Research: The Importance of Opening Titles

Opening sequences are shown at the very beginning of a movie, video game or television program. They are now usually shown as text superimposed on a blank screen or static pictures, or sometimes on top of action in the show, however there may or may not be accompanying music.

Opening titles usually include the most important people of the movie such as the cast, the directors and the film titles whereas closing credits usually include the make-up artists, the visual directors, the editors and walk-on actors/extras. Opening titles are usually static whereas the closing credits roll up.

Opening titles have significantly changed over the years as new softwares have been created and designed. Nowadays, title sequences are often longer (2-3 minutes long) so the closing titles aren't as long.

Here is an example of a recent opening sequence. The film is the Disney adaptation of a classic called the Wizard of Oz. What is interesting about this opening sequence is that even though it's a fairly recent movie, they have kept the original assets of old title sequences (monotonous colours, orchestral music score).

Here is an example of how differently producers choose to include the titles. In Beetlejuice, which was released in 1988, they have included the titles on top of the action. Indeed, the titles appear in a big black font with purple outlines, as the camera is executing a panning shot towards a house on the top of a hill.


However, titles sequences do not appear at the very beginning of the movie. For the case of Pitch Perfect, there is a scene of approximatively 5 minutes before the opening sequence. As well as that, the names of the main actors do not appear until the closing credits. The opening sequence only reveals the name of the production companies, the studio name as well as the name of the movie.
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Planning: Treatment

Opening: 

The first thing the audience will see is a black screen accompanied by the non dietetic sound of woodland such as birds; it enables the audience to set the mood but keep the scene as mysterious as we can. This is then shortly followed by our production company name which is "Sub-Zero". This will tell the audience that it is set in a woodland area before they see a visual image. 
This is followed by a close-up of a puddle with a title that states: 'based on a true event'. This title then fades away when a character steps on the puddle, creating a splash sound. A low angle of the characters walking away, which is accompanied by a title saying: 'starring',which is also accompanied by a diegetic sound of the characters walking on gravel, and as the characters speak, their names appear on the screen which allows the audience to figure out who's who. There is long shot from the woods, watching the characters walking away. Accompanied by a strange noise, from within the woods. One character suddenly stops to tie his laces, he bends over, the rest of the group walks off without him. A russell from the bushes is heard but the character does not notice. The recurring unknown sound is heard to symbolise that something is wrong. The character finishes tying his laces up, gravel sounds are heard from behind, as well as hand grabbing his mouth from behind. The camera cuts. 

Several conventions are included such as no signal, secluded location, trees and bushes moving, one of the protagonists die at the very beginning and the villain cannot be seen. It makes the movie seem traditional and a standard horror film as conventions are utilised in every horror movie there is.

Note: All of three members of the group were involved in the treatment. But to save time, we did it on one computer together.

Research into Target Audience - Pen Portrait

During last lesson, we were asked to come up with the "typical member" of our target audience, how old they were and what their lifestyle were like. As well as what they are interested in and what they are up to during their spare time. 

This is the sheet we used to write all of the information regarding our target audience.

My character

My character's name is Andy Clark and he's 15, although he will be turning 16 at the end of the month. He does not have a job but gets pocket money every two weeks from his french grandfather, who is pretty wealthy. He goes to sixth-form and studies Business, French, Media and Photography. At weekends, he likes to go out with his friends, usually at the cinema to watch the latest horror or sci-fi movies. When he's older, he would like to be create his own film company and direct films. 

Planning: Questionnaire On Horror Films

We wanted to make sure we received as much feedback as we possibly could so we opted for a quick and friendly questionnaire about horror films. The link to the survey can be found below, thanks in advance!

Click here to take survey!

Planning: Interviews

To make our research more accurate, Oliver decided to interview several people of our target audience. They gave him their opinions on what openings would be best, and also what they thought of our overall plot. It helped us greatly because we aim to please our target audience and by receiving feedback and ideas, our film will be more likely to be watched by our core audience. They all said that we should use several bits of all three openings to make it as original as we can. Subsequently, we merged all three of our ideas to make a final piece, and this piece is going to be the one we'll go by during the main project.

Planning: Potential Openings

As we have a good idea of our target audience, we were asked to come up with 3 potential openings to our movie. Oliver, Nicole and me have come up with 3 different ideas of we have a wide range of ideas to pick from. We are also going to ask feedback from our target audience which will give us a good idea of what they are looking for in our movie and if the movie is going to be commercially successful.

Essay

In this post, I am going to analyse the codes and conventions of horror films as illustrated in the openings of "Dead Wood", "Dead Mary" and "Wrong Turn". 

