Title Analysis-Casino Royale

Title Analysis- Casino Royale

Previously, I have watched the James Bond film Casino Royale. I recalled really enjoying the opening titles and thinking how well they had been executed and so I decided to do an analysis of them.

 

This opening title sequence was put together mainly using graphics, but also using Daniel Craig, who plays James Bond does appear in these opening titles. Our opening titles however, will appear over the top of our actor, not using graphics. At the very beginning of the opening title sequence, James Bond picks up a gun, turns around and shoots. This then triggers the introduction music, which is very effective.

This is where the actor turns around and shoots.

Then, what appears to be red blood, begins to almost drip down the screen, to which the first titles then appear. The first titles, as with other opening sequences I have looked at, begin with the production company as the first set of titles. This is something my group and I should definitely do. The titles are presented in a sans-serif font, again in white. This is very common with opening thriller sequences, and it looks very effective and simplistic. White also shows up well again numerous backgrounds.

The first set of titles which appear.

Something that is very effective in the opening title sequence is that each time a title appears, the background changes. The style of the title stays exactly the same. This is effective because it keeps the audience engaged and fits with the song chosen to feature in the first 3 minutes of the opening sequence.

The background changes each time a new title appears

Around half way through the duration of the opening title sequence, James Bond appears with a gun. The background has changed again. This signifies the importance of weapons throughout the film. The graphics also represent cards and casinos, as suggested by the title of the film.

This is the first time the audience see James Bond

Next to appear is joker, again relating back to the title 'Casino'. This shows a clear theme within the film. As well as this, James Bond is shown shooting a gun which is matched with a graphic of the joker shooting a gun. 

The joker and James bond both shooting guns.

Later on in the opening titles, what appears to be a cartoon version of James Bond appears, and he kicks the other character. Some really effective editing has been used so the other person disintegrates into small cards. This is very effective and cleverly edited.

This is a really good example of an opening title sequence as it is creative, engaging and unique.
The clip analysed shown below:

Title Analysis- North by Northwest

Title Analysis- North by Northwest, Alfred Hitchcock

In the next few weeks, my group and I plan to add opening titles to our opening thriller sequence. For inspiration, one of the title sequences I have decided to analyse is North by Northwest. This is because Alfred Hitchcock thriller films are very well known and loved by many, and so perhaps I can take inspiration from this.

 

The order in which the titles appear:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer presents

Cary Grant

Eva Marie Saint

James Mason

In Alfred Hitchcock's

North by Northwest

Co-starring Jessica Royce Landis

Written by Ernest Lehman

Music by Bernard Herriman
Director of photography Robert Burks

 

The opening title sequence begins on a green background with black lines slowly appearing, overlapping the green background. This is very unusual of an opening sequence to be graphics and especially green, because the colour green isn't usually associated with the thriller genre. However, this does initially make the audience wonder the significance of this colour. The duration of the opening sequence is 2 minutes 8 seconds, so if we can, my group and I should aim to make our opening sequence for around this time.

The first part of North by Northwest.
 

This film was made in 1959, and so the titles are not as sleek as they would be if this film was made today. However, the titles are still exceptionally good considering how old this film is. The first title to appear is in a bold, white sans serif font. This is particularly effective because it contrasts against the green and black lines. White always seems to look professional and effective and so this is something my group and I could consider when creating our opening thriller sequence. Something else to note is that the first title which appears names the production company, and so this is something my group and I should include first in our opening thriller sequence. As well as this, the title is at the angle of the lines, almost as if it is sitting on them, which looks very effective.

The first title that appears.

Soon after the name of the director/producer- Alfred Hitchcock appears onto the screen of the opening titles. This time, the font is slightly bigger. However, the style of the font and the colour are still the same. The consistency throughout the opening sequence is effective and this is something I would like to do in our opening thriller sequence.

The producer/director

Something that is effective is that the green background changes to railings, with cars travelling on the ground below. The same effect is used, as the titles continue to sit on the wire mesh. Again, the title font and colour still remains the same. The new background adds to the narrative enigma as the audience wonder the significance of this.

The new background can be seen here.

The background then changes again to portray every day people in a city, going about their every day lives. This is effective because the normality indicates to the audience that something strange is likely to occur. This is because with the genre of the film being a thriller, this scene appears to be too normal. The titles are indicating to the audience that this is fictional, which is effective because already, the audience are beginning to question how intense this film is likely to be.

This is the scene which appears to be normal.

The clip analysed shown below:



17/12/2015

Editing and creating the titles 



Here I can be seen creating one of the opening titles, with
an image of our friend's eye.

Today, my group and I continued to edit our opening thriller sequence. To be more efficient with our time, Izzy continued to edit the footage, cutting out parts which each of our audience survey's suggested. This way, we managed to cut almost 2 minutes of footage, and so hopefully next lesson we can continue to compress the time. We also helped Izzy decide where the flashbacks should appear and the effects that should go with them. As well as this, we came to a decision as a group, that the dialogue at the end of the sequence should be cut in order to add more suspense and tension for the audience. Then, Tammy and I decided that we should look for copyright free sound which would be appropriate for certain scenes in our opening sequence, for example a shower sound, and a doorbell were just some of the sounds we researched. We also found some non diegetic music which is eerie to go over the top of the footage, in order to add suspense and add to the narrative enigma. When we found the appropriate dialogue, Izzy then started to add the sound to the footage to check that it would fit with the atmosphere. We did this by transferring the sound over a memory stick.

 

The eye we took a photo of.

Then, during the second our of our lesson, we decided to start using the software 'Adobe after effects' to create our opening titles. We had already decided that for our production company, we wanted to have an eye to represent the 'brand'. So, we went ahead and started to research GIFs and images of eyes. We thought that it would look really effective to have a GIF, but we were then informed that we were likely to gain more marks if we were to create our own, or use our own image. So, we then went ahead and asked our friend to come into the studio with us so we could use the lighting to get a high quality photo of her eye. Ideally, we would like our opening titles, displaying the name of the production company to appear over the eye.

Editing our opening thriller for the first edit

Initial editing 

A brief idea of where our titles could appear.

My group and I decided to start editing our final opening thriller together. Our main aim, due to being under a tight deadline, was to initially put each part of footage into a chronological order, so that we could go back at a later date and edit it further. We managed to do this for the deadline, as well as editing in where we would like two of the titles to appear. We were very pleased with the overall finish of the opening title sequence, especially considering that it was our first edit, however, something that we must sort next is where the music begins and cuts, as well as unlinking the sound of us filming in the background to minimise and background sound, such as muffled hissing which is common when filming. This is something we can easily edit out. As well as this, even though we used a separate microphone in order to obtain better sound quality, it didn't really make a huge difference. This therefore means that we need to auto record our actor in order to obtain better sound quality. 
On top of this, the footage is far too long for the brief. This at the moment is a good thing, as gathering too much footage is playing to our advantage as we have a lot to choose from for each shot. This means we can easily edit out parts which may be out of focus or not of high quality which will drastically reduce the length of our footage. We aim to speed up the duration of the flashbacks, and perhaps cut out the dialogue at the end as we believe this could be an anti climax to the opening. We can test this in our audience survey.

First Edit- Audience Response

First Edit-Audience Response 

I have created a questionnaire in order to obtain information on how our initial opening thriller sequence appears to audiences. This way, we can make amendments based on audience research and our own personal judgement to improve the quality of our opening thriller. 

Person 1

Person 2

Person 3

Did you find the opening thriller sequence engaging?

Person 1: Yes
Person 2: Definitely
Person 3: Yes
How this affects our production: 
This means that our storyline is good and so we don't need to completely change the idea. It also means that my sample think that the storyline fits the genre.

Would you wish to continue watching the film?

Person 1: Yes, I thought the acting was  really good and that the storyline was very tense.
Person 2: I felt as though the opening sequence was very intense and there was definitely suspense throughout. I found some parts very weird, but in a good way! So, yes I would continue watching.
Person 3: Yes, it was very griping throughout and I want to find out what happens next.
How this affects our production: 
This means that we don't need to go back and re-film parts to add to the narrative enigma. We can therefore work with the footage we have got.

Do you think the black and white effect is effective? 

Person 1: Yes, as this is a typical convention of a thriller and so it really adds more suspense to the opening sequence.
Person 2: Yes, it makes it adds to the suspense.
Person 3: Yes it adds to the narrative enigma.
How this affects our production: 
This means that our choice of black and white is good and adds suspense to the narrative. This results in my group and I keeping the footage as it is, in terms of colour.

Would you prefer you see the flashbacks in a different colour? 

Person 1: No, I think that one colour throughout is effective.
Person 2: Yes, I think that the flashbacks will be more noticeable in a different colour with white flashbacks.
Person 3: Both black and white and colour will look effective.
How this affects our production: 
2/3 people interviewed would like to see the flashbacks in a different colour. This is something I can discuss with my group, but I think that it is a good idea. I think this because it will help distinguish the past and present in our opening thriller sequence.

Do you think the extract could have increased tension?

