Research - Previous Student Film Openings

Violet

This film opening taken from previous AS Level Media students has numerous micro features. These include camera, editing, sound and mise en scene. Through these micro features, as the audience we are able to acknowledge which thriller sub-genre this opening is going to be. Throughout this opening, we are drawn to one particular character who is given the most screen time allowing her to have more importance and take a dominant role over the characters.

The opening title sequence shows titles over a blank screen

Research - Structures of Thriller Film Openings

When looking at film openings, there are 3 main structures you will recognise. These are 3 the areas stated;

Narrative Openings - which have titles on screen throughout the opening of the film.

Discrete Title Sequences - these sequences are edited seperately which stand out from the film opening.

Title credits over a blank screen - which are then followed by a narrative opening generally shown on screen with a black background. 

Stylized editing - These titles are often heavily edited in post production in order to give the audience an effective film opening.

Narrative Openings - PANIC ROOM (2002) 



Here is the opening title sequence for Panic Room 

Below is a GIF showing screenshots taken from the opening title sequence.

Judging from this GIF, we see that the titles are very set into the scene. They are often moving along with the camera in order to create flow throughout the duration of the sequence. As you can see, the setting is located in the inner city of either Brooklyn or New York City, USA. The buildings are very established and the font of the titles are very bold and masculine making them stand out and therefore suits the setting of the opening and fit into place with the placing of each building to give the audience an illusion that the title is actually set in the scene together with the setting.

Judging from these titles, the font and layout show that they have been heavily created and worked on in post production to create effective opening titles.

Here is a screenshot of the film title coming in just under a minute into the opening credits. The font is written in bold and pans across the screen as the camera does so. The style and colour incorporated into the font gives us the illusion that it is chrome/steel which reflects the storyline of the film where a mother and daughter is trapped and are almost 'prisoners' in their own home. 

Discrete Title Sequences - SEVEN (1995)

Here is the opening title sequence to Seven

The above screenshots is an example heavily edited titles which are created in post production. The white font is thin and ominous which plays around with the visuals making the titles appear eerie and creepy looking. This effect gives the audience a feel of the genre and storyline which tells us that it is a crime thriller. The movement of the font is very jumpy and appears on screen for only a short period of time and then dissapears. The effect of this is to appeal more to the visuals and make the viewer want to keep an eye on what's happening on screen.

This GIF displays the film title from Seven taken from several screenshots. The font of the film title still applies from the previous opening credits. However, as you can see from the GIF shown above, the film title is shown on screen three times all in different ways. The first time it appears, we can see a noticable difference in comparison to the size and placement of the opening credits. The font is very large and has a 'sinister' look about it, the lettering fills the screen and then shrinks in size again and again. The next time it appears, the lettering has become much smaller than the first. It is still against a blank screen and blurs when transitioning into the last and final we see of the film title on screen during the opening. The last screenshot is smaller than the second and is blended in with the visuals of a hand reaching out for a notebook. We see the film title transition from three stages and it evidently creates impact for it's audience planting the title of the film firmly in their mind.

Title credits over a blank screen - DONNIE DARKO

Here is the opening sequence for Donnie Darko

'Stylized Editing' - The Taking of Pelham 123

Here is the opening title sequence for The Taking of Pelham 123

The structure of Thriller openings

During today's lesson, we learnt that thriller film openings have three different types of structures which are followed by film producers.

A narrative opening with titles running throughout

A discrete title sequence

Titles over a blank screen followed by the narrative opening

A 'stylized editing'

A narrative opening:

Instantly, we are introduced to a story from a birds eye view/bird of prey (a bird watching its prey. Giving the effect that someone is being watched. 

The titles are scanning upwards in a vibrant colour, overlapping the visuals in the background. 

In addition to the aerial shots, we are familiarized

with the narrative of the opening. The camera follows the journey of a man to his interview. 

A discrete opening: 

Se7en follows the discrete film opening as it consists of clips that are not particularly relevant to the film.

This title sequence consists of quick extreme close ups and some blank screen with flashing texts.

The opening introduces the audience to the type of characters in the film and it also sets a mood. 

Titles over a blank screen opening:

Dead Calm's opening sequence is very bland, it presents the titles on a black blank screen, followed by a narrative piece. This introduces the audience to the characters and in this film, we immediately identify the main character as he is given the most screen time. 

This opening includes wide shots and aerial shots, displaying the location and the characters. 

A stylized opening:

Mesrine follows a stylized film opening as it includes sophisticated and sharp editing. There is a narrative from the beginning. Each shot shows different characters in different angles and they are presented in different screens. The titles appear throughout the shots beside the visuals. 

