A Visit from Old Nick starts with a long crane shot that comes down from the night sky to find the wrought iron gates of the Crescent Cemetery. Beyond the locked gates we see several rows of decaying crypts, our focus slowly shifts toward a bright streetlight glowing in the mist, where some movement has caught our attention.

       The fence is rendered separately from the rest of the scene. This is done for a few reasons. One is that by removing it from the main image, it makes the file smaller and therefore easier to move around on the Internet. The file will also render faster since if does not have to calculate the nooks and crannies of the wrought iron fence for each frame. (There are over 1,500 frames in the opening shot) Having the fence separate also gives me the opportunity to try a number of things that I would not be able to do if it was all part of the same image.

       The title in this test is my first experiment at layering in the opening credits. This is most likely not how it will appear in the final film but I wanted to start playing around with a few ideas.

       Music will be a strong element of the opening sequence. Cues will occur when certain set pieces are reveled, such as when the wrought iron sign first appears from the bottom of the screen. Sound effects such as cricket, frogs and the occasional howling wolf will be heard, along with the ever-present wind. I'm still debating on whether to have thunder and lighting. As I type this I'm leaning towards going for it. I think I will at least create a couple tests to see what it looks like.

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"A Visit from Old Nick"
Copyright 1999 - 2003 Mark W. Claunch