Opening Credits

Our final coursework piece is to plan, shoot and edit the beginning two minutes of a film. This will include the opening credits. So, as part of my research i decided to look at the styles of opening credits of two horror films: John Carpenter's Halloween (1978) and Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd (2007).
I chose these because even though, stylistically the examples differ hugely, they still both conform to typical horror conventions and convey the genre brilliantly.
First, i looked at the Halloween opening credits.




To begin with, there is just a blank screen with chilling music. The effect of the music at this point, is that it is quiet, eery and gives the impression of something lurking or being in hiding.
The font of the credits is very significant. Traditionally, black and orange are the two colours which signify Halloween. Here, the orange writing on the black background connotes the plot and of course the film's title.
Then, as the credits appear, a carved Pumpkin appears on the left hand side of the screen. It has a smile, but combined with the scary music, the flickering of light from within it and the fact that half of it is in shadow, looks spooky, mysterious and would have the effect of making an audience feel uneasy.
At first, it is not blatent, but as the credits roll, the camera zooms in and the Pumpkin appears to inch closer and closer to the audience. This is a great way to make the audience feel like they are already getting more involved with the film, and being literally drawn in. It also adds to the ambience of fear and would be effective as an unnerving image to be pulled in to. This continues, and at the end of the opening credits, we find ourselves dangerously close to the strange Pumpkin.
Compared to the Sweeney Todd opening credits, this format was fairly straight forward but nevertheless successful in creating ambience for the film about to come, and conveying the genre well.
It must be considered that the films were made 29 years apart, so there was probably a restricted range of effects for John Carpenter to use.
Here is the next set of opening credits: Sweeney Todd.





The music begins before the credits actually start, so as to prepare the audience for what is coming and create the tone for the film. The music itself is similar to the funeral march and has the same 'deadly' feel to it.
I also spotted that the usual Warner Bros. background of a blue sky scattered with shite clouds, has been formatted to a dull, scary looking sky. What a great way to set the tone?
The slow camera movement as it tilts to reveal the sky makes builds up the suspence and the expectation for what is coming. The storm and silhouette of the city are, again, typical of the Horror genre.
Then as the camera pans across the city and reveals the inside of the window, there is a drop of blood where we expect rain. In the same frame we see the chair. This chair is significant to the film's plot and that is why it is introduced during the opening credits. It is in a spotlight while the rest of the room is in darkness, which emphasises its importance.
The rest of the opening credits follow the trail of blood as it flows through the chair's mechanisms and out through the trap door in the floor. Later, it will become apparent that this is a representation of the journey the victims experience on their way to become the contents of meat pies. This almost works as a 'forewarning' to the audience as to the horrors they are about to witness.
Meanwhile, the music builds up as a crescendo to build up the thrill and sense of danger.
Evidently, thought the Sweeney Todd credits were much more detailed and graphic, both films were successful in conveying the genre. However, with Sweeney Todd, the plot was dived into straight away and more was revealed from the start.



What needs to be included in opening credits?
Here is a list of the types of names to mention during opening credits:
- Film studio
-Director presenting the film
-Film title
-Producer/Executive producer
-Main actors
-Featured actors
-Screenplay artists
-Director of photography
-Editors
-Music directors

The Importance of Narrative Image - FINAL DESTINATION

Narrative Image is an important aspect of the commercial success of any film. It is made up of many features which piece together to represent a film before it is released. A successful portrayal through Narrative Image will result in payment at the box office. It will conform to the classic conventions of the genre of the film to ensure the attention of the desired audience.

'It is the promise, and the film is the performance and realisation of that promise.' John Ellis, Visible Fiction.

The Narrative Image of a film is conveyed in many ways. For example through posters, radio advertisments, television trailers and front-of-house posters.
I have chosen to look two aspects of the representation of James Wong's Final Destination (2000).

This was the poster advertisement of the film before its cinema release.
I think this poster works well to convey the genre and allow interpretations for the plot. However, it is still enigmatic and does not give away too much about the film's plot.
The genre (horror) is made apparent because of several factors, like colour choice for example. The poster is primarily dark with a red anchorage which could connote blood or danger.
Lightening bolts are traditionally associated with horror, so this also adds to the construction of the genre through the Narrative Image. The actual image of the characters also comes acorss as quite chilling. They appear to be coming out at the audience, and half their faces are replaced with skulls. This reference through images of death, emphasises the genre further, as does the film's slogan:
'No accidents. No coincidences. No espaces.'
Without being blatently obvious as to what the film is all about, this cluster of three is effective in captivating the audience. The thought of nothing being an accident or a coincident conveys the idea that everything is happening for a reason. Each word is a plural: accidents, coincidences, espaces, telling the audience that there is probably a string of bad events to come. 'No espcapes' is clearly a reference to danger and being trapped, another clue as to the film's genre.
This is the trailer used to advertise the film before its release:

As you can gather, the trailer gives away more of a film's plot than a poster is able to. This is evident here. The montage of images which was used for the construction of this trailer reveal what the audience can expect from the film, by defining the basic plot. The first set of montaged images establishes the main story. The combination of diegetic sounds (screams and explosions) and non-diegetic sound (chilling music) firmly places the film in a Horror category.
There is a message split in to two parts which reads: 'You may get a second chance at life...But you can't cheat death.' As well as keeping a sense of mystery, this line lets the audience in to the film a little bit more, making them feel more involved. All the clips which are used have some significance in portraying the horror theme. For example the use of small rooms (confined spaces), dark places, shots at night, funerals and montages of injuries or deaths.
The significance of the film's slogan is also evident here, as is is quted by a character and shown in the trailer. This slogan would then go on to be a basis of recognition for the audience of this particular film.
Certain lines of dialogue are used to create a sense of fear and captivate the audience. for example:

'He knows which one of us is next.'
'By walking off the plane, you cheated death. YOU have to figure out, when its coming back at you.'
'No body has control over life and death...Unless they are taking lives.'

The way the trailer ends is very clever. You see a train coming speeding towards someone who is stuck in a car. But, the trailer ends before you can see the outcome of this event. This arouses the audience's curiousity. What happens?

BLK homework; Horror Still

This still was created by positioning our subject in a storage cupboard using a spotlight to achieve the effect of illuminating half of her face.
The light was shone in such a way so as to ensre that the shadow cast on the object was equal to the proprtion of the object being exposed to the audience.
By using this technique, we were able to convey a character, which is clearly ominous and sinister, but also keep a degree of mystery. The audience, not being able to see a complete picture, will be forced to make assupmtions and will want to know more - Perhaps there is something our character is hiding?
The body language of the subject herself reveals slightly more and clearly establishes the genre of the still. Her hands wrapped around the door frame may tell the audience that she is 'creeping out' or coming out of hiding: thus posing further questions like 'who or what is she waiting for?' and 'where is she coming out from?'
The character also appears to be looking directly into the camera. However, the still remains with a hint of ambiguity because it is not made clear who she is looking at or prying upon.
The character is obviously given importance and made to stand out. Amongst the dark background, her green eyes and red hair dominate the photograph. She is also made prominent given the amount of the frame she occupies.
In hindsight, i think the horror still would have been more successful if we had tried to use darker make-up. This would create a more dangerous-looking and frightening character.The shot could also be improved by covering the small patch of costume, which has been left in the frame.