Person 1: Yes, this could be done by cutting out the end where the characters speak.
Person 2: The characters speaking at the end causes an anti-climax.
Person 3: I think that the dialogue at the end causes a contrast and emphasises the abnormality of the character.
How this affects our production: 
The audience suggested that we should cut out the dialogue. I personally agree with person 3, however I can also sympathise with the other two people surveyed. This is something my group and I can consider, and it would certainly help cut down the duration of the opening sequence.

The clip is 5 minutes long and our brief was to make it 2 minutes long, which parts do you think we could cut out?

Person 1: I think after the character leaves the desk, as you can't see any action and so it doesn't add to the verisimilitude.
Person 2: The exchanging of dialogue at the end.
Person 3: When he turns off the record player, as the music cutting out is a little abrupt.
How this affects our production: 
I think that all these parts of the sequence should be cut, as I agree that they don't really add much to the opening sequence. This is something that we can try on our footage, have a play around and see what looks best from our own judgement.

Do you think the dialogue at the end of the opening thriller is an anti-climax?

Person 1: Yes
Person 2: Yes
Person 3: No
How this affects our production: 
This shows that the dialogue on the end is an anti-climax and more suspense would be included for the audience without it.

15/12/2015

Continued Editing

Today we continued to edit our footage, to make it more seamless. The first thing that we continued to edit was the sound, and we did this by unlinking the sound from the footage because some of our ambient sound was fuzzy and hissing. We did this where the sound wasn't needed, but kept it in for now, where we have dialogue. At a later date (if we wish) we can put audio over the top of the dialogue by getting our actor to lip sync. This way, we should acquire better sound quality. We then continued to cut down the duration of the footage and this is because it was twice as long than it should have been, and so we did this by cutting out any blurry or not very high quality footage. 

Editing Sound on Adobe Premiere Pro.

As well as this, we also started to shorten the flashbacks in order to make the clip more suspense, so started to cut these and add them into random parts of the footage for a distorted, disjointed effect. We did this by cropping the clips and spaced them out so that we can increase the narrative enigma to the opening thriller sequence.

First draft edit

Construction- First draft

This is the first version of our opening thriller sequence. It is no where near finished but, we can make so many more improvements through different techniques in the following weeks. We also need to cut down the duration of the opening thriller in order to first the brief. This first edit does however give us an insight into what the finished opening will look like. 

 

The day of filming- Setting up the props and filming

The Filming Day- How we set up and filming

We arrived at our filming location at 10.30am. I brought the equipment which I had collected the previous day to the location, and also helped the actor get together his outfit and the props he was kindly lending us, for example the record player. 

Tammy and Izzy decided to put the photos onto the wall, and put all of the pills into the cupboard. They also checked the location to ensure all of the trip hazards such as stools were out of the way of filming, and also checked the risk assessment to ensure all precautions were put into place to minimise the chance of someone getting hurt or something getting damaged. 

Whilst Tammy and Izzy were doing this, I started to assemble the tripods, set up the camera (including the white balance), set up the lighting, and then I moved all of the equipment into the first room for filming, which was the bathroom. I then taped the wires to the floor to minimise any tripping hazards. I then completed a test shot to ensure the white balance was correct and that the camera would film. I also then put the spare batteries on charge in case the current batteries ran out of charge.

Here I can be seen filming

Some problems we encountered were that Evan, our actor, couldn't locate his watch at home. This was a slight problem because time was a focal point of the narrative. However, this problem was easily resolved because Frankie's Dad had a watch we could use instead. Another problem encountered included Evan not being able to find a dark shirt, and so he wore a light blue stripey one. However, this didn't affect the overall look we were going for.

Whilst filming, both the lights blew, which was just pure bad luck, and so we didn't have adequate lighting to film in. However, we had to make the most of the situation because we couldn't film another day, as the equipment will have been booked out. The footage is fine, and with some editing, I am hoping that it will be to a high standard. 

Comparason between a thriller opening and thriller trailer: Moon (2009)

Moon- opening and trailer difference

Opening sequence:

The opening sequence for moon is particularly effective. I was watching this film with my family, as it was on television. The opening titles really inspired me.

To start with, the very beginning of the opening sequence is an advert for the Lunar company within the film. This was effective because it gives the audience an insight into what the company do, and what the film is going to be about; space. The ending of the 'advert' is indicated by the screenshot shown below- a simple logo.

I thought this part of the opening sequence was very effective.

After this, the titles begin to appear. This was done in a very effective way because each title fitted in with the surrounding images. Each title that appears is in the same sans serif font, in a silver-white colour. The titles are very simplistic and therefore do not distract away from the images appearing on the screen. This is something I would like to do when adding my titles to my opening thriller sequence.

Here, the title appears subtly on the screen behind the character running.

