Q. 1
Published on Dec 12, 2015
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What is the purpose of title sequences? What should a good title sequence do?
The purpose of a title sequence is to give the audience an idea of the particular movie genre (e.g Action Comedy; SciFi Horror; Romantic Drama). A GOOD title sequence should somehow show the audience what the movie is going to be about, and fit in seamlessly with the movie as a whole. For example, in the 2004 Mean Girls, the title sequence's font has bright primary and secondary colours such as pink and purple, which tells us it's a girl dominated movie about girl problems.
For the beginning of our title sequence we see three girls entering an institutional building. Also, the music we use is very funky and stylish , which tells us the movie will be about girls. Additionally, we keep to a particular girl colour theme, using pink, purple and orange colours for the font of our credits.
title example no.1
What different types or categories of title sequences are there?
There are four types of titles. These are:
Discrete - where the title sequence appears before any narrative. It's almost like a mini film in itself, which builds up the audiences expectations and energy for the film.
AND
Narrative - where the title sequence appears seamlessly in conjunction with what is happening in the movie. It's a good way to get straight into the film without putting titles before the action starts. The only downside to using this is that people usually don't notice the titles unless there is no dialogue occuring, so important people, such as producers, are likely to go unnoticed. Despite this downside, we used a narrative title sequence for our own movie, and made sure to space the titles out so this likeliness was lesser.
Photo by miss mass
title example no.2 (Titles Over A Narrative)
What is the conventional order of title sequences ?
1.Name of Studio
2. Name of Production Company
3. Starring
4. Film Title
5. Extra significant cast featuring)
6. Casting By
7.Music/Music Composed By
8. Production Designer
9.[may contain] Set Design; Costume; Makeup; Visual Effects; Storyboard By
10. Edited By
Director of Photography
11. Produced By; Executive Producer
12. Based On
13. Written By/Screenplay By
14. Directed By
Photo by Movieing Memories
For our title sequence, we used most of the important tiles, however we didn't use all the titles you would typically see in a hollywood blockbuster, as Independent film don't show all titles, such Set Design and Director of Photography, which you don't see in our opening.
title sequence example no. 3
What kinds of fonts and colours are used? What is their relationship with the images we see behind them? What does your choice of font, colour and style tell us about the gene of the tone of a film?
We used a very plain Arial-type of font, which we coloured in in very lively/feminine colours such as orange, pink, purple and we think this is the best part of our title sequence, as even the title was a magenta colour. From this, the audience would be able to clearly see that our film is targeted at teen, or tween girls.
Photo by The Infatuated
title example no.4
What differences in the title sequences of mainstream and independent film?
Mainstream: Since this type of movie is big budgeted, it will tend to use titles which cost a lot of money to make, such as animatic, or tiles over moving images. Also, the list of credits will be a lot longer, since the production company will hire more people in order to make the movie a success. An example I looked at was '10 Thing I Hate About You', which has titles over narrative, over 20 credits and an animated movie title.
Independent: This is a 'feature' or 'indie' film, which will tend to work around or completely outside of the Major film studio system, so won't be supported with the same big budget as a Mainstream. This means the titles may cost very little, such as titles over a black screen or titles over still images. Independent movies will also have a either slightly or notably shorter production team, however usually this doesn't decrease the quality of the movie itself. An example of an independent film I looked at was 'Kidulthood', which had titles over a black screen and around 12 credits
eg. 5: Our movie is the product of an Independent film company, Fox Searchlight.
What is a teen drama? What are the common conventions in a teen drama film such as plots or storylines or locations?
A Teen drama is typically stereotypical. It supports all of the naive ideas the world suspects of teenagers. For a YOUTH DRAMA: These often challenge the typical codes and conventions for teens, and deal with real conflicts and teen problems, such as self harm or suicide or family issues. Youth dramas can contain drugs, alcohol, sex and profanity. The characters are obviously teens, and dress in young costume outfits, however may act more maturely than we see them as. Locations include local communities homes and institutional buildings. An example of this is 2011's 'Submarine'. For HIGH SCHOOL DRAMA, the plots and storylines very much go hand-in-hand with the stereotypes of teens so the characters tend to dress very colourfully and slightly over exaggerated. The storylines themselves may be quite serious, however are usually resolved in a 'Happily Ever After' type situation, and during the movie, we will hear and see a lot of jokes on screen, as High School dramas are made to entertain - usually tweens and teens. Locations include local communities homes institutional buildings and sometimes abroad location.
Photo by gus_estrella
example of obssession over materialistic objects in our titles
What are key 'macro' features are introduced in a teen drama title sequence (plots, storylines, social group and characters)
A macro feature refers to the story the film tells, which is also known as 'Syntactics'.
The plot for or the movie 'Superbad' is: 2 High-school seniors have high hopes for a graduation party: The co-dependent teens plan to score booze and babes so they can become part of the in-crowd, but separation anxiety and two bored police officers complicate the pair's self-proclaimed mission. They are part of the 'Inbetweeners' social group, and the characters themselves live up to the self-absorbed, sex obsessed, crude, alcohol drinking male, however are likeable characters, like most teens.
Our movie is about three best friends who have melodramatic conflicts
What key 'micro' features are used in teen drama title sequences (specific shot types, edits, locations and settings, costume and sound)
For the hit High School comedy drama 'High School Musical 2':
Cheerleaders dance with the main cast, which we can tell from their colour-coordinated costumes outfits and pom-poms they use as props.
* The school bell (foley sound) sounds as the class finishes, part of the high school atmosphere.
* Set in a high school classroom, colourfully decorated with boards, posters and individual desks
* Characters where outfits that relate to their personalities, such as shiny leather jeans, heels, graphic tees, trainers, big handbags, backpacks, glasses, hoops etc.
* There are around 3 very wide shots, filmed from high angles, which show unity and strength in the number of students who all feel the same way about Spring Break (as they're all singing together)
Photo by cliff1066™
