Ident For Our Group

Embedded below is the storyboard Kala Hill drew in preparation for creating our group ident for our horror movie opening sequence. The ident was then created by myself using Final Cut Pro. The ident has a blood design, seeping in on screen as the company name is introduced, a conventional aspect of the horror genre and as a group we felt that this was an effecftive way of creating our ident. The blood has clear connotations of danger and fear, the red colour dominant over the black background the ident first displays, the seeping blood provoking a tension build from the viewers. The slow, sweeping movements of the titles connotes ghost like actions, another convention addressed in our horror movie sequence, also foreshadowing the potential character of a ghost in the film. The simplicity of the sweeping titles, and the colour of them being black and white adds to the tension build intended and also adheres to the many credits of horror movies we have previously researched, of which they keep the fonts and colouring of text very simple, to emphasise the effect of the ident and beginning of the movie that follows.

Idents Homework and Research.

In the development of making our beginning scenes of a Horror movie, we researched into the importance and varied range of different idents. Below I have embedded a definition of what an ident is from http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/ident . 

An ident is what identifies the company that produces the film playing. Some big companies include Lionsgate, Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox and Disney.

The first ident I analysed was the ident used by Disney, embedded from The Ident Gallery.

(http://www.theidentgallery.com/player.php?id=FILM-ID-DISNEY-2006-1)

This ident denotes a blue sky, panning across a river and city to reveal the Disney castle, a firework show in the background. The words 'Walt Disney pictures' are revealed, and a streak of light appears around the castle. Although this is a lot more animated and complex than the original company ident (embedded below), it is still very iconic. This ident is now used on most Disney films from 2006 onwards. The intention of this ident connotes a theme of magic, which appeals to the target audience of children and families. Furthermore, the castle is an iconic element that is present in the Disney amusement parks, such as Disney World Florida. The castle is evidently a part of Disney and their logo, as well as their history of the company.

Companies such as Disney occasionally use alternative idents to appeal to appropriate films, or for anniversay editions, genre of film, modernising, to mimic or give a nod to a film for example live action films such as Tron.

Disney have continued to change and modernise their ident for many different films, suggesting to the audience that after the so many years off being a prestige company, they still want to be contemporary and just as relevant as any other production company in the contemporary era of the film industry. The ident for Tron, embedded above, displays Disney as a company evolving into more graphic live action movies, using technologically advanced cgi and special effects, as foreshadowed in their ident for the film. The ident also reflects the theme of the movie, incorporating the use of lights and sci-fi genre and the iconic Disney castle. Another sci-fi genre ident is from the film Lilo And Stitch (2002), embedded below, in which the logo itself gets abducted by aliens, connoting the film plot line involving aliens and reinforcing the genre of sci-fi and action. The castle is displayed on an alternative black background. A green laser appears around the castle instead of the usual magic dust. A beam of green light then appears over the logo, and it shakes and elevates upwards. This is to connote UFOs and alien life, which relates to the storyline as  the lead character Stitch is an alien.

Group member Faye conducted research on company Dreamworks, embedded below.

Before creating our own ident for our horror movie , individually we are researching into idents. By definition an ident is : 'Short for identification , especially in informal or technical use, this is usually a short sequence shown at the start of films to identify the company' -http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/ident

I will be looking at the design of the ident and explaining what the audience can see. Then I will explain why I believe they did that and what effect this has.

The first intent I will be analyzing is Dreamworks: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHFFpm5PcoY

Design: This is on of two dominant 'Dreamworks' animation idents and it has duration of  23 seconds. The animation begins with the camera travelling upwards through the clouds , then as is progresses the sight of a crescent moon comes into view.Then travelling upwards is a cluster of clear balloon with what appears to be an adolescent boy attached to them. Once at the high of the moon , the boy sits down on it and lets go of the balloons. The camera then follows the balloons as they travel further up into the sky and then the balloon explode to form the word 'Dreamworks' in the sky.

Intention: The connotations of the sky and the moon could be a way of showing how big and powerful the company is. Additionally connotations of the moon is serenity and calmness this could be a representation of the films they produce , as most films made by Dreamworks are happy family films. This can also be shown through the use of colour when 'Dreamworks' appears on the screen and the use of an adolescent boy in the sequence. Finally clouds usually symbolise dreams , it appears the 'Dreamworks' have played on this due to the name of their company and therefore throughout the sequence clouds are a dominant feature. 

Secondly I looked at an ident which is more common of the horror movie theme. I choose to look at how dreamworks altered their child friendly ident to fit a horror movie. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzSuDbibt9Y

Design: The ident begins with the camera tracking along a reflection of cloud and the moon in the water. The a fishing rod appears in the water, the camera then pans up to show the adolescent boy sitting on the crescent moon with a fishing rod in his hand. The moon the forms into the shape of a 'D' , the camera then tracks along showing the word 'Dreamworks' forming in the sky. The sequence is significantly darker than the previous ident and throughout the image becomes distorted.

