Basic Logline

1st Lesson: We discussed ideas about what genre our opening sequence could be. We all decided,due to location and season,that we could use this to advantage and create a horror/thriller. We then created a mind-map to showcase these ideas and what conventions are used.

2 Lesson- We created character profiles for the pro/antagonist and how best to portray their characters to the audience, through clothes and action.

Infatuation: Final

Importance of Film Opening Research and how it relates to Infatuation

 

 

 

 

 

As seen in 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo',  opening sequences can introduce an audience to the genre of the film, plot,themes any foreshadow certain events. The title sequence is key in piquing the audience's interest visually and musically. In Infatuation, we aim to keep the demographic interested from the very start through, definitions of the key theme, tense music and instant realisation that our 'Infatuation' isnt the 'cute,sweet,young connotations associated but the darker,ugly underbelly of love and fixation.

 

 

The importance of title sequences in the movies

Ryan Lambie

As The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo reminds us, a powerful title sequence can have a huge impact. Here’s Ryan’s celebration of a resurgent art form…

Published on Dec 19, 2011

David Fincher’s version of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo opens with a booming, teacup-rattling title sequence, in which hideous forms – some technological, others biological – ooze in and out of black oil and fire. Cut to the howls and thunderous riff of Trent Reznor and Karen O’s cover of The Immigrant Song by Led Zeppelin, it’s an aggressive statement of intent, as though Fincher’s violently stamping his authority on a property that was only adapted for the screen two years ago.

Fincher’s no stranger to opening his films with a dazzling display of sound and imagery. Images of pain and suffering are compiled by nimble, evil fingers to the music of Nine Inch Nails at the beginning of Seven. Fight Club opens with a high-speed race along neural pathways to the shriek of The Dust Brothers’ main theme.
Great though these examples are, the title sequence has, for many years, become an increasingly ignored art form. As filmmakers have clamoured to launch audiences into the first scene – often without any credits at all – the title sequence has gradually, it seems, fallen out of favour.
Nevertheless, some filmmakers, including Fincher, have continued to open their film with attention grabbing title sequences. Over the course of his long career, director David Cronenberg has continuously used them to often startling effect. 1983’s opening to The Dead Zone, designed by Wayne Fitzgerald, was beautiful in simplicity, with images of its rural Maine setting cut to the sombre pace of Michael Kamen’s score. eXistenz’s titles, designed by Rob Pilichowski, focused on strange textures of paint, bark and reptile skin.

These are but two examples of Cronenberg’s repeated use of title sequences, and provide a handy illustration of why they’re so important. Whether we’re watching a movie at home or in the cinema, our experience will almost certainly have been prefaced by a bombardment of adverts or external distractions. A title sequence acts as a bridge between the outside world and the imagined one in the film, and allows the filmmaker to ease the viewer into the rhythm of their movie. In the majority of Cronenberg’s films, this rhythm is methodical, like the slow tick of a metronome, or a scientist clicking through a collection of slides.
In the case of a James Bond movie, its famous use of titles is precisely the opposite: its gun barrel sequence, as designed by Maurice Binder for 1962’s Dr No, acts as a fanfare. Then the raucous music, vibrant colours and dancing silhouettes kick in, preparing the audience for a heightened realm of sex, intrigue and violence. The Bond films have changed much over the past 40 years, but their use of titles as a means of establishing tone and pace have remained broadly the same.

Binder continued to design Bond titles almost until his passing in 1991 – Licence To Kill was, sadly, his final contribution – and also provided memorable openings for such films as The Grass Is Greener, The Billion Dollar Brain and The Mouse That Roared, which all featured an effective collision of graphics, sound and colour.
The most famous designer of film title sequences, though, is surely Saul Bass. Having mastered the art of eye-catching poster design, Bass turned his talents to title design in the 50s, beginning with the controversial drama, The Man With The Golden Arm. Bass’ work then came to the attention of Alfred Hitchcock, who hired him to create the unforgettable sequences for North By Northwest, Vertigo and Psycho.
In each instance, Bass used typography, contrasting colours and simple shapes to remarkable effect. With little more than a few animated lines, married to Bernard Herrmann’s unforgettable theme, Bass created one of the most striking title sequences ever, and one that perfectly matched Hitchcock’s back-to-basics approach to filmmaking.
In the 90s, Martin Scorsese repeatedly employed Bass as his title sequence designer. Bass’ first, for Goodfellas, appeared to reference Psycho quite openly, with its economical use of moving type. His next, for the director’s remake of Cape Fear, used typography, colour and imagery to extraordinary effect – it may, in fact, be one of the most disturbingly understated title sequences ever made.

