Art of the Title Evaluation

1. Summarise your film idea.
'Clarence' is a film about serial killer who operates in schools and targets teenage girls and treats them as babies. We came up with the back-story that the serial killer (Clarence) previously had a daughter who was killed at a young age. This drove him to insanity and he now possesses a hatred for young girls which is why he carries out his brutal attacks.

2. What kind of information has been included in your film opening?
The film opening reveals quite a lot about what the film entails. Shot 1 begins the sequence by showing a close-up of two school girls' photos followed by another close-up of a man picking up one of the photos shown in the previous shot; showing she is the next victim. Shots 1 and 2 make it clear to the audience that these attacks are not spontaneous as the man possesses such personal pictures of his victims. The camera then cuts to a shot of a girl doing her make-up in a public toilet to show how she is just an average, innocent teenage girl. At this point the audience should realise that the girl in the bathroom is the same girl as in shot 2. Shot 5 is a high angle, low lit shot showing Clarence dragging the unconscious girl to his dungeon, revealing that it is most likely situated inside the school. Shot 6 is a shot of children's teddy bears which are supposed to belong to his late daughter which further adds to this obsessive persona which 'Clarence' possesses. Shot 7 shows two girls (the girls in the school photos) sitting in the dark with a disturbing expression to show that Clarence has done something to them however it is not revealed what exactly. What is revealed, however, is that the girls are still alive as we used an ECU in shot 8 of one of the girl's eyes.

3. How do the titles link to the main film idea?
The titles are in a stand-out red colour which is typical of the horror genre. The font which we chose also fits in very well with the genre as it looks quite messy and gives off a creepy vibe.

4. Summarise the expected audience reaction.
Our primary aim is for the audience to know that 'Clarence' is going to be a very scaring film after watching the opening sequence. Although we give quite a lot of the plot away in the film opening, we don't actually show what Clarence does to his victims or what the actual plot of the film is. This creates suspense and leaves the audience wanting to know what will happen next.

5. Identify three things you included in your grid that are important in the construction of an opening sequence and explain their role in understanding the film.

• Lots of different types of shots such as ECUs, high angle shots and over the shoulder shots to keep the audience interested.
• We used a range of lighting to set the scene. For example, in the shots taken in the murderer's 'dungeon', it is very dark whereas in the shots before the girl has been attacked, it is very bright.
• The genre is made very clear through use of titles, lighting and character.

6. How effective is your project as a film opening?
I think that our film opening is effective as it gives a clear idea what the audience should expect to see in the film at the same time as leaving the audience wondering what will happen next. I think that we used a good range of shots to keep the audience interested such as shot 4 where Clarence is standing just outside the door however the soon-to-be victim is unaware of this.
I think we could improve our opening sequence by giving a little less information away. For example, rather than showing the two girls in the dungeon, our last shot could just be the killer dragging the girl along the floor to his dungeon to create more suspense and interest.