Intention: As this ident is trying to represent a horror movie , they have intentionally edited their ident to fit the genre. As in their previous ident there is the use of bright colours to represent their family friendly films , now the ident is quite dark and dim to portray that the movie is of a darker form. Additionally the distortions used throughout portray that this is a different form of movie and something you wouldn't expect from dreamworks , it shows their typical genre has been distorted.

Kala then analysed Lionsgate, embedded below:

Design: This is one of Lionsgate indents it lasts for 21 seconds, it opens up with loads of cogs and machinery working around it pans around all the machinery and then zooms out to give the viewer a full view of all the machinery and then goes back through a key hole, inside all of the machinery it is very dark with the bronze clogs, as it emerges out of the key hole it brightens up, the big doors then open to a big bright white light, where you are presented with the name Lionsgate with clouds all behind it and then it all fades out to black. There is also Non-Diagetic music playing through out this whole clip.

Intention: The intention of this ident would be to introduce a horror film the dark room filled with cogs and mechinery connotes an eery scary atmosphere which represents a horror movie. The music in the ident is very victorious which makes the company seem very big and important the music also builds up a climax and progressively gets louder as the name of the company reveles which also connotes their importance.

Lionsgate also have an older ident that they used around 2003, the old ident is embedded below.

Design: This is the older version of lionsgate ident, this one lasts for only 12 seconds which is a bit shorter than the typical ident. It opens up with a dark starry night sky, and then small sparkles fly across the screen as they create the outline of a lion that is all sparkly, a bright light flashes and the words 'Lions Gate Films' appears and fades into gold, for the remaining time of this ident the wording and the lion outline are sparkling in the nights sky.
Intention: The intention of this ident is to represent the company in the best way possible, from using sparkly trails to create the lion connotes that the company are huge and dreamy and the reasoning behind the lion is obviously to represent the company LIONSgate. The intention of having the typography in gold is to represent the company's importance also from having the text stay on the screen for a long period of time while it glitters in the night sky highlights that they are a prestigious company.

Horror Film Step Outline

In the process of researching into the genre and creation of Horror movies, each member of our group completed a step outline, analysing the action, timings, mise-en-scene, sound, camera work, editing and typography of every shot in the first two minutes of our chosen horror movie. The movie I chose to analyse was The Purge, and my step outline is below.

Group member Faye completed a step outline of horror film 'The Ring', embedded below.

Group member Kala completed a step outline on horror film 'The Gift', embedded below.

Step outline for film opening of The Gift Genre: Horror

Description of action

Timings

Mise-en-scene

Sound

Camerawork

Editing

Typography

Fades from black to helkon SK ident fades to black.

00:00:00-00:00:10

Hekon SK ident

Fades from black then fades into black.

Fades from black to Lakeshore Entertainment ident, fades to black.

000:00:10-00:00:17

Lakeshore Entertainment ident

Fades from black then fades into black.

Fades from black to Paramount Classics ident, fades to black.

00:00:17-00:00:27

Paramount classics ident

Fades from black then fades into black.

Fades from black, white text fades onto screen at bottom and central.

00:00:27-00:00:36

White text at the bottom and centralised on a black screen

Small insect noises, high pitched.

Fades from black then fades into black.

White text on a black screen, seems isolated and quiet eerie representing an eerie atmosphere.

Fades from black, white text fades onto screen at bottom and central.

00:00:36-00:00:40

White text at the bottom and centralised on a black screen

Small insect noises, high pitched.

Fades from black then fades into black.

Fades from black to a dark foggy forest, lots of bare trees, surrounding a lake.

00:00:40-00:00:48

Dark, foggy forest surrounding a lake.

High pitch insect noises getting louder and higher in pitch, owl hooting.

Fades from black, fades into next shot in black and white.

Fades from previous shot to a tall dark tree, in a forest all foggy.

00:00:48-00:00:50

A tall dark tree with several dark tree’s behind all foggy

High pitch insect sounds.

Tilts down a tall dark tree

Fades form previous shot, Quick cut to the next shot in black and white

A girl falling in darkness, hitting floor.

00:00:50-00:00:51

Girl falling to a muddy floor, half naked in her knickers and open blouse, with chains around her neck.

Thunder, big bangs

Quick cut in black and white, quick cut to the next shot

Back to the big dark tree in the foggy, dark forest with the lake.

00:00:51-00:00:53

Across a lake looking into the dark foggy forest.

Thunder

Quick cut from previous shot, fades into next shot

Across a lake looking over to the floor of the dark foggy forest.

00:00:53-00:00:57

Misty lake looking into the floor layer and the bases of big dark tree’s all foggy.

Silent

Fades in to shot, fades out to the next shot

Base of an old dark tree, reflecting onto the surface of the lake.

00:00:57-00:01:00

Dark forest lots of tree’s reflecting the forest onto the lake.

Silent

Fades in to shot, fades out to next shot

Sun setting through the tree’s in the forest.

00:01:00-00:01:06

Red sun setting through the tree’s the zooming gives the impression of walking through the forest

Faint eerie music in the back ground

Zooming in

Fades in

Sun setting through the tree’s in the forest.

