A title sequence is the way the by which television programmes or films present the title, production and the starring actors. it usually starts or includes the text of the opening credits, it helps establish the setting and tone of the program. Examples:
Above is the title for 'The Hobbit'.the typography is iconic to 'the hobbit' films and is used in all 3 films, the style of the typography is significant to the time its based in, the film is very medieval with swords and shields type of fighting and the font used looks like old and broken stone.
This is the title for 'TRON' a sci-fi movie. This title reflects the movie which is very modern and uses basic colours of black, blue and other simple colours, The way the letters are different parts makes this title interesting and engaging.
This is the title for 'wreck it ralph' a kids animation film. The typography in this title reflects the movie well as it is all about video games and this title looks like a old fashioned video game with retro pixel display .
Today we looked at the 3 different theorists Propp,Todorov and Straus
Propps theory was to do with different charachters anmd their roles in films or books.
in outr film we have the antagonaist who im playing, hes a stereo typical stalker as he has a black hoodie and hes a male. We then have 3 victims and a target these are all girls which is again stereotypical as they are all teen females and they are all vunerable, in out film the target is the protagonist as later on in the rest of the film she finds out about him and tries to stop him.
Todorovs theory was to do with narrative and that everything follows a 3 part structure, at the start everything is balanced this is called equilibrium, this is when the stalker is pinning the hair on the board and is in his element. Next is a disequalibrium when the stalker gets found out and is then put under pressure and out of his comfort zone. Equalibrium is next again and is retored for the stalker as he achieves his goals of collecting his samples and leaves the audience an enigma code.
Struass believed in binary opposition throughout a films narrative this is where a film would display evident contrasts betweeen people or groups. For example:
Good vs bad
Boy vs girl
Light vs dark
Cat vs dog
Peace vs war
Strong vs weak
In my film the main binary opposition is boys vs girls as the boy is targeting the girls for the hair. There is another binary opposition on strong vs weak as the stalker is potrayed as strong and the girls come across as vunerable and weak
After researching different openings we came across the opening sequence of a series of unfortunate events, we took inspiration from this opening and from the shots of the murder board which we tried to include in our opening as we needed more close ups of the murder board to make it more like a thriller.
This scene was taken from the start of 'The secret window' it was written and directed by David Koepp. the film is a psychological thriller. The scene starts with the character 'Mort rainy' played by Johnny Depp inside a car, then we hear a voice and he starts to drive the car away, he stops the car and we hear the voice again, he then turns the car around and drives back from where he came from, as he drives away we see the motel sign, the angle then changes and we see 'Mort' then picks up keys from the motel lobby and drives to the end of the rooms ad breaks into a room and we see two people in bed and the camera pans out of the room.
The sequence opens with a sound bridge of a slow knocking noise, the sound can cause speculation as to what it is when it is not showing the wind screen wipers. The noise sound very similar to a heart beat and could be mistaken for it. We then hear a voice which is non diegetic, we figure out that the voice is actually Depps and he is speaking to himself he says "turn around. turn the car around and get the hell out of here right now." this shows us that Depps enemy in this film is himself. the voice is very chilling and menising. After Depp doesn't listen to himself he reverses his car toward the motel and a diegetic sound is used when his car comes to a stop and screeches, this reflects his anger and shows us hes impatient. When Depp breaks into the room all the sound goes distorted and muffled, what the audience hear at this moment is what Depp hears, but we can make out that Depp shouts "no" at the women in the bed who we find out is his wife.
Now looking at the use of camera, the sequence starts with a close up of Depp in this shot we can see his facial expressions ad emotions and that he is inside a car. As depp starts driving the car away the camera stays eye level to Depp which helps us focus on his angry expression, when the camera stays eye level to a character it is known as the "eye-line match", using the eye-line match means that the surroundings as very unclear and we are forced to keep eye contact with Depp. Eventually the car reverses away from the camera and the establishing shot is formed as we can now see there is snow on the side of the road which means its set in winter and we can see a red motel sign, it then changes into a medium shot of Depp walking into the reception area, in the medium shot you can see most of the room this suggests that he doesn't care if he is seen, the medium shot could have also been used to not show what the keys where for.
In this sequence the mise-en-scene is very important when it comes to understand whats happening and why. The original setting is inside of the car with dark and low-key lighting, the lighting could portray the mood of Depps character, but as he puts his left hand on the steering wheel its not hard to notice the ring on his finger suggesting that he is married. Later on in the sequence when the car reverses and we reach the establishing shot we notice that there is snow on either sides of the road so we know that it is now set in winter time, In the establishing shot we can also see the red motel sign and the brake light are red, the colour red is normally incorporated with danger, this is probably telling us that it is a bad idea for Depp to return to the building as something dangerous might occur. Overall I feel that the main theme for this film is isolation, this can be reflected in the weather and the fact that it only includes four characters in the opening.
Finally moving on to the editing, the first half of the sequence is one long clip but as the sequence ends the clips get shorter building up the tension, there is a continuity error in the sequence when Depp goes in to intrude in the motel room the car door can heard closing but later on as the camera pans out the door is wide open.
To conclude I think this opening sequence explains alot of the acions which take place quite well, even though a first time viewer may not of seen the ring on their finger they could of guessed that he was in a relation ship with someone as the voice over says "Do not go back to her" . I believe that this sequence is very good at setting in motion the rest of the film and displaying the plot point of Depp's mental issues.
