Planning Opening Credits - Miss Georgiou

Why are opening credits essential within thriller films?

Opening credits are important to include within a film as they introduce the important roles such as the cast as well as the team such as producers and directors etc. Also, the style of how the credits are presented help the audience to determine what genre a particular film falls into. For example, if certain credits are written in a jagged or distorted font, this may suggest that the audience are watching a thriller film. Opening credits are also used to reveal the title of the film to the audience and allow them to make their own individual perceptions of what they expect to see. Furthermore, the addition of sound and some images all contribute towards building tension and suspense within the audience as soon as the film starts in order to keep them engaged and encouraging them to watch on further to see what the narrative may be about. Opening credits can also be used to outline the film maker's intentions and set up the audience's expectations of a particular film as well as setting the scene  and giving the audience a foundation of the film.

Whilst planning my own opening credits for my thriller feature, I had to complete an analysis of the opening titles of the film 'Se7en' and broke this down into four sections; Colours, style of credits, use of conventions and order of appearance. I noticed that the opening sequence began with the inclusion of a variety of extreme close ups each focusing on different objects, this gives the audience an insight into what they are about to watch as it emphasises the size of the objects.

When analysing the colours, I noticed that black and white were the most dominant characters within the clip, a black background was used when each credit became visible on screen and these were written in white. The colour of the black represents the theme of death and could act as an example of foreshadowing of what is to come later on in the film connoting that, due to the theme being a thriller, a murder of some kind will happen which helps to keep the audience engaged as they are expecting to see this but are unaware of when it may occur. The use of both black and white represents the definite contrast between good and evil which helps to portray to the audience that good and evil will both be present within the film which in thrillers, represent an antagonist and protagonist. Furthermore, both colours are juxtaposed to one another as white, representing life, hope and goodness. Whereas, black represents darkness, mystery and death.The use of the two colours also help to provide a calming and dull feel to the scene creating suspense within the audience as  they may question why the film maker has decided to use such a simple colour scheme within the opening credits. Also, between 0.36 and 0.38 seconds of the trailer featured above there is a filter of red over the screen which can be interpreted as foreshadowing death, blood and murder within the film. The colour red also could be associated with blood, fire, desire and danger. For example, as the red filter is introduced suddenly, this shocks the viewers as they have only been using to seeing a plain black and white colour scheme that the film was portraying at first which could connote that the film features an event in which the audience will not expect it.  This is conventional to the thriller genre as elements of suspense and tension are to be created in order to portray an accurate representation of a thriller as well as encouraging the audience to watch the entire sequence. Furthermore, the tension built within the opening credits help to support the enigma being created as the audience feel a certain connection as they are left feeling disorientated and unsure of what is happening. This is emphasised through the use of several flashes showing different images after each credit has been shown such as a blade and someone drawing using a pencil. This leaves the audience confused as it is very unclear of what the narrative may be but is also showing an insight into a possible main character or significant character within the film which helps to keep the audience hooked. 

Another element that I analysed was the style in which the credits were written where I noticed that a jagged, scrawny handwriting font was used which immediately connotes that the film is a thriller. The sharpness of the letters represents the antagonist being mentally unstable which is highlighted through the use of a mirror effect in which the credits move and are constantly in and out of focus. This effect helps to grab the audience's attention by creating an almost 'trippy' visual as they don't expect it.  This helps to give the opening credits a hazed and tense atmosphere which therefore sets an overall tone for the entire sequence due to the style of writing mirroring a child's handwriting because of its lack of neatness which could suggest that there may a character present within the film who has the mentality of a child relating to a psycho. This also helps to reveal some of what the narrative could be connoting that the antagonist's state of mentality is completely destroyed and erratic as well as demonstrating that the antagonist's mind set is not balanced which is conventional to a thriller as it helps to portray characters and make the audience understand a little more about them through the text. 

I also analysed the use of conventions within this sequence. I noticed that the opening credits show several images of objects such as sharp objects, drawings and pens etc which implies that the person using them is planning on doing something dangerous which will be a method to use on each of their victims. In the scene, these are images are shown by the audience only being able to see a hand and nothing more which connotes that the character behind the camera does not wish to be seen or potentially identified. The use of hidden identity is conventional as antagonists do not like to be seen as it makes the narrative more interesting and therefore creating tension and suspense as the audience are left in the dark about who the antagonist may be. However, as the audience cannot see who is behind the actions within the opening scene, they will create a distant relationship with whoever the antagonist is as they are forced to believe that they cannot  trust them due to not showing their identity which creates suspense.

The order of appearance in which the credits were displayed were as follows; Director, most famous actors i.e. Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman, the title of the film which was shown in a larger and bolder font, the least famous actors, casting, music, costumes, editors, production, camera operator, co-producer, producer, writers and director. Within this film, the director's name was shown twice which may be because he is well known and the film maker believes that the audience will recognise his name and therefore his previous work in addition to this film which will be beneficial to the film as it will produce more profit as a larger viewing audience will want to watch.

