Title Sequence Research

There are many ways to create a title sequence and the way a director chooses to go all depends on the genre and themes of their film. Because of the film I am hoping to create, I will mainly look into how directors of horror films decide to construct their opening titles.

In Halloween, John Carpenter chose very simple visuals, with just a simple carved pumpkin lit up. This helps this focus the audience on the film world and pumpkins represent Halloween so it was an obvious choice. The colours used are orange and black which are the colours of Halloween. Everything relates back to the title. The simplicity of the slow fades when the text changes and the gradual zoom in, draws in the audience and focuses them so the concentrate on the film. A simple and repetitive but eerie soundtrack creates mood and atmosphere.

 

Alfred Hitchcock also chose to create a fairly simple opening sequence, using horizontal lines and only black, grey and white. However, unlike Halloween, the text distorts and this tells the audience that something isn’t right. What creates the atmosphere in the sequence is the use of music, it is sharp and jumpy which can rise anxiety levels and put the audience on alert so they absorb the film and are drawn in.
 

Stanley Kubrick takes a very different approach by placing the credits over the film. It shows a long winding road with a single car motoring along.  The camera is slowly following the car moving to different and angles, sometimes passing it. At one point it has the perspective of another car moving along the road and then it is as though it just drives off the road and then the edge of a cliff, this may make the audience feel uncomfortable and insecure and tell them that something isn’t quite right. The music is fairly slow and plod-y but the ghost screams and high-pitched sounds indicate that something is wrong and there is danger.

 

 

David Fincher uses much more complex method than the previous three directors. He uses a very cringe-y, uncomfortable piece of music which fits the images that are being shown on the screen. He uses images which aren’t normal as well as double exposure to make the audience feel detached and a bit sick. Every single image could be taken in at least one or two ways so each individual will take something different from the sequence. He does this so he will definitely get to each audience member not just some who are uneasy about certain things. The images are yellowed and overlap/shake which gives the sequence an aged feel. The titles are sometimes over the film and other times they are on a plain black background. They look as though they are scratched in and the flicker and reverse, these things suggest that something isn’t right. Also the colour red is used frequently which can suggest blood and danger.

Sam Raimi chose to merge animation film together. The animations are of drawings which are in a similar style to those in the bible, and then when real film appears, those drawings that the animation created lay on top of the material. The drawings are of suffering people, with screaming and pained expressions which link back to the title of the film as you are supposed to suffer in hell for the bad things you did on Earth. The word ‘Curse’ appears on the screen and that suggests that something evil is it work. The effects make the sequence look aged and that makes the audience think that it is a centuries old curse. Towards the end a picture is set on fire and is burned, this can suggest that someone wants revenge. The text lies on top of the visuals and isn’t embedded, this makes them clear and easy to read. It also reminds the audience that the film isn’t reality but fictional.

Personally, I prefer titles where things are happening as the text is being shown because it keeps me interested and brings me into the film as well as revealing something about the film so I know whether I will enjoy it or not. For our film, I think that using a similar technique to ‘The Shining’ and ‘Drag Me To Hell’, will be effective because we can have action happening while the titles flash up, but they won’t be embedded within the film because I don’t think it would work very well because of our limited resources.