Location - WhiteWebs

The last scene in our opening is very significant as it ties the story line together, without it the story would not make any sense. Therefore a lot was riding on that scene. We want to film somewhere that looked abandoned or a place which looked like no one could find them.

As we are not making a feature length film and do not have a budget to hire somewhere out we settled for Whitewebs.  The drive up into Whiteweb really helped capture the 'scary' feel that we were aiming for.
 The long trees which surrounded the drive up changed the tone of the opening. This made the audience start to question the driver and where it this 'customer' going. This is helping build tension, creating a very tense feel. As Whitewebs is a public area it was difficult to film the shots we wanted. One elderly man thought that we we filming something very exciting a thought that it was is big break so as we were filming the last boot scene (with only 2 minutes battery left) he though it would be a good idea to warm up before his run, right next to the boot.

Location - Kenilworth Creasent

One of the location in which we shot at was Emily and Ciara's road. We used this in the Ariel shot of the taxi driving as well as the taxi pulling away. We used different parts of the road to create the illusion that it was filmed in completely  different places. Filming here was very helpful as we could film different shots from inside the house.Such as the over the head shot which was shot from inside Ciara's house.

 

Why the Baby Sound Effect?

As a team we made the collective decision of leaving the baby sound effect in the final cut of our openinng. We discussed this at length as a groups as well as with our teacher and peers to help us to get a balanced view on the sound. We are aware this is pushing the boundaries and you are either think it work completely well or that its missed up and too far. But that is a risk we are willing to take. As a nation as well as worldwide we have become desensitised, with films and televisions shows constantly harming adults we have some to expect it, making our ending of our opening stereotypical and almost clique. By us implying that there is baby in the boot it creates so many question from the audience. Why a baby? What is a baby doing? All questions that would make you want to continue watching. If we were to make a full length feature film.

Reaction to Baby Sound Effect

This is the reaction from our fellow class members and our teacher to the baby sound effect. We felt as though having only a women is very 'been done' I though it would be more interesting as it not expected. This creates a completely story. All is explained in the video above.

Last Few Changes

After watching our opening a few thousand of times, we are still finding things we want to change. As we are constantly making adjustments to our opening, this makes us change our opinion, as well it ruining other parts of the opening such as the sound. There was also a lot of difficulties whilst filming this made the editing process a bit more tricky. Examples of this are, that we had two different people one driving the cab and the other acting in the cab. Therefore we had to layer ALOT of the sound. This causes us a lot of stress, as we have to make sure that the right engine is with the right scene and all that. Also oblivious that we actually needed the engine sound we were all talking like idiots whilst filming, thinking we would just mute the sound. Wrong! This is another thing we have to fix. Of course I leave the worst problem to the last. The Ending. Our ending has caused me such grieve. Thinking about our ending makes me want to huddle in a ball a cry for a good hour. NOTHING sounds real. All the ending dialogue we have record just doesn't sound right. As none of us have ever been kidnapped and thrown in the boot with your/ or a baby (plot twist) it doesn't sound realistic. After, all of us trying and failing, we asked Georgia to help us out. However feedback has stated that it isn't distressed enough. So we have a dilemma.
These are all the other thing that we have to change/fix:

Final Opening - When the Bough Breaks

Bone Collector Inspriation

As inspiration of our two minute opening we looked at the opening scene of the popular film, ' The Bone Collector'. The opening scene of the clip is of a New York couple who take a cab journey.
Tjis is of a different perspective of our opening as it doesn't show the passenger however in the opening of the bone collector we do not see the cab driver, therefore we have the point of view of the passengers. leaving the audience feeling the same a the passengers, not knowing where there going or whats happening. However in our opening we adapted a different approach to the opening. Creating an illusion that there is some sitting in the back of the cab, and the driver is just having a simple conversation with the passenger.

OUR TITLE

After much discussion, and many stupied titles, we finally found a title that all of us love. Due to surprise sound at the end of the baby crying, it inspired us to have something like a nursery rhyme or lulleby title for our film. As many film use this in scary/ horror films to surprise the audience, as having a child or in our case a baby is much worse then having anything else. The title is a line for the famous 'Rock A Bye Baby', these are the lyrics.

Quick Update

Quick update to tell /explain what we have done what we are doing and all that.

Final UNFINISHED Opening

 Improvements that have now been made:
1)Put some footage between the car driving and the the car being stationary.
 2) take out the baby crying? or just muffel it? - does it cross the line artistically or is it just morally wrong?
 3) Engine noise over 'nice day'.
 4) Finish title sequence.
 5) Take out extra unwanted speech.

Title Sequence

The title sequence for the TV show of My Starter Wife I think is really good. This isn't  a typical opening, however i think it is very cleverly done, it illustrates the field of the TV show and how the characters love material  possessions. Giving the audience a clear idea of what the show is like. However I do not think this type of opening would be suited to our opening. Due to the fact that we have no time for this sort of layout, as well this is made for a TV and not for a film. This is also true for the title sequence of United States of Tara. Click the photo to take you to the site, where you can see the full of the title sequence.

BBFC

If our film was to become a feature length film  I believe that the age rating would be a 15. As illustrated at the end of our opening the taxi driver has somebody in the boot. The story is going to show how the taxi driver and how he is abducted a young girl to become his sex slave. The film would include scenes of violence/ sexual violence, taboo/ discriminatory language, sexual nudity, sexual activity and frequent of use swear words. All of which is included in the 15 rated film. By rating the film a 15 we will attract a larger demographic. The drug use in the film would not promote the use of drug use therefore is acceptable of a 15.  

Music Ideas

I was just watching the 'American Hustle' trailer and I came to the realisation that the first song would be perfect for our opening. it would create a completely different tone however still creating the same sort of creepy vibe that we want to reflect the taxi driver. As well as the song, 'It's Not For Me To Say', by Johnny Mathis. 

I also thought the song 'Too Old To Cut The Mustard', would also be a good choice for our opening. This jolly tone is different to the song we already have and contrasts the plot line, however just as other films use children's rhymes, toys and dolls and other things that.seem to be innocent  to creates a scary vibe to the story line, playing on things that people felt safe with this upbeat tone would also mirror that technique.  These are the two songs that I have found and think they would be perfect for the whole story.