Title Research: Hostage

How many titles are displayed during the opening sequences to the film?

There were about 29 titles in the introduction of the movie Hostage. The title of the movie (hostage) was in the middle of the titles rather than the end like I thought was a waste in suspense. The film has such a great title, and I feel it was wasted by putting it in the middle rather than the end. 

What images are prioritized in opening sequence? 

During the opening sequence, it was an animated showing of the city and how the city should appear in the movie. When the opening sequence ends it changes to a real actor screaming in a caged area.

What connotations do the images carry?

They show that struggle, distress, and ruggedness of the city. This lets the audience know what the rest of the movie is going to be like. This is important to draw in the targeted audience. 

How is genre reinforced through symbolic and technical codes from the outset?

The genre of action is shown through the chaos of helicopters, guns, army men, etc. However, there is a slight showing of a thriller towards the end of the opening sequence, when they show a character screaming. 

How does the film establish an enigma from the outset?

It shows signs of war and distress, leaving the audience with suspense, wondering why the city looks this way. This leaves them intrigued and continuing to watch the movie. 

What strategies are used to ensure the film appeals to its target audience? 

The film is appealing towards what can only be assumed to be the male audience. This is because the film shows everything that a boy is told they should like, hence why this film would try to target them. 

How has technology been used effectively?

Technology has been used through the use of editing animation. This leaves a lack of detail in the opening sequence, leaving the audience hanging with just enough information to have them intrigued. The last edit used at the end of the introduction really shows the transition from the intro to the core of the movie. This shows the audience a piece of what they will see throughout the rest of the movie. 

Title Research: Split

How many titles are displayed during the opening sequences to the film?

There were 23 titles displayed in the opening sequence which included the starring actors, production company, casting agent, the editor, and more.

What images are prioritized in the opening sequence?

The opening sequence contained quick clips and images of the kidnapping situation that that takes place throughout the movie. The clips are scattered and quick as to not reveal too much about the film but still create a suspenseful introduction.

What connotations do the images carry?

The images create a feeling of suspense and fear through the fast unexpected cuts and the terrified expression on the young girls face. The images in the sequence also set the mood for the film by depicting a frightening kidnapping situation, which will clearly contain a lot of thrill and terror.

How is genre reinforced through symbolic and technical codes from the outset?

The genre is reinforced by through the symbolism of the frightening images. The images symbolize a situation that is supposed to seem intense and thrilling. These qualities match and reinforce the Thriller genre. Additionally, technical codes like the splitting of the screen into flashing boxes help portray the thriller genre as well.

How does the film establish an enigma from the outset?

The tiles and strange building briefly shown every few seconds establishes an enigma. It confuses but engages the reader as to what the images could mean and why they are significant. Additionally, the images of the girl also establish an an enigma since the audience would be confused as to why she is screaming.

What strategies are used to ensure the film appeals to its target audience?

For this specific movie, I would say the target audience would be someone looking to enjoy an intense thriller, and could most likely endure violent or frightening scenes. So, the film appeals to this type of viewer by maintaining elements of the genre and insuring the film appears to be thrilling and frightening from the start. The title sequence conveys these moods by quickly cutting from the fast appearing titles to disturbing clips of the victim being kidnapped while also including intense but eerie music.

How has technology been used effectively? You want to consider camera angles, transitions, and editing techniques?

Technology has been used effectively through the use of color, and simple, but purposeful effects that align with the common elements of a Thriller. The use of color is seen by the absence of it, when I say this I mean how the film maintains a black and white color scheme that clearly depicts not only the seriousness of the film but also the intensity of a physiological thriller. Additionally, the effects used in the title sequence appear to be minimal but this only adds to the mood that is typing to be achieved. The effects are the flashing back from each title and the random but fast-moving appearances of phrases across the screen that almost indicate a theme of horror.

Title Research: The Notebook

In the movie, The Notebook, there were 10 titles in the opening sequence of it. During the opening sequence I noticed that the most common images used were characters that are going to be in the film; these images carried a sense about the movie, kind of like giving the basis of the film. For example, the characters appear as ink blots on paper to symbolize the film being about a notebook of someone, this reinforced some background as well as fits the theme of the movie being a literal notebook. The outset used in the opening sequence creates mystery about the film by introducing it with soft music as well as the way the background is. The background seems to be a page with light writing in it indicating it being a notebook of some sort, but it does not answer who's notebook or its significance. Some strategies used to ensure that the film appeals to the target audiences are the slower transitions as well as placement of the characters. In the opening sequence the titles are written in normal print to capture the viewer as it being a person handwriting the titles in. Also, the transitions in the film play a large factor as they are slow fade outs of characters as well as titles that are replaced slowly. The images that come in also captivate the viewer as they are ink dots of characters to show it's being written in or made by a pen. The slow fade outs of the film are what really tie it together as it will present that the film will be more relaxed and not as tense as other thrillers. This goes for the angles as well being that the camera is held steady as POV in the beginning to show hands on the side holding a notebook, once the camera zooms into the pages the camera is held steady to make it clear that the notebook pages are the main focus.

