Alter-Ego Thriller Opening Titles

BBFC

BBFC stands for British Board of Film Classification, or as it used to be known British Board of Film Censors. They are responsible for the censorship and classification of films in the United Kingdom. 

This censorship is so that people of a certain age, such as children do not watch films that are unsuitable for them and which they may find upsetting or disturbing in some way. To decide on the decision of which age rating a film should be given, two people who work for BBFC called examiners will watch a film and take into consideration the different content within the film, for example drugs, horror, language used, nudity, sexual references and violence. Based on this content, the film can the be certificated a certain age range: 

U stands for Universal which means that it should be suitable for almost everyone, however  they may not be suitable for children under the age of four. A film which is rated U contains occasional mild bad language e.g "Damn!." It does not allow any sexual behavior, however "kissing and cuddling" is allowed. If there is violence at all in a film, it will be very mild. In a U film there will be no reference to drugs which are illegal unless however it is for educational purposes.

PG stands for Parental Guidance. Films with this certificate should general suit all children, however similarly to Universal, aged 8 and above is the suggested age. Mild bad language can be used but it  may depend on how it is delivered by the actor (if it's aggressive or not.) If bad language is used frequently in the film then it may be considered for a higher rating. Sexual references may be allowed in a PG film if they are not very detailed and not used often in the film. The violence in a PG film would be similarly again to Universal mild, however blood may be allowed as long as it is not very graphic. There should not be a direct focus on illegal drugs in a PG film unless it is educational and will be able to be understood by a younger audience. 

12A means that a child is required to have an adult with them if they go to the cinema to watch the film which has this classification as is under the age of 12. 12 is a less complicated 12A which is put on DVD's and is easier for people in shops to understand. Strong language can be passed for a 12A/12 film depending on the way it is said and who in the film says it. The may be sexual references and nudity in a 12A/12 film but it has to be brief. There should be "moderate" violence in the film but should not be in lots of detail. There may be some drug use in a 12A/12 but it should not instruct someone how to do/use drugs or be portrayed as "glamorous."

15 films are designed for people ages 15 and over. No one under the age of 15 should go and watch a film of this classification at the cinema. There can be strong language used frequently in 15 films however it again depends on how it is portrayed by the actor and therefor could be classified a higher.Sexual references, activity  and nudity can be in an 15 film as long as it does no go into detail. In a 15 film the violence can be strong, as long as there is not much detail on pain or injury. "Gory images" and "strong sadistic violence" would most probably not be accepted. Drug taking can be included in a film rated 15 however it should not encourage drug use.

Films rated 18 are designed to be for adults and not for children. No one under the age of 18 will be allowed to watch a film classified as an 18 at the cinema. Strong language can be used throughout without and limit and how often it can be used.Sexual referenced and nudity can be in detail, and strong violence can also be used. Drug use can be used however it still cannot promote drug misuse. 

For our thriller I would give it a age rating of 15. There is no bad language used, violence or sexual references however there is blood used frequently and I think the topic and story line would be hard for someone younger than this age to understand and follow. 

Cutaway Shot list

Number	Location	Description	Action	Props	Actor
1	Outside the house	Zoom in to show the house.	Zoom in	No props	Abbie
2	Bedroom	Shot to show magazine covers x2 to show different magazines and the bloody hand prints and claw marks.	Close up	Magazines	Abbie
4	Living room	Shot to show lose up of the pages x5 with quick editing as she is flicking through the pages quickly.	Close up	Magazine	Abbie
9	Stairs	Shot to show her walking up the stairs and to show titles on the wall behind.	Close up/ side view	No props	Abbie
10	Stairs	Shot to show facial expressions.	Close up	No props	Abbie
11	Stairs	Shot to show her stopping on the stairs.	Tilt	No props	Abbie
14	Bedroom	Shot to show girl walking through the door.	Mid shot	No props	Abbie
15	Bedroom	Shot to show alter-ego.	Close up	No props	Abbie
18	Bedroom	Shots to show the alter-ego coming towards the camera.	Extreme close up x5	No props	Abbie
18	Bedroom	Shot to show the teenage girls eyes.	Extreme close up/ graphic match	No props	Abbie
20	Bedroom	Shot to show the alter ego ripping the poster off the wall to show the title.	Close up	Poster	Abbie

Typography

To create the typography for our titles we used the website "www.dafont.com" and chose 5 different styles of typography for our main thriller title. Every style of typography we chose is distorted which suits the theme of our thriller which is psychological. The story behind our thriller is quite dark and sisnister, and I feel that the typoghraphies chosen show this.

