Titles

In this post, I will be explaining titles in detail, from what order the titles usually come in, what order the cast and crew come in, what titles usually appear and creative titles that have been used.

These are some of the titles that are featured in The Sixth Sense:

This is the order in which titles usually go in (this also features the titles that are usually implemented into the opening credits of most films):

- Companies who have produced and/or distributed the film
- The star actors/actresses of the film (star cast members)
- The film's title
- The rest of the actors/actresses of the film (cast members)
- Casting by
- Costume designer
- Edited by
- Sound by
- Music by
- Production Designer
- Director of Photography
- Executive Producer
- Screenplay by
- Producer
- Director

These are some of the titles that are featured in Ocean's Eleven:

Something to observe is that cast members (actors and actresses) are shown from the most significant cast member (the 'star') to the least significant cast member (one of the supporting actors/actresses). This is the opposite for the crew (the people working backstage), as crew members are shown from the least significant (usually the person casting actors and actresses for particular roles) to the most significant (the director).

These are some of the titles that are featured in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo:

Unique titles to have been implemented into opening credits of films include Co-Producers and Sound Designers (seen in the opening credits of 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) as well as Art Director, Assistant to the Producer, Makeup Supervisor, Assistant Director and Title Designer (all seen in the opening credits of 'Ocean's Eleven' *1960 version*).

These are the titles that are featured in I, Robot:

What are the conventions of an opening sequence?

There are many typical conventions of an opening sequence. From titles to soundtracks to establishing the mood/theme to establishing shots, I will be explaining below in detail what exactly are the conventions of an opening sequence.



- This video mentions about the questions that the audience should ask themselves whilst they watch the opening sequence of a film.



- This video mentions about titles and production/distribution companies and their logos, and why they are implemented into the opening credits.



- This video mentions how significant establishing shots are, and how helpful it is in giving the audience a good grasp on what to expect as the film/TV programme progresses from the opening sequence.



- This video mentions soundtracks (and how they assist in providing the mood and atmosphere of the opening sequence) and equilibriums (and how the audience can witness the normality of the film, and how characters would usually interact with each other before the disequilibrium takes place).

The Spiderwick Chronicles (Waters, 2008, USA)

In the Sliderocket presentation below, I will be explaining what happens in the opening sequence of 'The Spiderwick Chronicles', and how it specifically effects the audience.

Bridget Jones's Diary (Maguire, 2001, UK) - Romantic Comedy

The opening sequence for the film 'Bridget Jones's Diary' creates this image of a sympathetic and pitiful woman who is alone after the Christmas festivities are over, and this can be clearly explained in many ways.

Firstly, we see Bridget as one of the very small handful of 'younger' people in contrast to the number of elderly people who all are celebrating Christmas festivities. This already creates a feeling of sympathy towards Bridget, as she is surrounded by a large number of elderly people, who are believed by modern society to be nostalgic, dull, often forgetful and not the ideal company that someone of Bridget's age would be craving for.

Then, the focus of the camera shifts from the celebration of Christmas to panning outside Bridget's house on a cold winter night. This creates a more depressing atmosphere from the viewer, as the camera changes from filming a warm and festive celebration filled with people to panning outside a lonely woman's house in the freezing cold.

Through this transition, the narrator of the film (Bridget Jones, who is also the main heroine of the film) is clearly upset by being alone on such a festive and jolly occasion. Despite trying to implement some humor into her narration, Bridget still shows signs of sadness about her situation she would have to endure with at the time of the scene. "...I was going to live a life where my major relationship was with a bottle of wine, and I'd finally die fat and alone and be found three weeks later, half-eaten by Alsatians .." This quotation shows that whilst it is clearly exaggerated and something that Bridget would make light of, she (and also the viewer by the end of the scene) would acknowledge that unless something happened, Bridget would remain a single woman for the rest of her life, not getting to enjoy the wonders of a romantic relationship, thus garnering compassion from the audience as a result.

