Opening Titles Analysis (Research)

Malevolent Phantom

Opening Titles Analysis

To help us in designing our own opening titles we analysed some horror films opening titles to get an idea of what works and what will look good for our production. The first film we looked at was cabin in the woods, they used red titles that connotes blood and danger, this is an interesting look for a film as most of the time the titles are in white or black. The red contrasts the plain, simple colours usually used in films and leads the audience to believe the film will have a lot of blood and death in it. They are placed off center which  is more aesthetically pleasing than them just being placed in the middle, this coincides with the rule of thirds which  suggests that each image should be divided up into nine equal sections (two evenly spaced horizontal lines, two evenly spaced vertical lines) and that important compositional elements should be placed along these lines or their intersections. This technique is useful as it's claimed that placing a subject with these points creates more tension and interest in what's on screen that simply placing the subject in the centre of the screen. Therefore I would probably copy this design pattern and also have my titles placed on these 'lines' or their intersections to make my titles more interesting and appealing. 

Another set of opening titles this time uses white text which I think looks more professional and still holds an aspect of horror about it. Red text can look cheap and unprofessional so I think we will use white text instead, therefore we can have a black or red background and the colours wont be contradicting and the white will stand out. This set of opening titles also uses the rule of thirds with the titles being placed in the low corners of shots and off centre, this reinforces how much better titles look if placed off centre and so I think it would be a good idea to copy this. The titles are quite small so not to drag too much attention away from the shot which I think is key but they are large enough and of a bright enough colour and clear enough font that they stand out and can be noticed by the audience. They are aesthetically pleasing to look at too as they glide over one another with a subtle enough movement that it doesn't steal the scene away from the focus of the shot but stands out enough to be noticed, also the font is clear to read so not to confuse the audience.

Out of all these features I think it is a good idea to have white text as red looks unprofessional and black would be too dark to work on any shots, especially horror as the scenes are likely to have low key lighting so the text wont stand out. Also coinciding with the rule of thirds and placing the titles off center is a good idea as it makes them look better and have a more interesting look for our film, as well as that having a large enough font is key so the titles can be read but not too small as you don't want them to overshadow whats going on in the scene. Another important factor is a clear font, nothing too swirly or jagged - simple but unique font to coincide with the appropriate colour, size and placement.

Checklist

	Done?	Comment?
RESEARCH		Overall well detailed analysis and well commented on what didn’t work out and why and what you could do instead. J
Genre Research and mind-maps (3 posts)	YES
Uploaded YouTube videos of openings – analysed (10 openings)	YES	You have a well detailed evaluation for each opening two minutes using key terminology.
Opening titles analysed in detail – font researched	NO
Uploaded YouTube videos of similar genre openings analysed in detail (3 posts)	YES
Costume and location research – google earth and pictures you’ve taken. (At least 2 posts)	YES
Actors and props photos and interviews	YES
Soundtrack research (non-copyright music)	YES
Audience Research and Profiling (typical audience member and similar films)	YES
Institution research (Paramount etc)	YES
Certificate research	YES
PLANNING
Own film idea brainstorm	YES
Own film treatment	YES
Relevant Online Tutorials (on filming and editing) and Comments (At least 2 posts)	YES	Well commented on each tutorial.
Documenting of influences on production	YES
Shot lists	YES
Consideration of representation in your film and stereotyping – use theory from G325.	YES
Questionnaire (and feedback) Get some feedback on your initial ideas!	YES
Diary of filming/editing etc with photos and screen grabs (At least 3 posts)	YES
Mood board	YES	Good explanation of what the images in your mood board are representing.
Script
Practice titles created and uploaded
Storyboard – animatic.
Time Management Schedule – what you did& when, problems you encountered& solved
Codes and Conventions featured in your Opening Two Minutes
Ensure that all posts have a title, detailed comments and relevant pictures which are commented on.	YES

Filming diary (Planning)

Malevolent Phantom

Film diary

Monday 24^th November:  (Arrived at 3.15pm Left at 4.30pm)

The first day we went to the woods was straight after school. We looked around the woods getting a feel for what parts were darker than others, what parts were secluded and what areas were close to safety. We started off with a few trial shots to see what angles are most effective. Our first scene was two friends walking up the roads then saying our goodbyes. Although we had to repeat this scene a few times as we couldn’t decide the best shots for when we entered the woods. We included shot reverse shot during our conversation which also took a few attempts as we were cautious of the 180 Degree Rule. We were able to film up to point where our main character Lucy had received a phone call from her Mother which was the trigger for her to take the unsafe route through the woods and the uncertainty that come along with it. We stopped filming at 4.30pm due to the drastic lighting change which causes the shots to look out of place.