1. The first typography has as a typical "Arial" style which as a group we thought could show the normal aspect of the teenage girls life and personality. However it does have lines which distort the title which could represent the girls "alter-ego" character and show the disruction of this "alter-ego" to the girls life.



2. Typography two is similar to the first but instead this looks like it hs been smudged or effected. which could relate to the "alter-ego" and how it has distorted the normal teenage girls mind and the way in which she thinks.



3. The third choice of typography has letters which are in a normal style but are not in a straight line and the end of the letters have small "sharp" looking flicks on the. To us, the sharp flicks could suggest the sinister and deadly feel which we wish to achieve from our opening thriller sequence.


4. Typography four has been distorted using a white coloured shadow behind each letter. This links to our thriller as we are using magazines which are going to be ripped up and the white shadow behind the typography is similar to the ripped up paper which we will be using. We liked this option as it could suggest the "alter-ego" and how she is lurking behind the normal girls personality.


5. Typography five is similar to four but instead has a shadow of lines behind it. This gives a similar effct to four where the alter ego is lurking inside the girls mind and controlling her personality.




For our pitch we created a poll so that our peers who were watching could vote for the typography they prefer and which they feel would be most effective as we needed to gain opinions from our target audience. Here are the results from this poll:




This poll revealed to the group that the most popular typography choice was the fourth style. As a group we feel that this is a good choice as it reflects the story behind our opening titles sequeunce. At the beginning of our opening, we plan to have the normal teenage girl reading magazies, when she then hears unusual sounds coming from upstairs. She investigates the sound to find the "alter-ego" charcter on the floor in her bedroom surrounded by ripped paper and magazines. Typography four suits this because the white shadow behind the lettering corralates with the ripped up magazines which will be used. As this typography has a "type-writer" feel to it, it is typical of the thriller genre as it is used in many crime and mystery thrillers.

Lighting

Lighting

On the day of filming we will check the lighting because if the weather is cloudy and dark we will need to make arrangements for it, such as making sure all of the lights in the house are turned on to make sure it is not dark and the shots come across good and effective on the camera. However if the weather turns out sunny and bright then we will not need any lights on.

In editing we may be putting an effect over the shots to make the film look different and fit in with the conventions of "film noir." If the weather on the day is dark, depending on how it comes across on camera we may not turn the lights on. as we want the opening to feature natural light to make it look more realistic to the audience and make it look more mysterious.

The lighting in our film is similar to "Se7en" as it is dark to create a mysterious effect and to create suspense and tension for the audience. As you can see in the screenshots below, the use of the dark lighting in the opening title sequence of "Se7en."     

                     
                               

Company Ident for our Thriller/AMOA productions

This is our company ident for AMOA productions. It is hand drawn by one of the members of the group and will be used at the beginning of our thriller opening title sequence. This ident does not move like the other big production companies idents do as we though it would look better and more effective if it doesn't. The ident features the name AMOA which is our company name made up of the initials of our last name. It also reflects the thriller genre as the tree is creepy and mysterious looking and the image is unique and nothing like any other production company's ident.

This company relates to film 4 for as it is unique and we create indie film similarly to film 4. m

Story Board for Alter-Ego

Duration of shots:
Shot 1 - 4 Seconds
Shot 2 - 3 Seconds
Shot 3 - 6 Seconds
Shot 4 - 4 Seconds
Shot 5 - 5 Seconds
Shot 6- 3 Seconds
Shot 7 - 4 Seconds
Shot 8 - 3 Seconds
Shot 9 - 4 Seconds
Shot 10 - 5 Seconds
Shot 11 - 5 Seconds
Shot 12 - 3 Seconds
Shot 13 - 4 Seconds
Shot 14 - 5 Seconds
Shot 15 - 5 Seconds
Shot 16 - 3 Seconds
Shot 17 - 5 Seconds
Shot 18 - 3 Seconds
Shot 19 - 5 Seconds
Shot 20 - 7 Seconds

Job Roles

It is important that every person has a job role in the production as then every piece of work can be completed efficiently. Without job roles nothing would get done and no one would know what they were doing within the group.

