When a Stranger Calls Opening (Analysis of Titles)

I used this clip from "When a Stranger Calls" to observe the sequence of the titles and used it as a reference when we made our opening.

For the opening of this film, when there is no action on screen the film makers have chosen to place large titles in the centre which we have also done in our film opening. Then throughout, there are smaller titles placed on the edge of the frame. For the film "When a Stranger Calls" the first large titles to be shown are the actors however in our piece the actors are not well known and we decided the director and screenplay credits were more important industry wise. Like this opening, we also have titles in the beginning part of the clip and then they stop to let the action ensue without any distractions.

Final Soundtrack

For our sequence, we wanted to have a soundtrack that would play throughout. Even if it was being dominated by other sound effects at different times, it was important for the sequence to flow, and sound would be an effective way to achieve that.

This is the soundtrack we decided to use, as it wasn't too loud at any point so that it would dominate visuals and other sound effects.

Final title font

We decided to use the Northwood High font for titles in our opening sequence.

We chose it because:

• It's easy to read
• Has a horror theme
• Suits the style of our opening sequence
• Has lowercase letters

Many of the horror fonts that we looked at had only capitalized letters which we felt wouldn't be as effective, as it wouldn't be as enigmatic as having the film title in all lowercase. Our chosen font also looks quite rough, with smudges and gaps in the 'ink' which we also thought suited our idea.

Final title order

After looking into opening titles of other film sequences we decided that this would be our final title order:

1. Distributor
2. Production Company
3. Director
4. Screenplay
5. Actor names
6. Music
7. Make-up
8. Costumes
9. Edited by
10. Special Effects
11. Set Decorator
12. Cinematography
13. Director of Photography
14. Art Direction

Moving Titles

As one of our introductory shot is a pan starting from a wall, we decided to have a title overlaying it, which would move with the wall when the pan occurred. This would be a clever way to integrate titles with our own shots.

To do this, we went online to find a tutorial as we weren't familiar with being able to do this on Premiere Pro. The video we found (seen below) was very useful and helped us portray the title as we wanted.

Seen below is our attempt at creating a moving title. It looks effective and will be used in the finished product. Also, the font isn't representative of the final font we will use, but is just placed there for now. 

Fixing Grainy Shots in After Effects

One problem that we experienced when we were taking our shots was the 'grainy' look that occurred in particularly dark shots such as the one below. We managed to fix this in most of our shots in our real shoot by using the lighting kit, however we still had the same problem where we weren't able to use the lights.

To fix the shots we added a Remove Grain effect to the footage in Adobe After Effects. We then adjusted the level of noise reduction and the number of passes to get the best result. Finally we replaced the original footage with the new edited shot in Premiere. Overall there is a noticeable difference in the quality of the shots and they look much better than before.

Before

After

Mise-en-scene of bedroom

The bedroom was always intended to look spooky, thus creating an eerie atmosphere that would appeal to the audience and add layers to the character. In this case, we wanted to portray the protagonist as disturbed, but not enough to make the audience believe she is crazy.

The drawings are inspired by conventional drawings from other films such as The Ring and Insidious, but are kept monochrome and look more thought out as our protagonist is much older and would be drawing more meaningful and evolved than what a ten year old would draw.





Other objects such as the teddy bear, plants and masks represent other layers to her, for example femininity and youth which also counteract with her dark side portrayed by the drawings towering over her.

Costume

The factors we took into account when deciding Violet's costume were:

• Plainness - Not to distract or confuse the audience.
• Realism - Something Violet would actually wear while reading in bed.
• Practical - To not get in the way of any rapid movement Violet may need to do.

We decided this would be the best thing for Raagavi to wear as Violet as we feel it achieves everything above.

Improving the Lighting

On the set of our real shoot, we experimented with different light set ups to get the effect that we wanted.  In the end we decided on using two lights for most of our shots, one with a blue filter to create a blue tint and a second light to fill and reduce shadows. We mainly had to focus on the lighting in the bedroom, because we wanted it to look particularly dark and mysterious. It took us a while to get the right position to set them up but eventually we managed to get the correct angle. For some of the shots such as the one from outside the house looking into the window, we decided that the natural lighting inside the house would look effective on its own and that we didn't need to use the lights.

