Our Decision
We came to a final decision that if we were to choose a film production company logo to display at the beginning of our film opening, then the best option would be the Intrepid Pictures introduction. This was the most suitable option with the atmosphere being dark and full of suspense; which fits in well with the theme if our opening.
Intrepid Pictures is a film production company founded in 2004 by Trevor Macy and Marc Evans. It's specialised film genres are horror and action, making it the perfect fit for our film opening. Most of the films produced by Intrepid Pictures have been targeted at young adults which is our target audience.
The production company logo itself is very appropriate for our film opening making it all that more perfect. It begins with a dark red background featuring a dark sky filled with lighting and assuming thunder. The lightning is made clear with it being yellow contrasting with the dark surrounding colours. This is then followed with a black silhouette of a man slowly raising his arms out to the side. The wind is reflected through the chaotic movement of the man's jacket showing the conditions to be similar to that of a storm. The words 'intrepid pictures' are then displayed in a red and scratched font.
The music used throughout logo is full of suspense as it also features the sound of rumbling thunder towards the beginning of the logo as well. All the accompaniment vanishes at the end as a flash concludes the opening. The music is rather threatening which adds to its scare factor.
Whilst deciding what characters to include within our film opening we had to make the decision as to what age the protagonist should be, we then questioned why the villains in horror movies are nearly always children or targeting children. We decided to look at some prime examples of children in horror and why the character was a success at portraying horror.
Horror movie villains used to just be typical monsters, vampires and ghosts etc until the idea of children portraying the villains came in, the direction allows evil to come from an unlikely source, especially with them looking so innocent.
Esther Coleman- From Orphan (2009)
Poses as a nine year old Russian orphan when in actual fact she's a thirty-three year old woman from Estonia named Leena Klammer.
Manipulative and deceptive.
Her hobbies include seducing her adoptive father and killing her adopted families.
Samara Morgan - From The Ring (2002)
Samara was pushed down a well by her adoptive mother and died seven days later which created a cursed videotape to portray the horrors of her life.
Her powers include her being able to appear as a ghost, water manipulation, body possession and spider walking.
An addition to her character is that she is hydrophobic, meaning the fear of water.
Rhoda Penmark - From The Bad Seed (1956)
She is a sociopathic, eight year old girl who has evil tendencies that are genetically inherited.
She appears as a bright and talented con artist through coming across as a perfect angel to made of the adults she meets
However, children can see beyond her 'perfect angel' act and see who she really is and therefore avoid her.
Toshio Saeki - From Ju-On: The Grudge (2002)
After Toshio witnesses the murder of his mother he is drowned in the bathtub which results in him becoming a ghost that goes on to haunt and torture many.
Often seen without clothing and as chalk-white as his mother, in addition, Toshio was the only ghost that haunted his victims instead of killing them.
Toshio is capable of controlling anyone claimed by the curse under his control.
Danny Torrance - From The Shining(1980)
Danny has the 'shining' which allows him to read people's mind and speak with others that have the 'shining' ability as well, making him a target of the hotel.
He has the ability to see past, present and future events through his 'guide' - Tony.
As he grows up he uses his ability to set out a career with the nickname 'Doctor Sleep'.
Carol Anne Freeling - From Poltergeist(1982)
Being the youngest child of three she appears to be very wise beyond her years.
Her ability to know what is happening before anyone else around her does.
She is presented as very innocent before and after her abduction and battle for her soul that would rage on for the next six years of her life.
Regan MacNeil - From The Exorcist(1973)
The twelve year old is caught between her mother's grueling working schedule and the fact that her parents are in the process of a messy divorce.
She is described as shy and devoted to her mother (making clay animas as gifts for her and a giving her a rose each morning)
Regan is eventually revealed to have psychic healing powers, which is why the demon attacked her previously.
Damien Thorn - From The Omen(1976)
He is the Antichrist and the son of the Devil. However, it was only around the age of 5 when people noticed something strange about him. (When his nanny hung herself at his birthday party claiming to have done it for him).