Individual Opening Credits

Although I have already been assigned a group to work with on this particular project, we still had to create an individual idea of what our opening credits could possibly look like. To create this, we used the software Final Cut Pro on the Macs. When I started creating my credits, I chose a font style based on my knowledge of what is conventional to the thriller genre, although the style does not look child like or handwriting style, I believe this could be suitable for my thriller sequence as it is simplistic in its own way however the effect I have added on to it helps to blur it slightly which demonstrates the use of my psychological theme present. This style would be able to mirror the mind state of the hit man character within my thriller due to him developing amnesia after being attacked. After this, I began to think about what colours I wanted to include, I decided to use the dominant colour of red in which I added this onto the outline of the writing with a slight black and white shadow on the inside of each letter. I believe that this is effective as the red represents death and murder which helps the title to stand out on the black background as well as giving my audience an insight into what my narrative may be as a murder scene will be present. This would also help viewers to be able to identify what genre of film they are watching. The use of the black and white shadows are conventional to the thriller genre as it helps to demonstrate a definite contrast between good and evil (protagonist vs antagonist) therefore showing that both sides will be present within my opening sequence. As this followed the theory of Aristotle, I believed that these colours would be perfect together as they both have meanings juxtaposed to one another. For example the slight black tint represents a glimmer of death, darkness and evil whereas the white represents hope, innocence and purity. However, I decided to include only the tiniest hint of white in order to show that evil is dominant and will take over good shown within the murder scene. After deciding on which font and colours I would like to use, I used Final Cut Pro to put an effect on my credits in which I selected the Earthquake effect which made the text bolder and shake slightly. I chose this because this would help to create a disorientated feel within my target audience which would help to demonstrate one of my character's mental state. I took this inspiration from 'Se7en's opening credits as this was an effect used also in this to suggest that something or someone is not stable within the film. Within my thriller, this character would be my antagonist as he discovers his wife dead which sparks something in his brain and causes him to go insane therefore justifying his reasons for embarking on the rampage seeking revenge. This killing would be this particular character's instability as the audience are left wondering what he could be capable of doing next therefore creating tension. This is conventional to the thriller genre as it makes the viewers feel tense as the fonts are not balanced and credits written in this way help the audience to establish what genre of film they are about to watch as well as revealing an insight into the potential narrative. After adding the effect to my credits, I watched the entire sequence back and was very pleased with the end result and I am confident that this will be the style I use within my final opening credits sequence. I will also aim to add in flashes of moving images from my first scenes which will be shot in the forest location so as to give the audience an insight into what the sequence may be about while ensuring that I don't give too much away in order to keep the viewers engaged in what they are watching. Furthermore, I have decided to position the title of the film slightly to the left hand side making its way across the screen to the middle so as to grab the audience's attention. For the order of appearance, I will use the same format that the opening sequence of 'Se7en' has therefore my order will be; production company name, famous actors, title of film, actors with the least amount of screen time, casting, music, costume, editors, production, camera operator, co-producer, producer, writer(s) and finally the director's name again. This is because I believe that the most well known actors with the greatest amount of screen time should appear first so that the audience know to learn  who they are and what role they will play within the film. When I get back into my group, I will show my idea for the opening credits and explain why I think that this style should be used within our thriller sequence so that the other member of my group will be able to understand these purposes and why I believe that my idea is suitable for the opening.

Kate's Opening Credit

As you can see, Kate decided to use the colours of black, white and red on her individual opening credit where the coloured fonts are featured against a plain black background. This was to represent the two sides of good and evil within the film as in our thriller, there will be both an antagonist and protagonist as well as a victim as our narrative follows the Aristotle theory. The fonts she decided to use were Antique for the production company name and Outline for the title. The font in which the words 'Spotlight Productions Presents' are shown seem a little odd as every letter is in capitals and although it is bold, it doesn't necessarily connote the thriller genre if we were to use this within our opening sequence therefore confusing the audience. Also, I think the title of the film should be a bigger size so as to show viewers clearly the name of the film therefore helping to suggest possible narrative ideas. However, this does make the title of the film stand out which would immediately grab the audience's attention as well as making a bold statement that this is the film's title. The boldness also demonstrates that something big is going to happen within the film which will have a significant impact on the viewers. There is no effect on the credits therefore I think that this style could come across as being quite boring to the audience therefore this will be something that I need to discuss with Kate before we decide on the final style for our opening credits. The fact that the title of the film is in red connotes that blood and death will be a major part within the film and the contrast between the other colours present also help to demonstrate the emphasis of danger the victim is going to face in the film and could possibly imply that someone's life is going to be changed forever.

As a group, we have decided to follow my idea as we feel that this would be the most conventional idea to follow in order to create the most successful thriller we possibly can. Taking inspiration from the opening credits to 'Se7en' we will include several flashes of images of scenes shot in the unknown location in which it captures the hostage waking up and being told his task as well as showing the exchange of money and other documents up until the point where the antagonist supplies his accomplice with the murder weapon as well as the address of where he needs to go and the house keys for him to be able to enter the house without causing suspicion. This will help to prolong tension created as well as not giving too much away to the audience in order to keep viewers engaged in what they are watching. Between each image, we will show each credit individually; the actors playing the roles of the hit man and antagonist (George Jinks and Louee Petty)  will be featured first followed by the actor who play the roles of the target (Krista Haydon). The company name (Spotlight Productions) will be featured at the beginning of the sequence followed by the director's name (Kate Arwadi). These names will be repeated for hair, costume, makeup etc. as Kate and I also played some crew roles in order to contribute further towards our film. Between each credit, a flash of an image will be featured to expose some of the narrative to the audience as well as making them wonder what could possibly be going on. Within our opening sequence, I think that the company and director's name should appear first as they play the most significant role within the creation of a film and deserve the most recognition. The actors playing the hit man and antagonist will be featured after this as these are the main characters within our sequence and are the characters to look out for. We will then have the bold title of the film appear encouraging viewers to start making individual perceptions of what they interpret from the title such as what genre the film may fall into and what the narrative could possibly compose of. The name of the actor which play a less important part within the film (victim) will then be shown in order to give them the recognition they deserve even though they are not featured in a majority of the film so as to suggest to the audience that this minor role could also play a very significant part within the narrative.