out. However, I feel that the opening did not give me any ideas as it was very contemporary.

The Shining

Warner Bros. Pictures is shown in the opening before the movie begins. In the openings there are many wide shots showing a car driving which gives the idea of a peaceful journey, there is writing superimposed in 1 minute and 20 seconds in to the opening of A STANLEY KIBRICK FILM going from the bottom of the shot moving to the top of the screen the directors name is shown for eight seconds. However, near when Kibricks name is leaving the shot JACK NICHOLSON name appears at the bottom going to the top, the name is on the screen for eight secongs. Even though on the seventh second another name appears SHELLEY DUVALL name appears. The people named is the directors and the main actors in the movie. Next the title of the movie appears still moving to the top of the screen in slightly bigger font. The next names says FEATURING DANNY LLOYD the next six names are different actors. After the actors the EXECUTIVE PRODUCER underneath JAN HARLAN is shown, BASED UPON THE NOVEL BY STEPHEN KING and then the production company THE PRODUCER CIRCLE COMPANY. After the different names SCREEN PLAY BY STANLEY KIBRICK is shown again showing his importance in the film. Each name has the same length of time of the screen. The font is in blue which represents tranquility and calmness which contrasts with the film and all of the writing is in Capitals. I did not like this opening as I thought it was very long however I did like the opening shots of the journey showing the setting.

No Country for Old Men

In the beginning PARAMOUNT VINTAGE underneath AND underneath MIRAMAX FILMS and underneath PRESENT the shot is black screen with white writing in Capitals for four seconds. The next shot has the title of the movie in Capitals on a black screen in white writing for four seconds. I really liked the simplicity of the opening and I think that we could try and use an opening like this as it is not too modern and it seems traditional.

Researching Credits to Opening of Films

In class today we watched seven different openings to films such as Babel, Derailed, The Bourne Identity, In Bruges, The Life of David Gale, The Mexican and Angels and Demons. We was looking at the where the credits appeared, if the production companies and the films associations appeared before the title of the film. Also, to give us an idea as to where our credits should appear as when editing our film our credits appear at the end which makes the opening seem more like a trailer.

Babel

In the opening of Babel it first appears with two of the production companies such as Paramount Pictures and in another shot saying presents showing that the next shot will be the title. The screen is then black with white writing which makes the title stand out the title is paused for an average of four to eight seconds. The production companies appears on the centre of the shot, presents appears on the left and then the title appears on the right of the screen. When the title appears there is a sound bridge of some one walking. I really liked the opening to Babel as placing the writing around the shots keeps the audience waiting and the sound bridge with the title makes the audience impatient as to show where the setting is. I think in our opening we could use this type of opening as we could also have the sound bridge as our music as the church bells and horse trotting in the beginning.

Derailed

The opening sections shows Miramax Films the technical name of the production companies, the next shot has A film by Mikael Hafstrom who is the director of the film. In the next shot the names of the 'main' actors appear on the screen, first Clive Owen name appears as he plays the main
character the music finally kicks in during his name. Then in the next shot Jennifer Aniston name appear on the opposite side of the screen. The title of the film then appears on the screen. In the next shot then has the name of three actors underneath each other on the bottom right side Georgina Chapman, Denis O'Hare, Tom Conti this shows that the three actors do not as significant characters. I really liked how the opening did not just say directed by Mikael Hafstrom and Starring Clive Owen etc. By the way the names are structured shows that they are important.

The Bourne Identity

The production company appears before the film has started Universal Pictures, the next shot has a sound bridge of wind and rain as superimpose writing is used showing the location over top of the shots and the opening continues. The title of the film then appears however, it does not say the actors or the director in the opening of the film. I do not like the opening and I do not feel like we could use this opening as an inspiration to our credits as in the opening of the Bourne Identity there is a lot of action and the title in the middle of the opening slows the pace of the opening and it leaves the audience wanting to watch more, but our opening is slow pace as the sudden titles may leave the audience bored and loose their attention.

In Bruges

The production company appears in the beginning of the opening on a black screen Focus Features on the bottom left hand side of the screen and then the company appears in the next shot. The next three shots each show different associations in between each association is a short clip of the movie showing the setting. The shots has a sound bridge of a piano playing and over the top of the piano is a voice over as the shot is a black screen with the Title which can represent a person being unconscious and as it is a black screen it makes the audience focus on what the characters are saying. I really liked this opening as the title is at the end of the opening in which we originally wanted to do. However, in our opening we are telling a story establishing the rest of the film but In Bruges shots are close ups of monumental objects establishing the setting.

The Life of David Gale

Straight in to the opening is a black screen showing the title of the movie. The title of the movie is paused for an average of five to ten seconds. I think that the opening suits this film as the film seems like a documentary by the title and that is what documentaries usually have. I do not think we could use this technique in our opening as it is too contemporary.







The Mexican

This film is a Dreamworks production which appears in the beginning of the film. The opening starts with association on two separate shots on the bottom left corner in white font. Then the title appears in red which could represent death, love or passion. I did not like the opening as I did not think it was that effective and as the production company was Dreamworks I thought that the film was happy but there was a car crash. The opening did not show the genre of the film which our film does. Also, the credits were very contemporary as the setting of traffic lights was shown and the actors names and director is shown later in the movie.


Angels and Demons

The production company is shown in the beginning Imagine Entertainment and in the next shot another production company is named Skylark Productions. In three separate shots three production companies are named and in between the superimpose shots are pan shots of objects which may be to do with the film. The next shot is of the title of the movie in front of a clip in the movie. I found the opening boring however, it did relate to our opening as we originally had superimpose of our names in front of our clips. However, watching this opening I discovered that with the title and names in front of clips it is very distracting.

