Author: rebeccaboss

Production Overview

On Feb. 8 2019, we filmed the entirety of our opening sequence at Tommy’s Dad’s office building in West Palm Beach. We coordinated with the actors to ensure that we had ample time to complete the project, as it was a Saturday morning and we filmed until the afternoon. Initially, we wanted to film in a hallway, but found that it was not conducive to our vision. Luckily, the conference room was unoccupied, and evidently, perfect for the job. With a bit of rearrangement, we were able to make up the set perfectly after adjusting the lighting and gathering our props. The most tedious thing we had to accomplish was figuring out how to successfully show the undoing of the handcuffs. it took many takes to ensure that both the video and audio were of utmost quality and fit the tone the best. Overall filming day was a success! We completed filming the entirety of the sequence in roughly 5 hours.

Titling Inspiration and Ideas

Below are some title sequence that I have found inspiration from.

This is the font that I would like to use in my title sequence. Due to technological difficulties I am unable to put together a true representation of my sequence. I want the photos in the sequence to be in black and white with red font on top.Screen Shot 2019-02-18 at 11.55.58 AMPhotos like this….

black and white eye.jpg

I plan to animate my title sequence on premiere!

Opening Sequence: Girl on the Train

 

Shot Description Sound Length (in seconds)
1 Point of view shot (establishing shot): looking out the window as the train is moving; flashing trees and sun filtering through. Train horn blowing; sounds of the wheels on the track following the initial horn 9 Seconds
2 Medium shot (panning): shows train from the outside this time as it moves down the tracks; the camera then pans to be parallel to the tain itself and the title pops up on its metal surface; then it continues to pan down until the back of the train Same “whooshing” of the train moving 6 Seconds
3 Medium close up shot: we look into the train window from the outside and see a woman’s figure through the fog; she draws an “x” on the window and we can see her eye and a bit a her face clearly The woman shown in the shot begins to speak, a narration over the film, not dialogue 5 Seconds
4 Point of view shots: looking out of train window once again, but this time it shows houses as the train passes; each house is shown in a bit of its own separate shot, but is clear that it is part of the same train ride Same narration as  the shot before, faint music in the background 8 Seconds
5 Black screen; the name of the main character “Rachel” pops up on the screen in very simple, thin font, all capital letters Same narration and music 3 seconds
6 Medium Shot: Rachel is now shown clearly from inside the train. The camera focuses on her head peeking up the the seat as it rests a few seats in front of her (looking back at her) Slight eerie music 2 seconds
7 Medium Shot: Rachel  is seen from a profile view; looking into her seat from directly across the aisle her waist and up is visible; she is writing something into a note Slight eerie music with Rachel’s narration over it 2.5 Seconds
8 Close up shot: Rachel’s face; it is clear that she is looking out of the window of the train Same sounds as shot before (narration, music) 2 Seconds
9 Panning point of view shot: the train moving slowly as it focuses on the back of a white house along the tracks; a blonde woman stands on the balcony of the back of the house looking at the train Same sounds as shot before (narration, music) 2.5 Seconds
10 Same medium shot as shot 6: Rachel is now shown clearly from inside the train. The camera focuses on her head peeking up the the seat as it rests a few seats in front of her (looking back at her); this time she is looking out the window at the white house Same sounds as shot before (narration, music) 2 seconds
11 Medium close up shot: two businessmen sitting next to each other in a double seat on the train; water and hills can be seen through the window along with construction workers on the tracks; the train comes to a stop Non diegetic background music; sound of train coming to a stop 3 Seconds
12 Panning close up: Rachel’s profil looking towards the hills and water as the train car stops; follows her head as it turns toward her closest window and she looks out toward the white house again Same narration and music 7 Seconds
13 Medium long shot: Shows the full body of the blonde girl on the balcony; she hangs her head low; the full balcony is in sight; she picks her head up and looks out into the distance Same narration and music 3 seconds
14 Close up: Rachel’s face looking out face the window Same narration and music 3 seconds
15 Medium long shot (moving): Shows the full body of the blonde girl on the balcony; camera moves away with her (somewhat like Rachel’s point of view as the train leaves its stop) Same narration and music 4 seconds

 