Damien was an orphan that was brought into a family of politics as a replacement for their still born baby although they were not aware of his true heritage.
Unaware of his own powers, he unwillingly kills the majority of his victims which is an unusual trait for a child in a horror film.
Grady Twins - From The Shining(1980)
Their fairly neutral facial expressions help to portray their meaning in the film- to scare.
Don't have a huge role to play in the film, however they are very rememberable
Identical everything from head to toe- this adds to the horror of the scene / identical twins are fairly rare and they don't tend to dress the same.
Isaac Chroner - From Children of the Corn(1984)
Isaac was a teen preacher, leader of the fanatical teen cult called 'The Children of the Corn'.
He's a human representative of the demon god spirit
He wears a big black hat, not usually worn by a child which suggests he's wise beyond his age.
We decided to do a bit of background research on popular villains in horror films and find out exactly why they're popular. This way we will be able to come up with a few ideas as to what type of villain we should include within our film (opening).
Here is a list of some of the most popular villains in films of the horror genre:
The Shark (Bruce)
From Jaws - 1975
Bruce was a large man-eating great white shark that attacked and terrorized beach-goers on a fictional New England summer resort town, Amity Island. The fact Bruce didn't look like an ordinary great white shark added to the horror of the film as the shark was instead shown as a mutated beast. Nevertheless, the image and view of sharks changed rapidly after the first of the three Jaws films. People became more nervous and terrified of sharks after watching the actions by Bruce, that even influenced people to mention great white sharks amongst their worst fears. Charles Lee Ray
From Child's Play - 1988
Charles Lee Ray, the human form of Chucky, is a fictional character seen as one of the most iconic horror movie villains of all time. Chucky is a doll that became possessed by the means of voodoo magic powered by the serial killer and it's human form, Charles Lee Ray. Even as a doll, Chucky had many human qualities; notable qualities he had were that he could bleed, procreate and even had organs inside of him compared to other dolls that are filled with stuffing and wiring etc.
I believe that one of the main reasons Chucky was such an iconic character was that dolls have always been unnerving but it developed a real scare factor around dolls that is on-going, even now, 27 years after the first film instalment.
Ghostface
From Scream - 1996
Ghostface is a fictional character also known as one of the most iconic villains, the character was voiced by the same actor regardless of the person behind the mask which makes it even more effective. The inspiration behind the mask is from the famous painting by Edvard Munch. The character is used to disguise and mask the true identities of each antagonist of each film. Something that adds to the greatness of this character is the fact it stays and even becomes more scarier as more and more instalments are added to the film series. What tends to happen with other characters is that they don't have the same effect as they did in their first appearance.
Jigsaw
From Saw - 2004
Jigsaw is a fictional character that differs from other movie villains as he didn't directly kill his victims yet instead he relies on various lethal traps placed on his victims. As it's so unique, it became refreshing for the audience to witness a different kind of villain. One of the most notable features of this particular character is his frequent use of the words 'Game Over'.
Pinhead
From Hellraiser - 1987
Pinhead is a fictional character known to be such an iconic movie villain, he is one of the leaders of the Cenobites, humans turned creatures that travel to earth through a puzzle box called the 'Lament Configuration' on a mission to harvest human souls. The character's appearance kick started a whole new depiction for horror movie villains as Pinhead was quiet, articulate and intelligent; very different to the general stereotypical villains before 1987.
Norman Bates
From Psycho - 1960
Norman Bates is a fictional character in which suffered emotional abuse as a child from his mother; this resulted in Bates murdering his mother and her lover. His character was inspired and loosely based on the real-life murderer Ed Gein. Bates is presented as mid-20s, tall, slender, handsome, 'boy next door' type which added to the shock when his dark side is shown. One of his most iconic actions is when he brutally stabbed the female lead in Psycho with a kitchen knife as she was in the shower, whilst dressed as his dead mother. The fact he looks like a normal and ordinary man in his 20s yet is actually a serial killer is a very effective and notable feature of the film.
