Further Research into Opening Sequences

To obtain a greater knowledge into what I perceived to be the strengths and weakness' of a title sequence, I watched the opening sequences of various films and made notes on what I thought made the sequence successful and what I felt wasn't as effective. This is what I concluded from my notes, with the crosses being the negative comments and the ticks representing the positive comments.

Inception

û Slow music and action personally made this title sequence difficult to remain focused and interested.

û Animated graphics can make it difficult for an audience to relate and form a connection with the main characters from the beginning.

û No insight or links to the plot of the story made this title sequence slightly irrelevant and as a result of this, it didn’t seamlessly flow into the main section of the film either.

û Simple transitions portrayed a square style which might not be very interesting to an audience.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

ü  Western styled colour scheme and font instantly set my expectations of this film, as I understood the genre of the film immediately.

ü Gunshot auditory effects were sounded as the text appeared which further emphasized the western genre of the film for an audience.

û Relevant still images were displayed instead of moving scenes which I, personally didn’t find interesting.

Mad Money

ü Theme of money was clearly evident throughout the title sequence as the background was compiled of sections of animated bank notes which reinforced the audiences expectations of the film derived from the title.

û Animated graphics can make it difficult for an audience to relate and form a connection with the main characters from the beginning.

û Doesn’t reveal any characters or information about the setting and as a result of this, it isn’t very insightful or interesting.

Juno

ü  Interesting fast-paced music held my attention as the editing of the title sequence could be synchronised effectively.

ü Immediately introduces the main character which allows the audience to form a connection and make a judgement about that character from the beginning.

ü  Appropriate font which suits the style of the film and the characters within it and this helps an audience form an opinion of the genre and type of characters.

Wowie

ü  Innovative presentation of the text (Displayed on various body parts, such as the  hand and the stomach).

ü  Background hustle creates an atmosphere which the audience isn’t consciously aware of.

Kill Your Friends

ü  Titles blended well with the visuals

Examples of this could consist of the text replacing:

Writing on Posters

Tattoo

Labels on Bottles

Labels on Tv

Music and Book Covers

Note Style

Credit Card

I also decided to apply the same critique to various title sequences which have been created by other AS Media students by searching for such material on Youtube and then noting their strengths and weakness'. I think this aspect of the research will be most beneficial as those title sequences were created by young people, of a similar age and budget to myself and our group. This is what I concluded: