New Credits to our Opening

We have recently changed our film credits because the font was too small and we wanted to have Screenplay by:........ because it was too long the job and name did not fit in a sentence so we would have to have made the font even more smaller. Though when we tried to press the enter button to go on to the next line it automatically went to the bottom of the screen, we made a group decision that none of us liked the structure of the credits so we decided to change the font.

Using the website http://www.1001fonts.com/ we searched 'Olden' fonts which would suit our opening, we then came across the font below.:

We all really liked the font and thought it would suit our film, thankfully we all agreed that we liked the font and the job and name is now under each other which we wanted the credits to be like.

We named our production company Pandemonium which means chaos, a state of confusion and disorder, which represents the victims feelings of confusion as she thinks someone is following her but she does not see anything and chaos as Jack the Ripper murdered many women but he was never found. We named our movies distributor as Neaveah as it is heaven spelt backwards, we liked the sound of the word and because as it is spelt backwards its seen as confusing which links to pandemonium.

The font is now used for our production companies and our names in the opening.

However, the production companies is in white font to make the name stand out from the background of the shot as the background colours are black and grey.:

I really like the font with the production companies it lasts for four seconds on screen, I like that each word is a different size font.

Though, in our name credits the colour of the fonts is different as it is red because our film was in night mode the opening is dark so we had to use a colour which stands our and red has connotations of death and blood. The credits last for six seconds and I really like the difference size of the job and the names. This is an example of the name credits.:

Researching Openings to Thriller/Horror Movies

I have researched openings that are the similar genre to our opening which is Thriller/Horror movies I wanted to see where they had placed there credits, how long the credits lasted, colours of the font and if the writing was it capitals.

The Game

In the beginning the production company is named which is POLYGRAM underneath it says FILMED ENTERTAINMENT and underneath PRESENTS. This shot lasts for four seconds in white writing as the background is a puzzle so the writing stands out. The Presents is smaller than the production company showing that importance of the company. The next shot is writing A PRODUCTION FILMS underneath PRODUCTION 'A' and Production is smaller than the production company showing once again the significance of the company, the pause of the writing is for four seconds again. The next shot is of the Title THE GAME which is paused for four seconds. The background is unraveling the writing in each shot. All of the writing is in capitals and is shown for four seconds this may be because of the two production companies that helped make the movie have equal rights. The actors and the director is shown at the end of the movie. I really liked this opening as I liked the puzzle and that it relates to the title 'The Game' and I liked that everything was in Capitals which makes the writing stand out. However, I feel that the opening did not give me any ideas as it was very contemporary.

The Shining

Warner Bros. Pictures is shown in the opening before the movie begins. In the openings there are many wide shots showing a car driving which gives the idea of a peaceful journey, there is writing superimposed in 1 minute and 20 seconds in to the opening of A STANLEY KIBRICK FILM going from the bottom of the shot moving to the top of the screen the directors name is shown for eight seconds. However, near when Kibricks name is leaving the shot JACK NICHOLSON name appears at the bottom going to the top, the name is on the screen for eight secongs. Even though on the seventh second another name appears SHELLEY DUVALL name appears. The people named is the directors and the main actors in the movie. Next the title of the movie appears still moving to the top of the screen in slightly bigger font. The next names says FEATURING DANNY LLOYD the next six names are different actors. After the actors the EXECUTIVE PRODUCER underneath JAN HARLAN is shown, BASED UPON THE NOVEL BY STEPHEN KING and then the production company THE PRODUCER CIRCLE COMPANY. After the different names SCREEN PLAY BY STANLEY KIBRICK is shown again showing his importance in the film. Each name has the same length of time of the screen. The font is in blue which represents tranquility and calmness which contrasts with the film and all of the writing is in Capitals. I did not like this opening as I thought it was very long however I did like the opening shots of the journey showing the setting.

No Country for Old Men

In the beginning PARAMOUNT VINTAGE underneath AND underneath MIRAMAX FILMS and underneath PRESENT the shot is black screen with white writing in Capitals for four seconds. The next shot has the title of the movie in Capitals on a black screen in white writing for four seconds. I really liked the simplicity of the opening and I think that we could try and use an opening like this as it is not too modern and it seems traditional.

