Title research: Se7en

How many titles are displayed during the opening sequences to the film?

In the opening sequences of the film se7en, 25 titles were displayed. The titles were, the name of the movie, The actors, the director, and everyone who helped with the production of the movie. This includes who the film was written by, the executive producers, co-producers etc.

What images are prioritized in the opening scene?

The images in the opening scene are ones that would be seen in an investigation, which are a bit disturbing. For example, within the first 10 seconds of the opening sequences, there is a pair of hands on a table that appears to be all mangled up. Other disturbing images include, people with bloody and disfigured faces, also another pair of hands that appeared to be cutting their fingers off with a razor.

What connotations do the image carry?

The images in the opening sequence carries an ominous feeling. All the images were disturbing, and all seemed to be negative. So the images probably suggest that throughout the movie, there may be various scenes that are a bit gory.

How is genre reinforced through symbolic and technical codes from the outset?

Horror/ thriller being the main genres of the film, is why the technical code of the opening sequences is the way that they are. Because the genre is horror and thriller the titles have to give you a feeling that something bad is going to happen as it does. The opening sequences gives me an idea of what the movie is going to be about. It creates a spine-chilling vibe.

How does the film establish an enigma from the outset?

The images in the opening sequences, would have people a bit confused because so many disturbing images are appearing along with titles. The enigma of the outset would have people wonder what exactly is going on, as all the weird images are appearing.

What strategies are used to ensure the film appeals to its target audience?

The target audience of this film would be those interested in horror/thriller movies. The strategies that the movie uses to have it appeal to its target audience is that in the opening sequences you see that  the titles in the film are twitching creepily as they appear, and why the images are disturbing. This gets them pumped for whats about to come.

How has technology been used effectively?

The way that technology has been used was to make the opening sequences of the film look creepy. One form of technology that was used, was editing software that they used. With the editing software, the producers we're able to make the outset look frightening and creepy. For example, in the images of the outset an editing transition I saw is how those images. cutaway on each other. Another technique that was used is how the titles appear instantly after the other, while they twitch in an unusual manner.

I got this film sequence from watchthetitles.com

Title research:The Cabin in the woods

How many titles are displayed during the opening sequences to the film?

The opening sequence contained 22 titles. These titles included, the name of the movie, the actors, producers, director, who  the film was written by, etc.

What images are prioritized in the opening scene?

The images you mostly see are where the people work and one of the bedrooms in a house. You also see just outside the house.

What connotations do the images carry?

At the work the images carry a stress feeling. In the house the images carry a more relaxed and jokey feeling. For example in the work space they were rushing everywhere and in the house they were making jokes about what they were reading.

How is genre reinforced through symbolic and technical codes from the outset?

Since horror fiction and thriller are the genres of this film the technical codes are used to show these through the titles. They do this by making the titles red and blood dripping from them. This indicates it's a horror movie and gets you excited. 

How does the film establish an enigma from the outset?

The way that the film establishes an enigma in the opening sequences is its use of mysterious images within the first minute of the outset. As the titles appear, a blood splatter also does with images with ancient Egyptian people. Those images would have people confused as to what is going on, because those images have nothing to do based on the title of the film.

What strategies are used to ensure the film appeals to its target audience?

 The target audience of this film are those who like horror movies. One strategy that is used to have the film appeal to the audience, is the use of blood splatter for the titles in the opening sequences. Since this particular audience like horror movies, it is assumed that they like scary movies that are gory and violent. So this blood splatter effect in the outset should be perfect in keeping them interested.

How has technology been used effectively?

The technology has been used effectively to the opening sequence of the film. One form of technology that has been used is the films editing software.  the editing software is what was used to make the outset look terrifying. The blood splatter effect, the images with the blood and the titles, were all done with editing. Without this software, the outset of various films would be plain and boring.

I got this film sequence from artofthetitles.com

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Title research:Halloween

 How many titles are displayed during the opening sequences to the film?
26 titles were shown in the title sequence of Halloween (2018).

What images are prioritized in the opening sequence?
Throughout the opening scenes it is a time lapse of a pumpkin that was old and destroyed being returned to its  original form.

What connotations do the images carry?
The connotations the sequence carries is time passing for a new beginning, like how Micheal Myers has been locked away for so long that now is the time he escapes.

How is genre reinforced through symbolic and technical codes from the outset?
The pumpkin resembles Halloween and the the time-lapse represents the countdown until Halloween.

How does the film establish an enigma from the outset?
The film creates an enigma by using a pumpkin telling the audience that the movie is taking place on Halloween and symbolizes when this horror character strikes.

what strategies are used to ensure the film appeals to its targeted audience?
This type of beginning sequence sets the horror mood with creepy music and relevance to the movie by using the pumpkin.