Friday 28th November: (Arrived 2.35pm Left at 4.00pm)

After looking at what we had produced for Monday 24^th November we discovered that filming by the side of the road was inefficient as the noise was too much, we also added another character into the story; we decided to include another friend. We did this because we wanted the audience to concentrate mainly on the friend who was on her own for them to sympathise and relate to her. Therefore we started our film again with us beginning more in the woods to eliminate any unwanted sound; this also gave us a wider range of options on to how we could expand the story. We filmed a variety of low angle and high angle shots by using trees to climb up; we were able to film up until the point where our main character Lucy starts feeling paranoid which also included the audience seeing the malevolent phantom for the first time. We could have carried on although the lighting became too dark for the camera to pick up useful footage.

Monday 1^st December:  (Arrived at 4.00pm left at 4.30pm)

Due to other factors we could not get to the woods as early as we hoped, therefore our lighting was too dark than what we had initially planned, resulting in no filming being done. Although we used this opportunity to talk through what we would do at our next filming session and realised that we had to come earlier therefore we all came to the decision of filming on a weekend so the lighting would be better.

Sunday 14^th December (Arrived at 9.30am Left at 11.00am)

We decided to arrive at our setting early on Sunday morning because the lighting would then be appropriate; we started filming from where we left off on Friday 28^th November carrying on from our main character being nervous while the malevolent phantom was in her presence. We were unsure whether we should include a shot where we film for the protagonist point of view as some from our group felt that we should leave him as a complete mystery but we came to the decision in which we thought that following him would make the audience more empathetic towards the innocent girl. We included diegetic sounds to create suspense which was the trigger of a running scene which resulting in our main character stumbling to her knees where her preying predator dragged her off scene which ended our opening with the noise of her desperately screaming. We were able to complete the 2^nd half of our film. We planned to stay till 12pm but we had finished early. All we need to do now is add some non-diegetic music over the top for emphasis as well as titles. 

* EDIT * Sunday 18th January (Arrived at 9:30 left at 11am)
After doing some editing and putting the footage together we found an extremely noticeable lighting change therefore we decided to redo the scene in more appropriate lighting. While we were revisiting the woods we decided to touch up other bits that we were not 100% happy with, these mainly included the transitions between two shots. 

Online tutorials + Comments (Planning)

Malevolent Phantom

Editing

For the initial draft edit of the opening of our film we used Sony Vegas software to edit purely because I have used it before and find it easy and comfortable to work with, also its on my laptop at home so I could edit the film outside of school. It will be good in giving us a simple, clear idea of what our project will look like all edited together and what parts we may need to re-film or change to make it look more professorial. After Christmas we may choose to re-edit it in adobe software to get a more sophisticated look to it with more developed features so I will look at tutorials for how to use that software to the best of my ability. I have used Sony Vegas for a few years now and have developed my skills whilst using it so I didn't need to watch any online tutorials on how to work it but just to refresh my memory I quickly glanced over a few tutorials to develop my skills even further and looked over the basics again (mainly the keyboard shortcut keys as it makes life a lot easier.) 

This video goes over the basics and gives newbies a clear idea on how to do the most simple editing, when I first started editing this would have been helpful, so to refresh my memory on how to edit using this software was perfect.

When you're editing it can be quite tiresome to keep having to use the mouse to click things and perform simple tasks when having a keyboard shortcut would be a lot easier. This video quickly sums up the basic Sony Vegas shortcuts to make editing even easier.

The other software we will use after Christmas to create a more professional look to our film is adobe, I have never used this software before and therefore will research into it to find out how to use it to the best of my abilities. The video above helped me to learn the basics of this adobe software so I now feel more confident in editing our film footage in it. I think between now and after Christmas it would also be helpful to learn how to do opening titles as it will create a more professional look for our film.

Representation of Stereotypes (Planning)

Malevolent Phantom
Representation of Stereotypes

In majority of horror female character are seen as the damsel in distress and usually are attacked by a killer within the opening of the movie. The common stereotypes in horror movies are dumb blondes; they are represented as an innocent, vulnerable and naïve character. The character Lucy subverts the looks of the dumb blonde however she conforms the representation as she’s easily manipulated.

The antagonist is represented stereotypical malevolent phantom that lurks near the main character. It preys on the protagonist until it finds the right time to attack and kill her. The appearance is unknown in the beginning of the film as it is wearing a big black coat which covers its face so they audience can’t make a connection with them. This character has a huge impact in the horror film because it strikes a fear into the audience.  

Storyboard (Planning)

Malevolent Phantom

Storyboard

This is an animated version of our storyboard to give us an idea of what our opening two minutes will look like, some of these shots may vary when we recreate them as we wont have the technical skills or equipment (cranes, camera tracks etc.) to acheive all the desired shots.

Influences On Production

Influences of production  

Malevolent Phantom

During the production of the Malevolent Phantom, many things influenced our choices as to the direction of the way we wanted to take our film. A film which inspired us to go with horror as a genre was 'The Cabin in the woods'. This film uses a setting similar to our own and has the same target audience; although the plot was slightly different we felt this gave us an understanding of what to include to make our film suit the horror genre and the typical male dominated audience which would be our main focus in terms of target audience. Another film which influenced our film was 'Scream' as we used the same fear of the unknown aspect which we thought would engage our audience more with the film. In scream when a character dies it usually takes place in a remote location, this was an idea in which we imitated and used in our film Malevolent Phantom. Both films gave us different ideas and themes that we incorporated in our film to appeal and suit our audience.

The costume of the actors was not an influence from a specific film. It was an idea we saw featured in many horror films, this where the antagonist wears dark colours to camouflage into the darkness. Films such as scream use a the antagonist with a black costume as this emphasises that the identity of the antagonist is hidden and increases the tension and makes the audience more fearful. The costume of the protagonist wearing a bright, light coat was to show the innocence of the character and make her stand out from other characters, this was not really an influence from a film but rather a decision we all felt was necessary to give the protagonist most prevalence in the shot.

As a group we thought of many settings which all were similar as they were in a remote location, this idea we was influenced by other horror films which always feature a remote location as the setting. This type of setting creates tension and hints that something will happen. The audience are always left not knowing what is going to happen as this presents a mystery as its unknown and usually deserted. As the setting does not contain other people this means if the victim dies, no one would be there to hear the screams.

The characters we hope to include will be the stereotypically innocent young girl who finds herself trapped in a dangerous situation which she will regret. She comes with the not so stereotypical antagonist whose identity is unknown and is only becomes known later in the film as the Malevolent phantom. The young girl stereotype has been influenced from a number of films; this is a major connotation of the horror genre.

Targets

You need to complete the posts that state planning - delegate roles to members of your group. This research should be completed by the Christmas Break.

Shot List (Planning)

Malevolent Phantom

Shot types

In the opening scene for 'Malevolent Phantom' we used many shots to show the setting and emphasis the characters feelings. The variety of shots allowed us to capture the moments in the scene from different angle which let us portray different aspects of our scene.

High shot - We plan to use this shot a lot to show the loneliness of our character and have the audience emphasis and feel sympathy for 'Lucy' our main character who is alone in the woods. This shot will show the remote setting we plan to use which is the woods.

Medium shot - This shot we will use to track 'Lucy' on her journey and also as the 3 characters say their goodbyes, this shot will show how the group are close together and are safe however as 'Lucy' ventures off on her, the shot will change into high shots to show she is alone in unknown territory.

Over the shoulder shot - This shot will be used for the conversation with the three girls at the beginning to create a realistic effect and get the audience to feel like they are present in the world of the film. Also it will be used when the 'Malevolent Phantom' is preying on 'Lucy' to show that she is being followed and is in danger

Low angle shot - This shot will be used to show the strength and power of the malevolent phantom, we will use this when the creature is watching 'Lucy' walk past, this will show it to be over powering and seem stronger than Lucy.