As the framing of the camera now displays Bridget's living room to the viewing audience, they can see Bridget alone on her sofa, watching an episode of 'Frasier'. Again, this is rather a depressing piece of visual imagery to conjure up, as she is sitting alone at such a festive time of year, watching a comedy programme which involves frequent uses of dry humour, in contrast to the blatant and obvious humour used in 'Bridget Jones's Diary'.

The editing also manages to rustle up a level of pity shown from the audience for Bridget, as the cross-dissolve in her living room shows the camera being positioned in one place, yet Bridget appears in more than one location in the living room, which shows that she is so bored with being alone that she is desperate to find something that will ease her mind from thinking about how unsuccessful she is at love.

Throughout this editing process, the song 'All by Myself', sung by Jamie O'Neal, can be heard by the viewer as they see Bridget eventually start to mime the words to the song. It starts off non-diegetic, as Bridget initially doesn't take any notice of the song. However, as the scene progresses, Bridget slowly but surely starts to mime along to the words that are being sung by O'Neal, giving the music elements of being diegetic as well as non-diegetic. While this scene may feature a level of humour that the viewer can find themselves easily laughing along with, it is also quite ironic since Bridget literally is all by herself, which is related to the title of the song.

Wallander (Firewall, 7th December 2008, BBC1)

In the opening sequence of 'Firewall' in the Crime Drama TV Show 'Wallander', this show intrigues the audience by what transpires in the opening sequence.

At the very beginning of the episode, the screen remains pitch black for precisely ten seconds. Whilst some viewers may not take much (if any) notice of this, other viewers could use the black screen to make an observation about the darkness, evil and death that will likely be shown in 'Firewall' as these elements are all typical representations of the colour black. This affects the audience because a number of them will be interested to see whether or not darkness, evil and death appear in this episode of 'Wallander' and if so, how they are implemented into the episode.

Then, after we emerge from the entire blackness of the screen, the viewer then witnesses an extreme long-shot of a rural area which features (from what we as a viewer can see) a small handful of people in that area. This suggests that the area might connote a sense of isolation and abandonment which could be something for the viewer to take note of in case something might transpire in that location at some point during the episode. As the rural area seems to be deserted, it creates a sense of vulnerability for the very few number of characters who do appear in such an isolated location, and as a result, makes the audience feel sympathetic towards them and worry for what their fate may be. However, the empty rural area could also suggest peace, quietness and serenity, painting it in a far more positive lighting and if this proves to be what the director is aiming for, attempting to make the viewer not suspect any possible signs of death, darkness and/or evil in such a quiet and peaceful area.

Once the establishing shot of the rural area has finished transpiring, the camera now focuses on the backs of two women in black clothing. The scene becomes more tense, and the sound helps to create this moment of tenseness. Aside from the diegetic sounds of footsteps and wind (although that could be debated whether or not it is actually diegetic, as the wind sounds does seem to be exaggerated dramatically in post-production), nothing else is audible in the scene. This is an indication that the director wants the focus to be on nothing but the two female characters that are shown in the scene, which could further hint that they have important roles in this episode if the director is attempting to place all of the audience's focus onto those two female characters.

An observation that the viewer could make about the two female characters from first glimpse is the colour of the upper-half of their black clothing. As mentioned earlier, black connotes a sense of darkness, death and evil. These three representations could apply perfectly to both females later on in the episode, but as the viewers will have only seen their backs, they can only make perceptions about what these females are like. This should interest the viewers enough to make them feel tempted to watch more, to see whether their assumptions on these two female characters are correct or incorrect.

Then, the camera shifts focus from the females to using extreme close-ups to show the taxi driver's possessions inside the taxi that have been covered up with blood. Extreme close-ups are used to show these possessions in great detail, allowing the viewer to create more of a realistic personality for the assaulted taxi driver and make an assumption of him based from what they can see of his possessions.

Some of the possessions that are shown inside the taxi point towards the driver being a family orientated man, as one of the photos show him providing physical contact with a younger man, most likely a relative of his. If the younger man is indeed a family member of the taxi driver, then the audience will feel immense heaps of sympathy towards not only the taxi driver, but for the younger male as well as the rest of the driver's relatives as modern society despise the idea of family bonds being broken up for whatever reason, so to see a family-orientated man die will upset the viewer substantially, as they will instantly realise that his bonds with other family members will forever be broken.

