In a motion picture the opening credits are shown at the very beginning and list the most important members of the production. They are usually shown as bold text on a blank screen or static pictures, or sometimes on top of action in the show. There may or may not be accompanying music. For our opening titles we will have music and it will have text over an action shot. Opening credits since the early 1980s, identify the major actors and crew, while the closing credits list an extensive cast and production crew. When researching we came up with the most common mentions in the credits. so this influenced our credits as we wanted it to be realistic.
Here are some examples of opening titles from film Noir films. These were taken from the films Deadly "Kiss Me and Raw Deal. This supports my research of opening titles having moving backgrounds and bold fonts. The British Board of Film Classification is an independent, non-governmental body which has classified cinema films since it was set up in 1912 and videos/DVDs since the Video Recordings Act was passed in 1984. It was set up as an an independent body to bring a degree of uniformity to the classification of film nationally. All classification decisions are based on the BBFC’s published and regularly updated Guidelines. The Guidelines are the product of extensive public consultation, research and the accumulated experience of the BBFC over many years. They reflect current views on film, DVD and video game regulation. Those who examine the films etc look at issues such as discrimination, drugs, horror, imitable behaviour, language, nudity, sex, sexual violence, theme and violence when making decisions. They also consider context, the tone and impact of a work (eg how it makes the audience feel) and even the release format (for example, as DVDs are watched in the home, there is a higher risk of underage viewing). The following symbols are the age ratings seen on the products... The U symbol stands for Universal. A U film should be suitable for audiences aged four years and over. However, it is impossible to predict what might upset a particular child, especially at this lower end of the category range. PG stands for Parental Guidance. Meaning a film is suitable for general viewing, however there is the possibility that some scenes may not be suitable for young children. A PG film should not unsettle a child aged around eight or older. Parents should consider whether the content may upset younger, or more sensitive, children. The 12A requires an adult to accompany any child under 12 seeing a 12A film at the cinema. This is enforced by cinema staff and a cinema may lose its license if adult accompaniment is not enforced for children under 12 admitted to a 12A film. Accompanied viewing cannot be enforced in the home, so the 12 certificate remains for DVD/Blu-ray, rather than the 12A. The 12 is also a simpler system for retailers. It means they cannot sell or rent the item unless the customer is over the age of 12. No-one under 15 is allowed to see a 15 film at the cinema or buy/rent a ‘15 rated video. 15 rated works are not suitable for children under 15 years of age. No theme is prohibited, provided the treatment is appropriate for 15 year olds. Films rated 18 are for adults. No-one under 18 is allowed to see an 18 film at the cinema or buy/rent an 18 rated video. No 18 rated works are suitable for children. No theme is prohibited at 18. Adults are free to choose their own entertainment provided the material is not illegal or potentially harmful, so it is possible some themes tackled at 18 may be offensive even to some adult viewers. The R18 category is a special and legally-restricted classification primarily for explicit works of consenting sex or strong fetish material involving adults. Films may only be shown to adults in specially licensed cinemas, and video works may be supplied to adults only in licensed sex shops. R18 videos may not be supplied by mail order. R18 titles are filtered out from the main public search as they can have explicit and/or offensive titles. Due to the many age categories that your film could fall into, it is crucial that it must be concluded as to what age rating the film will be before it is release in ordeer to attract the correct target audience. Since there is the possibility that if a film is believed to be a 12 and over, yet is shown to the BBFC and it is actually a 15, it cuts of those who were possibly wanted to see the film. There is times however when the film is advertised on the television; for example, and TBC is in the corner rather then a rating since there is no confirmation as to what category it falls into, almost leaving people in suspense as to whether they are viable to view it in the cinema.
As our film-'Reminiscence' is a thriller as well as a film noir, it does not appear to fall into the category suitable for twelve year olds, due to the fact if the story where to be adapted, the film would most likely turn into a rather violent, twisted, physcological thriller with rather strong langue and scenes that would not be fitted to a twelve year old. Fortunately, our original target audience was to be of teens around 15-18 (hipsters) wanting to see the film noir, for this reason we have not encouraged any target audience that would not get the option to view it in the cinemas etc. Here are some examples of music for thrillers. Some of the elements that I have pointed out can be found in our film production. I have listed two more modern film thrillers and a film noir, of which inspiration can be found. The Music from 'Vertigo' uses an array of classical instruments matching the Film Noir. The melody that resembles a simple scale of notes creates a hypnotic mood and tone. The High pitched violins illustrate a dangerous atmosphere. As the piano scale melody is broken by brass instruments ever so often, the audience grow tense, not knowing what to expect next. The iconic music from 'Jaws' displays how tension can be created and built up using a simplistic melody consisting of two notes. Previous to this segment of music, the film has no other background music - therefore when this piece is introduced into the film, the audience register that it is used for dramatic effect. As the music gradually crescendos and repeats the bars faster, the audience grow tense with the anticipation created, assuming that some bad event is being foreshadowed from the music itself. The music from 'Sin City' uses a low base to initially create a dark and intense atmosphere. Sharp sounds are echoed on top of the base and an audience gains an insight of the film having a grudge undertone to it. The music is later accompanied by a saxophone melody, creating a seductive and jazzy tone, indicating this theme for throughout the film. Some of the notes are sharp, making it almost hard to listen to. The intense build up of instruments creates a dramatic climax.
Shutter Island The opening sequence of shutter island lets us understand and believe as to why the film is named 'Shutter Island'. We are introduced to men travelling inland towards this island that appears to be very secluded and 'shut off'. It establishes the location and therefore will allow us to understand the consequences of certain things within the film. Panic Room-
Within the opening sequence of the film 'Panic Room' we are introduced to many different aspects of a large city whilst the titles are shown, however it appears there is some slight irony within the opening sequence as one usually perceives a panic room to be a small and confide space, therefore they have juxtaposes what we believe to be a panic room, with a large city- which somewhat implies an odd twist to the film. The title 'Panic Room' now creates us to believe it connotes another meaning. Brick is a 2005 American neo-noir thriller film. The story is about Brendan Frye a loner who seeks for the answers behind the death of his ex-girlfriend. The main obvious thing is that the poster is a dark blue colour. This is meant to represent water as the tunnel is flooded. The tunnel is foreboding with no sign of light coming from it. You can see the ripples of water on the top an bottom of the poster,this makes the audience feel as if there underwater or maybe drowning. There is some lighting from the water but seems far away and distant. The title brick is in white and is dripping and peeling away into the water like ripples of light, making the tile look neglected and sinister. The only other writing of the text is the shady deeds.. having the writing in dark blue makes it almost blend in, making this mysterious and potentially scary because it may connote murder or a crime that happens in the film. There are no people or obvious objects in the film making it simple but powerful to look at. As are opening title is in the style of film noir our poster will be simple but bold like this one. The house at the end of the street is about 17-year-old daughter Elissa who has just moved with her mum to house there to a house were there was young psychotic girl who murders her parents, Four years later she has moved in. Carrie Anne's brother, Ryan Jacobson is the sole survivor. When Elissa stats having a relationship with Ryan strange things start to happen. On this film poster it shows the title House at the end of the street. This font is in capital letters and in the colour yellow this is so the title stands out and makes a big impact. having the title slanted and running makes it look like it has been done quickly and as if in panic. The poster is dark and moody with the only light coming from behind the house and o the characters face. This may be a trick positioning,as maybe we she is the one seeing the ouse and we are looking at i from her vision. Her eyes are looking straight out and this gets the audience involved with her more as a character. The mist on the house in the background creates an isolation which helps to create a darker feel to the poster. The use of a snippet of review comments helps advertise the film give an impression of being a really scary and great film to see. Black Swan was a 2013 film that lies within psychological thriller/horror film genre. The film is about a ballet dancer who gets the main part in swan lake,but throughout the movie she because more and more confused resulting in acts of madness both in her head on in real life. Nina (Natalie Portman) is the only one in the shot, this reveals to us that she is the main character or protagonist in the film and that the action will revolve around her. Her eyes are looking straight at the camera and out into the audience, so it's like she's looking at the viewer. This makes the poster engaging and rather intense. her makeup is natural but has that dark and alluring most likely to reflect the dark swan part of her character. The black background behind her makes her white pure skin stand out making her look vulnerable . Her innocent expression actually makes her look more sinister. The split down her face connotes that she's fragile and is one of the most prominent parts of the poster. It can also suggest that this ballerina's is under pressure, she is broken and not like other dancers. The writing on the bottom says 'Black Swan in black capital lettings suggesting that this will be a bold and dark film. The film is about Dorian Gray and is a 2009 British fantasy-thriller drama film based on Oscar Wilde's 1890 novel The Picture of Dorian Gray. Grey is in the centre of the poster , showing the audience who the central character is, but there are also two figures in the background, suggesting they are also very important to the storyline. The women in the background, is wearing a red skirt maybe showing that she is a sexy or a love interest in the film. Also the people in the posters have pale faces. this suggests that they are ghostlike characters and are not all quite human. The poster has very cold colours with dark blue misty edges. It could suggest that the film is going to be gothic, but the storyline cold and sinister. At the top of the poster, it says 'Forever young, forever cursed'. We can see that Dorian is young on the poster. We aren't sure what the curse is from the poster, but it probable is suggesting that being young forever has bad consequences to it. what we can see is the fire burning away part of his body. like the burning of a painting suggesting this has something to do with it. He is looking into the camera, which is engaging with the audience and is quite intense. In the background, there is a big statue suggesting the victorian era, along with the clothes, it suggests that the characters are well off. Dorian appears to be dressed very well and raver sexy, a long coat and scarf, typical of the wealthy in that era. The females in film noir were either of two types (or archetypes) - The feminine, dutiful, reliable, trustworthy loving and most of the time the victim. They would be dresses in some simple but famine dress. Because are character is shown as the victim in are opening tittles she will were something like the dress on the right. i have sourced a dress in blue that is very similar to this. Shoes were slight heels with minimal embellishment, I have a pair that are similar to this that we will use. As our film is in black and white the colours will not matter too much. On the other side the dangerous and desperate women. Dazzling, devious sirens surrounded themselves in half-truths, whole lies, and the best silk money could buy. These women would be feminine but are more sexy and seductive in the way they dress,always look perfect. A lot of women would wear a large hat and glasses in order to hide their face from the world. Shoes would be the same as the good girls. The makeup was simple but bold. Ladies would have dark eyebrows and bright red lipstick. Women would also make their eyes stand out as much as possible. Eyes would be smoky and mysterious looking. This look would be the same for both innocent and bad women, but unlike the bad women innocent girls would not were bright lipstick and would most likely be a minimal version. Hair would mostlikely be in curles and be in a short hairstyle but some women would have theres in a very short hairstyle like and mans. This is a moodboard based on film noirs. I researched different film noirs and I noticed that they were all similar in a lot of ways, for example most of them have the femme fatale character who uses her good looks to get what she wants, also I noticed there are mostly men in nice cars and suits, there is usually people drinking and smoking and the fonts are relatively the same too as they all have thin letters.
