To increase my knowledge of film openings, and to gain an understanding of what order the titles appear in, I analysed and created timelines for some film openings. Firstly, I analysed the opening of 'Forrest Gump' and identified what order the titles came in. It begins with the production company (or companies') logos with no music playing, only the company logo's theme music. The film title of
Forrest Gump, and many other films, is not the first title, but the sixth title and appears not right at the beginning, as you would unknowledgably expect, but 30 seconds into the opening. Many title placings, like where the film title is placed, surprised me once I had learnt how far in to the opening it was. Until I had created this timeline, like many other people, without even thinking about it I would have expected the film title to be the first thing that appeared. I was also surprised at the sheer amount of titles there were in a fairly short amount of time, and how this short (but important and necessary) time space can be cleverly used to hook and engage the audience.
Juno also starts with the production company logo right at the beginning of the opening. The title, similarly to
Forrest Gump, appears 29 seconds into the opening, after introducing the producers and director, and always seems to be in a slightly different font, or made bigger and bolder, than the rest of the titles to ensure it stands out and the audience knows this is the film's title. The openings always end with the director's name before the film plays on. From the clips I have analysed this usually happens roughly 2 minutes into the openings. There isn't a designated time space for music overlay however, and this can begin from the very start over the production companies, or at any point throughout the opening. There may be a complete withdrawal of sound altogether (as seen in
The Fall). I have also learnt that there can be more than one name on the screen at one time, but the names have to remain in the order as shown on the timelines.
I noticed, after attempting to analyse these four film openings that, strangely, these higher-grossing, mainstream films with top actors, didn't include any titles other than the production companies; the majority of them didn't even include the film title - with
Twilight being the exception. I also found this was the case in the
Harry Potter & The Prisoner of Azkahban opening that I analysed. One arguement for this suggests that films of this sort want to fully submerge their audiences in the film, and by adding opening titles this detracts away from the realism of the film.
The Dark Knight also uses this method of minimal titles - it is only at the end of the whole film that the title appears as well as the cast list.
To increase my knowledge of film openings, and to gain an understanding of what order the titles appear in, I analysed and created timelines for some film openings. Firstly, I analysed the opening of 'Forrest Gump' and identified what order the titles came in. It begins with the production company (or companies') logos with no music playing, only the company logo's theme music. The film title of Forrest Gump, and many other films, is not the first title, but the sixth title and appears not right at the beginning, as you would unknowledgably expect, but 30 seconds into the opening. Many title placings, like where the film title is placed, surprised me once I had learnt how far in to the opening it was. Until I had created this timeline, like many other people, without even thinking about it I would have expected the film title to be the first thing that appeared. I was also surprised at the sheer amount of titles there were in a fairly short amount of time, and how this short (but important and necessary) time space can be cleverly used to hook and engage the audience.
Juno also starts with the production company logo right at the beginning of the opening. The title, similarly to Forrest Gump, appears 29 seconds into the opening, after introducing the producers and director, and always seems to be in a slightly different font, or made bigger and bolder, than the rest of the titles to ensure it stands out and the audience knows this is the film's title. The openings always end with the director's name before the film plays on. From the clips I have analysed this usually happens roughly 2 minutes into the openings. There isn't a designated time space for music overlay however, and this can begin from the very start over the production companies, or at any point throughout the opening. There may be a complete withdrawal of sound altogether (as seen in The Fall). I have also learnt that there can be more than one name on the screen at one time, but the names have to remain in the order as shown on the timelines.
I noticed, after attempting to analyse these four film openings that, strangely, these higher-grossing, mainstream films with top actors, didn't include any titles other than the production companies; the majority of them didn't even include the film title - with Twilight being the exception. I also found this was the case in the Harry Potter & The Prisoner of Azkahban opening that I analysed. One arguement for this suggests that films of this sort want to fully submerge their audiences in the film, and by adding opening titles this detracts away from the realism of the film. The Dark Knight also uses this method of minimal titles - it is only at the end of the whole film that the title appears as well as the cast list.
No comments:
Post a Comment