Research: Opening Credits

 Welcome back to the blog, today I continued research for my film intro. Today I researched opening credits. The opening credits are an important part of crafting a successful film introduction as they list all of the films creators. Over the years there have been many different ways that opening credits functioned, originally they were static title cards that were placed before movies however they have since evolved to a dynamic part of the film. 

    The order of the credits is an important element of making them effective. For instance the typical  order starts with the production company, director, film title, lead cast, supporting cast, casting director, music composer, costume designer, editors, production designer, executive producer, writers, and ends with the director. This order can be edited and changed to fit the movies style. For instance in some films the title is placed at the end of the film. However, for the case of our own film introduction I intend to stick with the normal order of opening credits.

The end of The Dark Knight showing the title at the end rather than the beginning.

    The font of the opening credits also plays an important role in conveying meaning within the film introduction. Various different fonts can be used in order to signify the genre and theme of the film such as a cursive font being used to signify a romance or a heavy, bold font being used to set the ground for an action film. For a horror film there is a variety of different types of fonts that can be used. For example in Se7en a scribled, sketchy font is  used to match the violent thriller story and match the graphic imagery of the opening scene. This style of font can work well if we decide to make a faster paced film introduction with many jump cuts and harsh editing. 

An example of the font used in opening credits of Se7en.

    Another type of font that can be used in a horror film's opening credits is using a simple font. This can be best show in The Shining where during the opening scene the credits are seen as a rolling list done in a simple Helvetica font. While the font itself doesn't scream horror it blends with the drone footage of a car driving on a mountainous road, and the disturbing music being played. The sharp contrast between the simplistic font and the overall theme of the movie helps to inflict fear amongst its viewers. This can be implemented into our own film introduction if we use a more straightforward visuals with limited harsh jumps and strong edits. 

The font used in the opening credits of The Shining.

    The opening credits of our film introduction should be able to match the style of the film and be able to properly reflect the style of the visuals. The timing that they appear onscreen and order must be carefully chosen as well as the order they appear in to be viewed as effective. The font should also reflect the visuals as to make it as seamless as possible. I instead to take all of these in account whilst creating our film introduction and in the meantime I intend to continue my research.

Below is a list of sources that I used to conduct research:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZF9GlGL9gbM
• https://elements.envato.com/learn/typographic-trends-in-title-sequences
• https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/where-credit-is-due-film-credits-order-hierarchy-with-free-film-credits-template/
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTy3Aff9Ubg
• https://wherecreativityworks.com/opening-credits/
• https://screencrush.com/best-movie-opening-titles/

Research: Lighting

Welcome back to the blog, today I continued to research the various parts that create a successful horror film. In this post I go over the various lighting effects that can be used in our film introduction

    Lighting  is one of the most important parts of creating a successful horror film. Many popular horror films utilize low-key, dim lighting to create a mysterious atmosphere. This lighting keeps the viewer in an ambiguous state as many details are being hidden in a cloak of darkness, this also increases the overall tension adding to the fear induced by the film. There are many different way that low key lighting can be used to create an effective horror film, an example of this is in the film The Conjuring where a match is used as the only light source for the entire scene. This can easily be implemented into our own film as all we would need is a single light source that is dim and place it directly in front of our subject.

    A different way that low key lighting has be implement into many horror films is by using a flashlight as the only light source and using it to illuminate the scene with a POV shot. This would be able to draw the viewer into the scene as it matches the what character see with what the viewer is able to see. This can also be put into our film introduction as all that would be needed is a flash light being placed on the camera and being moved to where the camera is being pointed. Below is a great example from Insidious as it creates a terrifying scene by using a flashlight.

Another way that low-lighting has been used in horror films is through the use of silhouettes. A silhouette can be used in order to hide the details of a certain character or object. This increases tension as the viewer isn't exposed to all of the information. To create a silhouette for our own film we would need to place our light source directly behind the subject, either person or object, and have the subject cover the light source, this hides any details on the front of the subject while keeping the scene relatively bright behind the subject. One of the best examples of this is in Psycho where the murder is scene holding a knife ready to kill.

    Whilst low-key lighting is typically the main type to invoke fear within horror films there can be other ways light can be used to create astonishing horror films. One instance of this is using coloured lighting to evoke strong emotion amongst the audience. The typical coloured light is red as it can represent many fear inducing themes such as blood and violence. To achieve this effect we would either need to use coloured LEDs to produce the red light or use translucent plastic sheets and place them onto a light source creating the desired colour. An example of this type of lighting being used is in Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark as the lights are flashed red to increase the tension and fear of the scene.

I plan for our film introduction to use at least one of these lighting effects in order to be a truly terrifying opening scene. I intend to continue my research of the various parts that need to be part of an effective film introduction.

Below is a list of sources that I used to gather research:

• https://media-studies.com/horror-genre/
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lh3LeCNRvTQ
• https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/what-is-low-key-lighting-definition/
• https://theasc.com/articles/terror-through-lighting
• https://www.tutti.space/blog/8-great-horror-film-lighting-examples

 

Research: Horror Genre

     I was looking over various genres that I could use for my film introduction I came across the horror genre. A horror film introduction uses certain elements that make it captivating such as the dark low-key lighting which creates an ominous atmosphere. There is also the use of disturbing sounds to enhance the atmosphere and invoke fear. An example of this is in Get Out where a distorted song is played to enhance the visuals of a black man getting kidnaped. All of these elements work together to create truly scary horror film introduction.

This is a source I used it conduct research:

https://media-studies.com/horror-genre/

This is a picture of the opening scene of Get Out: