Researching Credits to Opening of Films

In class today we watched seven different openings to films such as Babel, Derailed, The Bourne Identity, In Bruges, The Life of David Gale, The Mexican and Angels and Demons. We was looking at the where the credits appeared, if the production companies and the films associations appeared before the title of the film. Also, to give us an idea as to where our credits should appear as when editing our film our credits appear at the end which makes the opening seem more like a trailer.

Babel

In the opening of Babel it first appears with two of the production companies such as Paramount Pictures and in another shot saying presents showing that the next shot will be the title. The screen is then black with white writing which makes the title stand out the title is paused for an average of four to eight seconds. The production companies appears on the centre of the shot, presents appears on the left and then the title appears on the right of the screen. When the title appears there is a sound bridge of some one walking. I really liked the opening to Babel as placing the writing around the shots keeps the audience waiting and the sound bridge with the title makes the audience impatient as to show where the setting is. I think in our opening we could use this type of opening as we could also have the sound bridge as our music as the church bells and horse trotting in the beginning.

Derailed

The opening sections shows Miramax Films the technical name of the production companies, the next shot has A film by Mikael Hafstrom who is the director of the film. In the next shot the names of the 'main' actors appear on the screen, first Clive Owen name appears as he plays the main
character the music finally kicks in during his name. Then in the next shot Jennifer Aniston name appear on the opposite side of the screen. The title of the film then appears on the screen. In the next shot then has the name of three actors underneath each other on the bottom right side Georgina Chapman, Denis O'Hare, Tom Conti this shows that the three actors do not as significant characters. I really liked how the opening did not just say directed by Mikael Hafstrom and Starring Clive Owen etc. By the way the names are structured shows that they are important.

The Bourne Identity

The production company appears before the film has started Universal Pictures, the next shot has a sound bridge of wind and rain as superimpose writing is used showing the location over top of the shots and the opening continues. The title of the film then appears however, it does not say the actors or the director in the opening of the film. I do not like the opening and I do not feel like we could use this opening as an inspiration to our credits as in the opening of the Bourne Identity there is a lot of action and the title in the middle of the opening slows the pace of the opening and it leaves the audience wanting to watch more, but our opening is slow pace as the sudden titles may leave the audience bored and loose their attention.

In Bruges

The production company appears in the beginning of the opening on a black screen Focus Features on the bottom left hand side of the screen and then the company appears in the next shot. The next three shots each show different associations in between each association is a short clip of the movie showing the setting. The shots has a sound bridge of a piano playing and over the top of the piano is a voice over as the shot is a black screen with the Title which can represent a person being unconscious and as it is a black screen it makes the audience focus on what the characters are saying. I really liked this opening as the title is at the end of the opening in which we originally wanted to do. However, in our opening we are telling a story establishing the rest of the film but In Bruges shots are close ups of monumental objects establishing the setting.

The Life of David Gale

Straight in to the opening is a black screen showing the title of the movie. The title of the movie is paused for an average of five to ten seconds. I think that the opening suits this film as the film seems like a documentary by the title and that is what documentaries usually have. I do not think we could use this technique in our opening as it is too contemporary.







The Mexican

This film is a Dreamworks production which appears in the beginning of the film. The opening starts with association on two separate shots on the bottom left corner in white font. Then the title appears in red which could represent death, love or passion. I did not like the opening as I did not think it was that effective and as the production company was Dreamworks I thought that the film was happy but there was a car crash. The opening did not show the genre of the film which our film does. Also, the credits were very contemporary as the setting of traffic lights was shown and the actors names and director is shown later in the movie.


Angels and Demons

The production company is shown in the beginning Imagine Entertainment and in the next shot another production company is named Skylark Productions. In three separate shots three production companies are named and in between the superimpose shots are pan shots of objects which may be to do with the film. The next shot is of the title of the movie in front of a clip in the movie. I found the opening boring however, it did relate to our opening as we originally had superimpose of our names in front of our clips. However, watching this opening I discovered that with the title and names in front of clips it is very distracting.

All the credits lasted for an average of 4-10 secs all gave time to see the titles. My general observation was that most of the titles appeared on black screens and that sound bridges were used mainly when the screen was black. Most of the films were by Universal Productions which could show the similarity of the openings.