Hannibal Lecter
From The Silence of Lambs - 1991
Hannibal Lecter is known as one of the most iconic movie villains of all time purely because of his characteristics that make him differ from the stereotypes. Lecter is a forensic psychiatrist and cannibalistic serial killer in which does not fit in any known psychological profile but is referred to as a pure sociopath at times. Not only because of his decision to consume his victims rather than dispose them, he's a character that's too intriguing to watch and just forget about with his charisma and intelligence adding to the mysteriousness surrounding his character.
Freddy Krueger
From Nightmare on Elm Street -1984
Freddy Krueger is a burnt serial killer who uses a glove armed with razors to torture and murder his victims in their dreams, resulting in the death in reality as well. He's a powerful and easily recognisable character with normal human vulnerabilities when in the real world. Krueger is a vengeful ghost with a memorable look; the red and green striped jumper, burned a disfigured face and the iconic metal glove armed with razors. His character represents subconscious fears through his actions throughout all of the film series.
Here are a few ideas we had when brainstorming what we want our character to look and act like. We had to take under consideration that we would eventually have to find someone to fit our requirements so our ideas had to be within reason. This is what we came up with:
Age
Our ideal character would be the playing age of teens, between 15 and 17 as they'd be both mature whilst their innocence would still be portrayed clearly.
Gender
We decided that having a female protagonist would be most suitable for our chosen storyline.
Hair
Our original thoughts were that our character should have long hair of any colour but after some deliberation we decided that they should have long dark hair.
Height
We would want our character to be around the average height of a 16 year old to further portray the character. This way her age would be fairly recognisable.
Features of personality
Innocent
Confused
Depressed
Uncontrollable
Anxious
Additional requirements
Black pupils - will use eye contacts for this feature.
Inspiration
Our ideas were inspired by a selection of characters from not only horror films but ones of other genres as well. Here are some of the characters that inspired us:
Samara Morgan (The Ring):
The requirement of our character having long hair was inspired by that of Samara Morgan. Her long hair made her more mysterious.
Toshio Saeki (Ju-On, The Grudge):
The requirement for our character having black pupils was partially inspired by this character as it adds that all important horrifying side effect.
Tumblr
Looking for inspiration through creepy-themed tumblr pages we came across this image. This is a similar look as we thought our character should have but with long dark hair, not white. This image inspired us to consider this kind of make-up both white and black colours.
Once we gathered an idea of what we wanted our character to look like we had to try and find someone willing to portray the character. We selected and contacted five different people in which fitted our criteria and then decided as a group who we thought would do the best job and come across as the most convincing. Here are the five people we narrowed our decision down to:
Our Final Decision
To make our final decision as to who to cast in our film opening we took under consideration whether or not they would be reliable and be willing to spend some of their free time filming with us. In addition we ended up choosing the person we thought would do the best job as being the character we wanted to include. We chose Silvia Presente.
Pros and Cons of a Monster Horror:
The sub-genre of monster horror is open to interpretation, with different themes that can be used e.g.: zombies, vampires, werewolves etc... The good things about having a monster horror film is it is clear from the start what side are the protagonists and what side are the antagonists. Also with this sub-genre there is a broad selection of ideas that can be used when making the film as there are different beings that can be focused in on. Also the camera time that you see a werewolf for in a film may only be a split-second and this means that the acting is kept to a minimum.
The disadvantages of using this sub-genre are that there will likely be complications as to getting a suitable location e.g.: in the opening scene of 28 Days Later, Central London is used and as year 12 media students we would be unable to shut down several streets in Central London to get any footage from.
Another disadvantage is that the costumes used can either look effective or silly and this can change the film from being a horror to being a comedy if the make-up and costume looks as though it was done in 5 minutes. To make the costumes look authentic we would need to spend a lot of time working on make-up if we did vampires or zombies and time producing an effective mask that may only be shown for a split-second if we did a werewolf film.
The opening of a film is the most important part of it as it determines whether or not the audience go on to watch the entire film. At the beginning of every large scale film, the titles of studios and production companies that contributed with funding and media distribution are presented. This is not only a form of advertisement but also a sense of recognition.