This is the sheet where I wrote all of the analysis, which I am going to explain more in detail below.

Technical codes

Use of the camera:

At the very beginning of Dead Wood, a tilt shot is utilised, which generally signifies height and power. In this case, it shows the density of the location. It also builds up the anticipation of the audience as the they are not aware of what is going to happen. 

As soon as the tilt is finished, the camera is suddenly handheld and gets shaky, to show the danger and the intensity of the scene. It follows the main character running from an unknown source of danger. Some point of view shots are utilised as well, so it makes the audience feel involved and sympathetic towards the character. When he abruptly stops and tries to reach the other side of the forest, there are many cuts present to represent the character's perturbation/anxiety and the intensity of the scene yet again. There is an edit present in the scene, a slow motion is included. It builds anticipation as the jump is being slowed down.

When the character falls, there is a panning shot which leads to the tent the character was attempting to reach. 
When the woman gets out of the tent, there is a long shot of her and the tent which might symbolise loneliness. The scene ends up with a powerful crane shot to make it as if we are looking down on the character. It symbolises power but it could also symbolise that the villain is slowly achieving his aim, and that his next victim is the woman.

In Dead Mary, the camera is moving 
upwards with an extreme close-up to give more information about the place and the ambiance. It also makes the audience feel like they are present in the scene. The camera also zooms in from the woods to the car, which might reveal that most of the film is going to be set in the forest.



There is also a long shot of the road to show the exact location. In this case, it makes the audience emphasise with the woman due to her being on her own in the middle of nowhere. There is a high shot of her legs included as well which might suggest her youth, or happy-go-lucky attitude. 



At the end of the opening, there are some shots reverse shots because of the dialogue. The shots are extreme close-ups to show the characters' emotions as they are conversing. 





In Wrong Turn, straight at the beginning, there is a bird's eye view shot of the forest. The camera movement used is a tracking shot. It gives the audience the exact location, so they know where the scene is set straight away. It also draws them into the action.

There is another tracking shot, where the two characters are climbing up the cliff. It allows the audience to be in the action and follow the characters around. 
Similarly to Dead Wood, when the female is being pulled up the cliff  by an unknown character, there are many sudden cuts to show the intensity of the scene. 

When she finds out that her friend is dead, she gasps and there is a close-up of her face to show her reaction and emotions.
When she sees the branches shaking abruptly and runs away, point-of view shots are utilised so it feels as if the audience is part of the scene and it gives the character's perspective. 

Sound/Lighting/Titles: 

No special lighting has been added onto any of those openings, due to all of them being filmed at day time. 

Sound-wise, all three of them have non-diegetic sound. For Dead Wood, the music score has been composed especially for the opening, as the music matches the actions. The music is dramatic, to emphasise the seriousness of the situation.

Similarly, in Wrong Turn, the sound is dramatic. However, at the beginning of the opening, the music is slightly less loud, it allows the film to set the audience in a cold atmosphere, and it tells the audience already what type of movie it is. From when she is being pulled up the hill, the music becomes louder and quicker so it adapts to the scene. 
However in Dead Mary, all sound included is mainly diegetic, which means sound whose the source is visible on the screen or whose source is implied to be present by the action of the film. Indeed, the main things we can hear in Dead Mary are the birds' singing, and loud sighs and the dialogue between the woman and the man. 
At the very beginning of Dead Wood, there is also diegetic sound so it makes the scene more realistic and natural. In Wrong Turn, the diegetic sounds include the fall, the rope getting pulled up, the girl's scream as well as the dialogue.

Titling is also a great way to communicate information with the audience. It sets the mood and it helps the audience to identify the genre of the film. However in Dead Wood, no titling has been included in the opening. It sets the opening apart as the other two both have titles in them. It allows gives the opening a sense of mystery in it.
Moving onto Dead Mary, the titles have been included cleverly, and it instantly let the audience know the genre of the film. Indeed, the letters of each word appear randomly and then they all turn red as they fade, whose connotations are blood and danger.

In Wrong Turn, similar to Dead Mary, the colour of the font is white but no special effect has been carried out like in Dead Mary.