After this, the camera cuts away from inside the taxi to the two walking females, then back to the taxi, then back to the two walking females and so on. This method is used to essentially indicate to the viewer that the females and the dying male will eventually intertwine together to produce a plot for the episode. The audience  will be affected by this method as they will gain a better understanding of what will transpire in the episode, partially helping them to predict the outcome of the 'Firewall' episode. This scene continues for a while, until an extreme close-up is once again used to display one of the females dropping a blood coated knife, which is telling the viewer that she has done something very immoral and probably committed a murder. This shocks the viewer, as they were in the midst of these frequent cuts between the females and dying male until suddenly they witness one of the females dropping a blood covered knife, as well as a bombshell in the process.

Brick (Johnson, 2005, USA)

In the opening sequence for the neo-noir Thriller film ‘Brick’, there is a range of questions that the sequence poses to the viewers.

In the beginning of the clip, the camera uses crab movements across the ledge until we can see a pair of feet that seem to belong to a male. Two questions that should immediately pop into the reader’s mind when observing the out of focus shot is why the shot is out of focus, as a majority of films start in focus rather than out of it, and who is this male character, as the viewer practically knows nothing about this man, yet the they are being presented with an extreme close-up of his feet. Johnson purposely provides these questions to the audience so they can feel engaged with his film, as the viewer tries to answer the questions with the information that he gives to the viewer later on so they can remain intrigued with what is transpiring in the film.

Continuing onwards from the use of extreme close-ups, another one is visible as the focus of the camera transitions from an extreme close-up of the male’s feet to the male’s eyes. Initially, the camera is out of focus when presenting the extreme close-up of the man, yet as the time progresses, the camera gradually gets more into focus until the viewer can clearly see the extreme close-up being used. The director of this film has once again purposely chosen to hide certain body parts and information from the viewer so they continue to ponder about this male character and remain intrigued as to who he really is, and therefore, remain intrigued in the film to find out more about this man and how significant of a role he plays.

Whilst various extreme close-ups are being used, non-diegetic sounds of bells (that are high in volume and pitch) and a guitar (that is lower in volume and pitch than the bells) are both audible. This sounds as if these non-diegetic stings belong in a Western movie rather than a Thriller movie, as the sounds seem quite reflective and meditative rather than chilling and unsettling (such as the music that is used in the opening sequence of ‘The Sixth Sense’).These non-diegetic stings may calm the viewer down and relax them so they don’t need to fret for any danger or horror that may transpire. However, this could also be used to startle the viewer when something horrific does come along as the reflective sting doesn’t match with the possible horrifying image(s) that will come into the viewer’s sight.

When the viewer witnesses the female’s dead body, a quantity of questions pop into their mind, such as whether or not the female is actually dead, and if so, how did she come to her demise? Another question may be why are the two characters located inside a sewer, as it is not an ideal location for two people to be together. A third question could be what was the role of the male character, and did he have a part in assisting in the female character’s death, as he is only gazing at her dead body with his mouth hidden to the camera.

Eventually, the scene comes to an end when the bracelet that belongs to the dead female is in the middle of the framing. A graphic match is used to show a new scene with the bracelet approximately in the same place as it was in the end of the last scene. Being logical, the viewer can tell that the next scene will be showing the female character when she was alive as her hand is moving, therefore, the next scene took place before the female character’s death. This will also tell the viewer how the female character died, luring them into watching the film so the viewer can find out whether or not their answers were correct about what happened to the female.

The male who is approaching the lockers seems to be the same male who was staring at the dead female, judging by the exact same clothing that is seen on both men, despite a two day difference. Anyhow, the man opens the door to the locker as a note eventually falls out of it. The camera then goes into an extreme long shot as the man looks around to see if there is anyone nearby, before reading the content of the note.