Long shot - This shot will be used to show more of the setting and show lucy walking through the woods, which will show her slowly getting closer and closer to danger which lurks in the trees.

Establishing  shot - This shot would be used to show the setting of the woods, however we may not be able to do this as this could involve a high angle.

Meet the Cast

Meet the Cast

Name: Chloe Hicks

Character: Lucy (16)
Favourite Actor/Actress: Leonardo DiCaprio

 Name: Conor Nelson

Character: Malevolent Phantom
Favourite Actor/Actress: Pierce Brosman

Script (Planning)

Malevolent Phantom

Script

[road noise, cars passing by - contradicted by silence of location the characters are now in, only the sound of tweeting birds and their feet walking]

L: Yeah so that was really good fun wasn't it

R: [overlapping] Yeah that was really good

L: Yeah so we're doing cinema tomorrow night aren't we

A: [overlapping] Yeah

L: Yeah right, see you then,then

[hugging goodbye]

R: Bye

A: Bye

L: Right See you

[sound of footsteps walking away - distant sound of traffic and civilisation]

L: [heavy breathing as music tempo rises, cut off by sound of phone ringing]

Oh hi mum 

[pause to hear response from caller]

Oh what you want me home now?! uuh [looking around, unsure what to do and annoyed by the information given to them] Okay [looks around, chooses woodlands path instead of road] Right well I'll be home in a minute, Okay [angered/anxious tone in her voice] See you

[sound of footsteps as Lucy walks away, sound of piece of paper hitting the ground]

L: uuh 

[sound of creatures footsteps as he turns to walk and follow Lucy]
L: [heavy breathing as MV appears to be following her]
[footsteps, rustling of leaves, as MV gets closer footsteps increase in pace until she's running at full pace, pauses for breath as she believes she has out run him]
L: [loud scream as MV grabs her]

This is a rough outline of what our script will be, as production continues we may choose to add or remove certain bits of dialogue or add more sound effects depending on whether we feel it creates enough suspense and is scary enough.

Costume and Props (Planning)

Malevolent Phantom

Costume and Props

In our film our characters are wearing different outfits to show the importance of a specific character - Lucy, played by our talented actress Chloe Hicks (me). I will wear black jeans, black shoes and a vibrant colourful button coat. The coat will be black and pink checkered, we chose this so it would stand out from the other characters and show the audience that she is the main character and the focus of the scene. The other character 'Amelia' will wear plain and simple clothing, showing she is less important than 'Lucy'. 

The main and only prop that was used was the girl's phone, in which the mother calls to tell her to hurry home. This then panics 'Lucy' as she has no choice but to venture through the woods to arrive home in time. The phone adds tension to the scene as 'Lucy' is forced to go through the woods, Lucy is looking around deciding which way to go feeling cold and worried when a call comes through teh break the tension. This immerse the audience as they feel like they are 'Lucy' and therefore empathise with her as she has to take the dreaded walk through the woods.

Research and Planning Targets

Make sure that you are video blogging and evidencing every part of your planning and filming (which needs to be complete by the end of term). Delegate tasks to your group members and evidence your time management. A fantastic effort so far!

Film Brief (Planning)

Film Brief

Malevolent Phantom

People are being followed home late at night, targeted when they are alone and frightened -  and there's good reason for that fear. A serial killer is on the lose and destroying peoples lives across the country, having slipped out of America and come across the pond he seems adamant on picking people out and providing them with a gruesome death. With a mysterious background and an ever growing list of the dead do you choose to run and hide from this malevolent phantom or instead get to the bottom of why all these innocent people have been brutally murdered. As innocent Lucy wanders alone through the woods there's a rustle in the trees, but why is she being targeted? With more and more stories of murders dominating the news has Lucy gone too far to get to the bottom of it all and will her name be added to the list of the dead. Is there more to this story than first meets the eye and are these people really innocent at all?

Overview:

The story centers on a young girl called Lucy (16) who is being targeted by this malevolent phantom, the start of the film is her lonely walk through the woods where she is grabbed by this creature before it then flashes back 48 hours.  The audience then spend the majority of the film living this 48 hours with her and finding out about this malevolent phantom, Lucy's background and all the victims this malevolent phantom has already claimed. As the film progresses you learn more and more about this malevolent phantom and how all the people he targeted may have a fundamental link between them and may not be so innocent after all.