The Cape Fear sequence also carries echoes of what, for me, are two of Bass’ finest works in the field – his titles for Robert Aldrich’s 1955 film noir The Big Knife, and 1962’s Walk On The Wild Side. In both instances, we’re confronted with a single, striking image (the face of a grieving man in the former, a prowling black cat in the latter), beautifully framed and balanced against his carefully positioned typography. It could be argued, in fact, that these sequences are better than the films they accompany.

The influence of Bass’ simple, direct usage of type and imagery continues to be felt. The opening titles of 2010’s claustrophobic thriller, Buried, were a homage to the late master. And bringing us back almost to the present, the appropriately 60s-style titles for X-Men: First Class, designed by Simon Clowes, are a playful exploration of both Bass and Maurice Binder’s styles.
The recent use of entertaining title sequences in films like X-Men: First Class and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo are encouraging to see because, I’d argue, they’re more important to our cinema-going experience than ever. As adverts become ever louder, longer and greater in number, and audiences often spend several minutes chattering or fiddling with mobile phones, it’s vital that some sort of tonal cushion lies between them and the feature we’ve paid to see.
Whether they’re loud and aggressive, or quiet and soothing, title sequences are the cinematic equivalent of an opening curtain in a theatre – and, as the films mentioned in this brief celebration hopefully prove, the movies simply wouldn’t be the same without them.


http://www.denofgeek.com/movies/1174230/the_importance_of_title_sequences_in_the_movies.html

What is an Obssession?

An obssession,is the domination of somebody's thoughts or feelings by a persistant person,desire or image and is linked with many different emotions such as, bitterness,infatuation,hatred and love yet can be distorted into something more sinister.

When someone is unable to think or do anything else,that doesnt concern the pinnacle of their fixation it can turn dangerous and in the case of relationships can turn to stalking. 'Love' is attempted to be bought,through a continuation of gifts and contact.

There are many types of obssessions; OCD,music,hairstyles,the internet and cleaning.


As we decided to focus on the horror genre,which is a vast area, I delved into what different sub catergories there were and where our film would be placed. Due to the stalking and obsessive nature of the antagonist,which forms our plot,our film fits into the psychological horror and personality of horror genre.

Stalking and unhealthy fixations are part of 1 in 5 womens lifetime,with only 1 in 12 stalkers being convicted of the offence and as our primary audience is women, I think they would be able to empathise and connect more with the 'heroine' of Infatuation. Despite women being the primary focus, I also hope the themes of Infatuation will help the male audience feel more emotionally connected to the protagonist as well; as an everyday person,Flo could be their younger sister,friend,girlfriend and if older,mother.

In order to give the antagonist more background, I believe he would be either a 'Resentful stalker'-who stalk purely to cause the victim fear and a 'predatory stalker',who follow their victims in preparation for an assault, usually sexual, in order to give them control and power. Although in America, statistics showed, 60% of stalkers were aged 26-40 and 51% were African American.

Marketing Strategy Research and how it relates to Infatuation

In order to market 'Infatuation' to our 16-24 primary audience demographic, we felt social networking and the internet would be crucial in getting our film noticed. As seen by the success of Cloverfield, Blair Witch Project and Iron Man, viral campaigns on Youtube, twitter and Facebook, create a 'hype' on new film, that spread world wide.

As as new film, word of mouth generates buzz and with over 25 million users, predominately our target audience, a facebook page, as well as a youtube campaign would be a successful way to introduce 'Infatuation' to the public.

  

Facebook involves different marketing strategy

By DIANA RATLIFF

Saturday, October 30, 2010

ADVERTISEMENT

So you’ve decided to tap into the enormous popularity of Facebook and see what a Facebook presence can do for your business. That’s exciting; now, let’s make it profitable.

Remember, Facebook isn’t a billboard or a website; it’s a “social utility” for connecting people. As such, the purposes and strategies are different from marketing media you might have used before.

Your goal for your Facebook page might be to engage with customers and prospects, perhaps using it as a customer-relations tool. Your goal might be to expand your online footprint and add another component to an already formidable online marketing arsenal. Your goal might be to make direct sales. Your goal might be to increase brand awareness, either locally or nationally.

Understanding that Facebook is first and foremost a communications tool will affect how you use Facebook to reach those goals.

By the way, on Facebook, people have profiles, and you click the “Add as Friend” button when you want to connect. Businesses have pages, and you use the “Like” button to become a friend or fan.

GETTING PEOPLE TO LIKE YOU

On Facebook, nothing happens until you start making friends. For a business, that means getting people to click the “Like” button that appears next to their company name at the top of their Facebook business page.

Every time someone “likes” your page, a notice that they did so comes up on their newsfeed, and their friends see it. In other words, if Kelly “likes” your business page, Kelly’s Facebook friends see an announcement that “Kelly Smith and Wonder Widgets are now friends.” Hopefully, that makes Kelly’s friends curious about Wonder Widgets, and they’ll click the “Like” button, too.

So how do you encourage people to like your page? You need to spread the word about it, make it easy for them to do so and give them a reason.

Make sure your Facebook “ambassador” online (the person doing the posts) actively promotes your page by joining relevant groups and participating in conversations where prospects might be found. Encourage him or her to post interesting links and pictures (visuals are usually well-received).

And don’t be shy; clearly ask visitors to click the “Like” button on your custom welcome page. It’s even possible, with a bit of custom coding, to reward them with a discount or freebie for doing so.

Keep posting at least monthly, making sure to offer information or discounts that your friends will find valuable.

KEEPING FRIENDS ENGAGED

Once you have a new friend, you want to make that person glad he or she chose to like you. Draw friends into your page and keep that connection going. The custom welcome page with a reward for clicking the “Like” button is certainly a good start.

One brand that has used Facebook particularly well is Pizza Hut. The company gives away pizzas, develops contests and asks fans to interact and engage with it. I saw one post asking fans to create Halloween costumes out of Pizza Hut boxes and share photos; another post showed a pumpkin carved with the Pizza Hut logo. It even developed an application that lets fans order a pizza right from Facebook.

You don’t have to give away free pizzas, but being creative, offering value and encouraging interaction will serve most Facebook marketers well. However, if you don’t have time to continually check on your page and talk to people, you might want to disable the option to allow fans to post pictures or share messages.

Facebook is an amazing tool that’s transforming the way many companies promote themselves online. The most successful users treat it as a valuable marketing medium, taking the time to develop a suitable strategy and spending the money to create a custom presence.

http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/2010/oct/30/facebook-involves-different-marketing-strategy/

Movie Marketing Strategy Research

The theatrical trailer is often the first chance to promote a movie to its target audience. Starting up to a year before the release of a major studio movie, distributors run movie trailers that are meticulously edited and audience-tested. The idea is to give moviegoers a taste of the laughs,special effects and plot twists of the studio's upcoming releases, while leaving them wanting more. It's an art form that's usually handled by special trailer production houses.

About the same time that the first trailers hit the theaters, the movie studio will unveil an official Web site for the film. Typical movie Web sites allow visitors to view multiple versions of the trailer, watch behind-the-scenes interviews and mini-documentaries, read plot synopses, download cell-phone ringtones and desktop wallpaper, play games, chat in forums and even pre-order tickets. The official movie Web site is only the beginning of a much larger Internet marketing campaign.

