Peer Chosen Title Sequences

Name of the film: “The Dark Night”

The joker is standing at the bottom of a building where criminals enter with their faces covered by clown masks, similar to The Joker. They rob a mafia bank and certain characters are ordered by the joker to kill their fellow gang during the robbery. Smoke emerges to fill the shot, darker shades of the smoke combine to create a bat shape. We associate the iconic bat shape with Batman; it acts as the title so we are aware this will be a Batman film even though it’s named “The Dark Night.” It sets the expectations of a superhero film so we want to see action, criminals and a good morale Batman who saves the day. A medium shot shows The Joker’s painted face as clown. Other criminals wear a clown mask. It sends the message The Joker is a mentally disturbed character as he takes the idea of a children’s entertainer and uses it to mask his identity. He is influential on other criminals as the clown masks denote they are working for The Joker. It creates the enigma: where is Batman? Ideas that I could use from my own title sequence is the establishing shot of the building that zooms in to the action, it establishes both time and location, we know it is set it New York in the present day (2000’s). The use of extreme close ups to hide the face of the criminal creates mystery.

Name of film: “Saw IV”

In summary the film start with a dead man on table, it seems as if a post-mortem is taking place, however we soon find the “doctor” is specifically searching for something. After graphically cutting open his body and gorily revealing the inside he find a tape in his stomach, when played there is a message from someone telling the “the games have just begun.” In the next shot, two men are tied together by a chain, one has their eyes sewn and the other has their lips sewn. They fight to receive a key however are unaware how or why they are there, the chain that hold the two men pulls them in to a machine that has rotating blades that will kill them. Harsh beats in the music with underlying woodwind instruments; a mixture of high pitched notes explains how it is clear that the film is a horror and not a thriller. It creates confusion rather then mystery. Music from the thriller genre would attempt to create emotional engagement, whereas the harsh beats in this specific opening shock and scare the audience. We can also tell it holds the horror genre due to mis-en-scene, close up of knives and blood conveys pain and suffering. A long shot of a dead mans body creates enigmas, who is he? Why is he dead? Diagetic dialogue from the tape recorder “my work will continue” makes the audience think what his “work” is.  I like the idea of using graphic sequences by special effects as it creates a reaction from the audience however it would be irrelevant to our thriller genre and we do not have enough experience or technology to do so. I think this title sequence sets a well establishes plot but we can not follow this as we have restrictions to keep our sequences under 2 minutes. Close ups of the dead body and the knives denotes there is a relationship between him and tools.

Name of film: “Snatch”

The title sequence consists of a group of religious Jewish men entering an office building whilst we watch them on a surveillance camera. When they enter the office they reveal guns and attack the workers to receive a valuable stone. All the character credits are introduced and connected through the passing of the stone and showing how it creates money, we see who is involved in the process. They talk about bible religion and are dressed a Jewish Scholars. It creates enigmas, as the characters are clearly religious people why are they being watched? This also creates humour suggesting although it is an action film there are elements of comedy incorporated in to the plot. In addition, we know this as the character subvert stereotypes making the audience laugh at them. The transition shots in the opening credits that introduce the characters as they exchange the stone in to money informs us the aim of the characters life in the film is to make money. I would like to use transitions to introduce each character to convey their relationship and plot

Name of film: “300”

Interestingly, this title sequence is made up of animation of a war from the roman era. We know that the film will have a gory plot that will revolve around war. Through a long/ medium shot silhouettes are identifiable of weapons and soldiers in armour, bright splats of blood appear through the fighting are emphasised due to the black shadows. Furthering this, the silhouettes connote that the characters are mysterious. We know the film is historical and action-packed by the mis-en-scene and sound. We identity with the weapons, with music from the Middle East and can make out Greek costume with helmets. The plot presents war as a spectacle, not a normal horror film but presents was as an art, the slow motion suspends the tension and allows the audience to admire the skill and beauty of war. Enigmas created: what does the number “300” represent? Who’s fighting? Why?

Name of film: “A Series of Unfortunate Events”

This title sequence was also animated where we see three young children adventurously escaping from an overpowering man. There is a clear difference between villains to other characters as a spooky face emerges from the darkness whereas the three other characters stay in the light. The colour scheme of only black and white and grey in the animation conveys a spooky, almost gothic-like atmosphere. The character are brave and able to keep up with what’s thrown at them, they’re not intimidated at other older characters. This is because the children constantly run and keep up to stay safe in interesting inventive way for example a boat, a hot air balloon, informing us that the film is aimed at children who want to be entertained imaginatively.

Name of film: “Animal Kingdom”

In this title sequence a teenage boy calls for an ambulance as his mother just died due to drugs and he calls his grandmother to help look after him. We are then are shown shots of a robbery from a CCTV angle, creating the enigma how does that relate to Josh’s life? In the background the all the people in the game show on the television have Australian accents which denotes the film is set in Australia. The sequence juxtaposes the roles of character between the grandmother and Josh by cross-cutting between the grandmother energetically walking up the stairs to a lifeless Josh. The genre will be an emotional drama because of the still images of an armed robbery through the CCTV camera with orchestral music at a slow cutaway rate. Inspired by this film we will use a close up of the child watching his mother showing no emotion conveying he is depressed and traumatised. Also, the cross cutting between josh and his grandmother is relevant to our title sequence as they have difference personalities and so do our character (the drunken father and abused mother).