Title Research: Se7en

For this project my group and I researched the opening titles of movies. I chose to do the movie se7en which is the same genre we chose of thriller. During the opening sequence 27 titles are displayed. They included the directors, producers, actors, and etc. from the movie. Throughout the 2 minutes of the opening scene there are many images shown to represent what the movie will be about. It mostly incorporates slides that can be interpreted as setting up or hiding a murder. The images make the movie seem very mysterious and frightening as it does not show the face of anyone but includes hair, razor blades, and pictures of potential victims. The images carry a very threatening, sceretive connotation. As the images play out, it reveals more about the murders and persuades the audience to want to keep on watching.
Throughout the opening the theme of thriller is heavily carried out. The use of mysterious pictures, notebooks, and forensics helps to portray the thriller theme. As well as the pictures, the text titles help the genre to be carried out. The font and the effect of the glitch on the titles carry the theme even further as it makes the movie seem suspenseful and spooky. Enigma, which is an object or person that is mysterious, puzzling, or hard to understand is represented through the opening title sequence. The opening purposely includes objects that are interesting but confusing so that it leads the audience to keep watching. This was presented by crossing out a child's face and writing notes in a book. It doesn't fully show you the what he writes but you know it is important because of the continuous videos they show of it.
Strategies that I noticed are used to appeal to certain audiences are the ability to make the scene look very secretive and show that something horrible is about to happen. Technology has been used very effectively whether it pertains to the camera angels pr the editing techniques. By the images being all close ups it portrays that the movie is going to be a suspenseful movie because they won't tell you important details, like who the killer is which makes it very mysterious and appealing to the audience. The editing techniques depicted, also allow the audience to feel thrilled and scared by the transitions of the titles and the effects used, such as the glitch effect.

Title Research: Artofthetitle.com

Since we have started our final task, we began with finding our genre as well as researching it for our final task; now we began researching the titles of movies in our genre. After researching websites, we found the website artofthetitle.com. In this website, it has an overwhelming amount of movies as well as series, however, this website focuses on the titles of movies. For example, you are able to click on a movie such as "Venom" and see the opening 10 minutes to see the titles that pop up and pertain to that movie, the same thing with the final 10 minutes of the movie. For our purposes we will be focusing on the movies that have titles within the first 10 minutes as it is more relevant to our final task project. Also, we will be researching movies and movies only as our final task is the first 2 minutes to a movie. On the website you can search the designers as well as studios involved in the title sequence that would pertain to your movie for further research in your film. Finally, on the website you are able to directly search the movie you would like to see the opening or closing. This allows for a more direct search for specific kinds of movies that someone may have previously thought of.

Title Research: Watchthetitles.com

One of the websites that my group is using for title research is watchthetitles.com. This is a website that is used specifically for studying the art of title making. It has over 200 title sequences and interviews for researchers to choose from. Not only does it provide us with example opening sequences to show the titles, it also gives an explanation of why they were chosen. This website was launched in 2006. Making it the world's very first web page that is dedicated to title design.

The website opens up to a slideshow of potential films you can research. Underneath this, is a choice of interviews you can use as research. Once you get past the interviews, it brings you to the six different research categories. These categories consist of: feature film, TV shows, Event titles, student projects, video games, and French Fridays. At the top of the screen is where you can find the words "Title Sequence", clicking on this brings you to the many opening sequences that my group will be able to use for our title research. This website offers TV shows, student films, and movies of a variety of genres, making it the perfect website for my group to use. Some of the films that you can research on this website are the Pink Panther, The Dreamers, Splice, Sky Fighters, etc. After clicking on the film you choose, it will show you their open sequence, insider information, information about the film, and it will allow you to leave a comment. After researching this website my group feels more confident about of title research process. We will now pick a film(s) off this website and use them for our research.

Movie Research "Bird Box"

Bird box

1.     Common clamps: 

a.     Costumes: Ragged, dirty, and distressed clothing and blindfolds. 

b.     Lighting: Dark and dim lighting, creating suspense. 

c.      Acting: The acting with the victims (sane characters) was always in fear, always ready for survival mode to kick in. While the insane characters were as happy as ever, and they wanted to share that happiness with the others. 

d.     Makeup: The makeup and hair in this movie is used to make the characters look dirty and distressed. They also use makeup to apply blood, gashes, cuts, bruises, paler skin, gun shot wounds, etc. 

e.     Props: The props used, resemble survival equipment. This is to help the characters play their parts as “potential survivors” of the end of the world. 

f.      Setting: The setting changes from inside to outside. When the scene is outdoors it is more intense because the characters are at more of a risk. However, when the scene is indoors it is more suspenseful, in trying to determine what will happen next, or information, giving the audience a second to process what just happened. 

2.  Common Cam: 

a.     Angles:

b.     Movements: A common camera movement was a tracking shot. This was used to keep up with the characters while they were running or trying to navigate while blindfolded. 

c.     Shots: There were a lot of point of view shots, this let the audience experience what the characters were experiencing. Another shot that stood out was sort of a trunk shot it was from under the boat as the characters flipped it over. A shot that was used a lot during scenes on the river, were birds eye view shots. These shots showed the boat and the path they have taken along with the emptiness and loneliness around the characters. 

3.  Common Sound:

a.     A common type of sound was diegetic sound. This was the sound of the wind, bushes rustling, a character falling, the water rushing in the river. 

4.   Common Editing: 

a.      Wjsvc

5.  Elements of Thriller: 

a.      The movie fell under this genre, because of its phycological standpoint. The movie is about the survival of facing these creatures that take your greatest fear and deepest sadness and make you commit suicide. They get inside your head and if you open your eyes outside then you can see them. 

b.     The movie also used suspense by showing what the ending was and then flashing back and forth from the end to the beginning. 

c.     This also creates excitement by allowing the audience to create an explanation for the ending before it is shown. 

6.  Elements I liked:

a.      I liked all of these elements because I think they truly made the movie a must watch. They have your feelings running from excited to sad to relieved to scared and back to sad. 

7.  Elements I disliked: 

a.     I did not dislike any of the elements in the movie, I actually feel that the movie did its job, in leaving the audience wanting more to the story.