As the release date of the film draws closer, movie marketers try to get early favorable press coverage in newspapers, magazines and on entertainment TV shows. The main movie publicity tactic is something called a press junket. At a press junket, journalists, entertainment reporters and movie critics are flown out to a special location for a day or weekend of interviews with the stars and creators of the film. The actors,directors and screenwriters sit in separate rooms and the reporters are brought in one by one to ask their questions.

Press junkets are highly controlled environments where interviews are often attended by a publicist, who make sure interviews never veer from positive topics [source: Rosenbaum]. If you've ever seen a TV interview with an actor sitting in front of a poster of their movie, that's from a press junket.

Weeks before the movie opens nationwide, the promotions department starts an all-out publicity blitz. The idea is to bombard the public with so many images and promos for the movie that it becomes a "can't miss" event. Movie marketers will plaster the sides of buses with huge ads, place billboards all around the city, run tons of teaser trailers on TV, place full-page ads in major newspapers and magazines, and the movie's stars will show up on all of the major talk shows.

The Internet is proving to be a prime spot for these publicity blitzes. Promoters can place rich, interactive ads on the Web sites most trafficked by their target audience. They can also release behind-the-scenes clips, bloopers and other viral videos on video-sharing sites like YouTube. Or they can release different media clips and let the fans create their own trailers.

Another popular strategy is to use highly visible product tie-ins and corporate partnerships. In the weeks leading up to the release of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas," images of the green Grinch appeared on packages of Oreos, boxes of Froot Loops and cans of Sprite. Even the United States Postal Service got into the act, stamping letters with special "Happy Who-lidays!" messages [source: Finnigan]. For marketing children's movies, the Holy Grail is getting  promotional goodies in McDonald's Happy Meals.

One final movie marketing strategy is the publicity stunt, an orchestrated media event where someone does something incredibly silly, dangerous or spectacular to draw further attention to the opening of the movie. An example is when the promoters of "The Simpsons Movie" transformed dozens of nationwide 7-Eleven convenience stores into replica's of Springfield's own Kwik-E Mart [source: Keegan].

Problems Associated with Movie Marketing

The trickiest part of movie marketing is that every movie is different. Every film is its own standalone product with its own potential market segment. Just because your last kid's movie was a huge hit doesn't mean that audiences will come in droves to the next one. There's no formula for success, so marketers must be creative to grab the public's attention.

Moviemaking is an inherently risky business. Movie marketers try to alleviate some of that risk by heavily promoting expensive films. Unfortunately, in the process, they make the films even more expensive by adding on a huge marketing budget. There's always a chance that the marketing campaign will stink just as bad as the movie, and suddenly the studio has thrown away twice the amount of money. For example, Oliver Stone's epic "Alexander" cost $155 million to make and $60 million to market domestically and only took in $167 million worldwide [sources: Box Office Mojo and Waxman].

The problem is that most big-budget movies are marketed to the widest audience possible. Ads are placed on every TV network and stuck in every newspaper and magazine. There's no focus. Chances are that with every blockbuster movie marketing campaign, millions of dollars are lost on people who would never see the movie, no matter how good it is.

One solution is the idea of the nichebuster, a smaller movie marketed heavily to a highly specific audience segment, say skateboarding fans or religious groups [source: Schonfeld]. One of the proponents of this idea is 20th Century Fox, which recently launched a division called FoxFaith that will produce and market movies to a Christian, family-oriented audience. This is called demographic marketing rather than selling movies according to traditional genres like action, romantic comedy, thriller, et cetera [source:Movie Marketing Update].

A final problem is that moviegoers are more media savvy than ever. While children are highly susceptible to advertising, many adults recognize the publicity blitz for what it is: publicity. Some moviegoers are starting to complain about the sheer magnitude of hype that surrounds major studio releases.

This is another reason why the Internet is proving to be a powerful marketing tool. If studios play their cards right, they can capitalize on social networks, viral video sites and other online communities to sell their movies for them. The Net Generation moviegoer is much more likely to trust his chat buddy's opinion than some talking head on E! Entertainment Television.

http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/movie-marketing4.htm

Horror Demographics Research and how it links to 'Infatuation'

Horror Films...And the Women Who Love Them!