Questionnaire (Planning)

Questionnaire

Horror

Age: _ 0-10  _ 11-15  _ 16-20  _ 21-30  _ 31+

Gender: _ Male  _Female

How often do you watch horror films?

What aspects of horror do you like?
Chase _
Suspense _
Darkness _
Jumpy bits _ 
Blood _
Clowns _
Other _________

What other genres do you like?
-
-
-

Why do you or do you not like horror?
-
-

How much fear do you like from horror
Hiding behind the sofa - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - No fear at all

Horror is the best genre
_ Strongly agree
_ Agree
_ Not sure
_ Disagree
_ Strongly disagree

What's the best setting for horror?
_ City
_ Woodlands
_ Abandoned house

Whats your favorite horror film + Why?
-

Results
0-10 = 9%  16-20 = 72%   30+ = 19%
Male = 28%  Female = 72%

45% of people said they never watch horror films which is interesting as that's almost half, but it's what I expected as personally I don't see the appeal of horror and so never watch them but I was stunned to see almost half of the people questioned felt the same. 

Interestingly it wasn't just the males who said they watched horror the most which subverts from the stereotypes that horror has a mainly male audience as a quarter of females also said they watch lots of horror films. An anomalous result was one male saying he never watched horror films (subverting from stereotypes) but another independent factor that influenced this was his age as he was only 8 and therefore the horror films were probably not age appropriate for him, unlike comedy or children's films.

The two most popular features people look for in horror films were chase and suspense, this is what i expected as they are the cliche parts of a film that make it a horror film. Blood was only said 19% of the time which surprised me as I thought more people would look for that in horror, also tension was only said 9% of the time when I thought it would be more, but it is similar to suspense, which was said 36% of the time, so maybe these two aspects were too similar - therefore for next time I would make the choices more distinguished. Chase was the most common aspect with 63% of people saying they looked for it in a horror film, this is something that we can use to our advantage and include in our film to appeal to a larger audience and make more people want to see our film.

When asked what other genres people liked, so we could include the aspects of other genres people like to create a more appealing film to a larger audience, Comedy was third most popular with 36% of people saying that was another genre they liked - this doesn't really help us as we feel it would be quite hard to incorporate a comedy aspect into our horror film, this is something we will have to consider at a later date but I feel it's something we won't end up incorporating in our film. Action was the most popular with 65% of people saying that was the other genre they liked, interestingly this was most popular with people who also liked horror suggesting they like the physical side of horror, the chase, the murders etc. This will help us when making our film as we now know to attract a larger audience we should include a physical side of things, as previously established people do like a chase scene so to optimise our films attraction to people. Romance was also a common favourite genre with 62% of people saying they also liked this genre, but this may not be relevant to us as people who said they liked romance didn't like horror so it wouldn't actually be combining the two things people love. On the other hand though we could maybe attract an audience of people who are not usually the sort who go see horror by incorporating a romance side - something they like.

Most people like either a 4/5 or 1/5 scare factor - the 1/5 was suggested by people who don't like horror and don't like being scared so probably wouldn't come see our film anyway so their results should be disregarded as we should focus on horror enthusiasts (people who will actually come to watch our film). Therefore we should maybe go for a high scare factor (4/5) to please the horror enthusiasts as although it would be good to attract a larger audience by appealing to people who don't like horror as much and want a 1/5 scare factor, in doing so we would isolate and exclude our pre-built horror enthusiast audience so I think we should entice them in other ways that don't exclude the main part of our audience. 

60% said woodlands was the best setting for horror with 40% which is interesting as we had anticipate to use woodlands as we thought it was most mysterious and, for production purposes, most accessible and easy to acheive a tense atmosphere in. As I thought 0% of people thought a City was the best setting for horror - this is probably because its far too open and too many people so it's hard to be isolated. Also, it's quite bright and open and if you film at night it may be more eerie but you'd have to find a suitable camera and you wouldn't be able to see the beauty of the city your'e in - therefore making it almost pointless to film there.

Overall this questionaire was helpful in identifying what people look for in horror and the aspects/location to include in our film.