How has technology been used effectively?
The sequence is a reverse time lapse which is an editing technique, the shot of the pumpkin is wide shot with complete blackness in the back which is a certain type of lighting skill.

I got this film sequence from artofthetitles.com

Title research:Dead Zone

 How many titles are displayed during the opening sequences to the film?

In the opening sequence of the film, 24 titles were displayed. The titles included, The name of the movie, the actors, producers, director, who the film was written by etc.

What images are prioritized in the opening scene?

The images in the opening sequences shows an aged house and other things that would be seen in an old town. These things include a dirty road, a creepy looking forest, plants of no color etc.

What connotations do the image carry?

 The images carry a strange and odd feeling. Every image in the opening sequences all had one thing in common, all of them seemed dull, they lacked in color. For example, the aged- house was just a plane white color, and the plants were just brown.

How is genre reinforced through symbolic and technical codes from the outset?

Horror Fiction and thriller being the genres of this film really is the reason why the technical codes of the opening sequences are how they are. Because the Genre is horror fiction, the images were just of things that looked strange and old. As the images come one after the other, the name of the movie starts to appear in a freaky way.

How does the film establish an enigma from the outset?

The way that the film establish an enigma in the opening sequences is from the strange images that appear and the unsettling instrumental. The two combined in the outset of the film, creates a sense that a conflict or mystery of some sort is bound to happen.

What strategies are used to ensure the film appeals to its target audience?

The target audience of this film are those who like thriller and horror fiction. A strategy that is used to have the film appeal to the audience, is how everything appears in the opening sequences. Even though nothing about the images is not necessarily horror-like, the way that the title  of the film appears in a freaky manner and the name itself, should keep the audience interested.

How has technology been used effectively?

The technology has been used effectively to create the opening sequence of the film. The technology that has been used is the editing software. The editing software is what was used to make the titles appear. For example, the producers used fade in and fade out to make the titles appear. For the images, the form of the technology that was used is the camera. The images were taken in different camera angles and shots. This adds to the strangeness of the opening sequences as a whole.

 I got this from watchthetitles.com

Title research: Art of the title website

We got told to go and research about titles. We also had to research about the genre we are doing for our movie. We are researching this so we can get an idea of what our movie title scene should look like.This is also helpful because we will be able to get inspired of some ideas to use.While we were researching about movie titles we came across this website. The website's name is Art of the title. This website has Many movie titles. This site also only shows the title scene. Since we were doing horror we had to look at horror title scene. We figured out how the film companies do it. They make so that the titles make the movie seem scary. They do this by making blood drip form the words. They can also do it by making the words glitch. This then makes you think that the movie will be scary. There are still other potential websites for our research. 

Title research: watch titles website

Our teachers told us to research movie titles. This is important because it gives us an idea of what scary titles look like. We will need this because when we do our movie we will need an idea of what to do. We will also be able to make the tile letters scary based on what we see.We have already found one title website. This title website is also good. It is called Watch the titles.com,It shows us many different titles. It also shows us the  genres connected to those titles. This is good so we don't think a comedy title is a horror title. This one also shows you what genre your clicking on. It also only shows you the title scenes and nothing else. We also have to make sure it's not the end of the movie and it's the beginning of the movie. If it's the end of the movie it will say directed by first. We have to do the beginning of the movie. This is why we have to watch the beginning of the movie. After all the websites we looked through these are the best ones we found.

Genre research: the last key

Common things seen in the movie Insidious chapter 4.

Common Camera Angles 

Eye level.

Close up.

Over the shoulder.

Establishing Shot

Common Camera Movements

Tilt.

Tracking.

Costumes In The Movie

Lots of scary costumes.

Casual.

The Different Lighting In The Movie

Key Lighting.

Fill Lighting.

Back Lighting.

Actors

Lin Shaye.

Javier Botet.

Rose Byme.

ETC.

Makeup In The Movie

The makeup was used to make the people scary.

The Props In The Movie

Lantern.

Candle.

The Setting In The Movie

New Mexico

The Sounds In The Movie

Non diegetic sound.

Sound Motif.

Dialogue

Soundtrack.