All the credits lasted for an average of 4-10 secs all gave time to see the titles. My general observation was that most of the titles appeared on black screens and that sound bridges were used mainly when the screen was black. Most of the films were by Universal Productions which could show the similarity of the openings.

Film Draft with Music

We have now added music to our draft, we have had some complications with our opening as some of our shots and music has appeared differently on http://www.youtube.com. Such as in the movie there is a slight pause on the video which did not appear on the Imovie, we recently got an audience review from our teacher and she did not like the silence as it loses tension and impact to the opening. The pause is too misleading as when there is a pause in a movie the audience immediently thinks that there will be a scary part where some one kidnaps a person, even though the scene is about Jack the Ripper stalking the victim. I am very pleased with the outcome of the music and the draft and that they fit well together. I really like signature tune of the church bells and the sound of the horses. We still have to make changes to the sound and editing.

The Yorkshire Ripper News

When researching The Yorkshire Ripper the Times Newspaper has recently written on their Crime Blog that the Peter Sutcliffe (Yorkshire Ripper) wants to get an early release. On the newspaper a victims Mother said that she believes that Sutcliffe should never be released, however there has recently been reports from Sutcliffe physcologist saying that Sutcliffe kept hearing voices as a 'medical report written by Sutcliffe's psychiatrist Dr Kevin Murray in 2006, they argued that the killer should not have been convicted of murdering either Barbara or any of his 12 other acknowledged victims because he was too mentally ill to be responsible for his actions.' This is a medical report from Sutcliffe physcologist. After reading the article I was very annoyed at the physcologist as Sutcliffe murdered people and I believe that he should not be released. The victims Mother said a statement in which I agree with '“I don’t believe any of that guff about him hearing voices, he just got his kicks out of killing people,” said Mrs Leach. “He will never be safe to to released, even if he manages to convince the psychiatrists and psychologists.” The counter argument between the physcologist and the Mother shows the different ideas about Sutcliffes state of mind during the murders. The article is from http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article7045570.ece which gives the full details of the attempt to release Sutcliffe.

The Yorkshire Ripper

Recently in the newspapers and news broadcasting channels there have been many stories about the Yorkshire Ripper who I originally knew was a 'copy cat' Jack the Ripper but I never knew a lot about the Yorkshire Ripper so I decided to research him.

When I was researching the Yorkshire Ripper there are differences as the Yorkshire Ripper got caught which led the police to his name which is Peter Sutcliffe. Whereas, Jack the Ripper never got caught this shows the development in Modern Forensic Technology as Sutcliffe was convicted of murder in 1981. Below is a picture of Peter Sutcliffe 'The Yorkshire Ripper'.:

I was very interested in the Yorkshire Ripper as I initally thought that the Yorkshire Ripper wanted to murder women to be like Jack the Ripper, however according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Sutcliffe Sutcliffe murdered women as he had a hatred towards them 'Sutcliffe frequented prostitutes as a young man and it has been speculated that a bad experience with one (during which he was allegedly conned out of money) helped fuel his violent hatred against women' When re-reading this statement I was very confused as Sutcliffe had a wife so I was confused how he could hate women. Sutcliffe murdered thirteen women, he mostly hit his victims over the head with a hammer, then stabbed them and sometimes he would slash the victims stomachs. In 1975 the first two assaults Sutcliffe assaulted but did not murder two women 'Sutcliffe committed his first documented assault on the night of 5 July 1975 in Keighley. He attacked 36 year old Anna Rogulskyj who was walking alone, striking her unconscious with a ball-peen hammer and slashing her stomach with a knife. Disturbed by a neighbour, he left without killing her. Rogulskyj survived after extensive medical intervention but was emotionally traumatised by the attack.
Sutcliffe attacked 46 year old Olive Smelt in Halifax in August. He used the same modus operandi, striking her from behind and using a knife to slash her, though this time above her buttocks. Again he was interrupted, and left his victim badly injured but still alive. Like Rogulskyj, Smelt suffered emotional scars from the attack, including clinical depression. On 27 August, Sutcliffe attacked 14 year old Tracy Browne in Silsden. He struck her from behind and hit her on the head five times while she was walking in a country lane. Sutcliffe was not convicted of this attack, but confessed to it in 1992.' This may represent that Sutcliffe did not want to originally murder women. The most horrifying murder I found was 'A murder in Chapeltown, claiming his youngest victim, 16 year old Jayne MacDonald, on 26 June. She was not a prostitute. In the public perception her death showed that every woman was a potential victim.' I found this awful as he murdered a girl to show that he would murder anyone even though he mainly murdered prostitutes. Below is a list of the murders and the victims.:

The first murder was Wilma McCann in 1975 who died at the age of 28. In 1976 Emily Jackson aged 42. In 1977 Irene Richardson died at the age of 28, Patricia Atkinson died at 32, Jayne MacDonald died at 16, Jean Jordan died at 20. In 1978 Yvonne Pearson aged at 21, Helen Rytka died at 18 and Vera Millward died at 40. In 1979 Josephine Whitaker died at 19, Barbara Leach died at 20. In 1980 Marguerite Walls died at 47 and Jacqueline Hill died at 20.Most of the murders took place within West Yorkshire which leads to his name 'The Yorkshire Ripper'. However, victim six and nine were murdered in the South West. Below is a map showing where the murders took place.