Out of all four types of film opening structures, I personally prefer the outcome of stylized openings. I feel that it grabs the audience instantly. It looks beautiful and it presents the opening in a very unique and sophisticated way. 

The Structure Of Film Openings On Mainstream And Student Films

There are 3 basic structures of film openings: Titles Narrative, Discrete and Specialist editing.

Narrative opening with titles running throughout


The Shining (1970)
  

                      

This is a narrative opening where the titles introduce the audience to the story line. In this opening title sequence the titles move with the car rather than against. The camera is stooping like a bird of prey giving the audience a threatening feel along with the music. The titles move up like credits at the end of a film the purpose of this could be intend so that the titles don't break the continuity of the film.

Panic Room (2002)

Heavy discrete titles are used. They are still and fit into the structure of the buildings. The text is slanted and isn't in your face. The title sequence fits into the screen footage and images and leads audience to the opening setting of New York city. 

Discrete Title Sequence

Flashing text is used along with creepy images. The text seems to fit in with the visuals. They play with sound and titles heavily which is usually done in post production. I think discrete title sequence will be ideal for a thriller opening , but it involves a lot of skilled editing which i will need to learn.


Titles over a blank screen followed by the narrative opening

Dead calm (1989)

This is a printscreen of the red text crossing over each other revealing the title of the film.

A list stars come after the title of the film. The titles come out of the screen and then
fade away.

The white text on black background is powerful. The eary music
signifies danger and makes the audience feel uncomfortable

Stylized Editing

Mesrine: Killer instinct (2008)

There are two different window point of views which I found deeply interesting. 

The opening contained shots from different perspectives creating mystery drawing audiences closer to the protagonist.

This is very sophisticated editing which has inspired me. This takes more time and will be done in post production  The opening leads the audience to expect something french and stylish. The opening also provides atmosphere and setting.

This opening text is written in french which suggests the setting of the opening scene.

The chosen style of text brings about an aspect of a possible crime investigation case. The white text on black background is powerful and significant throughout the opening.

from Donna

Hi Girls


re - arlington road titles practical

Annie - your blog on titles for Arlington road is good but could be even stronger is you filmed and posted a talk to camera.

Christabell - your talk to camera is good but can you re-write your text as its a bit short and there are spelling mistakes.

Katie - you don't seem to have done either? can you do this by Thursday

can we meet after class on Thursday (workshop at lunchtime to plan your blog style?

Thanks

Donna

The Process Of Re-editing Arlington Road

My group started this exercise by opening final cut pro ,and bringing up the rushes from Arlington Road. 

Then we put our already used footage together and placed production and distribution icons into our edited piece. I learnt how to use the canvas window to place titles into our sequence. 

Difficulties our group faced was putting the video footage together. We wanted our editing to appear seamless , but if it was our own footage we would have known the correct order. Using the title safe box was confusing at the start ,but in the end I understood how to use the image and wire frame to move the text around the screen. 

Screen grabs of out title sequence.

Re-editing Arlington Road

Here are some screen shots taken from our clip of Arlington Road

During Thursday's lesson, our group was challenged to create an re-make of 'Arlington Road'. This meant that we had to organise clips into the right order from the beginning of the opening right until the end. After putting each clip into chronological order, we had to add our very own title sequence.

  In terms of placing each clip together, we placed the production company and distribution logos first in order of importance to try and resemble the actual movie opening.

Here are screen shots of the titles of the production company and distribution logo which appear in the first two screenshots. We kept the colour scheme of the font white to make the titles stand out and appear simple yet effective towards the viewer.

The first screenshot shows the film title in bold, white capital lettering against a close up shot of the young wounded boy.

 

Re-editing process of Arlington Road

Our group task was to re-edit a set of clips to produce Arlington Road's opening and include our own titles to go with it.

We began by going into the resources folder - foley exercise - and then loaded it up in final cut pro. We watched each clip and then decided what order they were going to be in, in order to present seamlessly and correctly. Once we managed to put together the sequence, we included titles by using the tool on the right below the box to include the producer, distributor and the casts etc. We played around with the sizing, colour, position and duration of its appearance to make sure it was suitable. In order to move the text around on the surface, we used the image wire frame. When including the titles, we had to decide where they were going to be in the sequence and took considered the important of each roles.

When the sequence was put together and included titles, we saved the project. We opened it onto quicktime, saved it as an mpeg stream clip and then finally saved it as an mpeg 4 to upload.

