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Analysis of a title sequence- Back To The Future

 Back To The Future

 

Back To The Future (Robert Zemeckis, 1985), is a time travel film that is similar to ours due to the comedy aspect of time travel and the scenarios that it creates.

 

The opening sequence showing the clock and the name of the actor immediately foreshadows the element of time in the future of the film aswell as the significance of the iconography that this creates. Using an opening tracking shot seemingly one take would present a unique opening that effectively introduces the rest of the plot by resembling the individual aspects that would make up the plot.

The TV show would also present a significant part of the title sequence as it could be argued to resemble our own film considering the scene with the videogame sequence and how this portrays that there is a foreshadowing when relating to the rest of the plot.

In addition to this, having the main character open the door using a low angle shot with light in the background would give an almost theatrical atmosphere which places emphasis on the importance of the character. Revealing the feet could also connote a sense that the character is being viewed at the lowest point and would need to rise through numerous challenges before he can be fully accomplished by the end of the film. 

Genre Research - Characters and Iconography

There are only two main characters in our film, One is the main character, Max who finds the fidget spinner and can rewind time, and the other is the criminal that Max accidentally foils over and over again. There isn't much too conventional about these characters other than the comedy aspects that they both employ. The dim witted character unknowingly doing good is something that has been used in comedy for decades such as in Dumb and Dumber and various Simpsons episodes with accidentally catching criminals.

As for Iconography, this is basically just devices, characters or symbols that stand out and are iconic. Be it the DeLorean in Back To The Future, The bat symbol in Batman, The hat in Cat in The Hat or even "I Will Always Love You" being used in The Bodyguard.

The iconography in our film will be more typical of comedy, the main iconographic feature being the time traveling fidget spinner. I would like the music to be iconic too like in The Bodyguard but we will probably have to use non copyrighted music or something made specifically for the film so it may not be as iconic as a truly professional song. The characters are also nothing too special or iconic, we don't have a Joker, we have a regular dim witted guy who can time travel, and a mugger.

Annotated Poster Volver

Annotated Poster - Volver

Film Poster Analysis

Film Poster Analysis

 

 

Film posters are a huge part of the film industry as they help advertise your film to attract more people to go and see it. Film posters are a great way to create hype for the film as the posters often contain a still image from the film to give the audience extra insight and detail before the films release. In addition to the imagery shown on a poster, some posters also contain reviews from film critics so they know whether the film we be good or not from a professionals viewpoint. When creating our own film poster we will incorporate our main character and the fidget spinner as these are the two main aspects of our film. However we wont include film reviews as it is a short independent film.

 

Despite this film being completely unrelatable to our films genre I really like the positioning of the main character as he dominates the full poster show his significance to the film. In addition to this, the bold yellow background links to the childhood innocence to our film and is featured throughout the film. Similarly, our main character (Max) is also significant to our storyline and the yellow background positively supports our films intentions through the theme of childhood innocence. Therefore when making our film poster I will adapt this film poster to have our main character take up the poster with a more bold yellow background. However due to our films genre being a comedy this may look too serious so therefore we will have our main character have a smug smile in the poster with the fidget spinner hanging out his shirt pocket to ensure the audience knows our comedic intention for the film.

 

Juxtaposing the idea of the main character dominating the film poster, I like the simplistic approach that this film poster offers as our main character is very simple minded so therefore our poster would reflect his personality. When making our own poster I will change the bold red background to grass and I will change the shaped design in the centre to a fidget spinner which will convey a still from the film to the audience whilst producing a simplistic poster that reflects the simplistic mind-set our main character has.



 

Film Poster Analysis

 

Film posters are a good and effective way to market a movie. Many films have iconic and beautiful posters, often reflecting something about the film, be it the themes, characters, plot or just visual aesthetic.

 

 

The poster for House (1977) is one of my favourites; mainly focusing on the visual aesthetic and look of the film rather than anything too concrete about the plot or the films characters. I really enjoy it as it looks visually beautiful and really captures the tone of the film without being too explicit. Just looking at it, the bright oranges, yellows, reds and greens give it a juvenile, fantastical look that is present throughout the entire film. The teeth in the "O" in "HOUSE" as well as the fire and colour scheme give it a clear horror element but mixed with the more bright and cartoony aesthetic, makes it clear that the film will be goofy but creative in its visual presentation.

