Conventions of a title sequence

Films follow a specific sequence when presenting it's titles. The Distribution logo comes first and then the production company logo, then it reveals the title and then it shows the cast in the film. The main actor comes first as they are like the star of the film, the it  goes from the most important actor towards the least important actor. After it has shown these then the film presents the crew which produced the film, starting from least important going up to the most important which is presuming to be the director.





















In the title sequence The Sixth Sense it starts off with two distribution company logos and then it reveals the names of the people from the production company. Then it shows the main actor which is Bruce Willis before the title of the film this is to show that he is the star in the film. Then it shows all other actors/actresses their is only one name on the screen each time to show that they have quite a large amount of screen time. Then it shows two names on one screen to show that their roles aren't as important.



Finally it shows the crew that made the film happen starting from the person who got the cast and ending with the person who wrote the story and the person who directed it. Casting by is the person who finds the actors and actresses to make the film successful. The costume designer is the person who designs the costumes for the actors and actresses. The person who the music is by is written from scratch. The production designer is the person who sorts out the lighting/props etc. The director of photography is the person who sets up the camera shot types. The executive producer is the person who finds the money to fund the film and is managerial type of person. 

Panic Room
 

In the Panic Room title sequence it shows the distribution company first, then say the distribution company presents and then it reveals the production company.
Then it shows the main characters in the film and reveals the title. After the title it shows the names of some more characters but as it is after the title they are perhaps not as main characters as the ones before the title.

Finally it then shows the crew in order of importance starting off again with the person who got the cast together to the person who directed the film.
Skyfall

In Skyfall in stars off with the production company presents this is because the distribution company is shown at the start of the film.

Then it shows the main star in the film playing the leading role, after it shows the title of the film. Once the title has been shown it shows all the other actors.

Then it shows the crew in lists on each screen showing the importance of the members of the crew.
Finally it ends with the most important crew member which is the director.

Conventions of an opening sequence

An opening sequence have a variety of conventions. It must make to audience ask questions; must give hints and clues; must reveal the setting; it has got to obscure information and withhold it; it should set the tone/mood and atmosphere. Moreover an opening/title sequence should have titles; the audience should be able to establish the genre; may introduce some characters and must have production/distribution companies.

In the opening sequence of zombie land the audience are able to establish the genre with the use of make up, blood and destruction going on, therefore this opening sequence reveals that it is a horror/thriller. The opening sequence enables the audience to ask many questions such as why are the people changing? Why is there so much destruction and so on. This opening sequence has titles showing us who is casting in the film and what the film is called. Furthermore it sets quite a gruesome, violent atmosphere. Also in The Ring the audience are able to establish that the film is some form of a horror genre as there are very spooky occurrences that are quite frightening. The sequence also sets quite a frightening atmosphere and builds fear in the audience.In this opening sequence it shows the production and distribution in the titles. It shows us the setting and it suggests that it is quite a calm, peaceful environment as the feather falls down from the sky. It obscures information as it doesn't reveal to us where the character is going or who he is waiting for. We as an audience asks questions such as why he is there? Where is he heading? Why is he dressed quite smartly? As the opening sequence is mainly focused on this character on the bench it must reveal that he is the protagonist in the film. This opening sequence reveals the cast in the title and shows us the ditribution and production company. It shows us the setting and area that it is in which is New York. We get the idea that this may be a thriller as we judge New York as quite a rough place where it is crowded and are many robberies.
In Saw it shows us most of the conventions for an opening sequence. It shows us the distribution company and production company. The audience are also able to establish the as there is a dead person on the floor a guy chained up and it is in quite an isolated place. This also leads to the audience asks questions as to why these people are here and why is the guy dead on the floor. This also obscures the information as we do not know why these people are here or how they got here. Moreover, it introduces the character's in the film and we can get an insight of what they are like.

In Brick it uses most of the conventions firstly it shows the distribution company. The audience are able to establish the genre as there is a female who is lying dead on the floor and the audience assume that she is dead. It obscures information as we do not know relationship between the two characters in the sequence. It introduces a character who we assume is the protagonist in the film. There are many questions that could be asked by the audience for example why are they in such an isolated location? Did this character kill the woman?

