Analysis of 'Double Indemnity'

The beginning of the opening sequence starts with the titles appearing in big bold white capital letters against a grey background (black and white film). As the titles are rolling through the screen there is a black silhouette of a man hobbling towards the screen on crutches. This shows that the character is not yet revealed to the audience.

From knowing that 'Double Indemnity' is used to describe the term that states that if one of the partners of a married couple is to die accidentally the other is able to claim double of their life insurance money. In a lot of real life cases one of the couple has attempted to kill the other in order to claim the money so in knowing this information the audience may immediatley think that this man has been the victim of an attempted murder that did not succeed. As the man gradually gets closer towards the screen the sound of the loud trumpets used for the music gets louder and more brassier.

The first establishment of location is a big city at night time with street lights. We then see this man driving his car very irratically. This then questions the audience and makes them think why is he driving so fast? is he in a hurry? is he trying to escape from the person that potentially tried to kill or hurt him?. The man then pulls up to what appears to be a big office building and is greeted by a man who appears to be a servant or assistant. From this we then see that the man has high authority as the man that greets him refers to him as 'Sir'.

Analysis of 'Brick'

In the opening sequence of 'Brick' the title appears about 15 seconds into the film in bold white capital letters on a plain black background. This style of font is effective because it does not reveal anything to the audience and leaves them in a sense of suspense. I think that it was effective to have the title shown after the location and some of the characters were established because it was quite abrupt and unexpected. The music that is played throughout the sequence is simple because it is the sound of a single ringing bell on its own but, this creates an uneasy and uncomfortable atmosphere.

Shot 1

This shot is an extreme close up of the male characters face. This shot is effective because it is showing his emotions and feelings. The expression in his face looks like a blank stare which could suggest that he is in disbelief that she is dead or that he just does not know what to think.

Shot 2

This shot is of the girl lying on the floor with her hair draped over her face. This could represent that she is dead because they are hiding her face or that

Shot 3

This shoot looks like a slightly zoomed out version of shot 1 and more of the male character is now visible so that the audience can indentify with him and see what sort of character he is based on his costume and body language.

Shot 4

This shot is of the dead girl's hand laying limp and lifeless across the ground showing her bright blue bracelets and pale blue cardigan which has now become muddy and dirty. The bracelets on her hand represent her age as they look like the style that a teenager would wear. The fact that her pale blue cardigan has become dirty shows the turn of events that have taken place and also shows that something unexpected happened.

Shot 5

This shot is of the plain bold title of the film. This title is simple so it does not reveal anything to the audience or gives them any clues to the story line. The title 'Brick' almost resembles the shape of a brick and is quite a solid and bold title.

Shot 6

This shot is of the dead girls legs lying lifeless on the ground. In this shot she is wearing a pair of high heeled brown shoes that now appear muddy and battered. This shows that something not quite right happened wherever she went or was and that she did not plan for her shoes to end up like that.

Shot 7

This shot is of the male characters feet. This is one of the first shots shown in the beginning of the title sequence which makes the audience wonder who's feet it is. The shot then moves and reveals more of the character showing his costume and face.

Shot 8

This shot that the had the title 'two days previous written over it' shows the arm of the girl with the same pale blue cardigan which is now clean and unripped and her bright blue bracelets. This shows that she was in a normal state two days before whatever happened to her happened.

Shot 9

This shot has a lot of question marks around it because there are so many possibilities as to how this shot came around. The first things that are rushed around the audiences head are? who is he? who is she? did he kill her? is she dead and how did she die? what is the relationship between the tow characters?. The proximity between the male and female character could suggest that he is either frightened or that he has killed her and is regretting it.

Sound

I will be creating my own music for the opening sequence of my group's thriller using Cubase. I think that this is a good idea because the music will be original. I will listen to the music from a variety of different thriller films so that I can analyze what sort of mood and atmosphere is generated and incorporate that when I am creating my own music.

As there is no dialogue within our opening sequence we will be using a variety of different sound effects to try and convey an eerie and scary mood. Some of these sound effects will vary from heavy breathing, quick paced footsteps and a car boot door slamming etc.