Overall the lights helped a lot, because they allowed us to get good quality shots which weren't grainy like in our previous shoots, but still created a dark horror atmosphere. However to improve our shots even more we will still need to use grading in post production. 

We gained a lot of inspiration for our lighting effects from a tutorial on YouTube showing how to illuminate an actor in the dark using just one light, and many ways to enhance the look. We were getting a lot of shadows on the walls with one light however so we decided to add in another. 

In some of our shots we wanted to make it seem like the room is being lit by a lamp in the corner with no other lighting, such as the shot where Violet looks through her bedroom window. To achieve this we set up a light next to the lamp, set the brightness quite low and shone it in the actor's direction. The result was the impression of a weak light source, but it was still quite dark around the room.

Improve Lighting

To get some ideas for the lighting in our opening sequence we looked at some video tutorials on Youtube.

This one was quite helpful as it demonstrated some lighting effects that can be used in the dark and with just one light. It can easily be achieved with the materials we have and is also effective. A light was shone on a table to create a softer light which was reflected on the actor's face, and interesting effects were created by using different materials on the surface of the table.

In our practice shoot we experienced some issues with lighting as we didn't have a lighting kit and couldn't create the low key effect that we wanted, however for our real shoot we are planning to use a light and blue filter to achieve a similar effect as in the video with a blue tint.

Things to Reshoot on our Back-Up Shoot

We made a list of things we felt needed to be re-shot at our back up shoot. * marks the important ones

• *Slow pan up in bed while reading then stopping the pan whilst hearing the knock and looking at the clock (all in one shot)
• *The outside of the house with the curtains OPEN
• V*oyeuristic walking down the stairs with the lights on- do not pan
• *Voyeuristic kitchen master- make sure no cars are passing by
• Cut to Violet putting the water back in the fridge
• *Driveway- make sure there are no lights are in other houses/car out of view
• 5-10 seconds of looking into the spy hole
• *End conversation without the blue light
• Run into closet without the big lights
• Establishing shot of house should change into POV shot

Animatic

We created an animatic of our film which is like an animated storyboard. On our practice shoot we took stills of each shot and then made it into an animatic (shown below).

Practice Shoot

We used a practice shoot before our main shoot to be able to see roughly how our opening sequence would play out. Also, this way, we would be more confident in our main shoot as we have already tried using the camera.

For our practice shoot we brought along our storyboard and took stills of the images we had drawn in the storyboard. As it was our first shoot we were unable to get the lighting exactly how we wanted it in our final piece, however we got the angles and framing correct. When we put the stills into the animatic, we were able to see how to time each shot effectively and so that it would last up until the required amount of time.

From the practice shoot to our final shoot we have changed some key aspects. For example, we were originally going to have Violet sleeping and then waking up to a knocking sound but after looking at it practically we decided it would be better to have her reading and hearing the knock. This saved some time. We also saved time by cutting down the kitchen scene as it was too long and would lose the reader's interest. In the end, we changed the phone call in the closet to Violet reaching Dale's voice mail as it would make more sense since he is at night shift.

Our biggest problem that we faced in the practice shoot was lighting. Many of our shots were grainy and it was hard to see. We wanted there to be a blue-ish hue to our shots which we couldn't achieve in our practice shoot. We sorted this out by using a lighting kit for our main shoot. Our footage from the real shoot is of a lot more quality.

Improved Shot List

This is the final shot list that we decided on as a group.

1.       MS Drawing cut to

2.       CU Drawing fade to black

3.       Establishing room shot without showing drawing backdrop

4.       MCU Fade from black – Violet wakes up panting

5.       LS from end of bed revealing her drawings behind her

6.       CU Alarm clock – 3:07am and Violet getting out of bed

7.       CU Violet getting into shot of window

8.       XLS Empty driveway from across the street

9.       CU Girl reacting confused and moving back out of shot

10.       MLS Voyeuristic from outside of staircase window – Violet walking downstairs

11.   LS from staircase to kitchen of Violet walking into kitchen

12.   MLS Voyeuristic from outside of kitchen window (LS too)

13.   MS side-shot track upwards - putting water filter jug back in the fridge when knocks are heard again.

14.   CU of picking up knife

15.   MS OTS Violet slowly going towards door

16.   CU of Violet’s expression

17.   MS Violet going to look through spyhole

18.   Fish-eye lens empty drive way

19.   Fish-eye lens Violet’s eye frantically looking around

20.   MS Violet looking through spyhole when 3 really loud knocks occur. Violet jumps back extremely scared and drops knife, then turns to her right and runs towards staircase

21.   MLS Voyeuristic shot (setup from 9) Violet hurryingly running up stairs

22.   MS to LS Going in bedroom, picking up phone and closing herself in the closet

23.   CU Black screen with her heavy breathing.  She presses on her phone making it light up her face. She calls her dad and pus the phone to her ear. He answers ‘do you know…’ and she replies… She suddenly stops and looks ahead with terror in her eyes. She turns the phone around so…

24.   CU … it illuminates the closet door. You hear faint scratching and 3 faint knocks.

25. Violet’s terrified expression

Rough Shot List

This is what we have as a starting shot list.

1.       MS Drawing cut to

2.       CU Drawing fade to black

3.       MCU Fade from black – Violet wakes up panting

4.   LS from end of bed revealing her drawings behind her

5.       CU Alarm clock – 3:07am

6.       CU Violet getting into shot of window

7.       XLS Empty driveway from across the street

8.       CU Girl reacting confused

9.       MLS Voyeuristic from outside of staircase window

10.   LS from staircase to kitchen

11.   MLS Voyeuristic from outside of kitchen window

12.   MS side-shot putting water filter jug back in the fridge when knocks are heard again.

13.   CU of picking up knife

14.   MS Violet slowly going towards door

15.   CU of Violet’s expression

16.   MS Violet going to look through spyhole

17.   Fish-eye lens empty drive way

18.   Fish-eye lens Violet’s eye frantically looking around

19.   MS Violet looking through spyhole when 3 really loud knocks occur. Violet jumps back extremely scared and drops knife, then turns to her right and runs towards staircase

20.   MLS Voyeuristic shot (setup from 9)  Violet hurryingly running up stairs

21.   MS to LS Going in bedroom, picking up phone and closing herself in the closet

22.   CU Black screen with her heavy breathing.  She presses on her phone making it light up her face. She calls her dad and pus the phone to her ear. He answers ‘do you know…’ and she replies… She suddenly stops and looks ahead with terror in her eyes. She turns the phone around so…

23.   CU … it illuminates the closet door. You hear faint scratching and 3 faint knocks.

Feedback on Presentation

After giving the presentation, our teacher gave us our feedback. We had a light system: green light meant we were good to go, amber light meant it is almost ready but a few changes need to be made and red light meant there were a lot of problems that needed fixing. Our group received a green light with certain conditions which was pleasing. From our feedback session this is what we gathered:

What we did well	What we need to improve on
·         Excellent research on target and secondary audience. ·         Excellent research on institutions. ·         Solid research on representation of social groups and characters. ·         Good analysis on how we want to attract TA through opening sequence. ·         Good use of film making techniques and technologies.	·         Improve intro conversation between doctor and dad so not too much is revealed and there is a loss of enigma. ·         Develop how we want to represent the setting. ·         Include more characters on film as a whole. (false villains etc) ·         Think about music more and how we intend to use it.

Updated Script

From our feedback, we were told that the conversation between the doctor and dad at the beginning reveals too much of the narrative. To fix this, we would need to change the conversation to being simply between Violet and Dale. This would allow the audience to be introduced to characters and narrative without revealing important information.

*As the distribution credits are shown, a conversation between two people can be heard. No background music just their voices. This conversation is between Violet and Dale.*

Violet: Dad where are you it's getting late.

