Main task: creature design

For my creature I decided to take lots of time into this because I wanted to show only some small quick shots and not give so much of it away to make it a surprise for the viewers who watch the rest of the film.

I first decided to design my creature to appear more alien than so it linked in with the science fiction of the 80's that featured killer aliens from planets that seek out to kill anyone they set out to see. At first I decided to design my creature that had an arched back and spikes coming out it and had sharped claws as it crawled along the ground showing only a small section of the creature and raising the speculation on perhaps what it looks like. However the main downfall of this creature I first designed was the fact that it had a very complicated tail and in the end I decided not to use it as it would be too complex to use and I had so little time to complete it that I would not be able to film it.

My first creature design based on alien


The second design I tried to make do with was a more humanoid approach with a mixture of alien elements, slightly inspired by the Thing (1982). It would have the characters face but would be slightly deformed and fused to aliens spider-like body with a pair of arms sticking out vertically upwards so it can grab onto anyone it reached. again only small details of the creature would be shown I decided to select them carefully to make sure it wouldn't be to complicated to design them and not make them appear fake and not realistic enough that it would put fear in the audience watching it. I decided I would only show the 2 Arms, the small features of the head and maybe one of its legs in shot to strike fear and confusion into the audience when they see it. However again I saw another issue with this creature as well, this was because it would be hard trying to do this considering it is rather small in design and it would be hard to make it look like its slightly humanoid rather than alien, or how I could put it into my intro so again I decided against it and not use this creature in my task.

The creature I next decided to come up with based on the Thing.

Soon I began to struggle with what I could do and then I decided to a humanoid creature that I think could be a bit easier and scarier for the viewers for my intro. At first I struggled really what to take inspiration from as I did not know how I could make a humanoid creature scary enough without making it almost seem like a joke for the viewers and have them loose interest. Then I came up with an idea of taking on a creature inspired by a popular horror game I play. One of the creatures in the game is called the Mangle, it has a body completely made out of organs and looks incredibly deformed. I decided to base my creature around that and incredibly thought of a story line which I was struggling to come up with.


The Mangle- what I am basing my creature on

I knew before hand that if I did the creature straight away in its main form, similar to the photo of the Mangle, it would be too difficult to do. Instead I decided to base my creature on one of its earlier forms before it become a mess of human limbs. I decided instead of showing multiple parts of this monster, that I would only show one part of it, one of its arms that lunges out and grabs one of the scientists at the end of my intro before the name of the film appears on the screen. With this I happily decided that I would use one of my family members to be the evil creature that lunges out.

The final form of my creature in my film idea

















The form my creature will be in the intro along with the body part that will feature on screen.

Main task: Film Intro research

Finally we could start the planning for our film intro and I was very excited to get started on what I have to do to get a good mark for my filming project.

Firstly we had to commence some research on some film opening within the movie genre we are planning to base our film on. We were told to research 2 or 3 films and make notes about the basic conventions that appear in the opening. Firstly we watched the intro from the 2008 The Incredible Hulk and love actually from 2003 to get us an understanding of the basics. For my two selected films I decided to Alien (1979) and (Predator 1986).

 The Incredible Hulk notes on intro  



Love actually intro notes practice



In the Alien Opening it was very simple with a dark background of what is space with a faint spooky sounding howling noise of the wind. During this time the camera pans over to the right and a planet comes into view which is outlined and not shown in full detail. As this happens slow Diegetic music starts to play as the film name slowly appears on screen in small chunks and the casting and producers come on just below. Then it goes to the spaceship Nostromo were details appear on screen such as the name of the ship, number of crew members and what the ship is doing. All of this was to help engage the audience and feel as though they are part of the movie really enhancing its feel and making the viewer feel like they are part of the story.

