Titles and Credits Amy Leadbitter

Titles and Credits in a film can have a massive effect on the rest of the film's mood. If the film is a thriller/horror and the credits are contrapuntal, it confuses the audience and misleads them. I will be looking at 6 examples of well composed credits and titles.


Schindler's list

The titles in Schindler's List is one of the two parts of this film that is in colour. The title of the film is placed between two candles, giving it importance and it is cleverly underlined by the outline of a surface in the background, which gives it emphasis. The font of the title is also significant in this sequence. The font used looks similar to handwriting which gives the audience an insight to the film.



The Orphanage


The Orphanage (El Orfanato) is a Spanish film from director Juan Antonio Bayona. The title and credits are contrapuntal to the opening sequence of young children playing in a garden in the summer. The audience has the initial idea that this film has an innocent vibe to it, until we see the title sequence. The names of director, producers and film company are written on wallpaper and they are revealed one by one by children's hands ripping the wallpaper. The title of the film is written with crooked letters; making it look unorganised - perhaps written by a child.

Old Boy

The credits of the film Old Boy are based around time and clocks. The focus seems to be on time going backwards. When the names of director, producers ect. come up on the screen, they are first times, which are going backwards. Even in the name of the film, the D and the Y are ticking, and moving counter-clockwise as the seconds progress. From the titles the audience will assume that the film is about 'turning back the clock' or making up for lost time, which is not in the main plot of the film. These credit confuse the audience, and also gives an insight to what the film may be about.

Hostage

The credits for Hostage are a mix of live action and computer animation. The director, producers and actors names are all written on the sides of buildings in bold black writing, and are revealed as the camer moves. The name of the film is revealed on top of a birds eye view city backdrop accompanied by quiet music and the sound of police sirens. The sirens seem to be paralell to the way the credits are presented, but the quiet music seems contrapuntal. The colours of the titles and even the name of the film suggest a struggle and a high action situation, so when the audience hears quiet music along with the credits, it could be confusing, but at the same time, it seems to fit as this could suggest tension/suspense building, leading to an exciting climax.

The colours of these titles are very dark; red, black and white, and the names of the people working on the film are either black or white. The areas also seem very rough, which also leads the audience to believe this is where the film will be set. Also, in one part of this sequence, one house is singled out from the others and is red. This could suggest a murder site or the site of the films main event.

http://www.artofthetitle.com/2008/02/28/hostage/

Vertigo

Vertigo was made in the 1950's and considering that these titles are very well put together. The main focus of these titles are swirling shapes and patterns. This links to the disease vertigo. I think that these titles are designed to make the audience feel 'dizzy' or uneasy. The titles themselves are written in white, which draws attention away from the patterns. The patterns start from the centre of a woman's eye (extreme close up), and starts swirling from the pupils. Before the titles go into the patterns, there is a close up of a woman's face. The camera moves from her mouth up to her eyes and the screen turns red. This links to victims and blood. These titles are very well made, and they link in very well to the plot of the film.

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

The titles of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang are very similar in style to those of the film Hostage. The main difference in these titles is that there is movement, and not just pans and reveals. The music in the titles is smooth and relaxed jazz, but it also leads to suspense and tension building, as in the Hostage titles. I believe that many producers choose to use this type of mini narrative because it can give a good insight to the film without giving too much away.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zzgq2DScdYU