Planning opening credits- Miss Georgiou

Opening credits are used within films to tell the audience about the film and it creation. It tells them the film title and who is starring in it. Additionally, it introduces the style of the film by using particular fonts, texts sizes and colours. It also shows the different job roles within the film and who does them.

 We looked at the opening sequence to seven so that we could see the style adopted by the film, also what colours are used, what thriller conventions are used in the sequence and the order in which the writing appears. By doing this we gained inspiration and a professional view of how the credits should look.

Firstly we focused on the colours that we used in the opening sequence. There was mainly a sepia filtered across the scene which gave it a eery feel.  The main colours used where black and white. The  black could represent the antagonist, which conveys death and mystery. This supports the theme of the film. The white could represent the innocence of the victim, which is conventional to the genre. Therefore the black and white will symbolise the relationship between the characters.

The second feature of the Seven opening credits that we focused on was the style adopted. The font style used represented child like hand writing, this could reflect that the killer has a child like mentality, as we no the killer is not a child it suggest them as quite psychotic. Which can be supported as we see hands cutting up photos and highlighting, this implies possessiveness, this is a common feature of someone psychotic. Through out the opening credits there is flickering and flashes of light, this show the sequence as unstable and unbalanced and gives the audience an idea of what the film is going to be like. This will create suspense as it will build up there is enigma straight away. Parts of the film are shown in the credits and some parts and sped up and some slowed down, this shows the film will have lots of shock and surprise that will keep the audience always unaware of what is going to happen next.

The third feature that we looked at was the use of thriller conventions through out the credits. Thriller conventions are important in the credits as it shows the audience the genre of the film and it is how the genre is recognised. The is lots of enigma through the credits as parts of the film are shown and peoples hands are shown but we cant see who they belong to and no clues are given about what is going to happen in the film. Also the fact that we can only see sharp objects and other weapons instead of why they are being used also builds suspense. The unbalanced effect of the credits is also conventional to the thriller genre as is shows the instability of the killer.

The final feature that we looked at in the seven opening credits is the order of the words. This is one of the thing we focused on because we wanted to mirror this order in our credits to make them appear more professional. The order is as follows:

1. Company name

2. Directors name (the directors name is put before actors if they are more well known then the actors)

3. Actors names

4. Title (normally in a bigger font to make it stand out)

5. Rest of actors

6. Casting

7. Music

8. Sound

9. Costumes

10. Editors

11. Director of photography (camera)

12. Producers

13. Written

14. Producers again

After watching the Seven opening credits it helped me to develop my idea of what i wanted my credits to look like. And I have seen some features of their credits that i would like to mirror. Firstly, i wanted my credits to not be too over the top and wanted clear, bold and easy to read writing. And I wanted black and white only as I think the other colours can make the credits look quite unprofessional. Individually in my group we all went onto a software called final cut pro X, and we all made what we thought were good opening credits. We done this individually first instead of as a group so that we could compare them all and look and the positives and negatives of them. One major thing the had to be considered when I was doing my individual opening credits was the actual font style and writing. As mentioned before I wanted bold and easy to read writing so that once it is layered over our sequence the audience will still be able to see it. I choose quite a small font at first as the audience still need to be able to see the sequence behind, however the more important credits such as the title, main actors and directors names I put into a bigger font so they stood out more. I picked a theme where the letters in the words fall onto the screen and fall out of the screen individually, I think this was a good theme as it shows the unsuitability of the sequence and characters in it.

My opening credits                                                                                                                         

I think that the strengths of my work is that it is very conventional to the thriller genre as the writing is bold and clear therefore it will be easy to see over any background we out in. Also the writing is slightly off centre so is portrays the film is unstable. Also the black and white colour i have used as this gives the credits a professional look. I also like that the writing appears gradually in an irregular pattern to show what the film is going to be like. One thing that i would alter in my credits is the size of the font as the text might take up a bit to much of the screen.

Meghan's opening credits

 The strengths of Meghan's opening credits work is that part way through the writing glow red which has connotations of blood showing the audience what might occur in our film. Also, i like the core colours of black and white because like mine they show the contrast and are simple to look at and understand. However, if i was to suggest improvements i would make the writing larger as it may be hard to see over the opening sequence and i would change the font because its very basic and doesn't have many connotations such as it looking like a child's wrote it or that the film will be a thriller because it doesn't look creepy. I don't personally think we should use these credits because they need a lot of work but if the other members of my group think we should then i will suggest the improvements so that they are more effective at portraying what our film will be about.

Kerry's opening credits
The strengths of Kerry's opening credits are that the writing is bold therefore it is clear to read. Also the black and white colours that she has used for the font and background are conventional to the thriller genre as they imply evil VS innocence. I think that the glow behind the writing is ok as it could suggest there will be lots of enigma in the sequence however it could also make the sequence appear unprofessional. Another weakness of these opening credits is that the writing appears as one block so it doesn't connote that the audience will be scared by what appears gradually in the film and there are no aspects of red which have connotations of danger and blood.

As  group we have decided we are going to use my opening credits as they look the most professional and are the most conventional to the thriller genre. The irregular appearance of the words on the screen connote an irregular pattern in the film, which could increase the suspense. Although i may have chosen a more basic theme then the other people in my group, it looks better as the text will be clear for the audience to read. Also the other two opening credits would have both needed altering and changing as they was not very conventional, whereas mine needed the less altering. Like in sevens opening credits we have decided that we will mirror the order of the text that they use and make the text appear all around the screen, depending on what is in the background so that everything can be seen. The credits will remain on the screen for 1-4 seconds and will show the production rolls within the sequence. The credits will say:
Signal cinema presents (the company name)
Targeted. (name of the film)
We are then going to list the actors names - Kerry Boyne, Eddie Woodley (who was in the sequence)
Casted by Holly Herbert (who choose who was in the sequence)
Music and sound by Sarah Smith ( choose what sound and music is going to be used and layered in the sequence)
Costumes by Meghan Stone (decided what the actors wore and looked like)
Edited by Jessica Mccullagh (put the different frames within the sequence together)
Director of photography Annabelle Winters (filmed the sequence)
Written by Ed Davis (chose the story line of the sequence)
Directed by Jonathan Craig (was in charge of the overall running and appearance of the sequence)