A problem my group faced was the process of adding titles where it was appropriate. The choice of colour and positioning had its difficulties as sometimes it was harder to see the text it some places than it was in others. But the image wire frame really helped the process. Overall, we really enjoyed re-editing the piece and learning the different tools on final cut pro as well as familiarizing ourselves with the titles.

Re-editing a film opening

ARLINGTON ROAD including our own title sequence.

Differences and similarities

Differences and similarities between film openings and trailers - 

Differences

• Trailers tell the audience what the film is about
• Trailers provide different clips in the film to almost summarise the story
• Trailers often include the film title at the end
• Trailers include the release dates and titles to help promote the film
• Trailers can sometimes be presented with a voice-over 
• Trailers include the MPAA rating which can either be G, PG, PG-13, R or NC-17
• Trailers are a marvel in commercial editing
• They are 2 and a half minutes long - limit imposed by cinemas

Similarities

• They both include sounds and visuals
• They both suggest a genre to the audience
• The actors, directors and writers are introduced
• They both include the film title

Intertextuality

Intertextuality is a term that describes visual referencing between films. Films that borrow from each other using aspects of camera, sound, mise en scene and editing are intertextual. Audiences are able to recognize these aspects from films they have previously seen.

This is a clip from the film Psycho (1960) it is of a woman in a shower that gets killed with a kitchen knife and suffers a slow and painful death.

Aspects of this film have been borrowed in the following:

What Lies Beneath (2000) 

 

What happens? 

He has drugged his wife so that she becomes paralyzed. He then places her in a white bath tub leaving the water running so that she can watch her slow and painful death.

Aspects borrowed from 'Psycho'  

The same iconic shower head is used.Through the mise en scene the audience is able to see that there is a blonde female victim in the bathtub with a white bathrobe. The same translucent shower curtain from psycho is used and the white tiles. The diegetic sound of the shower being used takes us back to the bathroom scene in psycho.

Fatal Attraction (1987)

 

 

What Happens? 

There is psychotic blonde woman who is trying to kill her lovers wife in the bathroom.  The man then  runs to save his wife and drowns his ex lover in the bath tub.She regains consciousness and as she stands up his wife shoots her with a gun and she dies.  

Aspects borrowed from 'Psycho'

The kinife that had been used was the same. The psychotic woman clenched onto the prop of knife while her hand fell this is like the scene in psycho when the blonde womans hand dropped down.  Both women were blonde.The ex lover was sliding down the white tiles reflecting the way in which the woman from the film 'Psycho' slid down the tiles. She lay in the bath with her eyes open this is used in both 'psycho' and 'what lies beneath' The white bath, the white tiles and the same white translucent curtain which was ripped off are elements of mise en scene taken from psycho. Quick cuts were used and the same diegetic noises of a woman screaming is similar to the psycho bathroom scene.

Succubus

 

 What happens?

There is a boy in the shower. A blonde psychotic female enters the bathroom with a knife and stabs him to death. 

 Aspects borrowed from psycho 

The knife stabbing point of view was taken from the psycho clip. The knife used was the same. To make their scene intertextual  they should have used the same shower head, white bathtub with the white shower curtain.  If those props weren't available to them they should have done a shot of the boy sliding down the tiles. To make  his death more effective and dramatic he should have fell forward. Also a close-up of his face squashed on the floor would have created more drama.

Differences between openings and trailers

Film openings are what grab audiences attention and they set the scene for the rest of the film.
Trailers provide audiences with clips from the movie that create suspense. It is a marketisation strategy for audiences to watch their movie.


Thriller Trailer For Dream House (2011)

We can recognize this is a trailer, because the movie 

title is at the end of the clip.

Trailers provide high levels of anticipation and builds up tension. Suspense is when...

1. A state or feeling of excited or anxious uncertainty about what may happen.
2. A quality in a work of fiction that arouses excited expectation or uncertainty about what may happen.

Suspense is an emotion felt by audiences that is felt according to the situation in thriller movies which is why people decide to watch this genre.

Thriller Psycho Opening (1960) 

This is an opening because the title appears through the middle of the scene. 
There is no suspense as this is a narrative lead opening. Only dialogue, establishing shot of where we are and close ups of iconic props. This introduces the audience to the movie and draws them into the story line.

Intertextuality

Definition:

Intertextuality generally describes different kinds of references in between films. It is almost as if films 'borrow' certain aspects from another film i.e. the mise en scene and layout of the setting. From the audience's perspective, we recognise this term from the way the camera angles are placed, costume and props and methods of editing involved where it is familiar in another film.

Comparing both Pyscho to other films, the main challenge was to recognise the similarities in both films where they have used Intertextuality from Psycho.

What Lies Beneath

What's happening?

A man presumably a husband is carrying his wife upstairs while she is paralysed from being drugged by him. Water running is heard from the bathroom as he approaches it and then lies her into the bathtub in hope of drowning her.

Similarities to Psycho

There are close ups of the showerhead which is identical to the one used in the shower scene from Psycho. While the shower curtain and bathtub both resemble the same props, plain and What Lies Beneath sticks with the white colour scheme as in Psycho.

Fatal Attraction

What's happening?

Both women are in a bathroom fighting with one
 another with extreme physical violence while a man who is located downstairs hears strange ongoings from upstairs and eventually rushes into the bathroom to find himself fighting off a pyschotic female.

Similarities to Psycho

A close up shot is taken of the knife identical to the one used in Psycho. Again, the white washed colour scheme is used just like the shower scene in Psycho to capture the terror and draw attention away from the setting and rather on the characters. During the end of this scene, we see strong similarities between both films in which the female is wounded and slides down the tiled bathroom wall, dying. In the same way, both women's facial expressions are precisely the same and holds the exact same gaze with the camera.

The Stepfather

What's happening?

Two scenes are happening both at the same time, a male is running upstairs holding a knife chasing after a vunerable female who runs into a bathroom. While a young male is rushing in the same house and finds a girl lying on the floor and comforts her. Back in the bathroom, the male holds up the knife ready to wound the woman however she beats him to it and stabs him in the neck and he falls back into a bath tub hurt.

Similarities to Psycho 

Key props are used in this scene relatively similar to the ones used in Psycho. These props are the distinctive knife, the shower curtain and rings and the white bath tub. When the male falls into the bath tub wounded, he holds onto the shower curtain. This same occurence also happens in Psycho where intertextuality is evident here.

Succubus (student thriller)

What's happening?
A young female is walking in a dark hall approaching a bathroom holding a knife. Whilst in the bathroom, a young male is taking a shower oblivious to the fact that he is about to be murdered.

Similarities to Psycho
The showerhead and the knife held by the young female both are significant props in this scene and also in the shower scene Psycho. The camera angles and editing of the stabbing are very similar in comparison to the scene in Psycho. The distinctive knife is used and the scene is almost 'remade' showing the strong similarities between both film scenes. Succubus especially, shows strong intertexuality leading up the the conclusion of the scene through the body language of the characters, mise en scene and camera angles used throughout to engage the audience.

Target Audiences For Thriller Films

Target audiences for films usually depend upon the genre. Thriller audiences consist more of a male skew, but this differs with cross genre. Horror thrillers, action thrillers and political thrillers such as 'Enemy of the state and Deja Vu (2006)' have a male skew this is because men are drawn into films with more action. Horror and action thrillers have a younger audience of 16/25 as they are more exciting for this age group.

Romance Thrillers tend to get a more female skew.' He loves me, he loves me not (2002)' narrative focuses on love and romance which females are more interested in. They also have a male audience as there narrative connects to a male audience also.

Supernatural and Psycological Thrillers have a more older audience of 25/45. 'Orphanage (2007)'  also has a female skew, but their audience is much older as in order to understand this genre of film you need a certain level of intelligence. The music, ghostly tearing off paper and little kids notify the audience that this is to do with the supernatural.

Thriller audiences depend upon what cross genre your film will be looking at. Psychological thrillers attract an older ranged audience as they are able to follow the story line consistently. Horror thriller audiences are mainly younger audiences who are there for excitement and thrill.

INTERTEXTUALITY

Occasionally, films will 'borrow' from each other. These borrowed factors such as camera angles, mise en scene, sound and methods of editing can be noticed by the audience and is what they expect. This concept is known as intertextuality.

Having familiarized myself with the term, I moved onto watching a very well known 'bathroom' clip from Psycho and then noting the different aspects from the film that have been 'borrowed' from it. 

I watched clips from What Lies Beneath, Fatal Attraction, The Stepfather and Succubus (a student thriller). I noticed that each film (excluding Succubus) had 'borrowed' the basic idea of a white themed bathroom containing a white bath tub, with a specific shower head and shower curtain. 

Other similarities: 

• Similar, if not the same knife
• The character sliding down the tiles after being stabbed
• Bath robes
• The hand/arm shots
• Close ups of the knife
• The curtains being ripped off the rails
• Fast pace during the attacks
• The diegetic sound of the water in the shower

Many films use intertexuality and audiences usually expect that in films. For example in Harry Potter, the characters sprint through the woods to escape, however always come face to face with danger. Similarly Twilight has scenes that imitate a character is running through the woods but faces danger. 

