Genre Research Summary

The title sequences I researched were both very gloomy with black backgrounds and other simple, plain colours, the fonts were specialised to match the film title and had a font of its own. The pace of both the title sequences are both slow. In the clips that I've used, they both use non-diegetic sounds. "The Thing"had some 'techno' music behind it and the odd non diegetic sound every now and again. There are no characters shown in either of the title sequences, there's a lot of extreme close ups of various images, with focus pulls as the transitions. In "Se7en" you don't see any of the room around, its just a lot of extreme close ups of what the persona in the the sequence is doing with his hands and various objects around him. in this the lightings quite natural if not a bit dim.The editing in both texts is incredable, theres alot of cuts from one image to another whether it's a still image or a moving one. No Costume was used in either of these sequences becuase no body part other than a hand or 2 was shown. In "Se7en" some props were used when we see the man making some sort of diary or scrap book. There are lots of extreme close ups in both seqiences, in se7en it was to create intensity and in the thing the extreme clsoe ups were there to create a mystery as they were so extreme the image became unclear as to what the object was. This added a good effect to the text becuase it went well with the genre and kept me wondering after, and made me want to watch the rest of the film.

Title Sequence Research 2

The Thing

John Carpenter’s 1982 film, “The Thing” starts out with immediate non diegetic music, a proairetic Code to create intensity, a black screen and presents in a white font “universal pictures”, what the company was the produced it and then goes onto various flashing pictures behind text which lists the actors staring in the film. With each new a name a new image arises. The music then stops and the screen goes black once again, this is for a few mille-seconds, then it starts again, flashing images both still photographs and moving text, with the names of various people who played an important role in creating this film such as the music producer and the screen play, who edited it, director of photography, production manager and Directed by. After this the title comes up on screen with a moving image of a hand behind it trying to grab something. The editing on this part if good because it’s made out like the camera was shaking to add a more intense and scary effect. The screen then goes black like it has done previously but the music continues, leaving the audience with a cliff hanger as to what the point in the hand was and what it has to do with the film.
All the photos and moving images that are in this text are extreme close ups. There’s so zoomed in there made unclear as to what the image actually is. I think this is a good effect because it makes the images seem mysterious and we don’t know whether they have anything to do with the film yet to come. For example there’s a super extreme close up of a spider’s leg, it took me a while to work out what this was. I think this is a good effect and keep the audience watching this interesting and wanting them to watch the rest of the film, which is what the opening sequence is for. This is a Hermeneutic code, as it sets up mystery (Roland Bathes). Every so often behind the music there’s a non diegetic “clanging” sound a few echoes, this adds a good creepy effect which matches the films genre. This is also a proairetic code to show the audience something bad is about to happen.
In this text there’s lots of picture of picture this is good because it shows two images which could both have an important role in the film at the same time, whether its two actions or two images that could create one meaning. There’s lots of focus pulls to change from once picture to another, this is a good effect because it shows all content of the frame but in a more interesting an eye pleasing way.

Title Sequence Research

Se7ven


David Fincher’s American crime/horror, Se7en, clearly shows its genre through its open sequence. During my research I found this is important because this helps the audience get more involved with the film and keep them interested. As the opening sequence this is very important.
The opening credits start out with an extreme close of a book; this could possibly portray the books importance as throughout the title sequence it’s shown a lot. The camera then goes onto an ariel shot of a drawing of hands, which are made out to be quite gruesome. In between each flashing image, whether it’s a photograph or extreme close up filming,which would create the Hermeneutic Code and Proarietic Code to create intensity and mystery(Roland Barthes) there’s a piece of information given about who helped create this film, starting out with the production company and the person who actually produced it. Next it goes on to show who’s staring in the film whilst flashing some pictures of an extreme close up of somebody carving their finger tips off. Immediately from seeing the first 17 seconds of this title sequence we as an audience can tell this film will be spine-tingling. The sequence carries on showing more flashing images this time making them un-clear as to what they are, possibly to cause intensity, Next the title of the film appears in a large font, flashes then moves into a smaller font somewhere else in the frame. The flashing images continue, then moving onto somebody being filmed whilst writing in the book we first see at the beginning of the text. Along-side this we see the other actors names who are featuring in this film appear. There’s then a picture on picture effect, where the man continues to write whilst another image appears on top of it. The man, who’s appeared in the rest of the text, appears again with a close up of his hands cutting up some photographs of something and sticking it into the mysterious book. Once again this content has illustrated this text has a thriller horror. After more flashing images of what people would class as disturbing appear on screen, the text then goes on to showing the important information of who was involved in the major detailing of the text. This tends to be showed chronological order of importance, the most important person being last. Starting off with who was in charge of casting, then onto music and costumes. It then goes onto people who were involved in creating the text in itself, such as editing manager, production designer, director of photography, co-producers, co-executive producers, the writer, who produced it and most importantly the director. Each piece of information is separated by some sort of flashing image whether it’s a still photo or moving text.
Whilst all this is happening, behind the images and given information about the film, there’s non-dietetic music. This could be classed as “techno”. On top of this music it the occasional creepy sound such as doors creaking and people screaming. Right at the end of the sequence there’s a man who says “you got me closer to god” this could be interpreted as someone’s been killed, which goes along with the theme of the film.
In this opening sequence the majority of camera shots are extreme close ups, this is because close ups create anxiety. There are no shots of the persons face or body, purely just his hands and the objects he’s holding, this also could be to create nervousness, and leave the audience wondering who this mystical person is. All the way through this text there are a humongous amount of cuts, from one picture to another, this creates a intense effect.