I have decided to evaluate the titles from a variety of well-known production companies. These logos could potentially be use at the beginning of our film opening as an introduction credit. I have evaluated the relevance of each title and whether or not they are suitable for our chosen film genre, which is horror. Universal
Universal Pictures is an American film production company owned by Comcast. This particular title was introduced in 1997 and was used up until 2012 when a 100th anniversary edition replaced it. It features the name 'universal' in gold and white lettering along with an image of the globe with light emerging around it. The background is black with a few white dots, representing stars. The whole concept is supposed to portray the universe, hence the name.
Pros:
Universal have history of working alongside many successful horror films so will not be new to them.
They are known to have a variety of adapted titles depending on the film being played so there's a possibility one of their many variations could fit with our particular film opening.
Cons:
The music used throughout the introduction logo is a fanfare making the atmosphere bright and happy which wouldn't suit the theme of our horror film opening.
In addition, the Universal Pictures title has a lot of different variations due to the company being 103 years old. Here is a small video showing only some of the variations:
Walt Disney Walt Disney Pictures is an American film production company owned by The Walt Disney Company. The fantasy castle title was introduced in 1985 as before hand they began each film with 'Walt Disney Presents...' It features a white sleeping beauty castle against a generally blue background, made out to be a starry sky. The studio's name is displayed in Waltograph typeface.
The sound used in the introduction is from Pinocchio and is called "When You Wish Upon A Star". Since the release of 'The Muppets' in 2011, both 'Walt' and 'Pictures' were dropped from the title.
Pros:
Walt Disney Pictures is extremely successful so it will be easily recognisable
Cons:
Disney is known to focus on animated children films / child friendly films- not horror.
The music and the image of the castle shown does not fit well with out film opening.
Warner Bros
Warner Bros Pictures is an American film production company, with it being one of the major production companies out there it produces a vast amount of films of a variety of genres. The Warner Bros title is famously known to have kept its shield as its basic premise but refined the image over time. With it sometimes introducing custom titles to reflect the theme of a particular film.
I found a wonderful article listing over 200 variations of the warner bros title:
http://annyas.com/screenshots/warner-bros-logo/
The title displayed above was introduced to screens in 2004 starting with the film 'Troy' and is still being used now. It's a shield floating in the clouds stamped with the initials WB, over time the the font has changed ever so slightly and also the colour of both the shield and clouds too. In 2011, they added the 'A TimeWarner Company' below the shield.
I chose to include an example of where Warner Bros slightly alter their title depending on the theme of the film they're introducing. This logo was used in the beginning of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One(2010). As you can see the idea of the title (the clouds and initials) hasn't changed but with the use of different colours it works really well with its designated film.
Pros:
Again, they are known to have a variety of titles depending on the film being played so there's a possibility one of the variations could fit with our particular film opening (e.g. the Harry Potter example above).
Warner Bros is very successful thus easily recognisable, which is a bonus.
Cons:
They have connotations to comedies such as Looney Tunes
Warner Bros have been worked with many horror films so it may seem to ordinary and expected.
TriStar
TriStar Pictures is an American film production company owned by Sony. The particular title displayed above was introduced in 2015, it's very similar to the variations before with there being clouds in the background(similar to Warner Bros) with a light shining to show daylight, in addition a pegasus runs across the clouds standing on its hind legs with its wings spread out. In golden font, 'TRISTAR' appears above the pegasus with 'a Sony Company' written underneath.
The accompaniment used to aid the title was composed by a jazz musician in 1984 but has since been remixed in both 1993 and again in 1998.
Pros:
Natural lighting can easily be faded into opening scenes.
Cons:
Lack popularity and as much recognition as other companies
Paramount
Paramount Pictures is an American film production company, also part of the 'big-six'. The mountain has been the company's title since it's creation making it the oldest surviving Hollywood film title. Although the title idea has stayed the same, a few little changes have been made over the years. The stars around the word 'Paramount' have a meaning, there are 24 each representing the 24 stars signed to the company at the time.