Genre research: get em grandpa

These are the common things seen in the movie "Get out" by Jordan Peele

The common camera angles in the movie were: 

high angle, Long shot, Medium close up, Two shot,Shot/reverse shot

The common camera camera movements were: 
Tracking Shot

The Costumes in the movie were:

Casual Clothes and dress clothes

The different lighting in the movie were:

Natural light (from the sun), key lighting, and back lighting

The actors in the movie are:

Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, Bradley Whitford, Catherine keener, Lil Rel Howery, etc

The makeup used in the movie were:
Casual makeup for the main characters (the ladies of the movie)

The props in the movie were:

Camera and Phone

The setting of the movie was:

Upstate New York, The Armitage family house

The sounds in the movie were:

Diegetic sound, Sound Motif, Dialogue, Soundtrack, Non diegetic sound

The editing in the movie were:

Cross cutting, Cutaway, Fade in/out, Reaction Shot

Horror/Thriller Movie Elements:
Suspense
Jump scares
Creepy music
The tension
Uncertainty
The unexpecting

"Get out" Good Elements
The acting
The plot
The storyline
The actors

"Get out" Bad Elements
The lack of scares

Genre research: Scissor mechanics

These are the common things seen in the movie "Us" by Jordan Peele. 

The common camera angles in the movie were: 

close up, two shot, long shot, over the shoulder shot, and establishing shot

The common camera camera movements were: 

 Pan and Tracking shot

The Costumes in the movie were:

Red jumpsuits and casual clothes

The different lighting in the movie were:

key lighting, fill lighting and back lighting

The actors in the movie are:

Lupita Nyong'o, Winston Duke, Shahadi Wright Joseph, Evan Alex, etc

The makeup used in the movie were:

The makeup to make the actors' doppelgangers in the movie look creepy

The props in the movie were:

Brown glove, and gold scissors

The setting of the movie was:

Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, Lake Gregory, the main characters' beach house, The Tyler family house

The sounds in the movie were:

Diegetic sound, Sound Motif, Dialogue, Soundtrack and Incidental Music

The editing in the movie were:

Cross cutting, Fade in, Fade out, Shot reverse shot, and reaction shot

Horror Movie Elements:

 The Dark

Suspense

Jump scares

Spooky music

Supernatural beings/ forces

"Us" Good Elements

The unique story idea

The suspense

The unexpected twist

The actors

The plot

The soundtrack

"Us"Bad Elements

confusing ending to the movie

Genre research: bless yourself

 Sound-Incidental music,sound motif,sound bridge;

Cams-Pan and tilts;medium shots;tracking, high angle;medium closeup;

Editing-cross cutting,shot reverse shot, jump cut;

1. C-Nun outfits, priest outfits, and farmer clothing
2. L-harsh lighting,uplighting, and spotlighting
3. A-Taissa Farmiga,Demián Bichir,Bonnie Aarons,Jonas Bloquet.
4. M-used to create a demonic nun.
5. P-the blood of Jesus Christ, crucifixes,key thing,candles.
6. S-Abbey of St Carta, Romania

Good elements:

• The makeup 
• Lighting 
• Sound and music
• actors

Bad elements:

• Plot

Genre research: Dance fight

The two genres we are not doing are dance and action.

Dance

Camera Angles
Over The Shoulder, Long Shot, Over The Head Shot, Wide Shot, Low Angles.

Movement
Pan, Tracking Shot, Flash Pan, Tilt, Dolly.

Lighting
Key Lighting, Black Lighting, Side Lighting, Fill Lighting.

Mise-en Scene
Location: Anywhere, but typically a club or party.
Color design: Any color.
Costumes:Any costume, depending on the theme of the current theme.

Examples
Black swan, Honey, Breakin', Footloose

Elements Of Dance
Shape:present in all actions of dance throughout the film.
Space:makes the dance more synchronized.
Timing: Movement of dance throughout time.
Dynamics: Add texture, color, interest and variety to the mood.

Sound
Non-dietetic sound.
Dialogue.
Soundtrack.
Incidental sound.

Good Elements
The dance moves.
The coordination.
The music/soundtrack.
The creativity.
The camera angles.

Bad Elements
The story line/plot.
The acting.
The wardrobe
Lack of humor.

Action

Common Lighting
Soft-film lighting.
Hard-film lighting.
Motivative lighting
Natural film lighting.

Camera Angles
Eye level.
Low angle.
High angle.
Tilted angle.
Over the shoulder.

Movement
Crash-zoom.
Slow-zoom.
Pan/Whip.
Tracking/Dolly.
The one shot.

Mis-En Scene
Location:Typically cities.
Color Design: Lots of colors but mostly black.
Costumes: Typically something fancy like a suit or dress

Elements Of Action Films
Fighting.

