Production Company

• To decide which production company is the best to use, we looked at several production companies and the horror films they produced.

• Dark Castle Entertainment has produced several horror films:
• Ghost ship [2002]- Supernatural, Thir13en Ghosts [2001]- Supernatural, House on Haunted Hill [1999]- Supernatural
• But only one psychological horror:
• Orphan [2009]

• Twisted Pictures is similar in that it has produced several horror films:
• Saw [2004-2010]- slasher, Dead Silence [2007]- supernatural,
• but has not produced many psychological horrors.

• Platinum Dunes has produced Texas Chainsaw Massacre [2003]- slasher, The Purge [2013]- science fiction & The Unborn [2009]- supernatural
• But no psychological horrors.

• We decided that Paramount Pictures is the best option for us as they have produced horror films from a range of genres, including psychological horror films:
• Shutter Island [2010], Zodiac [2007]

• As we chose the psychological horror genre for our opening sequence, we felt that a production company that has produced several psychological horror films already (Paramount Pictures) would be the best option.
• Their logo, however, does not appear to fit the psychological horror genre:

• I edited this image, to ensure that the audience realises that the film is within the horror genre, from the very beginning of the sequence.

• Firstly, using photoshop, I made the image darker, and less saturated.
• I also added a grainy texture.

• I created several glitch effects, so that the overall animation would have a distorted, sinister tone.

• Overall, I feel that the result is effective, as it is more clearly from a horror film than the original logo was.
• One improvement that needs to be made, is that the production company itself isn't clear to the audience as it does not stay on the screen for enough time.  To solve this problem, the edited logo should appear again after the glitch has occurred, to become more readable for the audience.

Production Company

We have decided that the major company production we will use in our film opening is Paramount Pictures.

We made this decision because out of the previous research we conducted on major production companies, Paramount had released more psychological horrors than the other companies researched and so would be more suitable for us to use.

Minor Production Companies Research

Dark Castle Entertainment
DCE is a production house formed in 1999 with associations with Warner Bros. and Universal Pictures. Its primary focus when it was first formed was to recreate William Castle's horror films, but began creating original films after two remakes, and also produced films from other genres from 2008 onwards. The most recent horror films produced by DCE are:

• The Apparition (supernatural) 
• The Hills Run Red (slasher)
• Orphan (psychological)
• The Reaping (supernatural)
• Return to House on Haunted Hill (supernatural)

Twisted Pictures
Twisted Pictures is an American independent production company that specialises in producing horror films. It was founded in 2004 after the success of the first 'Saw' film and has since then become well known for producing the films in the 'Saw' franchise. Other horror films recently distributed by Twisted Pictures are:

• Texas Chainsaw 3D (slasher)
• Chain Letter (slasher)
• Mother's Day (psychological)
• Dead Silence (supernatural/slasher)

Platinum Dunes

Like Dark Castle Entertainment, Platinum Dunes specialises in horror films (particularly remakes). Founded in 2001 in Los Angeles, Platinum Dunes entered a first look deal with Paramount Pictures and since then has worked with Paramount on projects such as 'The Butcherhouse Chronicles' and the 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' reboot. Most recent horror films produced by Platinum Dunes are:

• The Purge (horror/thriller)
• A Nightmare on Elm Street (slasher)
• The Unborn (supernatural)
• Friday the 13th (slasher)
• The Hitcher (horror/thriller)

Haxan Films

Haxan Films is an independent American production company headquartered in Florida. It is most well known for producing the famous horror film 'The Blair Witch Project', one of the most successful and critically acclaimed independent films of all time. Haxan Film's most recent releases are:

• Lovely Molly (supernatural)
• Seventh Moon (supernatural)
• Altered (creature feature/science fiction)

This research is useful to the group as we need to include a production company in the opening credits of our film opening. We can use this research to decide which company we think is suitable for our genre (psychological horror) and so improve the quality of our opening by making it look more professional.

Existing School Production Companies

Existing School's Production Companies.

I looked into previous production company titles that were created by school students to give our group ideas on how we could go about making a production company animation and also they could give us ideas into how to make our creative and effective.

Firstly I looked at a film opening's title called 'Return' which I found quite creative.



They used a background of a moving heart monitor with the diegetic noise of the beeping that comes from it when the heart beat of the patient dies.
It also ties in with the fact that their film opening is called return as it alongside the production company title that it may be about something or someone coming back to life.

I also looked at another film opening's title called 'The Hunt'.



The production company animation for this film opening was extremley basic and consisted of a scene marker at the beginning of the sequemce and then the production company's name sliding across the screen but in a very simple way.
I though that this production company was good but could have been a lot more creative and detailed and could have related to their film opening a little more. Even though this animation is quite basic it still gives our group a good insight into what is needed to be included in a production company animation at the begnning of a film.

Production Company Overview

Paramount.

After our group doing research on different production companies our conclusion was to select Paramount as it seemed the best to use alongside our genre of film, psychological horror.

This would be because it released many more psychological horror films than any other major film company such as The Ruins and Shutter Island.

It seemed best to use this production company for this reason and so it will be the one we use as our group's major production comapny but may make some changes to it such as colour and brightness of it to make fit more with our psychological film opening.

Production Companies Research

For my research I looked at notable film production companies that had released recent horror films.