This opening scene has an undoubtedly fast pace with the longest single shot not reaching more than 9 seconds in length. This quick compilation of shots over a continuous narrative gives us, the audience, a preliminary feeling of angst, portraying through both her dialogue and the visual movement of the train car, that the main character (Rachel) is dealing with a conflict, though the nature of that conflict is uncertain. Typical elements of the psychological thriller manifest themselves within this opening sequence through its references of obsession; Rachel seems to not only be obsessed with the train itself, but also the houses and people she observes from the train as it moves. As she takes a particular interest in the blonde woman who lives in the white house, making it apparent that she will be included in the rest of the film, but the filmmaker is careful not to reveal her significance. This, infact, seems to be a general theme in the scene as a whole: The director hints at many storylines but fails to explain in detail, leaving the audience to eagerly await the unravelling of the plot and question in which direction the story will go.

Through the Years: Premises of the Most Influential Psychological Thrillers

M (1931): Directed by Fritz lang, this film tells the tail of an insane man who has homicidal tendencies toward children. Angst and tension ran high in Berlin, Germany as many children went missing and the culprit had yet to be identified. The antagonist, Hans Beckert, lured in children by “befriending” them and sent the public written letters that he intended to have published, hinting at his guiltiness. When the police fail to cuff him, the town’s leading criminals decide to take it into their own hands as their illegal activities have been slighted due to increased pressure from the local officials. The police and the criminals both want to catch Beckert, but their conflicting motives adds yet another layer of uncertainty and anticipation to theis psycho thriller.

Rebecca (1940): Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, Rebecca has a rather eerie plotline centered around distrust, identity and murder. A young woman, the heroine (who is unnamed) meets a rich widower in Monte Carlo and he brings her back to his estate in Cornwall, England after the two fall in love and get married within two weeks. She soon learns that the memory of his first wife has a strange hold over her husband and the housemaid who makes it very clear that she does not live up to his past wife, Rebecca’s, standards. The housemaid, Ms. Danver shows signs of obsession in concern to Rebecca and keeps her room exactly as it was, treating it like a shrine. It is later revealed that Rebecca was killed in a debacle with her husband (she was previously thought to have been murdered) along with the lies of her affairs. This begins a series of events, urging the audience to question motives and sending the Ms. Danver into insanity.

Psycho (1960): Norman Bates, a lonely motel owner with a noticeably strange relationship with his mother, was the precedent for  a large variety of slasher films. In the film, an office worker finds herself at the Bates Motel after stealing a generous amount of cash from her employer in hopes to start a new life with her lover. She soon finds the seemingly friendly motel owner and his mother to be psychopathic. It’s unpredictable, leading the audience in false directions and keeping them involved in the disturbing plot. Its deeply developed characters make the film attract conflicted feelings from viewers from sympathy to utter disgust with Bates’ gruesome murders.

Dead Calm (1989): Directed by Phillip Noyce, the film Dead Calm features a couple, Rae and John Ingram, as they set out to sea to forget a pst tragic event. After a few weeks on their ship, they rescue a castaway survivor, Hughie, and out of curiosity John sets out to find the sunken yacht. John enters the yacht and finds multiple bodies and comes to the conclusion that Hughie had murdered all of them. In the time that John was on the sinking yacht, Hughie hijacks the ship with Rae on it, leaving John behind. Rae then has plot her escape although she does find herself to become intimate with her captor. After she seduces Hughie, she sedates him, but he becomes suspicious of her before he becomes unconscious. After a struggle, Rae finally defeats him and she goes back to find John. This theme of obsession and confined protagonists sets the stage for the 1990s, a decade rich in influential films of the psychological thriller genre.

The Silence of the Lambs (1991): Directed by Jonathan Demme, The Silence of the Lambs follows Clarice Starling an FBI agent in training as she investigates the case of Buffalo Bill, a kidnapping murderer who is terrorizing his way through the midwest. In order to gain first hand insight, Starling condults with Dr, Hannibal Lecter, a demented psychiatrist who is in a high security prison as a result of being found a serial cannibal. He only agrees to help her on the case if she becomes his patient in a less formal sense, and share details from her childhood. This toxic, conflicted relationship forces starling to confront her own struggles along with the twisted killer as Lecter escaped his cell, killing and devouring many in his path.