7) Looking back to your preliminary task, what do you feel that you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

The Planning Stage.• Before we decided to film our horror opening sequence, we decided to do some research

on the beginning of horror sequences. The film openings we looked at were ‘Nightmare on Elm Street 3: The Dream Master’ and ‘The Orphan’. We chose these films because we thought that it would be good to see how the classics are made as well as what is considered to be a modern horror film. By analysing these horrors we gained knowledge of what the past and present create for their openings. We decided to create a structured opening like Nightmare on Elm Street, meaning, putting in titles when necessary and slowly introducing the main characters of the film. One of the reasons for analysing The Orphan was that we liked how the young sweet orphan ended up being the villain. In the beginning the main characters are shown and show a little about their past. However because we had both seen the film before, it inspired us to add a twist to our idea. We liked the effect of having an innocent girl as the killer. This is what made us decide on some of the sounds that we liked for our opening sequence. After analysing our 2 chosen films we had to draw a timeline so that when we came to creating our own opening sequence we knew when and where everything should be placed.

• After doing this we decided to sit down together and come up with a plot for our opening sequence. To get the opening of our film we began to think of a full story plot that could be a film and when we had this, it helped us to break it up so we were clearer on what to show in our opening sequence. We drew a tree diagram of our ideas, considering the plot, the sounds, the camera angles and the mise en scene. We decided to start our idea as a stereotypical horror film villain tries to kill girl) however as we developed it we ended up breaking the stereotype mould. That is why we decided to have a villain that people wouldn’t really think of as a killer by the way they act and dress, and to make the victim look like she was going insane but really she was just a vulnerable girl who was trying to tell people what was happening to her. We feel that by doing this, it makes our horror film original and unique and we hope our opening sequence has done it justice.

• To put a more clear idea in our head we decided to create a story board. This was to help us imagine the camera angles and what type of sounds would fit a certain scene (ambience sound, incidental sound). Sound has played a huge role to our opening sequence as it adds tension, panic and drama to our opening. When we finished with our storyboard, we decided to use a voice over that explained each scene in case the writing underneath wasn’t clear and to show that we can work with mixed medias. To support all of our work, we created a pitch, which we created in no more than 25 words describing our film and then saying why it should be produced. We also created a summary for the film revealing the full plot in much more words, letting us go into more detail.

Has your use of specific shot types improved?

• We have used a wide variety of shots throughout our opening sequence. From over the shoulder shots to canted framing. Before we began filming, we decided to think what shots to do as this would make the sequence easier to create. We feel that our shots have improved because we have had more practice with the equipment and feel much more confident as our other work ( Party time: A Night to Forget) we feel was a success.

Camera shots comparison• Party time a Night to forget Out Of Reach

How successful do you feel your end product is at fulfilling the brief?

• We were asked to create a horror or film noir opening sequence which involved the titles and a few credits, as well as the production logo. We decided to create a horror opening sequence and we think that we have been successful. Reasons for this is because the titles we added people had commented saying that they fit the theme well and we also added them appropriately throughout our sequence.

• We have attempted to make our sequence fit the theme by making the majority of the sequence in black and white, adding sound effects when needed to change the set of mood and making the mise en scene believable.