Kelsey McPherson - Editor - Kelsey is good for this role because she has had previous experience with editing software. She has also received positive feedback from past editing projects. In the planning Kelsey did lighting, analysis of the pitch, the props. and the shot list.

Holly O'Connell - Director - I am suited to this role because she is good at explaining her ideas and organising groups of people. In the planning I did the job roles, clothing, filming schedule and the shot list.

Elle Abrahams - Producer - Elle is good for this role because she is organised and is good at creating ideas, she is also good at organising a team of people. In planning, Elle did the location, risk assessment and the shot list.

Georgia Allman -  Co-Producer/Make-up - Georgia is suited for this role because she is creative and has good organisational skills. In the planning Georgia did the storyboard, shot list and make-up.

Auditions for the Role - Alter-Ego

For our opening title sequence "Alter-Ego" we got four different girls to audition for the role of the antagonist, however as there is only one person acting in the thriller, the two characters in the sequence are going to be played by the same person. The first shots we are going to be filming are when the girl is "normal" and an ordinary teenage girl. Then after this has been filmed we will change the actors make up to make her look more "evil" and sinister so she can portray the character of the Alter-Ego. All the actors who auditioned acted the same part from the thriller opening, which is the shot where the alter-ego girl is on the floor in the corner of the room covering her face and then slowly looks up into the camera. As a group, we decided this as the audition piece because it was very serious and we needed to make sure the actors could do this without losing concentration and laughing. As we filmed the audition outside when the ground was wet from the rain the actors stood up instead of being on the floor.

Kezia Smith -  Kezia auditioned for the role of the girl in the alter-ego opening sequence. Kezia has had previous experience in acting and has previous acted in many successful theatrical shows and performances. It was clear to us that she has prepared for the audition and was keen to get the part. She showed good acting skills and could portray the character well and therefore we chose her for the part.

Alex Storey - Alex was another girl who auditioned for the character in Alter-Ego. Alex is studying drama at A Level at the minute and similarly to Kezia has experience in successful theatrical performances. From the audition and talking to Alex we gathered that she was not confident in performing the darker more sinister character in the opening. Also due to other commitments Alex would not be available for the day of filming.

Leona Bilby - Leona auditioned for the character in alter-ego. Her performance was effective towards the start but at the end she began to laugh. This means that we may have found it hard to work with Leona as they would need to be comfortable enough to express the character without laughing or feeling nervous.

Claudia Wilkie - Claudia auditioned for the role of the girl in alter-ego. However Claudia found it hard to take it seriously and laughed towards the end of her audition. This lead to us deciding not to use Claudia as we would need her to be serious whilst filming to portray the character effectively.

Props, Costume, Setting & Make Up in Thriller Titles

Clothing

 For the "Alter Ego" character they will wear the all black clothing, which will be a hoodie, leggings, strappy top and black shoes. These clothes will be worn towards the end of our opening however there will be quick shots of the character wearing them at the beginning.

Through this all black costume we are wanting to connote and create a girl who is an "Alter Ego" and is not in control of herself. Our only actor in our opening will wear this, whom of which is a girl and will be portraying the darker and more evil side of herself, hence why we only see this character in her bedroom as no one else get's to see her "alter ego" outside of an area which is her personal room and surroundings, showing that everyone including her has a darker side which they show to know one else.

 The darker clothing is representing the darker side of the character which has not been seen before to anyone else, and that the character herself is still unsure about her "alter ego" and what it will make her do. The black will also make the character stand out in the surroundings where we will film as the walls will be covered with paper and writing on and contrast the clothing. Wearing darker clothing is typical for a  "bad" characters in thrillers as the black colour connotes darkness and negativity which is what  normally is wanted to be portrayed by antagonist in the thriller genre.