This influenced our film in a lot of ways. We used the typical femme fatale character and used the thin font, also the dark and gloomy forest. Having a completely black background hints at the darkness of the films they make, this is probably horror and thriller genre as the font is modern gothic, the red lettering also may represent blood or murder. The H in the middle is bigger then the rest of the words so it is eye catching, it is very like a blood clot in itself, the highlight emphasises this, also the font has sharp ends to it making it look vaguely like a knife or sword. The background of the logo is intense black and consequently a little menacing, this could reflect the darkness of some of their films. The blue shining ribbon looks like a peak, and is obviously signifying the top of a mountain, the blue is cold with a pale summit which draws the eye. The 'summit' writing is in clear, strong font, well spaced apart to fill the space without being too overpowering. Within the opening sequence of 'No Country For Old Men' the editing seems of some significance- even though it is not easy to understand as to why we are being shown wide establishing shots of this landscape but at this point have to make the assumption it is of some importance. The editing is therefore used to capture the 'important bits' highlighting what we believe to be a relevant location in for this film. This way the audiences attention is focusing towards the preferred meanings that has been encoded in the shots. The pacing of how long is left to linger also embeds a tone to the feeling allowed for the audience to interpret. A scene quickly edited denotes action, violence, emergency etc, whereas a scene with slower edits usually has less connotations to do with fast paced action. However, after the slow cuts through the landscape, it then cuts to a police officer making an arrest, leading us to believe this slow opening with not many connotations, will lead to a faster edits and a more action-packed film.
The lighting in the opening of 'No Country For Old Men' is a significant component, helping set the scene. The screen stars black with no footage, then as the narrative dialogue is heard on top, the setting (of what we assume is a dessert rock) appears. The lighting is dim as we see the sun raise in the horizon over the rock in blue, orange tones. As the establishing shot changes to yet another establishing shot, the sun appears stronger. The dim desert sun changes to a brighter yellow as the shots continue. In one shot, the sun is seen peering through the top of some dusty rocks creating a glare effect, this lighting helps us to understand just how desolate the setting is. The idea of watching the sun rise gradually compliments the idea that the story is about to unfold, the start of both the film and the day creates anticipation for the audience as they don't know what to expect. The lighting reaches full day light, and the natural lighting reflected on the desert's rocky ground creates a stillness. It is almost an eerie atmosphere as we scan the different locations, as if the audience is meant to try and see something, almost like a criminal stakeout. The warmth of the lighting parallels the idea that the desert is commonly associated with heat. In the fist scene where characters are introduced (a man in handcuffs being led by a Texas officer) we can see that the police siren lights are still flashing as the car is pulled up to the side of the road, adding emphasis to the status of the police force, reflecting what the narrative voice had previously described. At first, we are only aware of the narration, obviously a man with an American accent, rather gravelly in tone, he lets us know straight away that he is a Sheriff and tells of old time policemen and a past case. However, as you become attuned you then hear the background noise of wind, it is constant and obviously blowing in an open space. This is reinforced as the sun comes up and a bird is heard singing, the setting is in open country. Apart from these three sounds, it is absolutely quiet, this must be a long way from any buildings, there isn't even any sound of traffic, just a squeaky wind generator. The wind is always there but even the bird has stopped singing, it is just the narrator, but suddenly the sound of footsteps on a stony surface shows that there is at least one person around, the fact that there are two people is not obvious as their footsteps are synchronised perfectly as they walk to the car. The sound of the car door being opened is quite sudden and propels you into the story, then the metallic bell like tone of the strange canister being put into the front seat leaves us with a question, what is it? The car is started and revved up to a high speed straight away, the policeman obviously wants to get his prisoner back in a hurry. |
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