Galp Pictures Logo :)

For the Galp Pictures Logo, our initial idea was to have the text 'Galp Pictures' within a swinging flickering lightbulb. We searched online for a swinging or flickering light bulb and the result of our search was that you have to buy the animation for atleast $79 .. we were shocked. So instead i figured as i have a lightbulb in my room and it swings, why not record it then use after effects to edit it. That plan unfortunately didnt go too well. So now it was up to me to find a way to create our logo. I ended up creating about 2 potential logos and 1 unfinished one due to time. The first logo i created on after effects was horrendous, it had all the colours of the rainbow on it and i wasnt too sure on how to use after effects. However through time i got better and better and became more familiar with after effects. The logo above was my second attempt at the Galp pictures logo, I used browse presets on after effects for the template then simply edited the layers, text, light bulb and effects. The final attempt was through photoshop, i had created a lightbulb and even got the flickering effect that we wanted, but due to time i wasnt able to finish it in time for the deadline.

When the logo was done, me and Louisa were brainstorming on the type of sound to create for the logo. We wanted a classic grand intro like the 20th Century Fox one. So in order to do that i had to do some research on the type of instruments, tone and effects used for such great intros such as that. Using some of the effects i found on the macbook ( explosion, chimes and a dreamy sound) i was then able to create the sound to go with our logo.

Audio Research

For our audio research im torn between a more
abstract composition of music or either a more
conventional tone of music in relation to the thriller opening.
As our storyline is unconventional and has a twist in the end, a more abstract sound would create suspense and ambience, also adding a meaning behind to our thriller. However as our thriller is more mainstream and would be produced by film production companies such as paramount pictures, 20th Century Fox , Universal etc.

Composed by Balthazar, the first soundtrack is from Winter Voices, a game a narrative-driven, episodic, role-playing game set in an imaginary and timeless world at the start of the Industrial Revolution. The battles' music reflects the intense emotions of the young character and the dreamlike atmosphere in which they take place. The electronic soundtrack first starts off with a drum that slightly sounds like a metronome, the music then builds and an electronic piano comes in as the music crescendos, different instruments then follow creating tension.

 

The next sound track starts off with a drone, following orchestral violins and other string instruments with a drum. This composition has a great effect as it keeps the audience guessing and if used in our thriller, it would keep the suspense going and also would createa spooky ambience. As sound is a very key aspect of any productions, we have to keep in mind what effect we're trying to convey and what sound would best suit to it.

 

 

Thinking outside the box: Foreign Expectations Of A Thriller!

Hansel and Gretal (2007)

After a stressful day, and spending the night in, I decided to watch a Korean Horror film Hansel and Gretal. The film is subverted from the original Brothers Grimm tale and similarly reminded me of Angela Carter's Bloody Chamber series.

The film starts off with Eun-Soo driving whilst
 talking to his pregnant girlfriend. A quarrel arises which leads him to crash and becomes unconscious. He suddenly wakes up to find himself in the deep dark forest to which he sees light from a lantern that a young girl is carrying. She introduces herself as Young-Hee as they head for her house where she and her family live. Their large house is in the middle of the forest called the "House of Happy Children". After entering the House, many cynical secrets are discovered and revealed  to Eun-Soo which he tries to run away from.

Watching the first two minutes of the movie showed traits of both a thriller and a horror film. The beginning is first set to introduce us to the deep dark forest which gives the sense of entrapment, being lost, a claustrophobic impression. The Soundtrack for the two minutes similarly remind me of The hand that rocked the cradle in the way that the music sounded childishly cynical.



At the start of the film, extreme close up shots were
used to show the toys the children would play with. however with the low key lighting accompanied by the cynical soundtrack, an element of unease is created within the audience.



The use of showing children's toys in a faded sort of effect look almost washable, as if it were only vivid memories. The shots look as though there are two shots of two different locations applied to on which confuses the viewers as we aren't what images should our eyes be concentrating on.


Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the twisted unexpected end to the movie. Even though this film is a horror, however i felt that the plot was creative in the sense that it was simple and unexpected at the same time.

I'm listening... Slender Man Sounds- Audio Research

As I do with my free time, I venture out into playing games and one which has recently caught my eye (or should i say ear!) is Slender Man. The successful horror game is where you are set in the dark forests with a torch and the aim is to go find these pages. however doing this you get the Slender San who occasionally appears in front of you, or to which you might run into. If you stare at the Slender Man or you hover around the are he is in or too long it is game over for you. Whilst playing this game I was influenced by the backing track of this. The emphasis of the footsteps and the crunch of the leaves made me feel cautious of where i was moving my avatar. With this sounds of the wind, birds tweeting were also accompanied to make the experience seem more realistic. The static electric guitar sound give it an edge to the audience as the obscured sound rounds off the game when you die in the hands of Slender Man. Even though this isn't a film and is only a game, I think that the influence in anoher media concept could be applied to our coursework. Both the game and out film have similar motives in which they are able to start to scare or in fact literally scare the audience. What we want for our audience is to be able to experiance the thrill and the rush of adrenaline to which i think the soundtrack of Slender Man does extremely well whilst also playing the game. 

Coming up with a production name and logo. (First draft of logo)

We began story boarding for our final piece, and we looked into production name and logos. We kept the name simple and clean having it the anagram of the first letter of each of our name.
Gracious
Anissa
Louisa
Pahi

 We chose to include a light bulb in our logo as it symbolizes generating and coming up with ideas. When included in our clip, we want to have the light bulb to flicker as Nyctophobia (being afraid of the dark) is seen to be a common fear. The idea of using a phobia in our production name foreshadows the movie genre to which we are to produce






Researching other film production logos, we are able to see that the glimpse of light or a light is a trending theme throughout.As we see with 20th Century Fox's logo the lights are being animated to move around the screen and to shine and focus on the logo.

Similarly we see this with Columbia Pictures the focus is on the woman holding the torch. The position of the torch is held to obscure the letter "U". The Ray of light branches out symbolizing hope and also the many ideas that it could branch out to.

Thinking Outside The Box: Foreign Expectations Of A Thriller!

Being a BBC ( British born Chinese) and being highly influenced with oriental media, I thought it would be influential to look at foreign thriller movies and how they tackle the genre.

Old Boy (2003)    

Old Boy is a Korean thriller about Oh Dae-Su who is kidnapped and imprisoned for 15 years, he is finally released to which he has to find his kidnapper within 5 days. What I like about this movie is the sense of mystery and enigma it brings to the audience. What I liked about the beginning of the movie is the use of a flashback, switching from the present to the past to slowly reveal the narrative. At fist sight, it gives a complex insight to what happened to him, which us as the audience are immediately confused and a series of questions are bought up. The impression of it knowing, the lack of knowledge and information is what I think makes this a successful action thriller. The sense of suspense, thrill, adrenaline and action create a tense atmosphere when watching. It's different to the typical mainstream thriller in the sense that the villain isn't who a generic villain would be. This South Korean thriller is so successful that there is going to be an American remake of the movie with Spike Lee directing it.