Chicks dig scary movies -- A surprising look at why women buy more tickets to slasher pics than men — and how that's changing what we see on screen

By Christine Spines | Jul 24, 2009

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The trailer for Jennifer's Body has everything a teenage boy could reasonably expect, as well as some things he probably wouldn't dare to dream of. Megan Fox playing a cheerleader, for instance. Megan Fox having a sleep-over with Amanda Seyfried. Megan Fox swimming nude, lighting her tongue on fire for kicks, and — talk about a transformer — turning into a snarling beast with fangs. But the strangest twist to the movie may be that it's a supernatural bloodbath made bywomen (Girlfight director Karyn Kusama and Juno scribe/EW columnist Diablo Cody) and, in large part, for women. ''My primary reasons for writing Jennifer's Body were that I knew about the female horror audience and am a fan myself,'' Cody says of the movie, which slashes into theaters Sept. 18. ''Growing up, I was absolutely mesmerized by the horror section at the local video store. It wasn't a particularly feminine compulsion, and my parents didn't want me watching that crap.''

Cody's parents — and the parents of young women everywhere — have lost the battle big-time. For decades, it seemed the sole purpose of movies in which masked and/or disfigured men hunted down lusty young damsels was to give guys a 90-minute outlet for their own aggression and hormones. Today, however, the genre's biggest constituency of die-hard fans is women. Name any recent horror hit and odds are that female moviegoers bought more tickets than men. And we're not just talking about psychological spookfests like 2002's The Ring (60 percent female), 2004's The Grudge (65 percent female), and 2005's The Exorcism of Emily Rose (51 percent female). We're also talking about all the slice-and-dice remakes and sequels that Hollywood churns out.

''I don't think there was anyone who expected that women would gravitate toward a movie called The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,'' says Chainsawproducer Brad Fuller of the 2003 remake, which became a female-driven $81 million hit. ''For us, the issue now is that it's harder for us to get young men into the theater than women.'' And female audiences stay loyal. ''I've seen married women who are, like, 35 years old at horror movies and they're like, 'Oh, our husbands are with the kids and we all came out together,''' says Clint Culpepper, the president of Screen Gems, which is releasing a remake of the 1987 slasher film The Stepfather in October. ''Men stop seeing horror at a certain age, but women continue to go.''

Even the movies popularly known as torture porn, in which hot babes in hot pants are often subjected to medieval torture devices, apparently hold an appeal for young women. Executives preparing to unveil the video-on-demand channel FEARnet didn't expect women to have the stomach for a subgenre often considered exploitative. ''When we launched the network, we went out and did focus groups and it was the women in the room who really wanted a horror channel more than the guys did,'' says FEARnet president Diane Robina. ''I actually thought that the women would be less into the Saw films, but they were much more into them.''

empathise

The trend has not been lost on movie studios, which have responded by cranking out a steady supply of scary movies with female protagonists. The latest is Orphan, which stars Vera Farmiga (The Departed) as a grieving mom forced to defend her family from her newly adopted child. The actress is a jolt junkie herself. ''I grew up loving to scare and be scared,'' says Farmiga. ''It elicits this surge of adrenaline you don't get with any other genre. Maybe women are so drawn to it because we're more emotional creatures and it's such a visceral experience.''


http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20293304,00.html



The modern horror film has flipped the stereotypical convention on its head, instead of a weak 'damsel in distress' protagonist, both the protagonist and antagonist, are strong, independent females, that can take care of themselves, as seen in Jennifer's Body, with Needy and Jennifer and The Ring, with Rachel and Samara.

However although Infatuation has conformed to every stereotype, in the horror genres, we too aim to flip the stereotypical male dominated audience into something fairer.

The female audience, would with our young,female protagonist, with her stalking and abduction and how she herself, a young woman, manages to save herself from a horrible fate.