Film audiences - Thrillers

Film audiences are predominately based on the genre of a film. For example thrillers on the whole have a slight male skew, they differ with cross genre and opens the audience up. Action and political thrillers also get more male skew as it contains a more masculine theme.

Romance thrillers obtain more female skew as the narrative includes the theme of love and romance, however it also attracts the male audience. This is an advantage as it connects with a wider audience.


Supernatural and psychological thrillers also have a female skew as well as an older audience ranging from the ages of 25 to 45. As it requires a level of intelligence and conscience to perfectly understand the narrative of the film. The key signifiers that supernatural films consist of are the inclusion of children and the "olden time" mise en scene.

Horror thrillers attract a younger audiences ranging from the ages of 16 to 25 as it is more about the thrill  and what is presented in comparison to supernatural and psychological films which require a level of understanding.

Film Audiences - Thriller

Occasionally, there is a slightly larger male audience for thriller films in general. However, that being said, both male and female audiences enjoy thriller films. They differ with cross genre (sub genre) and often tend to open the audience up during the opening sequences.


Romance thrillers often attracts more female audiences rather than male due to the subject revolved around love and men. Supernatural thrillers are also found to attract the female audience as well. The action genre typically surrounds the male gender and therefore action thrillers will hold much more of a male audience rather than female due to it's popularity holding  masculine qualities. 

In terms of audience age ratings for certain thriller film sub-genres, Supernatural and Psychological thrillers have an older audience roughly around the ages between 25-45 y/o. Psychological thrillers in particular require active and conscience thinking in order to understand the concept and storyline of the film. While other thriller sub-genres such as, horror thrillers attract more of the younger generation aged between 16-25 y/o.

                       

Genre and Subgenre

A genre categorizes films in terms of its type. For example, there are several categories such as comedy, action and thriller. Genres can be identified through an opening of a film, the sound included in a film, the mise en scene and camera shots.
Sub-genres encapsulates two different genres into one film. Examples of a sub-genre would be action/thriller, comedy/fantasy or a sci-fi/thriller. Sub-genres are important as it attracts a larger audience and it is a reliable source to gain profit.


Making an animated gif

Action/thrillers are easily identified through some of these features:

•  its fast pace
• up-tempo mysterious sound
• specific urban mise en scene  
• fast and sharp camera shots.

This could influence my own film opening as I am familiarized with the specific different aspects included in the creation of action/thrillers. Also the idea that the signifier needs to be precisely thought about when I move onto creating my own film opening. 

Sub-genre That Inspires Me The Most

Romance Comedy inspires me the most. They all have happy endings and make the audience feel comfortable when watching. Just from the cover you can tell the sub-genre through bright colorful images and playful fonts.

Planning- Research into audiences

I wanted to find out what type of films and thriller subgenre's teenage audiences like to watch, so I did my own research...

                                                          I made this movie on windows

                                                  movie maker and then saved it on youtube

From this I found that audiences like horror and suspense 
movies, because it keeps them immensely hooked
onto the film. 

FDA Yearbook Question & Answer

(1) How many suspense films were released in 2010?

There were 38 suspense films released in the year 2010.

      (2)  In total, how much did these suspense films take, gross, to the nearest million?

      £42,000,000 estimated to the nearest million.

      (3) Which genre of film had the highest gross in 2010?

The film genre who had the most gross are Action/Adventure, taking £265,784,158 altogether. 

(4)  What was the most popular family genre in 2010?

     The most popular family genre in 2010 are adventure/fantasy. 


          (5) Write a short paragraph of about 200 words about how the figures for ‘suspense’ genre films 
           compare with other film genres in 2010.

Setting the genres in chronological order, the suspense genre comes third to last where musicals has 

the lowest gross in the year 2010. The top genres which beat suspense are action/adventure. animation, 

comedy and romcoms. Comparing the films under action/adventure to the films under suspense, Alice In

Wonderland and Inception are both highly grossed through marketing and distribution. Having an inherited

audience can also play a part in the gross number e.g. Alice In Wonderland is previously known for it's

fairytale story and films who have gathered an audience solely based on these factors. However, films such

as Shutter Island and The Wolfman may have less gross due to its lack of popularity within audience choice

of genre and subgenres.   

     Here are the genres in 2010 ranged from the
     highest to lowest gross: 

     Action/adventure

     Animation

     Drama

     Comedy

     Fantasy

     Rom com

     Horror

     Suspense

     Sci fi

     Musicals