Brief

Wallander (Firewall, 7th December 2008, BBC1)

Editing:
Editing is used to create meaning for instance there is fade as it goes from the black screen up to what we can identify as an ocean. The audience starts to question about the location as the setting seems so isolated and lost which links later to the two girls as they seem lost in the middle of no where. We as an audience begin to question about what these two girls are up to as it is not an normal place for two teenagers to be.

Moreover there is cross cutting back and forth from the man in the car and the two girls walking away this implies to us that these two girls are responsible for the brutal attack, the further and further they walk away, the more shots are shown in the car of blood and the attacked man, making the audience dislike these girls the further they get away. Questions asked by the audience would be like why would these girls brutally attack this man.

The visual motif as the titles come on shows a black spike coming down which links to the previous shot of the knife as it is the same shape. The spike comes down as if it is piercing through something and it is black which symbolises danger, death and threat.

Cinematography

Firstly, the camera tracks from the sea to an establishing shot of the location. We can see from this that the setting is remote and isolated. It then cuts to the shot of the two girls and this is when we begin to ask question like why are they in such an isolated area. The director has placed the camera behind them on purpose so it hides there identity this can imply to us that they are up to no good and likely to cause or have caused trouble.  .
 






The next shot shows the diver's face and we understand that it was a brutal attack and no accident hence, why they are in an isolated area. This shot is a tight frame showing his face and during the clip we can see his eye twitching which could show that he is just severely injured



This shot is a shallow focus which shows to us the two girls blurred out walking away in the distance and the driver's ID badge is in focus and from the ID badge we know that he is a taxi driver. There is also blood splattered on the screen and the girls walking away in the background must be in some way responsible. We immediately empathise for the driver who has been killed or injured as he is just a taxi driver doing his job. We know that this is no accident as the girls wouldn't be continuing to walk away from the bloody scene.

This shot is a mid close up showing the girl's faces. We judge the girl in front of us in the shot to be the main culprit as she is the main focus in the frame.






The shot after this is an extreme close up of the key ring in focus and it shows that the driver was a family guy. We emphasise for the driver as he had family but now he will not be able to return to who we assume is his son. This makes us despite these two violent girls. The audience questions are then answered in the shot after as there is an extreme close up of the knife with blood over it. We immediately know that these girls were responsible for the violent attack.





Mise en Scene
In the shot of the two girls we can see that the girl on the right has unnatural hair colour of red. This could imply that she is quite rebellious, red is a symbol of warning, danger and links to the blood on the screen as it is the same colour and could suggest that she was the one which caused the attack and dragged the other girl into it.
They both walk quite confidently as if they do not care for what they have done or just don't care about the brutally battered man in the car

which reinforces the fact that they are rebellious. When they are walking we can see blood on the two girls showing that they we definitely involved in the attack. The blood on the knife shows that this was the weapon used to severely injure or kill this man and belongs the one of the girls as they are wearing girl clothing. This leaves the audience in shock as we instantly think why would a girl have an offensive weapon like this. She drops the knife showing that she lacks experience as it can lead the police the identify this girl very easily. There is also low key lighting which symbolises threat and danger.

Sound
At the beginning of the opening sequence there is score of the howling wind which starts to increase in pitch and reaches a sting of a sudden loud noise of the wind. It shows that the location is open or it could suggests that there could be potential danger lurking ahead, or something may happen in the next few moments. When we get to the scene in the car there is diegetic sound of the engine running and the radio is turned on this shows that the attack is quite recent. Moreover, there is diegetic sound of the heavy breathing and hyperbolic sound of footsteps which shows that they are getting away from the scene quite quickly, suggesting that they are responsible for what happened. The heavy breathing could imply that they have just had adrenaline rushing through them which can cause the heavy breathing as they could have been scared for what they have done.

Brick (Johnson,2005,US)

Cinematography/Mise en Scene/Editing,

Firstly there is a close up of the man crouching on a ledge. We get the impression that the location is quite grotty due to the amount of dirt on the floor also we start to wonder why someone would be in a place like this. Moreover, we get a clear idea of what this character's shoes which links to a later shot in the sequence. The editing started off as slow paced to get to this shot this is to show the space on the ledge and the amount of dirt to emphasise that this isn't a very pleasant place to be.

