How the Credits are Displayed in Different Thrillers

To understand fully the order in which the credits should appear and be presented, I looked at different thrillers and and how the credits were displayed in them.

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO

This opening sequence integrates the credits to the images displayed on screen. The font is all small to illustrate all the companies and cast involved in the film, but, the title is much bolder and bigger as well as this, it is written in different font to the rest of the credits. When credits such as 'casting by' are listed, the name of the person involved is written in slightly larger font than what contribution they made to the film. The credits in general are simple, written in small white font, and occasionally, two credits are listed together. 

GONE GIRL

                                      

In this film, the distribution and production company are listed before any action is shown on screen and are presented simply in grey/black, small font, towards the bottom of the screen. Another credit is listed in this way and edited quickly in between two bits of footage. The Ben Affleck is listed along side the action, in small white font at the bottom of the screen. Other credits are listed on a split screen or different background.

SILENCE OF THE LAMBS

In this film, the distribution company was credited first on a black screen using its logo, followed by the production company on a different background. The sequence went on to list Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins and Scott Glen who starred in the film in the middle of the screen in big, bold writing as the images began to be shown. The title was then displayed in the same way before more actors who featured in the film, with three being listed at the same time. The sequence then lists people such as the music composer, the production designer and the director of photography. It also mentions the book that the film was based on. The producers and director are listed last out of everyone who is credited in the opening sequence. 

THE SKIN I LIVE IN

The credits for this film begin in a traditional way, with the logos of the companies involved appearing on a black screen in silence before any action is shown. Other credits are then shown while there is something going on on the screen, appearing in big font across the middle of it. In this opening sequence, the starring cast was not listed, only the production and distribution companies, and finally the title. 

THE FUGITIVE

This opening sequence begins in a traditional way, listing all the production and distribution companies. The director is also listed as the credits show 'An  Andrew Davis Film'. The stars of the film are then listed in big, blue writing in the center of the screen, followed  by the title of the film. After this, the film begins and other members of the cast's names appear smaller, in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen when there are shots of the city. Occasionally, two people are listed together. Following this, the credits list who did the casting, costume and composer, etc. The co-producers are also listed together, as well as the editors being credited in the same way. The director is not listed as he was listed at the very start of the film and his name doesn't need to appear twice. 

How We Did the Make-Up

We chose to use make-up to create a bruise on the side of Hannah's face to emphasise the idea that she had been taken captive and abused. This was very difficult as we are not make-up artists, therefore, we didn't know how to do this and had to look it up. To create the bruise, we watched some tutorials on YouTube for help.

After watching the video, it became clear that the people in the video were professionals and so had good resources, however, we did not have these resources available and had to rely on what we could find., including fake blood, face paint and red lipstick/gloss. We tried our best to stick to similar colours to the ones in the videos and used similar techniques, such as, pinching a make-up wipe.

We got the inspiration for creating this bruise/black eye from thrillers such as Lilya-4-Eva where in the opening sequence, the girl is seen to have bruising and cuts on her face. We also took the idea from other thrillers in which the person held captive is hurt by the person who took them. 

Extra Film Day - Monday 23rd February

Our extra filming day was very successful. We managed to get the extra shots we needed, including close-ups of Hannah's face and tracking shots. We also re-did some of the shots we already had taken so that we had more of a variety to choose from.
    The only problem that we had when we were filming was the fact that the park was locked by the time we got there. We couldn't have filmed this scene any earlier as it would've been too light and therefore there would be a continuity error in our opening sequence. We had to work around the situation we were given, and so instead, we had Hannah struggling, shaking the gates, trying to open them and looking around her to see if there is another route.

Risk Assessment - Monday 23rd February

Many of the risks for this day will be the same as for our previous filming day as we are filming in the same location. For example, we still need to be aware that we are using a residential area and so there is likely to be cars on the road and moving in/out of drives as well as people walking past. The same procedure will be used as last time, be careful and stop filming if need, wait for the hazard to pass and then carry on.
    We will be filming later in the day because we need it to be dark as well as the fact that it is getting darker later. This means we will have to make ourselves visible to cars on the road to avoid an accident, however, if an accident does occur, we will need to tell someone and get help, dealing with it as quickly as possible.
    We are filming on a Monday evening and it is likely to be rush hour while we are doing this. We therefore need to be even more alert than normal as there will be more cars on the road, creating more traffic. We will need to make sure that we stay away from the areas where there will be the most traffic as this is where an accident is most likely to occur, however, if we need to go to these locations, we will be even more alert and make sure we asses the dangers before filming.

Order of the Credits

We have begun to edit our opening sequence, however, we needed to know what order the credits would appear as well as what credits we needed to include. In order to do this, we looked on Google to find the order. The order we found was:

1) Studio/ distribution company presents  - this is the distributor which can be either a studio or an independent distribution company and is the company that sells the film to a cinema. TV company, DVD company etc. To show this, you can use a logo,, standalone clip or simple writing.
2) Production company -  this may be an independent company, studio or a subsidiary
3) In association with ... production company - there may be more than one production company that played a part in the production of the film
4) Director or producer - the name of the director an/or producer are shown, with the director written first, followed by the producer
5) The stars - the names of the starring cast are also shown in the opening sequence - they are listed before the films title, which is equivalent to the names of these actors being written above the title on a poster - not all the stars will be listed here, probably only one
6) The title - this is written in big letters

These are the credits that we will be using in our opening sequence, however, companies will carry this list on to include the top an supporting cast, casting director, music composer, production designer, art director, set designer, costume designer, hair/make-up artist, sound recording, visual effects supervisor, editor, and director of photography.

We originally decided that the credits will be displayed in a traditional way, appearing before the film begins. However, once we began to edit, we decided that it would look better to integrate our credits into the action displayed on screen. We have decided that the credits The order that the credits will appear in is the same, we are just going to show them in a different way. We want to add a black screen with the credit on at certain points during the action shown on screen.

Plan for the Day - Monday 23rd February

We began to edit and after we had put together all the footage we had for a rough cut, we decided that we needed more shots. We have highlighted what we need to do on this day and have created a shot list as well as a schedule to help us.

MONDAY 23RD FEBRUARY
16:30 - Briefing - this is to ensure that everyone knows what needs to be done and when as well as what we will actually be doing
16:45 - Make-up and costumes - the cast will be put into their costumes and have their make-up done so that they look the part properly
17:00 - Film Scene 1 (for the girls part) - at the house
17:45 - Film Scene 2 (for the girls part) - down the road
18:15 - Film Scene 3 (for the girls part) - across the bridge
19:00 - Film Scene 4 (for the girls part) - at the park entrance
19:45 - Review shots (to check we have everything we needed)

Due to the fact that we need it to be dark when we film these shots, we will have to wait until the sun is down which although we can use the internet to estimate, we can never be certain. This may mean that we cannot stick to the timings we want, however, this doesn't mean that we will spend any less time filming than we plan because we still need to take the same amount of shots.

Rough Cut

We started editing our opening sequence and produced this rough cut from which we have been able to see where we need to make improvements.
    In this rough cut, there is only ambient sound such as the sounds of Hannah's heavy breathing, Bradley's footsteps and the cars going past. This could be effective in some areas, particularly to show Hannah's struggle, however, at other times, the sounds of the cars going past doesn't help to create the tension and mystery we want to create, although it does show that it is a normal neighbourhood. Instead of using this diegetic sound, we will be using music, we may use one that represents Hannah's fast heart beat as she is running in distress for the shots with her and one that sounds more mysterious for Bradley walking. We feel as though this will sound better and will enhance the experience of the opening sequence for the audience.
    We have also decided that we need to put more focus on Hannah throughout the opening sequence. This means that we need to get some more footage of her running down the road, across  the bridge and into the park. We think we should include more close ups of her face to show her facial expressions so the audience can see her distress, creating more empathy for the character. In the park, we will take some shots of her running, possibly stumbling, maybe even to make it seem as though someone is watching her through the bushes.