Question 1
For the first question we decided that we need to find out the age of the audience we are going to aim it at. Due to the results we found out that the most popular age group was 15-17, we will try and make our suitable for a minimum of age 15.
Question 2
In the second question we asked the gender of the people taking the questionnaire we found out there is slightly more males than females but the gap isn't that big so we will have to aim our films at all genders.
Question 3
I asked what was their favourite sub genre of thriller was, i asked a variety of sub genres and the most popular one was Psychological, me and my group will try to come up with a psychological thriller for our film.
Question 4
for question 4 we asked what are the most effective factors in a thriller, actors/acting and editing had the most amount of votes so for our opening we will try to include good actors which will be very suspicious to the audience and we will try to make the editing fast paced scenes towards the end to build up the tension.
Question 5
for question 5 we asked for their opinion on the most appropriate for titles, the answer with the highest votes was white, but as white is the most popular colour and it has been used so many times we will experiment with the titles and find the most suitable colour
Question 6
For question 6 I wanted to find out what what the best narrative would be, due to the results I found out that stalker was the most popular narrative, so I will try and make my opening sequence about a stalker.
Question 7
In question 7 asked if it was important for a thriller to have an intense opening, yes was the most popular answer so I will try and make my opening intense so it engages the audience so they will want to watch more.
This was a existing A level film called exemption which we looked at in class, we made notes of what we liked about the film so we could try and include them in our opening sequence. some of these points are:
Titles, my group liked the way the titles went off screen.
Editing/Overlay, we liked the way the eye faded into a clock.
We liked the way the music stopped and the titles appeared.
Montage of close ups.
Extreme close ups.
POV shots.
The music and the action start at the same time.
Builds tension using fast shots.
Jump cut shot.
Over the shoulder shot.
This is another existing A level media film called Captive which we also looked at in class, we watched it once then discussed what we liked about it and it has the some of the same points as exemption, these are:
The purpose of a film opening is to entice the audience into carry on watching the film, the opening of a film should establish the characters and genre this can be done in many different ways, some of these are:
A flashback, this is when the story jumps back in time and we can learn something to do with the film or a character
A wide landscape shot, this sets the scene and inform the audience of where the film is taking place
Narrations, this is the most simple but effective way to get the audience involved, this can give background information on a character or what has been happening which gives the audience and insight of the rest of the film.
An action scene is normally very fast paced and attracts the audience straight away which will make them want to carry on watching
logos, this is normally the logo of the production company normally the logo is adapted to reflect the genre of the film
Title sequences, at the start of the film there are always titles which show the actors name and production tea, the titles can build up suspense to reflect the genre of the film.
Montage of photographs, this portrays the genre to the audience. For example in the walking dead opening sequences it shows different pictures of what the apocalyptic world looks like now.
One of the most famous British thriller directors was Alfred Hitchcock, he had a very successful career as he became renowned as England's best director, because he made very good silent films and then films with sound. Hitchcock was mostly famous for creating: psycho, vertigo, rear window and north by northwest. He directed a lot of different types of thriller for example; horror, mystery, romance, action, adventure and crime. Most of his work were mystery thrillers.
Christopher Nolan is the highest grossing and one of the most successful filmmakers in the 21st century. Nolan created his first thriller in 2002 which was insomnia, which was a very big budgeted psychological thriller which made $113 million dollars worldwide, this is the only film that Nolan directed without receiving at least a share of one of the writing credits, although he wrote the final draft of the script. Nolan has created some of the most famous action thrillers for example: the dark knight trilogy, inception, and interstellar.
Quentin Tarantino is an american director and actor, his work is best known for being out of chronological order. Tarantino has received many industry awards such as academy award, golden globe awards, BAFTA's and the Palme d'Or, his work has also been nominated for an Emmy and a Grammy. Tarantino has created lots f films most of theses seem to be action thrillers for example: Pulp fiction, Django Unchained, The Hateful Eight and Reservoir dogs.
comedy thriller: this combines thriller and comedy elements, its a combination of comedy and suspense or action.
action thriller: this sub genre includes action and thriller, where the main character is confronted dangerous obstacles where they have to get through, action thrillers normally include a race against the clock.
conspiracy thriller: the hero confronts a large group of enemies only he/she recognises.
crime thriller: this genre is a hybrid of crime films and thrillers, these often include murders and robberies, chases and a shootout.
horror thriller: this is the type of thriller that blends horror and thriller, the film normally includes a lot of suspense, tension and adrenaline, while having an emphasis on fear.
legal thriller: this normally includes the main characters are lawyers or employees.
political thriller: this movie normally includes a hero who has to ensure the stability of the government that employs them.
supernatural thriller: this type of genre normally bringing otherworldly element.
Saul Bass was an american graphic designer and an academy award winning filmmaker.
Saul Bass has made a lot of films but his most recognisable films are: Around the world in 80 days, The man with the golden arm.
These are some of his movies posters, they all have the same style in all, the background is a whole colour and the silhouettes are very effective and dynamic, because they stand out off the background.
Bass got most of his fame after creating the title
the man with the golden arm.
Bass' creations include:
The man with the golden arm
Around the world in 80 days
Edge of the city
West side story
Its a mad, mad, mad, mad world
bass described his main goal as trying to reach his opening sequences to be a simple visual phrase that tells you what the film is about and evokes the essence of the story
This was a very famous title sequence he made for the thriller film called 'the shining' the opening sequence focuses on the colour of red which portrays blood
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