Pros:
Is easily identified and can be faded well into a number of opening scenes or frames.
Cons:
The use of clouds and stars are too optimistic to be followed by a psychologically challenging horror sequence.
MGM (Metro Goldwyn Mayer)
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer one of American's oldest film production companies, and one of the greatest. Since the company began, seven different lions have been used to star in the title; Slats, Jackie, Telly, Tanner, George and Leo. Leo has been used in the title for the past 58 years and counting.
The title consists of a black background with a flicker of light where the image shown zooms out to reveal the pupil of a lion's eye. Then the lion is shown surrounded by ribboning, a mask and the words 'trade mark'. The company name then appears above the ribbon and whilst this happens, the lion roars.
The sound is very simple as whooshes and the sound of a running film projector are used at the beginning, and then the lion's first roar is heard which mutes the background sound. After the second roar an extra growling sound is added. Pros:
Warner Bros is also very successful thus easily recognisable, which is a bonus.
Cons:
The lions roar cannot easily be faded into a non diegetic soundtrack.
Lionsgate
Lionsgate is the most successful film production company that's not based in Los Angeles. It was established in 1977 and has since involved itself in a variety of films of all different genres. The title has changed a lot over time, the one above was introduced in 2005. It involves a short camera journey going through a key hole and opening the doors to show the word 'Lionsgate' appear surrounded by red clouds that seem to represent fire.
A majestic fanfare taken from one of the Batman themes is used for the sound of most Lionsgate films. However, the horror version has the sounds of doors creaking etc. With the doors and gears being rusted and with the sound being scary and spooky it creates a wonderful horror movie effect. On rare occasions, the sound is silent and instead the film's opening music is the only sound heard.
Pros:
Again, they are known to have a variety of titles depending on the film being played so there's a possibility one of the variations could fit with our particular film opening.
This film production company is very successful and therefore withholds a great reputation, so this could help our film opening to reach a wider audience.
Cons:
The red and darkness of the surrounding clouds are difficult to fade or cut to natural scene in outside locations, seems odd.
Dreamworks Animation Dream Works Pictures is an American film production company established in 1994. The title features a boy sitting on a crescent moon, while fishing. The music accompanying the title is not the type to be use for a horror film. Also, the different coloured font helps to create a childish theme to it. In addition it's based on animation films, not horror films so we wouldn't be able to use it anyway. Pros:
Easily recognisable, and uses sound in the back ground to gain audience attention.
Cons:
DreamWorks is an American animation film company - our film opening isn't animated.
Very childish, more for prepubescent youths which are not our intended audience.
Columbia
Columbia Pictures is an American film production company owned by Sony. With it also being part of the 'big-six' production companies it produces a huge variety of films of different genres. The title is of a woman carrying a torch with the American flag wrapped around her. Again, the title has been refined throughout the years. The current title (above) was created in 1992. Pros:
The background of the clouds can easily be faded into our opening scene which is set in outside locations, as the lighting is similar.
Cons:
Much like paramount, seems too hopeful with the use of a torch.
Intrepid Pictures
Intrepid Pictures is a fairly new film production company, founded in 2004. The title features a man standing facing what seems to be a red sky filled with lightening, possibly representing fire. The introduction title is very quick which makes it more effective. The font matches the theme of our film opening; horror. The sound used is also very effective and fits in well as it's just the sound of lightening.
Pros:
The music used is very threatening making it fit well with our opening being of the horror genre. This is further displayed by the use of sound effects such as rumbling thunder.
Cons:
20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox is an American film production company, founded in 1935. The introduction title has probably the most recognisable accompaniment with it being the drums and trumpet 'fox fanfare' by Alfred Newman. However in 1997 the composer's son David Newman re-recorded it to modernise it. The title displays the title '20th Century Fox' in big, bold and gold writing with 'a news corporation company' written below. Spotlights are shown in the two bottom corners adding an animated effect.
Pros:
Modern due to the "20th Century"
Cons:
The sound aiding the film production title is very well-known and doesn't fit with the horror film opening that would go with it.
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