Symbolic codes:

Elements of mise-en-scene (costume, make-up, props, location):

All three of the openings have been set in or nearby a forest, which is the most prominent secluded location in a horror movie.
The main character in Dead Wood is wearing a Hawaiian shirt, which might signify that he is a bit of a innocent character, who is only seeking for a few days away. Blood capsules have been included to make the scene more realistic. Also, the location is secluded,  which maximizes the chances of him getting killed. As for the woman, she is wearing dull colours and her costume doesn't say much about her, or maybe that she might be wiser than the man.
In Dead Mary, the woman is wearing skimpy clothes and is barefoot. She's not really wearing any make-up. Props used include the car, the phone, the radio and the flare gun, which might make the audience reckon that someone is going to get killed in the movie. 
The guy is wearing a simple outfit which composes of a simple shirt and jeans.
In Wrong Turn, both of the characters are wearing sporty equipment. Props used include fake blood, the car and the equipment. The props and the costume tell the audience that the characters are not prepared for any kind of accident that might occur. No special make-up has been included. The location is secluded and the amount of danger that is exposed in the location is tremendous (high rocks). 

Conventions: 

The conventions present in all three of the opening sequences are secluded locations (forests in these occasions), the girl is left alone, and the main characters are one male and one female only. In Dead Wood, the conventions that are present are that the protagonist never gets out alive, the character trips over as they're about to reach safety, the horror is present but you can't catch sight of it, the character never takes the best route and fake scares. 
In Dead Mary, the conventions present are that there is no way to contact anyone (no phone signal, the car's broken down) and the man is doing all the work, leaving the woman on her own. As for Wrong Turn, the main conventions included are shaking the trees/bushes, the character trips over as they're about to reach safety, many cuts and handheld camera when the pursuit commences, the villain can't be seen and one of protagonists die first, in this case the man.

Overall, I personally think that the best opening was Wrong Turn, as it ticks all the boxes for me. You can't see the villain but you know it is present, which heightens my anticipation for what is going to happen next. Also, how the villain managed to get hold of the woman's rope intrigues me. The opening definitely left me wondering what is going to happen next. The location used makes it a little scarier as it is happening quite high too. 

Our 60-second pitch

Nicole, Oliver and me had to create a story for a teen horror film, however we're only going to film the opening. Pitches are fundamental during the film-making process. It allows the audience to have a brief idea of what the film is going to be like. It will also determine if our idea can be turned into a full-length movie and if the production companies as well as the film executives are willing to support us financially. We gave details about everything in the movie such as the name, the location, the plot and the characters. We also included at the end of the pitch why and how the plot relates to our target audience, which in this case is teenagers. If our idea is then accepted, the pre-production can finally occur.

Planning: Getting Into Group

During last lesson, we came up with a name and a plot for the opening of our teen horror opening.
I will be working with Nicole Storey and Oliver Iarrobino for this task. Our production company is called Sub-Zero Films and the working title is "Dormez Mes Enfants".

Research : Codes and Conventions

In class, I learnt about codes and conventions which I found really interesting and useful. Below is some brief information which is going to help me greatly during the main task. 

Codes: 

Codes are elements that can be decoded by the audience to provide meaning. These can be divided most easily into 2 groups; technical codes and symbolic codes.

Technical codes include the 'technical' aspects of creating a piece of moving image media. This includes things such as camera shots, angles and movements, editing, sound, titles and lighting. 

 Symbolic codes include the main elements of mise-en-scene within a film. Mise-en-scene is a French term that literally means 'put in the scene'. This covers things such as costume, make-up, setting and props. If we see a man in his twenties, dressed up in a suit we may, as an audience, make an assumption about him. We do this because of the symbolic value attached to these items.

Examples of codes: 

We can identify the genre of the film by simply looking at the poster of the film. For this one, the title "LIKE MIKE" is written in a friendly manner and the predominant colours are red and blue. This is to match with the clothes Lil Bow Wow (the boy in the left) is wearing. The two main characters are in a long shot and there are four other characters who are in the background. 
As for the symbolic codes, the costumes are mainly basketball equipment, which instantly tells us that the characters are all basketball players. As for the young boy in the right, he is wearing normal clothes and glasses, which might suggests that he's the geek of the troop. The props utilized are mainly basketballs, which are only held by the characters in the background. It again suggests that the movie is about basketball in general. Also, the setting is on a basketball court, which confirms the overall genre of the movie. 

Conventions:

Conventions are the expected rules that, as an audience, we expect in a specific genre. Most horror films follow a set of conventions consistent throughout the genre, however many chose to bypass these. Examples include dark/shadowy lighting, isolated location, female victim, disruption of normality, defeat of monster, power cut etc...

Why are they both so fundamental to the piece?

• Codes and conventions are used together in any study of genre
• I will need to know all the codes and conventions of films (which is in this case horror films)
• My audience should be able to identify my film opening as being that of a horror film. I will be able to do this by utilizing the right codes and conventions.