Dad: I got a later shift at work so I'll be home early in the morning, don't wait up.

Violet: Ughhhhhhh you always do this!

Dad: I promise you I'll make up for it, Violet, but I really have to go now I'll see you in the morning.

Violet: Dad pleas- *phone hangs up*

*Opening starts with a girl waking up from her bed, panting heavily. Her bedroom wall is covered in distressing drawings of creatures of sorts. There are 3 knocks on the door causing her to jerk her head. As she looks towards the alarm clock she sees that it is very late, 2am. Warily she gets up and peeks through the window to see the driveway and no one is there. As she is up, she decides to go downstairs and get a glass of water. Whilst doing this, she hears the 3 knocks again. They're louder this time. In fright, she grabs a knife from the kitchen and prepares herself to peer through the peep hole. The 3 knocks sound again, louder and more violent. Just a split second after the 3rd knock, she looks through expecting something/someone terrifying to be there but is greeted by an empty driveway and a seemingly calm night. Feeling more frightened than ever, she runs upstairs and hides in her closet from where she phones her dad. He picks up after a few rings.*

Dad: (voice through the phone) Violet do you know wha ti-
Girl: (breathing heavily and speaking in a rushed manner but in a whisper) Dad, I need you to come home right now. I think someone's trying to get in. I don't know. Please just come, I-

*Suddenly her head turns towards the closet door and she hears faint scratching. Her dad can be heard yelling through the phone, asking her questions. Then faintly but clearly the 3 knocks sound on the closet door. The title "hurting" appears.*

Hurting Presentation Slideshow

This was our film pitch that went with our handouts to the class and our teachers. Here we explained why we chose to do a horror film and how we plan to go about it. It also includes examples of other films we used as inspirations.

Hurting from latymermedia

Handout

One of our tasks was to create a handout to give to our class and teachers to explain our film in more depth and how we came to make certain decisions about the film. This is accompanied by a presentation that will go into the summarised points on the sheet in depth. This is the first side of the handout.

This is the second side of the handout:

Sound

SOUND

We want the music in our opening to be eerie and to leave people "on the edge of their seats". These are some of the films that used music excellently to create a scary atmosphere.

Psycho- high pitched string instruments like in the shower scene. Maybe not exactly as intense as the violin is at the beginning but we could possibly go for the lower pitch type of violin sound that is at the end of the clip.

Friday the 13th- a killer after an innocent victim. Whenever the killer approaches very unnerving music is playing. Click here to hear a sample. This could be used as the other wordly creature/ghost/killer gets into the house or when the protagonist is running. 

Halloween- Also has the plot of a mad killer. However in this the music when he approaches is an unsettling 3 note piano melody plays in the background (composed by Alan Howarth). Click here to listen to it. We could maintain an eerie melody/lullaby like music piece through out some of the opening scene.

We're also planning to make a lot of use of simply silence. The lack of sound will make the audience really zone into each specific detail on screen furthermore it will be a lot creepier and leave them tense. The beginning of this track named "An Eerie Silence" would work well with our clip as it gives this build up of expectation. Click here to listen to it.

Here is a list of other types of sound/music that would fit in well with our opening:

Mysterious Slowness - click here to listen to it. We can use this for when the conversation between the dad and the doctor is happening at the beginning.


We can use the sound at 00:08 to 00:14 for when Violet looks into the peep-hole to discover nothing on the other side.

As our clip is based around the 'knock' sound to create the illusion of an entity trying to get the girl without showing the entity itself, our clip must focus on that sound without losing it with using many non-diegetic sounds. For this reason, we will try and use very small amounts of non-diegetic sounds as possible.

The sound at 00:25 can be used when the title is shown at the end.

We had to ensure the music was royalty free music, so there was no copyright on the music. That way there would be no piracy involved. The links to music clips we have provided are all from copyright free sites such as Jamendo. Some YouTubers also uploaded their own sounds are made it clear in their video that they do not mind other people using their sounds.