For our regular girl character, she will be wearing a white dress, white shoes and a flower crown round her head. She will appear throughout the sequence in this different settings wearing the same outfit.
With this all white costume we wish to connote an "innocent" girl who is "pure" and happy, which is a contrast to the clothing and the character of the "alter ego." The flower crown can relate back to something you could have worn when you were younger, which is when you are typically at your happiest. When the actor is wearing this she is portraying the  normal side to her which everyone gets to see, which is why she is not locked away in her bedroom like the "alter ego" character is. Once the girl steps into the bedroom wearing these clothes she will instantly stand out from the other character although they are the same girl, showing the contrast in personalities and how they are perceived by other people. Wearing white is typical to the thriller genre as it is common that it connotes innocence and tends to be worn by the "damsel in distress."


Location

The location which we will be filming our Thriller opening titles at is a house located in the center of Bourne. Bourne is a small town in Lincolnshire which contains two secondary schools. This is important because our Thriller sequence is about a teenage girl who is around the age of 17 and would attend schools like this. This proves that our location is a believable one which our character would live in.
The house is a victorian style and this adds character to the location. It has dark corners and is not perfectly lit which is useful because the style of our thriller opening titles is dark and atmospheric. The house is also 'lived in' which means the set for a normal family home is already present. The location was chosen because it is relevant to the story line. The story line is about a teenage girl who is home alone when she hears sounds coming from upstairs. When she goes upstairs, she finds a girl in the corner of her bedroom who is rocking back and forth and is a mirror image of herself. The house we have chosen to film at is lived in by a teenage girl which means the bedroom is already there to be filmed in and the only alterations we need to make is the part of the bedroom which the alter-ego has destroyed with blood and magazines.
The main places in the house where we will be filming are:
1) The Living Room
2) The Stairs
3) The Bedroom














































One risk which is possible at our location is filming on the stairs. This is because we are planning on filming a tracking shot which will require the camera to follow the actor up the stairs, there will also be a low angle shot from half way up the stairs. This is only a risk because the stairs we are filming on are curved round and the steps are thin on the right side. To prevent the risk of falling down stairs, we will make sure that we will walk up the stairs slowly and have only one person on any one step of the stairs at once.



                      

A second risk which could occur is spilling fake blood or getting it on equipment/items at the location. To prevent this risk, we will be using the fake blood the day before and putting it on props a day prior to filming. This will allow time for the fake blood to dry so there will be no risk of spilling it or smudging it onto equipment.


Make-Up

In our thriller will be using theatrical make-up. This is because it makes our thriller look more like a psychological thriller. The theatrical make-up will be used only on the alter-ego and this is because it makes the character look a lot different from the teenage girl and therefore makes our thriller opening intense and dark. The use of make-up could also create tension for the audience when they see the alter-ego's face towards the end of the thriller opening title sequence. The use of the theatrical make-up on the alter-ego suggests that she represents the darkest parts of the teenage girl and therefore it suggests that the alter-ego is evil. We want the alter-egos make-up to look like the make-up in the picture, this is because it makes the character look sinister. We will be using pale foundation and black and blue eye shadow to create this look, the black and blue eye shadow will be used to make the eyes look dark and also to make the face look a dirty. This make-up will be used throughout our thriller opening title sequence on the alter-ego, this is to create continuity and also to make her look threatening and scary. Theatrical make-up like the picture is typical of the thriller genre because it puts fear into the audience and makes the thriller creepy as well as introducing dark themes. We want to create the connotation that our thriller opening title sequence has a dark theme and that it has a hint of danger and sinister aspects. The representational ideas that this make-up creates about the character are that this character is evil and could be the villain of the film.



The teenage girl will not be wearing theatrical make-up and this is because we want to show that she is innocent. We will be creating an everyday natural look which will be created using foundation which matches the characters skin tone, mascara and a little bit of blusher to highlight the cheeks and make the character look warm and kind. This make-up will be used throughout our thriller opening title sequence on the teenage girl, this make-up connotes that she is a typically normal and approachable teenage girl. Natural make-up like the picture is typical of the thriller genre because it could suggest that the character is pure or innocent and is also just a simple everyday look for a character. We want to create the connotation that the teenage girl is the complete opposite of the alter-ego, who we want to use to express dark themes. Therefore it should become clear that our thriller shows two different parts to teenage girls personality (the light & innocent and the dark & sinister). The make-up represents the idea that this character is pure or innocent and is seen as the protagonist in our thriller.