Stunts.
Chases or explotions

Sound
Non-Digestive sound
Dialogue
Sound Tracks

Good Elements
Mostly Everything

Bad Elements
Bad CGI

Genre research: deciding our movie genre

For our movie, we have decided to go with the genre horror. We have decided to do horror because the best movie pitch idea that we had and agreed on, was dealing with horror. Also doing a horror movie seemed to be the easiest in terms of what we need to do it , such as props, costumes etc. The other two genres that we had in mind, which were dance and adventure; we will not be doing them. This is because the common things needed to make a dance and adventure film, seems to be out of reach for us. For example, for dance we would need dancers, and for adventure we would need certain props that we may not have.

Genre research: Just Dance

We were given the film genre Dance for a research project. We had to find the common mis-en scene,lighting,camera angles and shots of a dance film.Then, we had to add the good and bad elements of these films. After we were finished with the research, we added pictures and GIF into the background of the slides. Each slide has some kind of dance film or dance influencer . This project has impacted the way we look at genres and films. It also makes us look for the common angles, lighting, and etc.

Pitch perfect decisions

We have finally narrowed it down to 2 pitches. Ones an adventure and ones a horror. The adventure one starts with an old guy talking and rocking in his rocking chair. The camera starts winding up to him, He will still be talking as the camera is winding up to him. Once it gets to him he will say “ and the adventure begins.”  The horror pitch will start with people walking. They will walk past a wanted sign. One of them will pick up their phone. As he’s on his phone his friend will get killed. He will look around then also get killed; it will then zoom into the wanted sign.

The adventure pitch,which is about an old man narrating an adventure; is a good pitch for this assignment but we decided that we will not use it. It is a good pitch because the idea was for the beginning of the movie to start with the old guy, narrating a journey to come. And as he’s talking it would be some boys making their way to where the old guy is the whole time. When they got there he would say “the adventure begins”, and it would end there. This would’ve been great because it would’ve gotten the audience engaged in what the adventure would be, and it wouldn’t be a trailer. But it cannot be used because we wouldn’t be able to find an old man, and we don’t have a set place to where we would film.

The horror pitch, which is about a wanted guy who escapes and kills: is a great pitch for this assignment because it would build suspense. When the idea came to us it was pretty clear that this was most likely going to be it. This pitch is fairly simple and doesn’t require much. We could easily find a place to film. A place like the park or a dark area is perfect. Also,it only requires 3-4 people, that would include the wanted killer, the two friends, and a cameraman. Another great thing about this is that, the end of the 2 minutes will most likely leave the audience wondering. In the movie, when the two friends walk away and the killer shows up, they will be wondering what happens next. Therefore unlike a short film, there is no end; but it's only just the beginning of what's coming. The only thing that can cause any change of plans would be the weather.

We are doing a horror movie. We are doing this because we will be able to do it well. We also have all the features for it. We can make a wanted sign. We also have 2 people to play the civilians. We have someone to do the killer. The plot also leaves you wondering who the killer is and what he is wanted. Since you won’t be able to see his face. You might also wonder why he killed the two people. You will keep watching the movie because you want to know stuff.

The beginning of the end

My name is Nathan, 15 years old and a sophomore in high school. I go to Ft. Lauderdale High School where I take my AICE media studies elective. I am on the school’s wrestling team and when I am not doing that I like to watch movies or play outside. I absolutely love movies and my all time favorite genre is horror. So when we got the project to film a two minute movie intro I was ecstatic. In my opinion I feel my group and I are ready and will do a great job on this. We have a time span of three months to complete this film. My group members are Kendrid and Jack.

Through out the course of the year I have learned plenty of useful things.Between the commercials and blogs I will have these life skills forever. with this class I was able to sharpen and learn new skills for editing and filming. One thing being how to dump onto a computer. Another key thing on the filming was new and interesting shots I was able to take and recreate. Also I wouldn't have been able understand most of the class if i didn't have all the required Vocab terms needed. With these skills came the stress of not having everything going to plan. With the commercial and music video we had some set backs and things not coming out as what I imagined. But it all worked out in the end and will improve as I continue. As the project gets more and more and I get more in depth I expect to learn more things from this and projects to come.

• The first pitch we have is an adventure pitch. It’s about an old man rocking in an old wooden chair narrating/ foreshadowing what is to come in the film. The entire time the old man is talking, the camera is winding its way to him. The camera will stop sometimes and show some kind of item of relevance to what the old man is saying. When the camera gets to him he sits there finishing up his narration then says “the adventure begins.”

•  The second pitch is a horror pitch.It starts with a woman running away from a creature. She finds her way to the bathroom as she’s running. Hides in a stall with the creature that walks into the bathroom; the creature starts looking in every stall then kills her and she drops an item. 

• The third pitch we have is two people are walking and see a wanted poster. One of the friends gets taken and killed when the other one is on their phone; the friend looks around for the other but he gets killed.