Film titles

Credits of a film are very important not only are they located at the end of the film but also at the beginning. Even since the 1980s, the film’s opening titles usually highlighted the major actors and crew where the ending credits featured the extensive cast and crew, this is still followed today. The titles are either laid over the picture or featured in a separate sequence at the end. The titles are in a specific order allowing for the audience to become aware of the different roles in the making and producing of the film in an order of importance. The conventional order is as follows: studio, production company, director and the main actors.
The title in any film has great importance and therefore I researched and analysed various titles  enabling me to get some inspiration for my own. Not only is the name import but also how it is first disabled to the audience in the opening sequence.

The title can set the tone for a screenplay as well as giving people a reason to see it. An excellent title indicates what the movie entails and should make the audience wish to watch it. I discovered that an unsuccessful title is one that makes you question the genre of the film.I found some movie titles just describes the character’s name like ‘Wall.e’, ‘Anne Hall’ and ‘Barry Linton’. These Titles enable the potential audience to know the character but not necessary what their involvement or what the storyline is. However unless it states a famous name then this is still very misleading and can be misinterpreted. Or a title might give you the type of people it involves rather than specifics like ‘The Warriors’, ‘Gladiator’ or ’12 Angry men’. This allows the audience to gather a bit more as hints to you perhaps the type of story you’re about to watch- ‘Gladiator’ will undoubtedly involve fighting. Also I found some title just state the setting or location like ‘The apartment’ and ‘Titanic’. This give the audience the background yet leaves it to the audience to imagine what may occur there. Like ‘The apartment’ intrigues the audience to wonder what can occur in an apartment. Some also state the time when the film was set like ‘2012’ which when released in 2010  it attracted the audience to watch due to the film related to is something that could occurs within their lifetime. These intrigue the audience but give little away. Other titles describe the atmosphere. An example would be ‘There will be blood’ which is clearly going to involve pain.
I have discovered a successful title tells the potential audience just enough about your story to intrigue them without revealing too much. I have decided to call my film ‘Dead end’. I decided this as felt this gives the audience the set atmosphere of death and entrapment but leaves it much to the audience to pick it apart and understand further connections.
The presentation of the title in the opening sequence is also key. Overall I found some key trends like the use of specific colours can reveal the genre- the use of red is commonly used in bloody horror titles like ‘Scream’ and 'Evil dead'. Also the size of the font is usually large leading the audience to focus on it. I analysed some specific film titles. I looked at ‘Hot fuzz’s’ title. The title is wrote in silver which shows authority and perhaps as it has a reflect looks like a metal or a gun; this could show authority and perhaps conflict. Also the fount is in capitals again showing authority and power perhaps showing during the film there is a power struggle. A police badge forms the centre or the ‘o’ this reaves the police involvement and because it features in the title then perhaps this is a very key part. The background the font is laid on is black which signals evil and darkness as well as the unknown. The dark is used in many horror and thriller films and therefore perhaps relates part of the film to these genres. The police badge and the use of fuzz (a derogatory slang word for police) in the title anchor the police reference fully. Hot could have several meaning however perhaps relating to police being hot on the chance or on the other end of the spectrum that police are ‘hot’!I also analysed the title of ‘Wild child’ which is in capitals and has the colour scheme of gold and purple. The title also follows typical traits of chick flicks with easy to read thick writing. The capitals could represent the ‘child’s’ importance in the narrative. The gold and purple reflect the genre of a chick flick and perhaps females are the main characters, as purple is classed as quite a feminine colour. The gold could show that money is a key aspect within the film. ‘Wild’ appears to label the ‘child’ and therefore the idea of recklessness becomes perhaps a feature in the film. I also analysed ‘Scream’ whereby the opening sequences cuts to a black screen and the title appears on the screen central. This gives it great strength and forces the audience’s attention on this. The black background also gives a sense of the unknown or not everything is revealed. The text font has a rather jagged edge giving it the appearance of being battered or hurt. It also is written in capitals and appears as if it is giving you a demand. Inceptions title is very clever in the way it incorporates various lines to create the outline. The lines could show confusion and a lack of direction much replicating a maze and could show that the film is full of confusion. This could perhaps show a journey and perhaps a thriller. The colour of black used to in the background shows there is unknown concepts within the film and adds to the mystery. The font seems to be cut into the background creating a three dimensional image making it very  ‘Inception’ indicates cutting something up and has a future reference.

Lonely hearts is another film title I analysed this pictures a very lonely image as the black could represent emptiness. and isolation. The white text is all in capitals perhaps indication the boldness and the power of the heart. the title gives little away and does not indication the characters gender or personalities furthermore the text in centred perhaps again fixing the idea of loneliness and vulnerability. as the colour is mainly black this indicates the film has a dark message and therefore a horror or thriller.