Props

Props
- Magazines/Posters
- Fake blood
- TV remote
- Mug
- Eye-liner or lip liner (Red or Black)


In our opening thriller sequence we will be using magazines at the start when the girl is reading them in the living room when she starts to hear the sounds from upstairs. We will be using a magazine which is aimed at purely teenagers, for example cosmopolitan. This is so it relates to the character and also the target audience for the thriller. The magazine connotes that typical teenage girls that like fashion etc. Some of the titles for the opening will appear on the magazine pages. We want our titles to appear on different objects in the house as we have been inspired by the opening sequence of "se7en."


In our sequence we will be using different posters and magazines when the "alter-ego" character is in shot. As a group we will rip the posters and magazines so it looks like the girl has clawed at the paper. These magazines will then be placed on the floor around the room. They will also have hand prints created by fake blood on them so that it looks intense, sinister and makes the "alter-ego" significant. This is unconventional for a thriller as most of them do not have teenagers in and wont have props such as these posters and magazines that relate to that age group. We will be using a large poster at the end of the sequence which will be placed on the wall showing the main title "Alter-Ego." The character of the alter-ego will rip the poster to show the title of the sequence.


We want to create the image of typical teenage girl which we will do by decorating her room with posters than inspire or appeal to the typical teenage girl. Our group will use props such as a tv romote and a mug to make the protagonist look like a sterotypical teenage girl who does normal everyday activities. The television will be playing in the background of the beginning of the sequence when the girl is reading the magazines. We will also be using make up such as red or black eye liner to wrote different words and titles on the alter-egos arm. This is different from most thrillers and therefore will be eye catching for the target audience. The representational ideas that the props create about the characters and setting are that this sequence is a psychological thriller.

Thriller Opening Titles Pitch

I believe that our pitch went well as we explained all our points and our ideas thoroughly. We also made sure that we included the key information, such as the typography, job roles, our idea, they style of genre of our thriller and the USP (unique selling point.) We describes to the audience how the titles might appear throughout of the opening sequence and where about's the main titles will appear. To improve the pitch we would make sure that we know what we are going to say better instead if reading from a queue card or paper.

Question 1 - Do you like the name? (No 1 2 3 4 5 Yes) and Why?

-Shannon circled the number 5 so this means that she liked our name a lot, she said that it was because it sounds interesting.
-Cameron circled the number 5 so this means that he liked it a lot, he said that it was because its interesting, fits the narrative and leaves the audience with questions.
-Sam circled the number 5 so this means he liked our name a lot, he said that it was because it sounds quite sinster.
-Leona also circled the number 5 so this means that she liked our name a lot, she said it was because it fits the story line and fits the genre of our thriller.

Question 2 - Would you watch the film? (Yes or No) and Why?

-Shannon circled yes and the reason why was because its an interesting narrative and is creative.
-Cameron circled yes and the reason why was because it seems like a new and different idea.
-Sam circled no and the reason why was because it sounds a bit cliche.
-Leona also circled no and the reason why was because its too cliche.

Question 3 - What do you like about the story?

-Shannon said that it is a creative idea and it sounds scary/ freaky.
-Cameron said that he likes the use of just one actor.
Sam said that its well thought out but its similar to many other thrillers.
-Leona said that it seems thrilling and may be scary/ thrilling.

Question 4 - Are the titles clear? (No 1 2 3 4 5 Yes)

-Shannon circled the number 4.
-Cameron circled the number 5.
-Sam circled the number 4.
-Leona circled the number 5.

Question 6 - What would you improve?

-Shannon didn't answer this question.
-Cameron said that he would make more things happen.
-Sam said a better back story.
-Leona said make it less cliche and needs to be more exciting.

Question 7 - Rate the film out of 5 stars, 5* being the best?

-Shannon didn't answer this question.
-Cameron said 4*.
-Sam said 4*.
-Leona said 3*.




This is the feeback from our teacher who watched and assesed our pitch.

From these results we can see that there are mixed views on our thriller idea and we know where we need to improve and how we can improve our idea to make it better.