By Alisha Salas

Titles

Titles

In this lesson we came up with the relevant titles that will appear on screen at the beginning of our opening sequence.

Name of Studio

Shemol Studio’s

Name of Production Company

Million Productions

Director Name

A Film by Donna Ellis

Starring

Donna Ellis

Featuring

Sophie Hardy

Alisha Salas

Shehabur Rahman

Casting by

Sophie Hardy

Music composed by

Alisha Salas

By Alisha Salas

Shot Lists

Shot 1

This will be a mid-shot of the title which will be shown in a black screen to make it more effective. We have chosen a mid-shot because it does not fill up the screen too much and the everyone in the audience will be able to see the title clearly.

Shot 2

This will also be a mid-shot as this is of a picture of Jessica, she does not know that this picture has been taken of her and also the picture of Jessica fades into the background of the title and so a mid-shot would be ideal for this because once again the title does not take up to much of the film and the picture of Jessica in the background would be good as a mid-shot because it is not standing out too much to the audience but it is still there for the audience to see.

Shot 3

This will be a mid-shot of developing the pictures in the dark room and we have chosen to make this a mid-shot because it shows most of the room and does not fill up the screen too much.

Shot 4

This will be a close-up of a hand with a glove on developing the picture, we decided to make this a close-up because it shows something sinister going on here and we also want to see what this person is developing.

Shot 5

This is going to be a panning and establishing shot and we decided this because we wanted to show the objects around the room as the room looks quite sinister. We decided on an establishing shot because this shows most of the room.

Shot 6

This will be many close-ups of difference weapons going along, we decided on this because we wanted the show the weapons in detail and we wanted to show all of the different types of tools that this killer could be using.

Shot 7

This is yet again another close-up and this will be of papers and missing posters, we want to show this using a close-up because we want to show the pictures on these posters and papers and perhaps some of the print.

Shot 8

This is going to be an over the shoulder shot of the killer and this will be in black and white because this is showing memories of the killer and his past killings. We have decided to use an over the shoulder shot because we are showing the killer's next victim.

Shot 9

This will be a medium shot and this will be seeing the killer drug the girl and put her in the boot. We have decided on this type of shot because it shows quite a bit of what is going on and it is not to close and not to far away.

Shot 10

This will be another medium shot of seeing and girl get drugged by the killer and we have chosen this kind of shot because once again it is showing everything.

Shot 11

This will be a wide mid-shot of one of the killer's victims lying on the back seat of the car and we have chosen this because it shows a lot of what is going on and this is what the viewers are going to want to see.

Shot 12

We will be showing the next shot as a moving subject walking into space and this will be of Jessica walking through the forest at night. We chose this particular shot because we wanted to let the audience feel as if they are involved because it feels as if you are walking with Jessica.

Shot 13

This will be a close-up of the killer's feet and we wanted to show this in a close-up because we wanted to show the audience that Jessica is being followed and because we are not going to see killer's face we wanted to show some part of the killer following Jessica.

Shot 14

This will be a side mid-shot of Jessica hearing the killer's footsteps and this is also where she stops and looks around to the killer. We wanted to show this in a mid-shot because we wanted to show most of Jessica's body language when she sees the killer.

Shot 15

This will be a mid-shot of the titles when they appear on this screen.

Initial Ideas

These were some of the ideas that got took down when we were working in our groups.

Donna.

Storyboard

This is a storyboard of our film, some of the pictures are not finished as it was difficult to know what to draw on the storyboard. What is written on the storyboard is quite detailed, detailed enough for our group to know exactly what we are doing in our film and who has what role.

Character Description

Jessica starred by Donna-

She is the main character of the opening sequence; she is walking through a park at night, where she is then kidnapped. In the opening sequence she is not known and the audience don’t have much information on what she is doing and the personalities she has. However this is then shaped by images, which will be shown in the background on the walls of her and her friends these images will show the audience that she is a happy character. Jessica is going to be wearing grey jeans with a red top. This is specifically chosen, so it expresses her innocence and the red represents blood and glory, which then links to what may happen after she is kidnapped.

Killer starred by Shehabur who has no name because he is unknown and therefore the audience does not know who he is and what he looks like. The clothing he will be dressed in will be dark and mainly black. This is so he does not stand out in the dark; he will be less visible than Jessica. The characteristic of this character will be shown through his performance and the actions he caries out. Such as where he is planning to kidnap the victim and the sharp and deadly equipment he is going to use. There is no dialogue in the opening sequence however his actions will clearly express him and how he is as a person.

By Shehabur

Props, Costume, Location, Script & Sound

In today’s lesson we decided to plan what props we are going to use, what costumes each character is going to wear and why (what the costume represents and how it reflects the character’s personality) as well as planning our location, script, shooting schedule and character description for our opening description.

Props & Costumes

Props

Car – We will be using this prop for the sound effect of a car boot slamming and as a car itself.

Knives – We are using this prop to represent one of the pieces of weaponry that the killer is planning on using

Photographs – We will be using many photographs to show how many people the killer has killed.

Posters – We are using posters to show the people that have gone missing.

Costumes

Donna (Jessica) – Will be wearing light colors to represent her innocence.

Alisha & Sophie – Will be wearing a red top to represent death

Shehabur – Will be wearing black to represent an evil and sinister demeanor.

Location

Morden Park – We will be using this location when someone driving his or her car sees the victim and when she is running away from her potential killer.

PDH/DH3 – This location will be used when the killer is laying out and planning what weaponry to use to carry out the killing of the protagonist.

Photography Dark Room – This location will be used to show the killer developing a photograph of the victim (protagonist) that he is potentially going to kill.

Script

Although there is going to be no dialogue in our opening sequence we felt it was necessary to devise a script to show what sound effects and music we will be using.

Footsteps – To represent the killer following the victim in the park

Heavy Breathing – To represent the victim’s feelings of being frightened and scared.

Car Boot Slam – To represent the killer slamming down the boot of the car but the audience not knowing why he did it and what is in the boot.

Loud Scream – This will be used at the beginning of the opening sequence

Devised Piece of Music – We will be using a personally created piece of music so that it is original and has not been used before in previous thriller films.

By Alisha Salas

Film Cast/Characters

Casting:

For out thriller opening sequence we decided to cast Shehabur as the protagonist. The elements of his character are that he is a killer with a fascination of weapons and sharp objects. For our opening sequence we decided not to reveal his face or body to the audience. Only his gloved hands are shown. This was decided because we wanted to create a sense of secrecy and uncertainty about who the killer his.

Shooting Schedule

Shooting Schedule

Donna created this shooting schedule and all of the group gave Donna the information as to when they had free time to film and so with that information Donna made this shooting schedule. A shooting schedule is when you plan your time out so that you know when you can film and if you have enough time to film.

Alisha, where is your work?

Alisha,

I am VERY concerned about the state of your blog at present. There is nothing really there? Why are you so behind? Where are the entries (complete with contact sheets) for the various opening sequences we explored in class? You will need to spend several hours on this over the weekend to get it up to scratch. I will be giving a FINAL mark for research on Tues 24th Jan.

In its current state, your blog is not satisfactory to reach a 'Pass'.

Please come and see me to explain, as I am very concerned and confused by the lack of work here.

SJA Jan 20th

Synopsis

We firstly see the killer planning what is going to happen to the next victim, we will see many shots of the pictures of the killer’s victim as well as newspaper cut-outs and what kinds of weaponry that the killer is going to decide to use on his victim all in alignment with each other. After the killer has been seen planning the next victim’s fate we also see past memories of the killer’s previous victims, but we only see some shots of what happened to these people. Lastly we will see the latest victim, Jessica, she is walking through the park at night and the killer has decided to follow her. The killer then accidently makes his or her presence known to the victim who becomes scared at the fact that someone is following her. At this point Jessica has leaded herself right into the forest where it appears that no one can hear her. The killer then comes out of no-where and we hear Jessica’s scream which leads into a blackout.