Planning: Treatment

A large mansion is seen, lightning flashes in the background. The veiw changes via tracking shot into the main hallway of the mansion. Man1 runs up the stairs holding an old victorian oil lamp. He is wearing a jacket and cloak. The camera tracks sideways now to show the words ‘LensPic Films’ written in glass. A flash of lightning creates a lensflare through the glass. The shot changes to show Man1 walk through a door, a close up shows his face in defined light as he turns to see what has happened when the sound of a door slamming echoes in the hallway. You see Man1s shadow on the wall with the name of the actor playing him. The shot changes to show Man2 sitting in an armchair with a glass of brandy, his face not shown. Man1 walks through the door behind him. Man1 crosses over the room dropping a box onto the small table beside Man2. Man1 and 2 disscuss an issue of the past before Man1 decides he’s had enough and leaves. Man2 stands, opens the box and looks inside. The fire flickers and the name of the actor playing Man2 is shown in the flame. He shuts the box and proceeds to leave the room. He is seen walking down a corridor, the candles on the wall going out behind him. A flash of lightning shows the shadow of a raven, another flash shows words reading ‘The Raven’. 

Research: Viewer Profile

This is the audience profile for 'The Raven'. The people that view this film, I believe to be, not horror enthusiasts, however I do believe that they would be the kind of people that would sit down to watch such type of film. On the other hand, I have looked at getting thriller and mystery enthusiasts interested by including aspects of Hitchcock and Agatha Christie.

Research: Taking Old Ideas

Psycho, Sixth Sense and The Woman in Black are three psychological thrillers that have been very successful. The gross income for these films ranged from $50 million to over $600 million. Other films of the same genre have almost always made a profit of over $30 million. This bodes well for our film because it would almost ensure a good profit for the film, meaning that a film studio would be more likely to invest in such a film. 

The basis for all these films is intrigue, mystery and the heartstopping moments of fright. This is what I want to replicate in this film. However I am changing the simple basic idea from being scared due to what is being seen and changing it to what is not seen.

I want to go back to the old days of horror films, such as ‘The Birds’ and the rest of the old Hitchcock Films. The idea that there is something that you are keeping from the audience. I put this ‘something’ in a box, and made this box mysterious and unknown, and that the audience will only see what is in the box at the end of the film. 

Planning: Inspiration

A long time ago I watched an episode of The Simpsons which I enjoyed and I wanted to find out more about the poem The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe.  Simpsons Link Click Here.  I read the poem and found some readings of it by famous actors Link 1 : Link 2

Research: Psychological Thriller Research on Scoop.it!

I did research and added it to Scoop.it! which is an internet based electronic pin board.

Click here to show link

Research: Art of the Title

You Only Live Twice

We see Bond lying dead and the camera zooms into the blood. A pattern comes onto the screen, resembling an oriental umbrella. Behind this pattern is a womens eye, This is then replaced by red and Sean Connery’s name comes up. Preceeding this we saw the director’s and producers’ names. These are the three most important names in the film. The next words shown are the name of the film, ‘You Only Live Twice’, and the fact that it was originally an Ian Fleming book. 

The title being early in the sequence shows us that it is a relatively old film, because it is not early in the sequence, being a false older film, or later in the sequences like most modern day films. The main title names for the films are shown on a background of women and a volcano. This is a classic Bond theme, as well as the sillouettes and music, sung by Nancy Sinatra. This intro is instantly recognisable as a Bond film. 

Mission Impossible

Flame and sparks. The first thing we see is a fuse. The classic theme that was behind the original Mission Impossible TV series has been brought into the film opening sequence. Short cut clips are shown in time to the music, the strong beat behind the all too recognizable peice of music is in harmony with the length of the cut clips. 

As the clips of the rest of the film are shown, clips of the fuse are intercut into it. Showing us that everything is leading to something explosive. We see the names of the agents, and the names of the actors. These names preceed the end of this short sequence showing the main title of the film. 

The scene cross disolves into a man sitting in a plane seat. Important names still coming in and out, while the camera pans out to show a flight attendant. She offers the man a film. He turns her down, then reconciders once she pushes. He proceeds to be given a mission, this adds a layer of mystery for the audience. Pushing us to watch more and finish the film. 

Ocean's 11

Oceans 11 has a classic title sequence. This time period was when new ways of creating CGI were being invented. So this is much of what editors used, as it was new and inventive. The style of this title brings to mind Vegas. This is also where much of the film takes place. The slot machines, bright colourful lights and pin board LED lights is a precurser to the rest of the film. The film has stars of the time, like Frank Sinatra, and as such, his is the first name we see. 

The music of this title sequence is in time with the piece. During the first part, we hear small pizzacato sounds as the next number comes onto the screen. Once the number has apeared we hear a long legato note, and parts of the main pice of music that the film is known for. 

The sequence shows many different aspects of the rest of the film, as well as showing us the names of the main people in the film. During the early films, the name of the film was shown at the very begining. Most modern films the title is at the end. This film was half way inbetween, and as such, the actors names are shown first, then the title. However there are also names of other important people after the title is shown. This sequence is used as a blurb to the film, just as much as it is used to show the names of the major contributors to the film. 

Research: Ideas

These two pieces of media above were the first two things I worked on. Not meant to be seen by anyone but myself, they were designed to give me inspiration.