Film opening analysis by rose spencer

X-Men First Class

In the film X-Men First Class there are a total of 26 different titles ranging from the directors name to the name of the costume designer and all of the in-between.
The most important titles are the ones at the beginning and the ones at the end this is because they are considered to be the most important of the titles so the producers of the film want you to remember them. In the X-Men first class the first title we come across is the name of the director, it is important that his name is first as it credits the work he has put into the film and crediting him for this, it is also important because it gets the audience watching the film to know his name and may make them want to watch more of the films he has directed. The director is also credited at the end of the film this may be so that the director is given true recognising for the work they have done again allowing the audience to pick up on the directors name so they remember the director.

Detailed analysis of an opening sequence of a film in the sub-genre

The opening of the film that I will be looking at in more detail is insomnia, the titles are also included in the following analysis.

The first frame that I have chosen to analyse is the first title that is presented to the audience. The first title is on the production company and this suggests to the audience that this information is more important than the name of the film and the actors that are in the film. This maybe because it was the production company who put all the time and money into making the film so they want everyone to know that it is their work and the following film idea was originally theirs. The font of the text is black on a pale background and is clear and easy for the audience to read, however I don't feel that the font reflects the genre of the film as well as it could. Although because insomnia is a sleeping disorder the font could reflect how the individual is unable to function properly as they have a lack of sleep so everything they do is simplistic, this could be recognised in the font that is used in the title above.



In this image the title of the film is presented, the text is white and is on a red background that could be seen as blood to the audience. The name of the film is later on in the opening sequence and this suggests that the name of the film itself is not as important as some of the other titles that are before it.The material that the "blood" is staining could be replicating the inside of an individuals head and the overlapping of the material could suggest the mental state of the individual that the title is referring to as the material is twisting in and out of each bit, showing the audience how lack of sleep can mess with your head.



This image is a Zoomed in version of the one above, it makes the name of the film more distinguished and allows the audience to see that it is the most important thing in the frame. The image behind the text looks like the inside of the brain, this could be so that the audience can link the name of the film with the mental state of the person or people in the film. This gives the audience the clues that the film is based around the psychological issues that are caused by insomnia.




This image is of the mountain range in the opening sequence. The image suggests that the text isn't the most important part of the frame at the moment as it is faded and isn't clear what it says, meaning that the focus point of this frame is the mountain range. The mountain range is of high significance in this image, firstly the mountains are all different heights this could be a symbol to the mental state of those who suffer from the psychological illness insomnia. The mountains go up and down just like the mental state of the person suffering from insomnia, they have good and bad days that cause them to go up and down.



In this image, the mountain range in the background is blurred out and is out of focus,  the title is the main focus of the frame this suggests to the audience that the title is of high importance and is worth knowing, the font of the title is simple and contrasts with the name of the film and the fact that insomnia is a complicated disorder that is noting but simplistic.  



This title allows the audience to think that something bad is going to happen due to the blood in the background. The blood is the first thing that our eyes are drawn to, suggesting that the blood is of more importance than the name of the director.

Film Opening Analysis

Hard Candy:

How many titles are there?
There are 21 titles in this opening sequence

Which were the most important?
The titles towards the beginning and end of the film were most important, this is because this is where the directors and producers are placed, sometimes even being accredited twice at the beginning and the end. During the middle of the sequence there are people who are seen as being less important for example: digital colourist and director of photography.

Style and movement of font
The font used for the titles is very basic, being black on a white or red background making this opening sequence very simplistic. The slow movement between the titles adds to the suspense of the opening sequence, making people intrigued to the storyline as you are given no clue of what it’s about due to the opening titles.

Relationship to genre and narrative
The titles didn’t relate to the genre very well as the titles were very simplistic and basic, using the same style of font, on a white or red background. This not adding to the genre of the film.

Se7en was very different to Hard Candy, this is because Se7en was very quick and fast passed as well as quirky and distorted; where as Hard Candy was very basic and simple, not giving away any information in the film unlike Se7en.

Se7en is more effective for a thriller, this is because of the white quirky writing on a dark background, as well as the sound being very sudden and gloomy.

The changing between the titles was very fast paced and sudden unlike Hard Candy. As well as this Se7en also gives an insight into the thriller film where as Hard Candy does not give any suggestions as to what’s in the film.

As well as this, Se7en also another colour apart from black and white. This colour being red, similarly to Hard Candy but se7en using It in relation to the film as it is part of a snippet of the film.

Se7en evaluation

How many titles are there?

In the opening sequence of Seven there are 26 different titles.

Which of the titles are the most important?

The titles that are towards the beginning and the end of the sequence are the most important this is because they include the directors and producers as well as the lead actors and the writer of the film.  The production company is the first title to be shown this is because they are the ones funding the film so they want their name to be seen first. After this comes the main director, the lead actors and the name of the film these are important because these are the main elements that make up the film. It is important the lead actors are before the name of the film as it is important the audience are aware who the main characters are. Towards the end of the sequence the titles are crediting people for their work, again rewarding the director as his name is the last title to be seen.

Style and movement of font

It makes audiences uncomfortable with the rapid movements of the fonts.
You can see the minute movements of his hands as the writing is over it.
The font seems unstable, perhaps presenting an unstable storyline or even character.

Relationship to the genre and narrative

The titles are reactive and move around a lot.
The contrast from the white onto a black background is jarring and abnormal.
The Chiller writing shows a terrifying narrative.

preliminary and story board

Preliminary:

1. character A walk through the sixth form doors.
2. character A walks up stairs.
3. character A stops and looks at the top of the stairs.
4. character A approaches character B.
5. character A asks if they can see character B's homework.
6. character B gives character A the homework.
7. character A looks at the homework.
8. character A gives the homework back, says thank you and walks off.

Story board:

This is our video that we created using the above story boards. We changed a few things while filming in order to make our video better. 

Audience research -video of audience's opinion

Audience research by Rose Spencer

DEEPWATER HORINSON

Deepwater Horinson is a action thriller, based on one of the biggest man made disaster. On April 20th, 2010, one of the world's largest man-made disasters occurred on the Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico. This story honours the brave men and women whose heroism would save many on board, and change everyone's lives forever. This film tells the story of those that were part of the disaster and those who were affected by the ones they loved.

UK Website
Having a website allows people to find more out about the film, it also allows the producers of the film to advertise merchandise for the film. This type of advertising would be better for younger generations as they are more likely to look the film up online.  

UK Facebook Page
The film having a facebook page is a good thing because it is a way of advertising the film to the younger generations who use social media. It also allows those who have watched the film to leave feedback so that others who may want to watch the film can see what people have thought of the film and decide if the film is worth a watch or not.

Uk Poster
Having a poster to advertise the film is a good thing because it advertises the film to lots of different people at the same time. The poster can be out up on bill boards so that everyone can see it and people are drawn to it because it is so big. The posters can also be put up in shopping centres, again meaning lots of people  will see it.




 The Trailer allows people to get  sneak look at the film so they have a feeling for what the film is about and they would also want to watch the film more after watching the trailer. Watching the trailer would help people to see if the film if the type of genre that they would enjoy or if they would like to watch the film for other reasons such as the actors in the film.

 The point of this task was to get an understanding of how the production companies get the name and word of the film out into the public, it made us think of how we could advertise our film and how we could gain the interest of different types of people. Because if this research, in our opening sequence we are going to think about the different audience and how we can widen the interest of our film by making it relevant and interesting to different types of people.