The whole of this scene could be an indication that the female has placed a note into the male’s locker, showing that she has an interest in him (which is later proved when the male reads what the note says, essentially asking him on a date), which could set up the entire plot of the film and show how both the male and the female got to where they are shown in the opening sequence, which is what the viewer is solely interested in finding out, as they will watch the film to gain more clues before eventually solving this mystery that Johnson creates for them.

The Sixth Sense (Shyamalan, 1999, USA)

 

In the opening sequence for the Thriller film 'The Sixth Sense', there is a sense of fear that is being presented in various different ways.

One of which is by the use of sound. As soon as the opening sequence begins, the audience can hear chilling non-diegetic music play as the titles appear on the screen. This use of music is intended to make the audience feel uneasy as all that they are able to hear is the sound of unsettling music play and nothing else, which makes it harder for the viewer to drown out the uneasiness they should be feeling when they listen to the music. Another observation to note at the very beginning of the opening sequence is the presence of the titles. The white text slowly fades in and spreads outwards, as if it is trying to surround the viewer, before eventually fading out. This adds to the uneasiness that the viewer should be feeling as all they are able to see is the white text slowly fade in and out in an otherwise pitch black screen. The combination of the white text (that only appears near the centre) and the black screen (that takes up the rest of the screen) could show that the darkness and mysteriousness that is oozed from the screen dominates the pureness and innocence of the text, which may be used as a method of foreshadowing when the viewer comes across an innocent and pure character (most likely to be a female) somehow get involved in a dark and mysterious predicament.

After the opening credits have finished, the screen still is very dark as a light bulb somewhat comes into view. Eventually, as the short scene progresses, the light bulb gradually becomes brighter until the viewer can clearly see the presence of the light bulb. This garners confusion from the audience as they are unsure of what is present at first, which should make the viewer as an individual interested enough to try and figure out what the object is until they can clearly identify that the object is a light bulb. Something interesting about the light bulb itself is that it is old-fashioned, which could indicate that the location for this scene is shot in an isolated, abandoned area that isn’t well looked after if it can’t afford to gain a modern light bulb. Once the light bulb is easily identifiable, the viewer is able to hear a door creak open immediately afterwards. This is used to shock the viewer, as Shyamalan has decided to keep the door hidden from being seen by the viewer, so they aren’t expected to hear the door open and as an outcome, feel astonished at listening to the door unsuspectingly creak open.

Then, a female character appears in the scene, making her way down the stairs whilst the camera is positioned behind the wine shelf. The positioning of the camera makes it seem like the female is being watched by someone, giving her a sense of vulnerability as the lone female character could be getting watched by the unknown in a shoddy area. In addition to making the female seem quite vulnerable, her bright purple dress is the only bright colour that the viewer is able to see as the entire location is a dull shade of grey, which once again, displays that she should not be in that shoddy, low-key location and makes her seem vulnerable due to being so out of place. As the female character progresses to the wine shelf, she carefully scans through different bottles of wine until she grabs a bottle that she is content enough with. However, once the bottle of wine is in her arms, the female can sense something, and her eyes drift away from the bottle. This is significant as the editing becomes swifter once she sense something, which doesn’t allow the viewer to get as much of a chance to relax and keeps them alert and on their feet, aware for anything that may transpire to the female.

A faint noise then becomes audible to both the viewer and the female in the otherwise silent room, shocking them as it is unsuspected and sudden. The female turns around after hearing the noise, and it is clear to see that she is frightened due to her breathing heavier (something that is easily audible to the viewer) and having a stronger, firmer grip on the wine bottle. Now it is clear that she is vulnerable as she (as well as the audience) can sense that something else is in the room, and feels scared as the room is large, virtually deserted and shoddy in appearance.

To end the scene, the female character dashes up the stairs and away from the basement, displaying that she does not want to stay in that room as she is afraid of whatever she can sense is in that room. The cinematography that is used in the end of the scene has the camera positioned towards the bottom of the staircase, giving the viewer good access to see how isolated, shoddy and quite disturbing the basement is, giving them a chance to see why the female was so scared of being alone in such a room.