Predator on the other hand takes a very different approach for the Sci-fi genre. Again similar to Alien it starts off with the dark background of space with non diegetic sound in the scene. Then when the title saying Predator appears loud dramatic Diegetic music plays to show that this creature can potentially be some sort of hunter and killer. Then the Diegetic music goes quiet as a spaceship appears and dispatches a part of the ship and enters earths orbit, during the course of this part of the intro quiet curious Non-Diegetic music plays as the camera shows the object flying down to earth. Next the scene cuts to a military base that at first is quiet and peaceful. Then the Non- Diegetic sound of a helicopter can be heard as it approaches the nearby base. When it comes into view the Iconic Predator theme tune starts to play as the actions on the base are shown. Clips from on boards of trucks and jeeps and side views of the helicopters landing and taking off give the viewers that sense of adrenaline and excitement about why they are here and what these men are all setting out to do. However the reason for this is because predator is Hybrid Genre combining action as well as Sci-fi giving it the rushing sense of excitement within the viewers unlike Alien that has a more sinister feel to its intro.

After this we were told to perform some in depth analysis of a film intro of our genre and make notes on the key features found within the opening as we watched it. I decided to go for the Alien intro since it was more suited around my style of film that I was going for and therefore would have been an easier option for me. Firstly after the film producer logos came up the title sequence began to start. As with most Sci-fi films the introduction begins behind the dark background of space and the main producers of the film appears on the screen, as this happens the camera starts to pan to the right of the screen where a planet comes into view that is shrouded by darkness. Next the title mentions that the film is by Ridley Scott after a few seconds later and I appears above the title casting. After this the name Tom Skerrit appears as does the first part of the latter A. After this name disappears the name Sigourney Weaver appears on screen below blow the titles before it too disappears. next the name Veronica Cartwright  appears as does the first part of the letter N in the films name. After a few seconds pause the first part of the letter L appears as does the name below it Harry Dean Stanton. After his name disappears the name John Hurt appears onto the screen for a few seconds before it too vanishes of screen. Next the first part of the letter E appears in the films name followed by the name Ian Holm appearing. Next the second part of the letter A appears on screen as does the Yaphat Kotto as Parker before it to disappears. After this the second part of the letter N appears as does the person who did the music Jerry Goldsmith. After this the outline of the planet comes into back into view as does the second part of the letter E and the name of the executive producer. After this the second part of the letter L comes into view completing the letter as the screen players and story writers are shown before they disappear too. Next the producers are shown on screen as the last part of the letter N comes on completing it. Lastly the name of the director comes onto the screen along with Ridley Scott after which the last part of the letter A appears and the title of the film "Alien" is completed. After this the words fade of the screen before the camera then focuses on a giant spaceship flying through space. Next the details about the spaceship appear in green lettering similar to that on a computer and gives it a backline to the story. Lastly in the intro the spaceship flies past the stationary camera before it cuts to the main film itself, in total the intro was 2 minutes 30 seconds. During the intro the sound of diegetic wind howling and slow eerie music plays as the titles and cast names appear on screen.

  A number of stills within the film opening.

 





First part of my film opening timeline with what happens within it










The second part of my film opening timeline


















For my Final part of my film opening research I had to think of a questionnaire to ask questions about my genre. For this I asked basic questions about what kind of things they would expect to fin within this chosen genre, such as "what would make a Sci-fi film scary" or "what kind of things would build up tense within a scene. I asked 2 friends and a family member about what they thought would be good for an intro of this genre.

All the candidates said they would like one that, is simple yet it dives itself straight into the story and gets the audience ready for what's coming. However they also said that they would like tense moments within the intro and potentially have a minor scare at the start to get the heart racing ready for the fast paced action and story of the main film. However there was diversity among them when I asked about what kind of music would be good with the scene. 2 said that slow, tense and almost quiet music would build up the best effect, whilst one said that potentially no music would be good, as the sounds of the scene will be eerie enough to replace that and get the audience even more nervous than with music that may not even fit in with this scene. Lastly there was division between what they thought would be the best way to use this film genre. Here they all had very different opinions. One thought that it should be slow calm and collective to give a firm introduction into the events of the films story, one said they would like it to be fast paced and filled with lots of action and suspense throughout whilst the last said, they would like it to be a mixture of both being fast in some areas and the slow the pace down at the very tense moments leading up to a dramatic point to improve the overall effect.

With this new guideline I am now able to plan how my intro will look and what techniques I can use to make it correctly.