Lionsgate Films is a production studio owned by Lionsgate Entertainment Corporation, a North American entertainment company that was founded in 1997. Lionsgate is the largest independent studio in North America as well as being the most commercially successful. Some of the most recent horror films Lionsgate distributed are:

• The Cabin in the Woods (psychological)
• The Last Exorcism (supernatural)
• Texas Chainsaw 3D (slasher)
• You're Next (slasher)
• My Bloody Valentine (slasher)
• The Saw series (slasher)

Paramount Pictures is another North American studio that produces films and television series. It is notable for distributing successful film series of many genres ranging from family films such as 'Shrek' to horrors such as the Friday the 13th franchise. Some recent horror films that Paramount have produced include:

• Shutter's Island (psychological)
• Paranormal Activity (supernatural)
• Friday the 13th (slasher)
• The Ruins (psychological)

Warner Brothers Entertainment Inc. is an American film studio that produces films, television series and music. It is a major production studio and has several subsidiary companies, a notable one being New Line Cinema. Some horrors it recently produced are:

• The Conjuring (supernatural)
• The Apparition (supernatural)
• Orphan (psychological)
• Chernobyl Diaries ('creature feature')
• A Nightmare on Elm Street (slasher)

New Line Cinema is an American film company that as of 2008 is merged with Warner Brothers and is also a subsidiary of Turner Broadcasting and Time Warner. New Line co produced The Conjuring and A Nightmare on Elm Street with Warner Brothers and also distributed Friday the 13th alongside Paramount Pictures. The studio's last solo distribution of a horror film was Final Destination.

Summit Entertainment LLC is an American film studio with international offices in London. This studio is a subsidiary of Lionsgate and is known for distributing successful franchises such as American Pie and Twilight. Recent horror films produced by Summit are:

• Wrong Turn franchise (slasher)
• Sinister (supernatural)
• Sorority Row (slasher)

Production Company

• At the beginning of our opening sequence, the production companies supporting our film will be displayed.  One of the companies will be an existing company, and the other will be one we have created ourselves.
• We combined text with an animation to create a short, 3 second clip for our production company 'CHEM film productions'.

• Each frame was drawn on photoshop.
• I used a black and white colour scheme, with largely dark tones, to stay within the horror genre.
• I saved the animation in a .gif format, in order to insert it in my imovie project.

This is the completed animation:

• I used the font that (Charlie) created and layered on top of the animation.

• I then cut the clip to be much shorter, as a production company logo should not be visible for longer than a few seconds.

Overall, I feel that this will be effective for our production company, as it stays within the horror genre and is only a few seconds long.  Initially, this was a difficult task, as the .gif file had to be converted into a filetype that imovie would recognise.  Overall, however, the outcome is effective.

Film Production: Fonts and Layout

My goal for our production company titles was to look modern, sleek and stylish. But doing so I experimented with several different fonts and layout which would project my desires. Here are several outcomes below:

Font: Futura

Left line

Gradual descent of words

Spaced out letters 

• What I like about this idea is it is very sleek and projects quite a professional feel with the use of the 'Futura' font
• I personally really like the spaced out letters along with the gradual descent of words. It is very pleasing to the viewer's eyes and easy to read. This is one of the better ideas.

Font: Blackout Sunrise

Left line

Gradual descent of words

Spaced out letters 

• I'm not too sure about the font 'Blackout Sunrise'. The font works really well but it doesn't project the professional look I was hoping for.
• The layout is the same as before, gradual descent which I still really enjoy.

Font: Futura

Centred 

Spaced out lines

Varying spaced out letters 

• Again I have used the font 'Futura' which does seem to fit the profile of 'professional'
• With this idea I experimented with a different layout which is more central. I achieved this look though the use of spacing out words and letters. The overall result is really pleasing and one of the better ideas.

Font: Code

Centred 

Gradual descent of words - triangle form

Spaced out letters 

• Here I have used the font 'Code' which is very modern and sleek but maybe too on the thin side and needs to be bolder. But still projects a very professional look.
• The layout has been centred which created this triangle effect which is quite interesting and unique.

Creating a background:

For the background I had the idea to create something that looked quite professional and interesting

What I used to create the production company background:

• Macro Lens
• Water
• Old CD

By using a macro I will be able to get an extreme close up of the light reflections on the CD compared to using the standard 18-55mm lens on my camera. Below is an example of the keyboard on my computer without and with the macro lens to show the difference between the two.

without macro lens                                                                                      with macro lens

• To create the effect for the background I put the CD in a sink and turned the tap on to run on the CD which when met with light created this interesting rainbow effect.
•  I thought would be perfect for a production company background as it provides some movement but enough to distract the viewer's attention away from the production company's name.
• When editing an idea for the production company titles I adjusted the levels and altered other aspects of the video's properties such as contrast, saturation and white point to create the final product. 
• By doing this I brought out the colours within the videos more making it more vibrant. 

Below are the before and after images of the video under going visual editing.

Before                                                                                                      After

Final Idea Outcomes

• Black and white - simple yet classic colour scheme
• The font and layout add to the classy theme 

• Vintage feel yet very modern with the use of text
• Deep red and hint of purple and green - fits with this idea of 'horror' in which we are using for our film opening

• Purple colour scheme with subtle tones of pink and blue throughout
• Very simple yet stylish and modern background and font

Overall I am very pleased with the outcomes of these ideas. My personal preference if I were to use these ideas would be either the first idea (#1) or the last idea (#3). I find that the use of the 'Futura' font is the most practical as it very modern and geometric providing a very professional aspect to the production company titles.