 

Of course the poster also features cast and crew names, as well as tiny images of them which is a nice unusual addition and something we could do in our poster. The bright colours and creative typography for the title is also something I hope to take inspiration from when creating our film poster.

 

 

Another poster I really like is the one for Her (2014) by Spike Jonze. The poster captures the feel of the film perfectly by having just Joaquin Phoenix dominate most of the frame of the poster with just a beautiful pink gradient as the backdrop. The film focuses on loneliness and longing so having just Joaquin as the main focal image greatly captures the feel of the film. The pink, reds and whites also emphasise the romantic aspect of the film, each being colours associated with romance and white often being associated with technology.

 

 From a first look, you wouldn't be able to tell that the film is about technology and A.I, but that's because it's not really. Sure, at a surface level it is but in reality it's about Joaquin Phoenix's character falling in love. The text and font is all very minimalistic and fits with the visual aesthetic of the film's world, set in the not so distant future.

 

Having the main character as the focal image is something I think I will take inspiration from when creating our film's poster as it shows what the film is about, in our case the main character and time travel.

 

 

The poster for Moonrise Kingdom, much like the poster for House and Her, is beautiful. Again, the poster fits with the visual aesthetic of the film, implementing the woods, the autumn yellows, browns and greens of the colour scheme. If I'd have seen the poster before watching the film, I'd have known that it would be very stylised and visually pleasing. This is the case and the poster being a painting also emphasises the feeling that every frame of the film could very easily be a painting because of Wes Andersons beautiful direction.

 

Wes Anderson's visual style is very clear in this poster, and anyone who knew of his work would probably recognise the poster as being for one of his films without actually seeing it.

 

My main take away from this is, again the same as for Her and House, it just fits very well with the look and feel of the film, this time implementing key plot elements and location into the poster as a majority of the film is spent in the woods. I know I will be inspired by each of these when creating the poster for our film.

 

 

 

 

Analysis of the Vertigo title sequence

Vertigo Title Sequence

 

 

 

The Vertigo title sequence is a very iconic opening due to the extreme close up on the main characters face. The cinematography focuses on this to give in depth detail on the character without giving anything away from the storyline. Despite the film's genre being a thriller I decided to analyse this title sequence as I wanted to add key aspects from this title sequence to our opening credits such as the extreme close ups and the graphic matches portrayed in the video.

 

 

At the start of the title sequence, we see the camera pan to the left and zoom in on the lips to give a detailed account about the characters facial expressions and to prove this the camera cranes towards the other facial features of this character. We have decided we want to incorporate this into our own film as it immediately portrays our main characters expressions and facial features to the audience to make them feel related to the main character from the start.

 

 

As the title sequence progresses the camera continues to pan and zoom to the point where the camera is conveying an extreme close up of the characters eye suggesting the camera is looking into her soul. Meanwhile, a red filter is applied whilst titles zoom in from the centre of the eye. This red symbolism could foreshadow blood and pain will appear in the film as the connotations of red symbolises this. When editing our own film we will apply a similar style to Vertigo however instead of applying a red filter to symbolise blood, we will apply a yellow filter as the colour yellow is frequent throughout the film. We decided to add yellow to our film as this colour is a primary colour. This can connotate childhood innocence. By matching this with the main character this symbolises that our main character is child like and not very mature.

 

After the title progresses to zoom it fades away and a spiral swirl effect fades in in the centre of the characters eyes. This could emphasise to the viewer that maybe the character is being possessed or hypnotises as the spiral swirling effect is in the centre of her eye which could be seen as a reflection of watch she is looking at. In addition to this, this indicates to the audience that the spiral could be a main part of the film as it is shown in the centre of the characters eye in the title sequence. For our own film we will incorporate this effect into our title sequence. However instead of a spiral we will fade in our fidget spinner spinning around in the centre of his eye to convey a passage of time which links to our plot: time travel (that is caused by the fidget spinner itself).

 

 

Once a few seconds have passed the extreme close up of his eye fades to black whilst the spiral remains spinning to further emphasise the passage of time. Furthermore, the spiral continues to expand and grow suggesting that time is a major part of this storyline. Due to our film focusing on time we will replace the spiral with the fidget spinner because our fidget spinner manipulates time. In addition we will start with a faint image of the fidget spinner and as time progresses in the title sequence we will make the spinner more saturated and bold to emphasise the dominance the fidget spinner has on our film's storyline.

