Planning Opening Credits - Miss Georgiou

Planning Opening Credits

The purpose to opening credits is to give the film a proper opening and an introduction. The actors, directors, producers etc are introduced and this may attract members of the audience from their knowing of a person that has had an input in the film. This gives the audience a better feel for the film and gives them an idea as to if they are likely to enjoy it. From the particular use of font and colour for example, the audience can also make inferences as to what they can expect from the film from these particular aspects of the opening credits as these factors create specific intended moods and atmospheres. 

To help plan for our opening credits we analysed the opening credits from the thriller 'Se7en'. The colours that it uses is black and white which is effective as it's conventional to the thriller genre because white connotes innocence and purity, demonstrating the victim whereas black connotes death which could illustrate the antagonist/killer. As a whole, the colours are dark and murky throughout with low-key lighting which creates a enigmatic atmosphere - which is conventional to the thriller genre, as mystery needs to be created to ensure it is successful. The style of the credits shows the flashing up of the names which is unbalanced and makes the audience feel on edge as it isn't exactly pleasant for the eye. The font is also quite odd and looks as if someone has written it themselves, which demonstrates quite a mental, unstable and psychopathic image. This is conventional to the thriller genre as there is always a character that isn't 100% mentally stable, therefore, this use of style presents this character clearly. The only time in which the credits blur out to a black scene is when the title appears which creates emphasis on the title. The flashes of the credits compliment the tempo and rhythm of the eerie soundtrack played in the background which means it is conventional to the thriller genre. The jerky movements create suspense and discomfort as you are not quite sure what is going to happen next. Therefore, it is conventional to the thriller genre as suspense is one of the main key elements that a thriller needs to create. There are also sharp objects shown throughout such as a needle, which is conventional as these objects could be used in order to kill. Furthermore, you do not see who's hands the credits feature is, so as an audience we infer that is is the antagonist hatching a plan from the progressions of shots that are portrayed gradually. This is conventional as hidden identity of a character is a typical convention featured in a thriller. The order of appearance is as follows: the production company, director, actor, title of film, actors continued, casting, music, costumes, editors, production, camera operator, co-producer, producer, writers and then director. From this particular order of appearance, it allows the most known people involved to be first and last as they are the names that the audience pay most attention to and so will attract them to the film.

The image below is my opening credits design which I have tried to ensure is conventional to the thriller genre - through the characteristics I have considered. 

I have used red and black in colour as red connotes danger, while back connoted death. I felt this was appropriate for our film as danger and death are very much part of it and what happens in the narrative. Both colours are used quite boldly in my opening credits design and the black trickles out across the screen to reveal the title. This black trickling gives the image of blood and because of how dark and much there is on screen, the audience feel on edge as it can be inferred that there may be a brutal death included in the film. This use of black and red and the vision of blood is conventional to the thriller genre because they all symbolise danger and hurt as well as death, which are all things that are included in pretty much every thriller. This has to somehow be illustrated and so having this for opening credits does demonstrate this, giving the audience what they are expecting to see. I have positioned the title in the centre of the screen as I believe that the centre is the focus point. This is the part of the screen where the eyes seem to naturally draw to, so having the title eye-catching and central makes the title easily visible and have more of an impact from it's instant recognisable position. The title is in capitals making it more bold and definite, as well as intense. The way that the title's font is unevenly sketchy creates more a rough look to the title, it doesn't portray an immaculate, clean image which shows that the film may have lots of rough sorts of scenes. This is conventional to the thriller genre as with a straight-forward font title, you may not get the boldness yet sketchy look that you want to create. This use of font creates a sense of enigma from the unusual, interesting characteristics of it which is key in a thriller film. The black edge of the screen creates a sense of entrapment from the way it fades into the middle. This is conventional to the thriller genre as may characters are in fact trapped in some sort of way in a thriller and so this reflects the situation in which the characters are in.

This is the opening credits design of one of my group members, Alfie. There are many strengths to his design for example, the interesting, unique way in which it has a date, time and camera type shown. This creates a sense of realism and makes the credits create more of an impact because it's as if a character is filming what is on the screen. This is also appropriate for our narrative as the antagonist is stalking someone, and this use of camera is as if it's from the antagonist's point of view. He has also used red and black, likewise with my design so this use of colour is clearly a shared preference within our group. The font used is also a strength from the way it is blurred and is captivating to the eye, it's interesting and different so attracts the audience. The only weakness that I could say is that it is quite plain, which isn't conventional to the thriller genre because it doesn't create suspense but other than this, Alfie's design is conventional to the thriller genre and would be appropriate for our thriller. 

This is the opening credits design of one of my group members, Danny. His design is similar to mine from the use of colour - black and red but also from the fact that he has this image of blood, however his is red on black and mine is black on red. Danny's portrays the image of blood more clearly than mine so this is a strength as the colour is the same as what blood would be, so creates a sense of realism, which means the audience can relate a lot more - therefore, this is conventional to the thriller genre. Also, his use of font is quite eerie and the sharp, pointed ends of the letters give an intense, edgy look that could symbolise the sharpness of knives used in our thriller. This is conventional to the thriller genre as knives are violent, typical iconography featured in thrillers as a killing weapon. The only weakness I could say is that Danny's design is also quite plain and the majority of black has no texture to the colour. If something was around the edge it may be more eye-catching and unique. Apart from this, his design is very much conventional to the thriller genre.

As all of our individual designs are very much similar, we are most likely to merge all of our designs together until we're happy with a final collaborated result. Our credits will firstly show the actors included in our film and then followed by he directors, producers, editors and sound. This will therefore, allow the audience to see which names they recognise and attract them to watch the film. Short scene clips will be shown throughout so it is introducing the film's narrative at the same time as the people behind all the work.