Film Questionnaire - By Charlie

1. How old are you?

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2. What sex are you?

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3. How often do you go to the cinema every month?

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4. What genre do you most enjoy?

Thriller   Action   Comedy     Horror      Romance 

Other (please specify) ........................................ 

5. What is your favourite film and why?

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6. What features of horror/thriller films do you enjoy the most and why?

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Evaluation: 

From the questionnaire that we carried out, our results showed that  the majority of males aged between 16-17 enjoyed watching horror/thriller movies due to the 'rush' they get during the suspense and tension of the horror films, it creates an escape from their mundane everyday lives. We found that the majority of girls aged between 16-17 enjoyed a mix between thrillers and romantic  comedies, this also is due to the fact watching these sorts of films creates a sense of escapism from normality. The majority of the people we asked enjoyed horror films as they give them a sense of fear, they enjoy the feeling of being scared and being completely unaware of what is going to happen in the film. This information will now help us determine what features and conventions to include in our title sequence, to appeal to our set target audience. 

Treatment For Title Sequence Production - By Shondell

Treatment for “Parallel Minds” Production

Character Roles:

Cameron: George Smith (AKA Scar)

Lauren: Summer Anderson (AKA Screamer)

Shondelle: Anastasia Williams (AKA Envy)
Charlie: Rupert O’Hara (AKA Manic)

Extras: Psychiatrist

Genre: Psychological Thriller.

Pre Title: Cameron as the survivor of the events is being treated by a psychiatrist and is laying down on the chaise lounge.

Cameron says cliff-hanger speech before flashing to the title sequence next: “Its still affecting me up until this day, I never wanted to be here again, in this position, I knew we were always connected in some way but some ways more than others, and that was when it all started.”

Title Sequence: Pictures of characters in natural places i.e. the park having fun with a figure behind them wearing a mask. Signifies something is on their minds.

Actor names, production company, camera people appear in an unsettling text to foreshadow that the film will contain unsettling content.

The music played during the title sequence will be unsettling to also add to the atmosphere attempting to be portrayed. It will foreshadow the idea that this film will be unsettling with a horrific/thriller type theme.

Figure never appears behind photos of Cameron, hints that there is something different about him.

Plot: A group of friends that met in an mental institute many years ago, but is not revealed till later in the film are released and go about their normal way of lives having fun partying etc. Events start to happen involving the deaths of the characters one by one all linking to a figure wearing a mask before they all die. The audience is lead to believe initially that it is Cameron who is the killer as in the title sequence the figure never appears behind Cameron in the photos. The audience later finds out that it was in fact the characters committing suicide rather than being murdered by the mysterious figure wearing the mask, and that the figure wearing the mask was simply a hallucination before they died. The characters commit suicide as they were still suffering some long-term schizophrenic effects from being in the mental asylum years ago. This is only revealed towards the end of the film where Cameron is the survivor as he was the most mentally stable out of all of them, but goes to the psychiatrist as shown at the beginning of the film to seek help as he begins to feel as if he is falling that way. Cameron then shortly returns home and begins making tea with the kettle, the camera pans and the figure is standing right behind him, before the sound of a click happens and the screen cuts to black and the film ends and the credits start rolling.

Moodboard/Inspiration - By Lauren

In order to gain a better understanding of what our title sequence must include to fit into the genre prior to the production I thought it would be a good idea to create a mood board for inspiration. I have researched previous horror films and a collection of scary images that represent the genre, looking in more detail for films that are also physiological horrors alike the one we plan to create and what they include such as Paranormal Activity. Furthermore I also researched some images of parks in my local area of Crystal Palace as we plan to use a setting similar in our production. I now have a clearer understanding of what our film; title sequence will need to represent and the images we can recreate to portray our film as being a good horror.

Script - By Lauren

Parallel Minds

Script

Background noise fades in, black screen.

[George Smith lying down on chaise long, with blank expression]

Psychologist: George, or do I call you scar, which would you prefer?