 

 

Also, the spirals remain spinning throughout the rest of the title sequence however they change shape to show the difference time can make on life. However due to our fidget spinner being a main necessity to our storyline we wont change the spinner in our title sequence and instead the spinner will just progress to get even bolder and bigger on the screen.

 

 

In addition to the visual effects the title sequence has on an audience, there are also sound effects which adds to the experience of the title sequence. Throughout the Vertigo title sequence there is incidental major key non diegetic music that adds a mysterious and engaging feel to the title sequence which positively coincides with the films genre; thriller as a thriller is meant to engage and entertain the audience. For our film, our films purpose is to also entertain but in a comedic effect rather than engaging. Therefore when adding in music to our title sequence it will most likely be major key music but fast paced to juxtapose the seriousness of Vertigo.

 

 

 



 

 

 



Enter The Void Title Sequence Analysis

The title sequence for Enter The void is fast and chaotic. It features cast and crew titles, each stylized in a different font, with different typography and a unique aesthetic fitting with the cast or crew attached. Roughly 4 titles are displayed withing 1 second of screen time, synced up with the fast electronic, Aphex Twin like, song; helping set the drug fueled psychedelic and busy tone of the film.

This kind of fast paced editing and style may not really suit our film with it being a more straight forward and mostly regularly paced film, however, the different typography and styles of the titles is something I very much like the look of and think would fit well with the aesthetic of the film due to its juvenile and creative nature.

The music that we use for our title sequence will also probably be non copyrighted music or something I have gotten permission to use from the creator, probably my friend Interbella music if I ask him to create a song specifically for the film. I will utilize my skills in music video editing to try and match the titles with the atmosphere and pace of the song, much like Enter The Void did.

Shot Pack 2

30th November 2017:

 

Location - Bolton Upon Dearne, Ringway, Jonathan's house

 

 

Equipment - Camera, tripod, skateboard, Witcher 3, Fidget Spinner

 

 

 

 

Risk Assessment - Could fall on the skateboard, hurt himself or camera, or my legs as I'm pushing him. To avoid this, I will make sure my legs are wide as not to be hit and hold Liam's back so he doesn't fall and break the camera.

 

Script for the day:

Genre research - Iconography and titles

Iconography

 

Iconography is an essential part of film making as it infers to the audience what genre the film is. The sci-fi genre is very specific for iconography and it is hard to link to any other genre as you have key elements such as life on different planets or extra terrestrial humans in these films, some films also include time travel like Back to the Future. Despite the iconography of sci-fi being specific to it's genre, the theme of time travel can be used in other film genres such as comedy and action. Due to this, when comedy or action films focus on time travel as their main storyline such as Click and Edge of Tomorrow, they would have sci-fi as their sub genre as they incorporate iconography from sci-fi into their film.

 

A film where sci-fi iconography is shown prolifically is the Star Wars franchise. Throughout the franchise the film focuses on interplanetary fights between extra terrestrial beings and the whole franchise is set in an unknown time and in a galaxy "far far away". As well as this, due to the Star Wars franchise being a sci-fi specific genre they feature iconic sci-fi actors such as James Earl Jones and Harrison Ford to make their films more relatable.

One other feature in science fiction films that is very iconic is the props they use in the films. For example in Back to the Future Marty McFly drives the DeLorean back in time. The reason why props are so iconic for science fiction films is due to the prop playing a key part in the storyline which in this case sends the main character back in time. Iconic props are that effective that car manufacturers have made the DeLorean so they can drive the car like Marty McFly did in back to the future. Similar to this, Star Wars did the same in creating a light saber. Light sabers play a key part in Star Wars as they convey to the audience how strong a character is. This prop also became very effective in the real world as they sold the light sabers used in the movies for thousands of dollars because of their significance.

 

 

Therefore due to iconography playing a key part in science fiction films, we decided to inherit this trend and create the time travelling fidget spinner as a prop that sends our main character back in time.

Titles

Title sequences in the sci-fi genre aren't really iconic as there is only a handful of science fiction films that include iconography for their title sequences. For example films like Star Wars and Green Lantern feature space in the background of the film matched with incidental music which matches the film's intent and genre. The reason why some science fiction films tend to use iconic titles is so that the audience feel encapsulated by the movie right from the very start of the film. Furthermore by adding non-diegetic incidental music to the title sequence this encourages the audience to feel excited about what is coming up in the film. Therefore, when making our title sequence we will add a title sequence that supports our films theme and aesthetic. We will do this by adding typography that is apparent on the film poster and title of the film onto our title sequence to strengthen our continuity whilst adding the films score to the title sequence as non-diegetic music to further strengthen our media product as a whole.