Film ideas for the opening of our film (Planning)

Film ideas

Malevolent Phantom

Opening - Beginning: Two friends together walking home down the street after an evening out, as one leaves for her house in one direction the other decides whether or not to go a quicker route through the woods, her mother contacts her telling her to get home, she feels rushed and enters the woods feeling on edge. The girl drops her phone and as she goes to pick it up we see the monster lurking in the background, she carries on walking through the woods and hears rustle of leaves, as her phone dies she becomes more scared and anxious for what's going to happen. A final close up shot of her as we see the monster approaching her in the background before she cries out with terror and the screen switches to black.

Mise-en-scene

Setting - We will use woods as the location for our film and shoot there to give us the stereotypical spooky setting we need for our opening to a horror film, the dark lighting, rustling of leaves and isolation from civilisation are perfect ingredients for creating an eerie setting to put out characters into. This will make the audience feel on edge and tense for the characters as they fear that something could attack them at any moment. We will also shoot late in the evening to make sure the setting is dark and hostile rather than light and inviting - the opposite of what we're trying to achieve as it would make the audience relaxed and possibly bored as when seeing a horror film people like to be on the edge of their seats, they like to be scared.

Costumes - they are also key, subliminal messaging on how the audience should feel are perfect to use in a horror film as without them even realising the audience begin to imagine all the gruesome things that could happen. Settings are predominantly used to create this feeling but costumes can be too. The girls friend will wear plain, neutral colours as nothing happens to her, she is unimportant in the narrative and so her clothes reflect this. It could also suggest why the other girl gets attacked instead of her as because her clothes are dull her life may be too and that isn't interesting narrative and wouldn't interest a serial killer - especially in our story it's key to show that they want something interesting, they're not just murdering people randomly, there's something about her. This is an enigma that draws the audience in and leaves them wondering what's so special about this girl, why did she get attacked. The main character will have a red scarf to connote danger but also to connote the fact she has a more vibrant, interesting, maybe controversial life that would attract a serial killer far more that the other girl would. The malevolent phantom will wear dark clothing so he can blend into the spooky surroundings, he will also wear large items of clothing that cover him completely so there's a sense of eeriness around him - the clothes represent the fact his character is well hidden and we don't know much about him.

Camera
Shot types - the first scene of our opening two minutes is a medium shot of a busy road showing the hectic side of the city that's contradicted by a high angle shot of the two girls walking down the street showing their vulnerability and isolation. A low angle shot of their feet walking and coming to a stop shows them to be of higher power as, as long as they're together than they're relatively safe despite the environment they're in, as they're not alone. As soon as the friend leaves and the girl is now alone the camera pans up and around from a low to high angle to show her vulnerability has now increased as she's alone, this pans to an over the shoulder shot of the phone as her mum is calling her. A point of view shot shows the hard decision she faces in whether to go the long way round on the roads or the shortcut through the woods, this shot places the audience in her shoes and makes then empathise with the main character. High angle shots of her in the woods show her to be vulnerable and at risk as the malevolent phantom could be lurking in the background and could attack her at any point. The final shots of her are close up and create suspense as we can't see what's behind her or what's hiding in the background, the final shot of Lucy being grabbed by the malevolent phantom should make people jump (a key convention of horror) and climax the scene well to draw a close to this high tension scene before we flashback to 48 hours earlier.

Editing - The editing of our opening will be fast paced and build suspense, a few longer shots at the beginning will show the safe surrounding Lucy and her friends were in before and will leave room for opening titles. Especially as she enters the woods the editing speed will increase to create a sense of tension and show how on edge Lucy has become, we as the audience will feel what she is feeling and be constantly scared for her safety. 

Moon Board (Planning)

Malevolent Phantom

Moonboard

Here we complied a collection of images to do with our opening two minutes, the main image is of a woodlands - our setting, looking dark and mysterious and conforming to horror stereotypes. There's two separate images of a man lurking in the woods creating suspicion and tension as we don't know who he is - this represents our malevolent phantom. He is mysterious and creepy, hiding in the back of shots and stalking our innocent main character - Lucy.

