Ident pre production

The ident i will be making will be a horror themed ident for a self named company called Screaming House Productions. My ident will having a running time of 10 seconds and will be made on after effects. The target audience for my ident will be for 16-25 year olds, i think this is the main audience for horror films as 16 to 18 is the age you can legally go and see horror films in the cinema depending on the age certificate. My ident will appeal to them due to the nature and theme of the ident. My idea is to start out with the text coming in through shatter effect with tense music building up in the background. My idea for the shattering effect is to catch the eye of the audience while at the same time keeping the background and darker colour to fit in with the dark tone of horror movies. one the title are in the centre of the screen i will have creepy images fade in with a jump sound effect in the background, i will also have the font looking like dripping blood which will stand out against the dark background. At the end of my ident it will cut to black while still hearing the sound effect of a creepy laughter cutting out, i think this would be a good choice for the ending as it will leave the dark feeling with the audience before the film begins, Also i think my whole ident sells the idea that my production company is mainly horror films and is recognisable.

This is my mind map of ideas. This is a good way to get all my notes down and deice which idea is the best on to go for. I have two choices in mind. One is a horror ident with a dark feel to it to appeal to fans of the horror genre. My second idea was to create a ident for trenchers e.g. E4. 

This is my first mock up of what one of my ideas might look like. I've decided to put the text right in the centre of the screen so the name stands out to the audience. My idea for the name of the production was Scream house productions. The initially striked me as a horror sounding company and i checked that it wasn't currently in use by another production company. The titles will have blood dripping down from them to set the tone for the type of productions the company makes. Around the side of the titles i will have some images that are well known with the horror genre including a knife, a mask, and chainsaw etc.. I will also have a dark background to make the images and the text stands out. 

My second idea for a ident is to use live footage as well as effects to create a teen friendly ident which appeals to mainly 13-17 year olds. I will use a live clip of college and have the titles fly in from the side of the screen. I think the use of the green colouring makes the title stand out against the big picture of the college. 

This is my story board, explaining each step and what is happening

The final idea i choose was to do the horror ident. i will be creating all of it with motion graphics using no live footage. I will be using after effects to create the majority of the ident while using final cut towards the end to cut the best bits together. My idea is to start with a very dark background we then see my text fly in using the shattering effects. Tense music will start to build in the background the text will centre in the middle and a glitchy effect will make the text shake. Horror themed pictures will fade in round the edge of the text while creepy sound effects play over including a creepy laugh and the sound of a chainsaw. The screen will then cut to black while still hearing the laugh effect. 

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre - Censorship

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre - love it or hate it no one can deny its success and the cult following it made. Released in 1974 and directed by Tobe Hooper, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is one film that every horror fan knows just about everything there is to know about the film. Spawning countless sequels and remakes the legacy that the original has is huge and it is still rated as "one of the best horror films in cinema history". Shot in the 70s in Texas this low budget film was shot on a very rushed schedule, shooting several hours over time in order to get the film finished in time Hooper really believed this could be his big break, and sure it was. With countless positive reviews and a massive fan reception The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was not shy of controversy.

What Tobe Hooper did so great in this film was the power of suggestion. People believed they saw more blood and gore than they actual did. In fact they saw hardly any at all. Not once in the film do you physically see any violent behaviour towards a character. But this didn't stop the censors. The BBFC looked at the film in 1975 and felt that the terrorisation level in the film was to high to even give the film a X rating. With this in the mind, the editors made a few minor cuts to the final few scenes in the movie and submitted it again. Once again the BBFC declined the film a rating claiming that it would unluckily get through local councils, who can overthrow any BBFC rating. They also claimed that the film relied on its effect of madness and threat and that even though there is no physical gore in the film, there were not really any cuts that could be made that could cut down the threat to make it acceptable for a X approval. There wasn't really much that the film makers could do to get the film a rating in the UK. But this was back in the day where home video releases didn't legally need a certificate to be released. The successes of the home video release only lasted 4 years when in 1984 the Video Recording Act was introduced and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was took of the shelfs. The BBFC where once again asked to look at the film in 1999, they felt now that people would find the film dated and less likely to disturb adult viewers. They were actually impressed rather than disturbed and unlike most controversy movies around that time The Texas Chainsaw Massacre did not include any sexual violence. The BBFC finally gave the film a 18 rating for both the cinema release and the home video release both uncut.

The UK wasn't the only country in which the film had trouble getting released. The film was banned in nearly every country it went for release for including Australia, the film was outright banned in the country for 'excessive violence'. Unlike the UK who recognised the film never actually showed any real gore but the films terrorisation level was to much, Australia did not notice this and outright banned it for its violence. This lasted for several years when until in 1984 they rated the film R fit for release.

So why do we have censorship? Maybe one reason for it is because of the Effects Model. Shorten down meaning people will copy what they see. There are plenty of arguments for and against this theory. Albert Bandura conducted a experiment, he created and film showing a bobo doll getting attacked. He then went and showed this to a group of little children, who where then left in a room with the bobo doll. Nearly all of the children copied what they saw in the video and attacked the doll. But does this prove anything? first of all a bobo doll is like a punching bag, don't we all hit a punching bag if we go past one? Other arguments for the effects model are copy cat crimes, most notable the clock work orange crimes. Once the film had been released criminal gangs in London started dressing as the characters from the film and acting out various crimes which were shown in the film, but still does the back up the theory. For me the line in Scream answers this perfectly, 'movies don't create psychos. Movies make psychos more creative. Just because they may of emulate a certain style of crime copied from something they have seen who's to say they weren't going to do it anyway. Nearly everyone has seen a violent film or played a violent video game, but the majority of people do not go and copy these acts, because most of them have a brain and know its fiction.

The question we come to is should we have censorship? Well yes we should but no to the extent we have it now. Obviously I think we should have age certificates purely for the fact to protect children from harmful material. Not because I think they are going to copy it but because as a suitable adult you shouldn't let your kids be exposed to material that could disturb or harm them. But should we outright ban things if they are seen as too extreme ? Of course we shouldn't, adults who are over the age of 18 should have the right to make their own decisions on what they watch and unless a film is outright breaking the law by being made or being released then it shouldn't be banned regardless of the content.

So remember - Movies don't make psychos, movies just make psychos more creative, come on censors get a grip, its only entertainment at the end of the day.