However, their are some of sci-fi movies that don't have title sequences as it doesn't add much to the story. An example of this would be James Cameron's Avatar as that only features credits at the end briefly. This is done by several directors due to the fact that a lot of people tend to skip the title sequences at the end of the film. Due to this reason, we have decided to make our title sequence interesting so that the audience will still be engaged right till the end of the film. We will do this by taking comedic poses of our characters and displaying them with the title sequence at the end to convey a humorous message to the audience whilst they wait for the final scene. Furthermore, we have decided to add the final scene of our film after the title sequence at the end so that the audience is encouraged to watch the title sequence cause they want to find out what happens to the character at the end of our film.

Film Poster Analysis

For our film poster to resemble the theme of our movie and reach the target audience effectively, some of iconic time travel movies of the past would be taking influence such as,

Back to the Future:

Taking a look at the poster objectively, the use of orange and blue as the colours are prevalent therefore encapsulating the sense of adventure as the colours are quite vibrant and have a sense of power. Furthermore, the fire on the road and the light emanating from the car would bring a sense of drama to the poster and create a further sense of foreboding. The lightly faded car in amongst the fire may also indicate the significance of how its speed is unparalleled when compared to the road. As a result, the indication that the film centres around the importance of spped could therefore be given to a great extent.  

Groundhog Day:

The clock is a primary feature in this poster, the iconography of which is staged in the foreground as well as the lead protagonists in and amongst the film itself.
Using the title, "Groundhog Day" in bold red lettering would symbolise that the film is of great positivity as the juxtaposition against the clear blue sky would draw it away from opposing genres such as horror and thriller due to their bleak outlook in comparison.


Looper:

The colours in this poster symbolise a darker and more dramatic approach to what the narrative may be as they connote the theme of a storm using the highly saturated dark blue alongside the black. Furthermore, the clock is the primary foreground icon yet again which would demonstrate that the theme of time is an essential element to the overall plot.

The introduction of time is particularly prevalent amongst all three of these films using the clock as one of the primary foreground elements along with the characters. As a result, this method of art may also be used in our own poster to ensure that the theme of time is a significant attraction to the eye and presenting iconography as something that could be used to fit in with the typical conventions of how most other film posters are made to resemble the symbol of the main theme of the film.

Conventions of iconography and titles

Iconography

Iconography plays a crucial part in film due to the plot device that this offers relating to the fidget spinner.
The science fiction genre as a whole use iconography due to the intrigue that this can create, for example the film Harry Potter and the prisoner of Azkaban (Dir. Alfonso Cuaron, 2004) uses the golden time turner as an important plot device for the part in the story therefore the iconography would act as symbol of importance in the film due to the plot being broken were it not for the specific device. As a result the significance of the relatively minute item could be argued to play a comparison to our own film due to the fidget spinner being an integral turning point in our story; a point of no return.

The time turning sequence in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Titles

The titles of science fiction are particularly prevalent amongst representing the specific subgenre of the film. Within our own film the titles will represent the theme of comedy and science fiction by introducing some key concepts such as the music being electronic.
The film Groundhog Day (Dir. Harold Ramis, 1993), could represent the story in some way due to the time travel aspect and the looping of time.

This sequence shows a relatively normal activity such as waking up however it is later revealed to be one of the most significant points in the movie that represents the re looping of time therefore resembling our own as we also intend to demonstrate this using relatively normal events, eg. playing videogames and eating at the chinese takeaway.










Risk Assessment

Risk Assessment

Before we start filming we needed to carry out a risk assessment to ensure that our cast and crew will be protected and we need to carry out a risk assessment for health and safety guidelines in order to film.

Shotpack 1

Shotpack 1

Wednesday afternoon filming equipment
 

Camera and Tripod 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Script (pages 1-2)

 

 

Actor

 

 

 Liam a.k.a Max

Props

Fidget spinner
 

 T.V
 

 

Metal Gear Solid

 

 

Plans for filming

Filming to take place on Wednesdays and weekends due to us all being free.

Ensure the characters are dressed according to the costumes and we bring all the props necessary for the day.

Remember to bring: the camera, tripod and script

If raining, don't film to protect the equipment.

Location:

Goldthorpe

 Manvers

 

 Characters house

Local shop

 Local chinese takeaway.