Why we chose Universal Pictures

During our research for choosing what studio to use for the opening of our film we looked at other film openings and we found that there were so many different movie production companies but we found that  Universal Pictures or 20th Century Fox were the most popular for thriller/crime films. So, we randomly chose between the two and eventually chose Universal Pictures. 

Final Missing Persons Poster

This is the final copy of the missing person's poster created. We used it in a scene where it is taped to a lamp post.
We used red font for the 'missing' as it is such a bright colour that it automatically would draw someone's attention if they were passing by the poster.
 We had to use a picture of the actress that clearly showed her eyes because we knew that we was going to zoom into the eyes of the poster which would then have the actual footage of her eyes come through the image.

Missing Person Poster

For part of our film we have a scene including a missing person's poster. We each designed our own one of how we thought it should be presented, these were the three options and we used aspects of each one to develop the one we would use.

Changes in Monologue

After members of our group watched The Wolfman in their spare time, they were inspired and proposed an idea. In the opening of The Wolfman a woman is speaking, explaining things. This is where they got the idea for the main girl in our film to be speaking. We compared this with the news report idea and we decided that as it is actually the victim narrating it, it gives it a more chilling effect and would entice the audience more as it is more personal.

Also, we thought that we could create a missing persons poster and stick it on a lampost, and then track down the lampost and then zoom into Grace's eyes (Grace is our actress) and then it would fade into a black screen and fade out of a black screen into the filming of Grace in the cellar starting with footage of her eyes. Instead of filming more footage for this, we used footage that we already have. However, it was zooming into her eyes. So we found a way of reversing the clip so it zooms out of the eyes. 

Script for the voice over: "My Grandparents always used to say, 'the older you get, the faster time passes' It certainly feels that way, it feels like a lifetime since I have seen my family. I have so much yet to experience, my first kiss, marriage, a job. The memories of my family are still so strong, however, I do not know if they will stay like that. One thing I do know is, I will get out."

Deciding on The Film Title

When deciding on the title for our film opening we thought about the contents of our opening. We came up with a whole page of possible names but the main ones were as followed; Daze, Daisy, Dais, Unknown, The Lost Abduction. Daze, Daisy and Dais were all really a play on words, we knew we would be calling the main character Daisy and we knew that she'd be in a dazed state in the cellar so we played around with the words. However, we realised that that someone is either 'in a daze' or 'dazed' so we would have to call is 'Dazed' to ensure the context was correct. I really liked the idea of calling it 'Dais' because it gives the film a more personal touch because it would've been the nickname of the girl, however, we realised that using a word that is not grammatically correct could be an issue so because on the uncertainty we ruled that idea out. We found out that Unknown was already a title to a film that was released recently so we did not want to use that incase audiences drew similarities between the two. So we were down to Daisy and The Lost Abduction and all of the group agreed that we preferred the name Daisy. We also asked other members of our class which seemed more appealing and the generalised comment we received was that 'The Lost Abduction' sounds like the film would just be an ordinary crime/thriller film so it wouldn't appeal to them whereas Daisy is quite an unusual title. Using the victims name, which is quite an innocent name, intrigued them. After considering all factors the group decided to name the film Daisy.

Production Company Logo

These were four production logo's designed by members of our group. Three were fairly similar with the same name "Cameo Productions" and the other with "Ask G". Both were extremely different because Cameo was clean and straight to the point whereas Ask G was eye catching but yet somehow distracting. We had a discussion about which we preferred, asked people in our class and we also researched into how other production companies had designed theirs. We found that major companies kept it clean and simple. For example, Pixar Pictures is black text on a white background. All of the group decided that less was more, therefore we decided to go with the last image as it stands out because of the contrast in colours and goes with the clean and simple convention. Choosing the font for the logo was difficult as there was so many to choose from but after thinking about how the conventional production companies designed their we decided to go with one that if bold yet simple so that the audience is not distracted by creative font. 

We asked members of our class to comment on which one they preferred and why. Some said they preferred the Ask G image because the colours and design is eye catching but some said that they preferred the Cameo Production logo's because they are simple and look more professional. 

When it came to deciding which to use we thought about how it would look with the rest of our credits and the appropriateness and effectiveness of each in relevance of our film. We all decided that the white text on black background for Cameo productions was the most fitting with the genre and the other credits. 

Adjusting To The New Equipment and Software

We were introduced to Mac computers, Final Cut Express and the video camera's at the beginning of the school year. We didn't have long to really figure out how to use everything so we had to learn as we went. I didn't have any trouble with using the Mac computers as I have one at home so I am already adjusted from PC to Mac, however, I think the main struggle for most people was coming to grips with using Final Cut Express as it was completely new to everyone, so learning how to use everything and find everything was a real struggle. This was gradually solved as we all became more familiar with the software. Another issue which we had was uploading the video footage from the tapes to the computer. However this was easily solved as the IT technicians gave us a step by step guide on how to do so.
So overall, the problems that faced us we overcame them by the time we began editing.

The Monologue

Our initial plan was to not have any dialogue in our film, we thought it would not be necessary and may distract the audience from the chilling scenes. However, we didn't consider that the audience may be confused as to what had happened because we knew exactly was happening but then we thought about how it would look from the audience's point of view. This is when we realised we needed a narrator of some sort to set the story straight. During conversation about how we could do this, we had a light bulb moment and suggested using the sound of a news report as a voice over during the opening credits. So we chose a member of the group to have their voice recorded. However, as we're all teenage girls, our voice's aren't really what you'd expect to hear on a news report so we edited the clip using Garage Band. The dialogue with the opening music chosen still in the background together creates an eerie, sad tone for the beginning of the film, this is so that when the scene's of the young girl begin, they feel sympathetic to her, and want to help her, intriguing them into the film.

The monologue script: 

"Breaking News - Yet again another teenage disappearance has been reported. As of yesterday this has been the 19th abduction within the past six weeks. The victim is 17 years old and is currently studying for her A-Levels. Her parents, Deborah and Martin Robinson are holding out in the hope that Daisy will once again be reunited with them so that they can live a normal life."

Target Audience

When deciding on our target audience we listed some of the things our film would contain; strong language, violence, possible sex implications. We then researched into what the actual classifications were for each rating. We were expecting it to be either a 15 or 18. We were correct. The classification for a a film to be certificated as a 15 are as follows;

Only those over 15 years are admitted. Nobody younger than 15 can rent or buy a 15-rated VHS, DVD, Blu-ray Disc, UMD or game, or watch a film in the cinema with this rating. Films under this category can contain adult themes, hard drugs, strong language and one use of very strong language, moderate-strong violence/sex references, and undetailed sex activity.

And after comparison with the classification for an 18 certificate; 

Only adults are admitted. Nobody younger than 18 can rent or buy an 18-rated VHS, DVD, Blu-ray Disc, UMD or game, or watch a film in the cinema with this rating. Films under this category do not have limitation on the bad language that is used. Hard drugs are generally allowed, and strong violence/sex references along with strong sexual activity is also allowed. Scenes of strong real sex may be permitted if justified by the context.

We compared both and thought about how our opening would set up the film. After considering the content of our opening we thought that we would rate it as a 15. This is because the content would not be as extreme enough to classify it as an 18.