Secondly, there is a focus pull to the character's face and this shows his facial expressions and to us it looks as if he is regretting something, thinking about something or it looks a if he's too shocked to do anything, also the camera tracks towards this character's face this could reinforce to point that he is shocked. There is eyeline match as editing here when the character is staring at something and then it suddenly cuts to the next shot of what he is looking which is the lady who we think is dead in the floor. This could imply that he is too shocked by what has just happened that he doesn't know what to do but stare. The character is wearing glasses in this sequence which can stereotypically suggest that he is intelligent however this contradicts his actions as he is just staring not knowing what to do. We don't know how this person "died" if she was just found by this character then a smart thing to do would to call the ambulance or police.

The close up of the bottom half of the lady implies that she is dead by the way her body language is. She is next to a puddle and her feet are in an awkward position. She is also wearing a nice coloured dress which could show her innocence and her heels could show her vulnerability.







There is a graphic match as editing here as the shot before this shows her hand lying in the water with her bands on and then it cuts to her arm with the same bands on putting a note into the locker we can understand that it has gone back into the past from this.

The close up of the character's shoes reinforces the link from the first shot so we know that it is the same character. Here he is walking up to his locker where the note dropped out from it, from this we can understand that there is some form of relationship between the two characters however, information is still kept from the audience.


This shot is an establishing shot and it shows that it Is in a school environment setting where it is quite calm and safe. The character is far away so we haven't formally met this character yet therefore information is still obscured.

Finally, we have a point of view shot of the character or the idea of the 'protagonist' in the film opening up the letter and it has written in it a time and place to meet. Once again this opening sequence has continued to obscure information as we do not know why he needs to meet this other character or what the actual relationship between these two. 

Sound,
There is a musical soundtrack which is incidental and we get the idea of the genre of the film because the way the sound has been presented to us. Moreover, the music gives us a sense of confusion and mystery which is understandable for the opening as there are two character's one who is portrayed to us as dead at a location where no one would like to be... a sewer. We do not know why they are there, the relationship between the two, why the character hasn't made any actions towards the dead woman other than stared, hence the mysterious atmosphere created by the music.

The Sixth Sense (Shyamalan,1999,US)

This is a video of The Sixth Sense analysis.

Momento (Nolan, 2000, US)

There is diegetic sound of the shutter speed of the camera and when you can see the picture visually the audience can get an insight of the type of character the man is and he is portrayed as a horrible person. This is emphasised by the Incidental sound of the distinctive, mysterious background music as the shots rewind of the character killing a vulnerable man. Moreover, there is incidental music which is non diegetic at the beginning of the opening sequence. The incidental music is the use of slow played violins. This creates quite a sombre atmosphere and mood for the audience. Although there isn't much being showed on the screen the audience can predict that the scene is quite sad.

The editing of the shots are shown in reverse. This creates mystery and the director has done this so that the audience has to focus to work things out. The beginning of the editing starts off as slow paced over a long duration of time and there is no cut between his action of shaking the picture. This is to gradually build up tension as the editing eventually builds up pace in reverse where there is action within the frame as everything comes together of the character shooting the man.

There are a range of close ups and extreme close ups within the opening sequence. The first close up is the character looking at the picture, the audience get a sense that this character is horrible and we get the impression that he is a psychopath as he has taken a picture of a helpless dead man. The audience don't necessarily ask who did this but in fact why did he do this?

This extreme close up shows the victim's blood and it implies that he was brutally killed. The blood is running down the surface which showed that this was a recent attack. The audience could start asking questions for instance why did the character do this?

The close up of the glasses could suggest that the man who was killed was vulnerable and harmless or perhaps innocent. We also associate glasses as being smart so we could get the idea that this victim was quite intelligent and could imply that he was quite successful in life but now all of that has been wasted as he got killed at a younger age.

The close up of the bullet shows that this was what killed the victim. The bullet looks clean and there is no blood in the frame this could show that the bullet has power over everything else and is acts as if it is important and the victim should've respected this man in order to have saved his life.

The  medium close up shows the dead man with the blood splattered everywhere, once again this shows that the man was violently killed. This is also a high angle shot which implies that this man was innocent, vulnerable and powerless.

The low angle shot of the character reveals that he had a higher status and more power than the dead man however we do not know the relationship between him and the victim. The audience would start to ask questions as to why the character murdered this man.