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.

Font Research

As our film is based in 1888 we found it very hard to find a font which suits the time period we are trying to capture and to try and find a font which we feel as an element of fear. We searched through many different fonts using iMovie, however we felt that there was none that we felt suited our film except from Papyrus. We then decided to download other fonts we may be able to use this website http://www.1001freefonts.com/. Using this website we downloaded a variety of fonts that appealed to us and we thought that would suit our film. Even though we later saw that the fonts looked different such as the S looked like an F and when we viewed the fonts with our films we felt that some of them were too contemporary for our film. Below is the fonts that we researched and our original fonts for our credits:.

The font Papyrus from iMovie is what we was going to use this font originally. However, In our opening we changed the colour is red is symbolise blood and death as our film is in night mode as well we need our font to stand out from the shots. Our initial idea was to have this font as it seemed like a knife could of been seen to have been used, we felt that this did not suit the movie as there was no explanation as to why we wanted this particular font in our opening and it seemed too contemporary, so we decided not to use the font in our final of Ripper.

We downloaded the font A Charming Font from the website above, we really liked this font as it is really creepy and scary. I really like that the letters overlap.However, the font is too contemporary and too Gothic as it seems it is more relevant to a vampire or a horror movie instead of a thriller/horror. When we saw the font in our opening it did not seems to suit the film and it did not fit with the emotions and plot.

We liked the font Arrr Matey as it reminded us of the Olden writing in 1888. I really liked that the capital letter is bigger than than the rest of the word and it is placed in the middle. However, it seems like it should be in a pirate film so it does not fit in with the style of our opening.

Originally, we all really liked the font Slammer Tag as it seemed like it could of been carved with a knife and it seems very creepy as the letters are overlapped in which I really like the technique of as it seems rushed and reminds me of a murder. When we experimented with the font on our opening we felt it did suit the context but the 'E' seems too modern, so we then decided not to use this font.

The font Deportees I found very scary and it reminds me of horror movie credits. The font seems like it as been craved which we all found very interesting and we agreed that it may look good with our film. However, when we used the credits we felt that it was too contemporary and as our opening is of a women walking and Jack the Ripper stalking her, the font seemed to scary for an opening which is trying to dramatise and build tension.

The font Nerd Proof reminds me of the credits from Saw and the font reminds me of the credits from Horror movies as it seems intimidating and creepy. I do not think that this font suits our film as it seems too scary and it suits more of horror movies like Saw and Blair Witch Project and it seems too contemporary.

The font Rap Jack is very similar to Slammer Tag only bolder which is why I think it caught our attention. The font seems like it has been carved which reminds me of murder. However, it seems too contemporary and childlike, so we decided not to use the font in our opening of our two minute film.

I really like the font Pillar Opaque as it seems very Olden and it seems like it has been written in fountain pen. Originally in our credits we wanted to make blood droplets in the background of the title or to make the title seem that it was written in blood, we felt that this font seemed like there was blood around the title. We then thought that the writing seemed too olden for the film, when we added the font to the opening we really liked the effect as when Jack the Ripper turns his head the shadow of the title was still there. But sadly it did not fit in with the historical context of the film so we decided not to make the font the title.

Finally, we found a font that we all agreed suited our film and we all thought it looked good with our opening as it suited the social historical context of our film. We also thought that this font suited Jack the Ripper hand-writing which is shown on the right which is a letter from Jack the Ripper to the head of police. This is the font that we have decided to use in the opening but we will change the colouring to red so it will stand out in the opening.

Colour Font (Credit Research)

The other night our group finished our credits, we originally wanted to add our names in to the newspaper scene. However, we were told that there was a possibility that it may not work well and with the lighting issue the names would not of stood out. We have chanegd our names to a fade in then a fade out, we have used Papyrus font to make it seem olden and we our names are now red. For example, one shot of the actors the name appears on the hat but when he turns the name fades. We need our names to be on the shot for at least three seconds.