Then, shortly after a few more titles appear, the main title of the film is shown. This is done effectively through a slow panning shot to reveal the bottom image of the Moon and part of the Earth. Again, the title of the film is in the same silver-white sans serif font as the other titles. This really fits with the Sci-Fi/Thriller genre and is particularly effective to the audience as it helps to identify this aspect.

This is the main title of the film

The titles then continue to appear for another minute and half (approximately). They continue to fit in with the surroundings, at different angles. Shown below, the title fits with the angle of the wall which is particularly effective. The non-diegetic sound of piano music is also very simplistic for the duration of the opening sequence, so like the titles, not distracting away from the footage. 

Here, the title fits in with the wall.

The opening sequence analysed shown below:

Trailer:

The trailer for this film is different to the opening sequence. Even though the beginning of the film is shown at the beginning of the trailer, it is still effective because it allows the audience to gain and insight to what the film is going to entail and will make them want to watch the rest of the film.

Here, the same part of the opening sequence is used in the trailer for Moon.

Then, some of the characters are shown which do not appear in the opening sequence. This is so any actors which have a good reputation from other films they have starred in, will help to gain audience figures, but also allows the audience to have a preview into who the main characters will be. Not all the characters are shown in the opening sequence.

The main characters are shown in the trailer for moon.

Throughout the opening sequence, non diegetic music is used. It starts off being calm, but as the trailer progresses, the pace increases, suggesting a rise in tension. Intense and action packed parts of the film are shown in the trailer, but up until just before the climax of the film to engage and make people want to go and watch the film when it is released, to find out what happens. This differs to an opening sequence because their is more tension in an opening sequence compared to action in a trailer to make the film look exciting, action packed and engaging.

The trailer analysed shown below:

So, how do you distinguish an opening thriller to a trailer?

An opening sequence involves the first 2 minutes (can sometimes be longer) of a film, whereby the opening titles and usually the title of the film are displayed. The titles are introduced whilst the beginning of the film is shown, usually portraying a background to the narrative, or showing an insight into what the film is going to entitle. An opening sequence will often contain a narrative enigma, not giving too much away about a given character or the plot. To contrast, a trailer for a film usually shows a short extract from the beginning of the film, and then moves in chronological order to convey the build up to a climax in the film. This way, the producers are drawing in an audience as they will want to know what is going to happen. As well as this, sometimes quoted reviews are shown in the trailer to excite the audience and make them want to see the film. A trailer is created for promotional purposes to draw audiences in.

Recce shots of the confirmed location with shot plans

Recce shots of confirmed location and shot plans

This is the confirmed location for filming, which is our friend's house. I will go into detail about which area of the house will be used for each shot, and why it is suitable. All camera angles are mentioned in my previous blog post containing the animated storyboard.

Here, the front of the house will be used at the very beginning of the opening thriller sequence through an establishing shot during shot 1. This will help to set the scene and indicate to the audience that our antagonist looks as though he is leading a normal life, when in reality he isn't. A familiar surrounding such as a family home will add to the verisimilitude and the narrative enigma.



The bathroom will be used for the shower scene, and also for when our antagonist goes into the cupboard to take the pills, shots 2-13. This bathroom is suitable because it is fairly spacious which will allow for enough space for the equipment, plus all of my group. The lighting is fairly adequate, and with the added studio lights, the lighting balance should be fine. There is a mirrored cabinet, and a glass shower which will work perfectly for the shots we plan to shoot.

 

This is the corridor which will be shown in shot 14. The camera will follow the antagonist down to the bedroom. The South African masks at the end of the corridor look particularly eerie and abnormal and will look effective in our opening thriller sequence.

 

The antagonist then enters the bedroom, and stays here during shots 15-24, however during shot 18, more emphasis is drawn to the wall which will contain all of the photos of the girls, newspaper articles and equations. However, before shot 18, our antagonist will get changed, put on a mysterious ring and turn off the diegetic music on the record player, which will be positioned on the desk. Everything in the room will be extremely neat.

During shots 18-26, the camera will focus on the antagonist and the wall. A range of panning shots and flashbacks will be used to portray the abnormality of the character. This wall has good lighting due to the window light which shines directly onto the wall. If we film on a dull day, we can add the studio lights to stop the footage appearing too grainy.

 

Shots 27-29 will show the stairs. This is where a low angle shot will be used when the antagonist is going down the stairs, and a high angle shot when the camera is behind the antagonist.

 



During shots 29-30 we will be shooting in the corridor, the kitchen area and the front door. This area of the house is very spacious and so there will be plenty of room for all of the equipment. It will also work well when the camera is following the antagonist to the door to meet the victim.