ART OF THE TITLE: GONE GIRL

 

The 20th century fox logo is the first thing that the audience observes. This technique immediately interests and captivates the audience as the company is well established; people will have high expectations for the film. secondly the other production companies are displayed, and then followed by a narration by Ben Affleck. This voiceover introduces the viewers to the character, and strengthens the offscreen relationship between audience and character. The gruesome, twisted narration is juxtaposed with the the soothing, tranquil voice and the hand movements of Affleck. These visual and sound codes together indicates to the audience that the genre of the film is a thriller. 

A simple, plain background reveals the names of Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike which reveals that they are the important people involved in the movie and the screen time will revolve around them almost entirely.  

The camera flicks quickly between shots of the abandoned, small town. The lighting of the opening is very bleak and with low saturation which creates an eerie feel. There are no people visible to be seen, which builds suspense because audiences can understand that this is unorthodox information. The silence of the scene unsettles the audience and creates an uncomfortable impression. Atmospherical, orchestral non-diegetic sound plays whilst we are shown inside of run down, abandoned buildings. The abandoned atmosphere which tells the audience that nobody has been around for a very long time creates uneasy because the audiences feels as though we do not belong here either. finally, the viewers are introduced to Affleck; he walks back into the colossal house and the scene fades into a darkness. This brings the opening sequence to a close and intrigues the audience into yearning to understand more about the mysterious character and town.

ART OF THE TITLE: SPLIT

To begin my research for 'The Art of the Title', I used the website to explore film openings and title sequences to further my knowledge of the ways in which film companies successfully engage their viewers and excite them into watching. I decided to research about 'Split', a 2017 American psychological horror thriller film. It is the second installment in the Unbreakable trilogy written, directed, and produced by M. Night Shyamalan and starring James McAvoy, Anya Taylor-Joy, and Betty Buckley.

The opening to M. Night Shyamalan’s Split is successful in presenting the menacing, ominous feel of the film. The opening sequence initiates the theme and genre through the visual codes of the titles, intertwined between the footage of what appears to be a girl being taken accompanied by the foreboding music which sounds like scratches and low-level alarms or perhaps sirens in the distance which connote that danger and  threatening obstacles are to come in the narrative of this movie. The typography is the focal point of this opening sequence with only a black screen and white text in the font of Helvetica, which is a traditional way of presenting information. Not only is this sequence simple with its colour scheme, but the use of the colour black also signifies danger and darkness. The white writing could connote that hidden things are coming to light, and the text stands out against the blackness. The unpretentious, plain but effective opening focuses mainly on the cast list, directors, producers etc. In this sequence, the most prominent aspect is the text not the visual codes, but the visual codes do give an insight into the narrative which is important when attempting to captivate an audience. 

RESEARCH: DISTRIBUTION OF 'THE PURGE ELECTION YEAR'

 

Research 

'The Purge Election Year'  was distributed by Universal Pictures, a division of Universal Studios. Universal Studios is a part of NBCUniversal, one of the world's leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production, and marketing of entertainment, news, and information to a global audience. The Film was Directed and written by James DeMonaco and distributed by Universal Pictures. The Film delivers the best and most action-packed Purge yet when THE PURGE: ELECTION YEAR, the third chapter in the thrilling franchise which was released on on Digital HD on September 20, 2016.

FILMMAKERS
Cast: Frank Grillo, Elizabeth Mitchell, Mykelti Williamson
Casting By: Terri Taylor
Music By: Nathan Whitehead
Costume Designer: Elisabeth Vastola
Edited By: Todd E. Miller
Production Designer: Sharon Lomofsky
Director of Photography: Jacques Jouffret
Executive Producers: Luc Etienne, Jeanette Volturno, Couper Samuelson
Produced By: Jason Blum p.g.a., Michael Bay, Andrew Form, Brad Fuller, Sébastien K. Lemercier p.g.a.
Written and Directed By: James DeMonaco

Posters

The posters for the film display the genre firstly; showing that the film is a gruesome horror which includes murder (represented by the guns accompanied by disturbing masks to hide ones identity). Immediately the viewers can comprehend the type of film - frightening, graphic gore - and the type of themes it will include - death, torture or capturing. Viewers can proceed to watch the trailer to learn more of content of the film, but the posters are effective in engaging an audience themselves. 

Trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXMp9fBomJw#

 

The trailer opens with diegetic sound of a news announcement reporting upon the upcoming 'purge'. This technique teaches the audience about the narrative of the film immediately and throws them directly into the tension. The speech is accompanied by a series of clips in a montage showing people captured, drenched in blood and a news reporter who is speaking to an audience. The trailer is used to introduce the audience to the plot line and give them a quick summary of the film; revealing interesting aspects and allowing suspense to be created. The trailer is successful in gaining revenue and attention for the film. Trailers are displayed in cinemas when people are currently watching films of similar type, so therefore people who enjoy the horror genre will already be inclined to take interest. 

Online, social media and publicity

'The Purge: Election Day' reaches a wild range of audiences by using social media platforms to promote the film and gain publicity such as Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. These are important because they reach out to all age groups, probably from teenagers to elders which is beneficial because this means that more people will gain knowledge about the film. Interviews are also used to introduce actors to the viewers as they discuss the upcoming film and the themes. This enables the viewers to make connections with the actors so they form relationships and are more inclined to be engrossed by the film and want to watch online or in cinema. 

interview:  https://uk.video.search.yahoo.com/search/video?fr=mcafee&p=the+purge+election+year+interview#id=1&vid=fb2d35b6a29416331c44043cc64655ad&action=click

RESEARCH: SCOOP.IT

I used the website scoop.it to gather my ideas for my own film opening. I chose these films/tv show because I find them inspiring; I enjoy different aspect of each one and I am intrigued by what my group could create if we used these as stimulus. For example, the film 'Psycho' is impressive because of the quick, sharp cuts between scenes which gathers suspense. For another example, in '1917' and 'Haunting of Hill house' I find the music used completely captivating and compliments the visuals well to create thriller. 

 @https://www.scoop.it/topic/bullying-by-laura-596

RESEARCH: TITLE SEQUENCES

Little fires everywhere  

Title Design and Production Studio: Imaginary Forces

Creative Director: Karin Fong

Designers: Katherine Liang, Isabell Hacker
Live-Action Director of Photography: JR Kraus
Editor: Lexi Gunvaldson
Flame Artist: Rod Basham
Producer: Renee Robson
Line Producer: Evan Jones
Executive Producer: Wandie Kabule
Head of Production: Melody Alexander
Coordinators: Jackson Kerr, Nicole Gutzman
Composers: Mark Isham, Sharyn Gersh
Music Editor: Mauricio Balvanera

 

Scary stories to tell in the dark

Title Animation Studio: IAMSTATIC
Creative Directors: Ron Gervais, Dave Greene
Production Company: IAMSTATIC
Executive Producer: Andria Minott
Art Direction / Animation: Steven Hollman, Ron Gervais, Dave Greene, Chris Crozier
Modeling: Chris Crozier, Dave Greene,
Compositors: Steven Hollman, Ron Gervais, Dave Greene

Music: “Season of the Witch” Lana Del Rey

FRANK ASH

 

PRODUCTION PRACTICE: MONTAGE / TABLE TOP SEQUENCE

Brief given: to create a title sequence using only a tabletop and props with a small part of live action, using a given soundtrack. 

Research: Watch in class the title sequence of Delicatessen (Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 1991) 

To Kill a Mockingbird (Robert Mulligan, 1962)

The President (Heidi Berg, Felix Soletic, 2019)

Soundtracks for inspiration: Emily Barker's Nostalgia (the Wallander theme tune), Banana Pancakes and Christina and the Queens Five Dollars.

Session 1: Filming Table Top

For this exercise, I decided to work with Tom. In class, we began by watching various tabletop openings suggested by our teacher to inspire us for our own opening. After listening to the various soundtracks, Tom and I decided we were partially captivated by the song Nostalgia, which we believed would complement our film successfully. We set the tabletop with background cloth, arranged the chosen objects to tell a story that fits with our soundtrack (we used Emily Barker's Nostalgia) and used a sturdy hand to glide the camera above the table top from the start point to the end point. (INSERT VIDEO HERE NEED TO UPLOAD STILL) 

We used props to create a film opening which has connotations of travel. We achieved this through the mise-en-scene of maps and objects and images with associations to Asia and France, creating possible narratives for the audience implied by the video. We hoped that this opening would create questions for the audience and leave them asking who the characters are and what is the narrative is.

Session 2: Live action shoot

This completes the opening sequence and launches the narrative. We kept this simple by only including a short 2 second clip with a close shot of a man opening a briefcase. This suggests what will happen next by creating enigma. Perhaps drama, conflict? The short opening suggests that these questions will definitely be answered once the audience continue to watch the film and is used to engrossed viewers into the exciting narrative.

Photos from filming: