However, after researching into existing Idents we didn't feel these idea's would look professional enough. Even though they both linked and complimented our film, by being iconic to a kidnap or mystery, we decided to carry on experimenting with our ideas and develop these to the best of our ability.
We wanted the ident to be simple and eye-catching. With our title as the main feature. We also wanted to use dark colours or black and white to link to conventional colours within the 'thriller' film genre. To begin with we tried to put our title into Microsoft Office-Slideshow, and record the screen as we moved from one slide to another and vise versa. However this didnt look effective and didnt move as fast as we wanted it to, to give a dramatic and striking look.
We then discovered the 'Credits' option on our Premier Elements Video editing programme, and decided it would be ideal for our ident and what we wanted to make. As it could not only be used in the stereotypical credits way of white font flying from the bottom of the screen to the top, but by varying the transitions, colours and layouts to create an innovative ident.
We firstly experimented alot with the effects on offer and then went on to use 'EXPOSED' Productions in many types of fonts and transitions. Experimenting through them and using the transitions shown in the image below.
We then settled on a bold and striking font for the 'Exposed' part and a more 'normal' and formal font for the 'Productions' section. Also as our film is a thriller, and wanting to portray 'Exposed' as the main element we did want to make the ident look 'too busy'. We therefore decided on a plain black background with white font to stand out and contrast, with iconic colours of the 'thriller' genre (iconography).
We wanted each letter to appear once at a time, and this was possible by using the 'Fly in' effect. We really liked this and was happy with the ident so far. We then inserted a 'Fade In' effect on the 'Productions' text. We want it to come in just after the few few letters of EXPOSED to both finish at the same point. To finish on a second still shot of 'EXPOSED Productions', so the audience can read it and associate back to it.
Next, after our research revealed all Idents to have music alongside them, which becomes just as iconic as the ident itself we decided to also include music. As we couldn't use copyrighted songs within our work we went on to http://incompetech.com/m/c/royalty-free/ a non-copyright free download website. We then looked through many songs, however decided on one called 'Bump in the Night'. This was because we felt this song had a Strong powering beat, with a subtle eree tone to it linking to our film. Also each beat coincidentally linked in to the beat of every letter falling, complimenting it to create an effective Ident.
Here is a link to our song: Bump in the Night
We downloaded the song and opened it into our editing programme (Premier Elements), and inserting it into the sound section on the timeline, and finally cutting it to the length of the Ident. Ensuring the song didn't carry on playing when the film had started. This can be seen on the timeline in the image below, with the recording in one row, and the sound clip lining up in the audio row.
When I researched into short films, as well as an ident they also featured a further ident of the film's name. In our case 'PULSE'. We therefore wanted to also extend our ident into this, to create an effective and realistic opening to a short film. For this part, the title of the film and how it is created is the full portrayal of what the audience will be watching for the next 5 minutes, setting the tone and atmosphere. Also again linking to the portrayal of what genre it would be, in our case 'thriller', so therefore needing to be spooky and obscure. We had many idea's for this also, such as using a heart rate monitor to write our the word 'pulse'. However both felt most strongly about using 'PULSE' in red text with it dripping down to give the effect of blood. A brief draft is shown below.
We wanted to develop this idea by making the writing drip. We considered many ways to do this however painting it out and filming it seemed the best option for quality and time limitations. When producing this we mixed red paint with water, to make it more runny for what we wanted to do. We then painted the word pulse onto card, which we had covered in plain white paper to create a background. We then set the camera on the tripod and got it into the close-up slightly slanted from a directly straight shot and placed it ready. We wanted the lighting to also reflect the dark and spooky atmosphere, so we used the candles from our props, layed them out infront of the writing and decided to blow them out at the end of the ident to pitch black. For a dramatic and effective technique. Linking to things constantly jumping out or aiming to scare a viewer within the thriller genres as they are essentially 'thrill seeker's.
When we were ready to start filming we lit the candles, played the music to go alongside it (see 'Sound and Music' Post), from the laptop, then turned off all the lights in the room and started to record. Next we lifted up the box with the text on and filmed it as it dripped.
As the music changed dramatically, we used that as our point of when to blow out the candles to compliment the music in sync. Below is a few out-takes of this and our final shot.
Production images of making the Ident:
Here is a video clip of our final Ident. I am very happy with the outcome and think not only does it suit our film but is effective and professional.
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