Our main character will wear a colourful coat to connote interest and show the main character to be more vibrant than the other characters who are of less importance. The malevolent phantom on the other hand will wear a big, dark, black coat to hide under and to almost blend into the background of the woods so he is not as noticeable. He could also possibly be wearing a balaclava to cover his face and hide his identity even further.

A long shot of a person in the woods, all alone shows that our character will end up alone in the woods, surrounded by only darkness and lurking somewhere is the malevolent phantom - this builds suspense and links to the other picture 'suspense'. One of the main parts of horror we hope to achieve is suspense, making the audience scarred, feeling like this is actually happening to them.

A low battery picture shows that as Lucy's phone dies she is left alone and isolated in the woods (a key factor of horror) with no way of contacting people and is therefore truly alone in the woods. This makes the audience nervous and scared for her as they worry whether she will be killed by the malevolent phantom.

Why we picked horror (Planning)

Why we picked our genre
Horror

The first part to decide about our opening two minutes was the genre, from there we could develop a story line and characters and shots but first we needed to pick a genre. Picking a genre is key as some can't be done as well on a low budget, some require great amounts of acting which would be hard to acquire whilst others require a more experienced and refined film making to be able to execute effectively. Having said that, this was a much easier process than i had imagined as we quite quickly ruled out several genres and weren't left with many to choose from by the end, here's a list of all the obvious film genres:

- Action

- Comedy

- Crime

- Documentary

- Drama

- Horror

- Musical

- Period & Historical

- Romance

- Science Fiction

- Fantasy

- Thriller

From this list we were immediately able to eliminate comedy, crime, documentary, musical, period and historical,  romance, science fiction, fantasy and war for these given reasons:

• Comedy -  Although we thought for a moment about doing a comedy as it wouldn't require a large budget like some of the other genres would and you could choose from a variety of locations it's downside is trying to actually get the comedy aspect into it. What i find funny or my friends find funny may differ from other people so the risk in doing a comedy is that nobody else will find it funny and your opening could be met with unsatisfied silence. If comedies aren't funny then they aren't good and I don't think my group would be able to nail the comedy side of the opening and therefore we're not doing comedy.
• Crime - A brilliant genre, possibly one our group didn't think too much about when maybe we should have done, but it can be similar to action but just harder to achieve a realistic, interesting plot line and therefore we chose not to do crime.
• Documentary - documentaries limit your creativity more than any other genre and don't really stretch the boundaries of film, they're good in the sense you can do them on whatever you want but that was too simple, too plain - we wanted to create something almost everyone could enjoy watching.
• Musical - Just no. None of my group are musical gifted nor care too much about it, having to write songs and choreograph dance sequences on top of everything else would just be too much. Also I feel it wouldn't work for an opening two minutes as it's not long enough to portray a good opening in the musical genre.
• Period & Historical - As much as I would have loved to do an opening in this genre it simply wasn't practical, these are some of the most expensive films ever made and require extensive research and planning, more than most other genres. The clothes, language, settings, everything has to be perfect and historically accurate along with the fact the sets would cost ludicrous amounts of money we simply don't have. Although you could just hire costumes and shoot in a woodlands I don't think this would be the best opening we could create and the amounts of planning is un-doable in the short amount of time we have.
• Romance - This genre was one of the main possibilities as I really like this genre but I don't think I'd be able to have a good enough plot for the opening two minutes and wouldn't be able to demonstrate enough film making techniques nor do I think it would stretch me enough. To add on to that getting two characters to act 'in love' and have to do kissing scenes would be far too awkward!
• Science fiction - This genre is just so expensive with the extensive amount of CGI and SFX needed and it's hard to make it so it doesn't look cheap. I think for a student project science fiction could end up looking very cheap and unprofessional.
• Fantasy - simply too expensive and elaborate for a student project.
• War - just like period and historical as much as I'd like to do this genre they're just too expensive.

So after ruling all of those out I'm left with 

- Action

- Drama

- Horror

- Thriller

Between these genres I think we'll choose horror as it's not expensive but still needs a lot of planning to make sure it's not a pathetic flop. My second choice would probably we drama as I'm not find of fight sequences as I think they're hard to get right so maybe wouldn't choose action and a drama could be shot in the city and have vibrant settings and it would be interesting to develop characters in the opening.