[Silence from George]

Psychologist: How are you feeling today?

George: [Monotone] Better days.

[Silence]

Psychologist: So how-

George: [Interrupts loudly] do you know what I don’t like? People like you. Always pretending you care about the people you treat, but me and you both know that’s not the case, you just care about getting paid going out with your perfect friends and your perfect life, well I’ll tell you something. I had a perfect life… once. Before it happened.

[Flashback]

George: [Emotionally] You will never understand what I’ve been through, you will never be able to comprehend it, you will never in your right mind experience what I have, what I’ve seen, what I’ve lived through.

[Flashback]

George: [Sighs] It’s still affecting me up until this day, I never wanted to be here again, in this position, I knew we were always connected in some way, but some ways more than others, and that was when it all started.

Friends with Benefits title sequence analysis - By Lauren

Friends with Benefits is ideally a romantic comedy, this is shown to the audience as in the title sequence we see as what is portrayed to be a couple arguing as the male is late to meet him girlfriend in New York city. It’s shortly revealed that they are not in fact a couple together yet two separate couple who are meeting and both boyfriends were late. The main characters are Mila Kunis who is a stereotypical young women and Justin Timberlake who is also a stereotypical young man, there is no general gender preference showing that the movie is aimed at both sexes. The fact that both couple are arguing and furthermore both breaking up, initially sets a sympathetic mood yet this is quickly changed as both are acted in a comical way leading the audience to find it amusing rather than upsetting. This is also contrasts the scene being New York as it is often a city related with love and couple which is no longer the case. Also the joyful and upbeat music contrasts the fact that the couples are breaking up, continuing the happy emotions within the viewer. The lyrics played after both couples have officially breaking up say ‘I don’t believe in the power of love’ emphasising the fact that despite the recent events the movie is still a romance. The font used for the credits is slightly quirky yet bold capitals this suggest that it is a comedy and despite being in capitals still it appears informal.

Along Came Polly Title Sequence - By Shondell

This film is a romantic comedy. You can sense the romance from the title sequence as it is wedding themed, which tells the audience that someone is getting married, images of wedding cakes, and wedding cake figurines, also the images of lace on a dress etc. 
The pale pastel colours are quite feminine which suggests that the film is aimed at women, as they are also more interested in weddings as opposed to men. The music in the title sequence sounds happy and upbeat, which suggests that it's a happy/funny film and prepares the audience for what is to come. The fact that the writing is also all in lower case, including names and companies suggests that is quite an informal/comedic film. 

Scarface Title Sequence Analysis - By Cameron

The opening title sequence of this film begins with historical context from an event which happened in real life involving the forcing of thousands of Cubans to leave the country and head to America by Fidel Castro in the 80's many including criminals.

This conveys the idea that this foreshadows the film to be something about immigration and the struggle for identity of those who have move to America.

We can convey the idea that this film will possible have an aspect of the struggle for identity, as when the Cubans moved to America they had no citizenship there, and would have had to work their way up through work etc and would have been considered nothing due to the fact that they had a completely blank slate in their new country.

The music at the beginning of the title sequence suggests when explaining the historical context that it was a serious situation as the music appeared to be of a more serious note. As the title sequence progressed however the music changed into something more lively and almost contrasted the seriousness of the beginning of it. It conveyed the idea that the immigration of all the Cubans was almost a good thing as more positive music was used in those scenes.

We can convey the idea that this film will possibly be about a character literally starting at the bottom and working their way up through the ranks to achieve greatness after immigrating to America as this film suggests this.

Before the title sequence begins, universal pictures is the first thing shown signifying that it is the most important thing to be displayed to the viewers so they know who has produced the film. Following that, slightly further on through the sequence, the production name is shown signifying that this is also of up most importance, more that than of the actors themselves. Al Pacino is then the first actor name to be used signifying he plays the most important significant character in the film, and is then shortly followed by the name of the film he is in, displayed largely in capital letters to signify that the title of the film is important to be seen by the viewers.