00:01:06-00:01:08

Red sun setting through the tree’s the zooming gives the impression of walking through the forest

Faint eerie music in the back ground

Zooming in

Yellow text fades in across the middle of the screen

Sun setting through the tree’s in the forest.

00:01:08-:00:01:12

Red sun setting through the tree’s the zooming gives the impression of walking through the forest

Faint eerie music in the back ground

Panning around

Fades out to next shot.

Looking down into the reflection of water at the tree’s and sky.

00:01:12-00:01:18

Looking into the lake, seeing the reflection of the tree’s and the sky.

Eerie music

Panning around

Fades in

Looking down into the reflection of water at the tree’s and sky.

00:01:18-00:01:24

Looking into the lake, seeing the reflection of the tree’s and the sky.

Eerie music

Panning around

Text in top centre of the screen fades in saying the title of the movie

Water rippling with       reflection of the tree’s

00:01:24-00:01:27

Rippling water with reflection of tree’s and sky

Eerie music

Panning around

Fades out to next shot

Lady’s hand grabbing a gold watch off the counter, next to a deck of cards, puts watch back down on the counter and goes to pick up the deck of cards.

00:01:27-00:01:33

Lady’s hand grabbing a gold watch off a counter, a deck of cards are on the counter next to the watch

Music becomes much less eerie, more orchestra

Fades in, cuts to next shot

Car drives past on the road behind the bridge.

00:01:33-00:01:35

Bright day, small river, green grass, old style bridge with arch ways

Music becomes much less eerie, more orchestra

Quick cut to shot

Car drives past on the road behind the bridge.

00:01:35-00:01:36

Bright day, small river, green grass, old style bridge with arch ways

Music becomes much less eerie, more orchestra

Yellow text in the top right fades in, fades out

Two people walking across small bridge over a river.

00:01:36-00:01:42

Bright day, small river, green grass, old style bridge with arch ways

Music becomes much less eerie, more orchestra

Yellow text in the middle left of the screen fades in, fades out

Another person follows closely behind the other two.

00:01:42-00:01:45

Bright day, small river, green grass, old style bridge with arch ways

Music becomes much less eerie, more orchestra

Quick cut into next shot

Yellow text in the bottom right of the screen fades in, fades out

Three young boys playing on a river bank, throwing pebbles into the river and walking past.

00:01:45-00:01:48

On a river bank with old building in the background, dead twigs on the floor, two young boys.

Music becomes much less eerie, more orchestra

Quick cut into shot

Yellow text in the middle left of the screen fades in, fades out

Three young boys playing on a river bank, throwing pebbles into the river and walking past.

00:01:48-00:01:52

On a river bank with old building in the background, dead twigs on the floor, two young boys.

Music becomes much less eerie, more orchestra

Yellow text in the centre at the bottom fades in, fades out

Two other boys follow closely behind.

00:01:52-00:01:55

On a river bank with old building in the background, dead twigs on the floor, two young boys.

Music becomes much less eerie, more orchestra

Quick cut to next shot

Yellow text in bottom right fades in, fades out

Back to lady’s hand the cards on the counter, turning over cards with different symbols on them.

00:01:55-00:02:00

Dark counter with cards laid out.

Music becomes much less eerie, more orchestra

Film Pitch, Padlet and Amendments.

Film Pitch:

Title Of Horror FIlm	The Haunting
Genre/Subgenre	Horror – Subgenre Psychological/Paranormal
Log Line	‘The Haunting’ follows a teenage girls’ traumatic walk through the forest as she sees distorted hallucinations that increasingly play with her mind, reminding her of the day her best friend tragically died.
Synopsis	·      Kayleigh wakes up and starts to get ready to take her dog on a walk. She appears to be disturbed by a traumatic event yet to be discovered.      ·      As she takes a walk through the woods, her past begins to be revealed, the truth of her friends death Clara becomes clear.      ·      Shots of Kayleigh hallucinating Clara walking next to her and running through the woods      ·      Hallucination of Clara screaming, Kayleigh increasingly becoming worried      ·      Runs towards the hut where Clara was killed, still hallucinating      ·      Stands in the hut to see nothing there, looking panicked      ·      Clara appears behind her, looking sinisterly towards Kayleigh.
Resources Needed      ·      Camera      ·      Tripod      ·      Dog	Locations ·      House ·      Forest ·      Hut	Characters      ·      Kayleigh      ·      Clara
Justification For Your Ideas	Our ideas follow the conventions of a horror narrative. Psychological elements are conveyed through hallucinations and Paranormal elements are conveyed through the haunting from Clara, Kayleigh’s dead friend. Many people said I our survey they wanted quick cuts, and so we will include this to appeal to our target audience. There is the idea of a ghost/spirit haunting someone and a location of a forest is also very stereotypical of horror.

Embedded below is the link to our group Padlet, in which people have commented feedback, opinions and ideas about our initial film pitch. From our target audience, Padlet was used to gather refined information from the collective group our film is aimed at, and suggestions of how to develop and improve our ideas. We read through and took into account all of the comments posted, enabling us to improve the creation of our final project.

Created with Padlet