Using the website WWW,dafont.com we chose 5 different types of typography for our thriller title. Each typography is distorted which suits our theme of a psychological thriller. The narrative of our thriller is also quite mysterious and these different types of typography that we chose suit this idea because they all look like titles which could be used in a psychological thriller. We chose the name of our thriller opening title sequence before we looked at the typography this is so that we knew what kind of typography we were looking for and if it related to the genre and the story line.




This screenshot above shows the poll that we created and it also reveals the most popular typography which was number four. This typography is a good choice because it reflects the story line of our thriller opening titles and therefore we will be planning on using this typography all throughout our opening title sequence. This typography suits our thriller genre as it looks like a type-writer font which is sometimes used in this thriller genre, it also reflects the narrative of our thriller.

Shot List for "Alter Ego"

Number	Location	Description	Action	Props	Actor
1	Outside the house	Shot of the outside of the house to show the location and to show that the character is a typically normal teenage girl.	Long shot and zoom	No props	Abbie
2	Bedroom	Shot of the magazines left on the floor of the bedroom with claw marks and blood hand prints on.	Tilt to show the magazines that are scattered around the room.	Magazines and fake blood	Abbie
3	Living room	Shot of the living room to show where the teenage girl is in the house and what she is doing. This shot will also show the character reading a magazine and the TV playing in the background.	Long shot and zoom in to the cover of the magazine she is reading to show the name of the production company.	Magazine and TV	Abbie
4	Living room	Shot of the teenage girl flicking through a magazine. Some titles might appear on some of the pages in the magazine.	Over the shoulder to show what sort of magazines she is reading as well as showing the titles that may appear.	Magazine	Abbie
5	Living room	The teenage girl hears loud noises coming from upstairs and in this shot she looks up at the ceiling because she knows that’s where the noises are coming from.	Close-up of her facial expressions as she is frightened.	No props	Abbie
6	Living room	The teenage girl walks towards the door which is connected to the stairs slowly this is because she is afraid of what could be upstairs and she doesn’t want it to know that she is in the house.	Long shot of the teenage girl walking to the door.	No props	Abbie
7	Living room	Shot of the teenage girl with her hand on the door getting ready to open it and face what is upstairs making the noises.	Extreme close up to show her actually opening the door.	No props	Abbie
8	Living room	Shot of the teenage girl opening the door and walking through to go up the stairs.	Mid shot to show her walking through the door.	No props	Abbie
9	Stairs	The teenage girl walks up the stairs slowly as she is afraid of what could be up there and she is trying to be as quiet as she can.	Tracking shot with some titles appearing on the stairs. Then pan to show the girl going up the next set of stairs	No props	Abbie
10	Stairs	Shot of the teenage girl stopping on the stairs and listening to the noises and she realises they are coming from her bedroom.	High angle to show that she feels weak and powerless.	No props	Abbie
11	Stairs	Shot of the teenage girl walking up to her bedroom door slowly as she is scared of what could be behind the door.	Mid shot showing that she is scared.	No props	Abbie
12	Stairs	Shot of the teenage girl opening her bedroom door slowly.	Extreme close up to show her actually opening the door.	No props	Abbie
13	Bedroom door	Shot of the title appearing on the bedroom door as the teenage girl opens it.	Close up of the title.	No props	Abbie
14	Bedroom	The teenage girl enters the room while opening the door slowly as she is scared of what could be in there.	Long shot of her slowly walking into her room.	No props	Abbie
15	Bedroom	The alter-ego appears on screen rocking back and forth. This makes the audience wonder who this character is and what is going on.	High angle shot to show the alter-ego rocking back and forth.	No props	Abbie
16	Bedroom	Shot of the teenage girl’s facial expression, this shot will also show the teenage girl gasping loudly.	Close up of the girl’s facial expressions.	No props	Abbie
17	Bedroom	Shot of the alter-ego looking up at the girl and revealing her identity.	Close-up to show the alter-egos face/ identity.	No props	Abbie
18	Bedroom	Shot of the alter-ego ending up looking at the camera.	Extreme close up of the alter-egos face.	No props	Abbie
19	Bedroom	Shot of the A3 poster on the wall.	Long shot	Poster	Abbie
20	Bedroom	The alter- ego ripping it off the wall.	Long shot	Poster	Abbie