Title Research: The Number 23

Retrieved from: Watch The Titles

Movie: The Number 23

Genre: Horror

• How many titles are displayed during the opening sequences to the film? 

Their are 27 titles in the opening sequences of the film.  This is counting all the actors/actresses as one whole title, while adding effects and transitions to give it some pop and stand out. 

• What images are prioritized in the opening sequence? 

Hence the title being The Number 23, its quite obvious the number 23 is going to be scattered, and since its a horror movie they add effects and transitions to give it that scary illusion.  

• What connotations do the images carry? 

The images in the opening scene come off as sketchy and creepy, it gives the feeling off a computer screen being hacked or glitched.  It also seems like their is a higher power or spirit in control of these coincidences and reasons for these numbers appearing.  

• How is genre reinforced through symbolic and technical codes from the outset?

The music that plays through the opening sequence of the film has old classical music and adds to the horror genre by giving it a creepy feel to it. The conventional codes of a horror are followed through the dullness of the introduction, giving a feeling of the older ages. 

• How does the film establish an enigma from the outset? 

The titles are all drawn out to be cut up and broken up to give that effect towards the viewers.  The introduction shows a screen and its edited to make it appear as the screen is getting hacked.  

• What strategies are used to ensure the film appeals to its target audience? 

Adding all of the effects to give off that spooky and terrifying feeling of uncertainty.   

• How has technology been used effectively? 

Technology allows the creators to make all these different edits and transitions that weren't possible.  It also gives the creators more room to play with while interpreting how to put the number 23 into the movie in different ways that tie into this "horror" theme.   

Title Research: Two Eyes Staring

Retrieved from: Watch the Titles website
Movie: Two Eyes StaringGenre: Horror

• How many titles are displayed during the opening sequences to the film? 

There are 14 titles to the opening sequence, the last title always being directed by.

• What images are prioritized in the opening sequence? 

They use symmetrical ink blot style effects for almost every title showing the idea of there having to do with two's. Within the symmetrical figures it shows clips of two girls, paper eye masks, and journal entries or letters. In one it show someone putting some type of powder into water.

• What connotations do the images carry? 

The images carry a dark and creepy feeling with them. It shows two similar looking girls alone outside in a garden type scenery by a pond, which in most cases never ends well. They also show some type of writings and it looks like they're either writing to someone or taking notes on someone.   

• How is genre reinforced through symbolic and technical codes from the outset?

The music that plays through the opening sequence of the film has old classical music and adds to the horror genre by giving it a creepy feel to it. The conventional codes of a horror are followed through the darkness of the introduction and the blurring of some of the clips along with the mysterious energy that is meant to perplex the audience on the situation.

• How does the film establish an enigma from the outset? 

 The titles show the effect of decaying images that kind of open up into the ink blots. He uses innocent looking images to show a sense of threat that foreshadows the atmosphere of the movie. The ink blots were originally used in psychological tests which shows that there is some sort of psychological issue that lies beneath.

• What strategies are used to ensure the film appeals to its target audience? 

 The clips within the ink blots were to depict innocence and also perception. The style he used, which was the ink blots, were also uses for showing the doubling of characters and a psychological issue. He used this style to create a dreamy but also spine-chilling feeling.

• How has technology been used effectively? 

The title sequence consists of just two layers the live action images and the layer with  the animated ink blots. They made a lot of ink blots and scanned those and filmed close up clips and clips pf the two girls. For every shot they looked for just the right shape and size. They experimented with different fonts, but it turned out that a solid sans-serif worked best. They aimed for a more ‘decayed’ look. They wanted the typography to be static and readable, to focus the attention on the images.

Title Research: The Final Destination

Retrieved from: Art of the title website

Movie: The Final Destination (2009)

Genre: Horror

• How many titles are displayed during the opening sequences to the film? 

There are 21 titles to the opening sequence, the last title always being directed by.

• What images are prioritized in the opening sequence? 

The images that were prioritized in the opening sequence were mainly x-rays of different parts of the human body. Along with that, there are also x-ray images of a car wreckage and power tools that would be used in anatomy or surgery.

• What connotations do the images carry? 

The images carry a very scary and chilling yet complex feeling. It kind of gives you an insight into the chaotic nature of the film, by showing the x-rays' human bodies being attacked by the tools.

• How is genre reinforced through symbolic and technical codes from the outset?

The sound effects that are played after each violent action gives off a dangerous and chaotic feel, which in turn and adds to the horror genre. The conventional codes of a horror are the display of images that would be seen as disturbing to an everyday audience along with the loud metal music, this is meant to make the audience feel not at ease.  

• How does the film establish an enigma from the outset? 

It's established through the use of the images that were displayed. The images that were displayed showed things like the harming of the human x-rays in different scenarios that were there. The enigma that surrounds horror is the idea of making the audience feel unsettled and on the edge of the seat expecting there to be more. 

• What strategies are used to ensure the film appeals to its target audience? 

The target audience for this movie are teenagers or young adults. The strategies that were used to ensure that the film appealed to this audience was the background music, which was metal, and the uses sound effects that were used to depict what is going on. These are things that wouldn't really appeal to an older audience.

• How has technology been used effectively? 

 The mainly technology that was used was editing. The editing technique was mainly used effectively when trying to give off the 3D and x-ray effect. The effect helped add some realness and urgency to the tone of the movie. Also, the background music and sounds that were used did a really good job in depicting common elements in a horror movie while still try to appeal to the target audience.

Title Research: Split

Retrieved from: Art of the title website.
Movie: Split (2017)
Genre: Horror

• How many titles are displayed during the opening sequences to the film? 

There are 18 titles to the opening sequence, the last title always being directed by.

• What images are prioritized in the opening sequence? 

First, they make it apparent that someone is being kidnapped as it quickly cuts to a black screen after that. Then, the studio name "Universal Studios" appears directly after. The kidnapping sets the mood for what's to come in the film/ what to expect. Then, the audience is given a blurry sneak peak of what's happening to an individuals body, being laid on a hospital bed, having their body placed properly, as if dead/assumed dead.

• What connotations do the images carry? 

The images carry a sadistic and creepy feeling with them. It gives a gut feeling that something is going wrong/ about to happen. The glitchy titles add to this connotation of creepiness and unsettling behavior. 

• How is genre reinforced through symbolic and technical codes from the outset?

The music that plays through the opening sequence of the film is eerie and adds to the horror genre. The conventional codes of a horror are followed through the dim lighting of the outset along with the mysterious energy that is meant to perplex the audience on the situation, giving little details to add to the whole storyline. 

• How does the film establish an enigma from the outset? 

It's established through the use of certain camera angles and shots. The beginning POV offers a sudden realization to the audience of being kidnapped. The enigma that surrounds horror is the idea of going into the unknown which is clearly established as the audience does not realize what is happening. The distant long shot that is made blurry os mean to confuse the audience further of what they're seeing. 

• What strategies are used to ensure the film appeals to its target audience? 

The opening sequence taps into the audiences emotions to propel this sense of unknown fear from the kidnapping. The film intends an older audience because this genre is targeted towards that crowd with its gruesome and unsettling atmosphere. The audience is targeted through their interests, therefore horror, fear/ thrill or being scared. 

• How has technology been used effectively? 

A major technology applied is the use of editing. The editing for the titles in the film in the glitchy format added to the "split" effect, hence the title of the movie. The titles were repeated on the screen several times until it singled out the one word/name. The camera angles were crucial as well. The POV was eye-opening in the first half as it effectively grabbed the audiences attention. Then it cuts to an individual positioning a body in a specific manner, but kept blurry/out of focus to the audience. This effectively made the audience curious and suspicious of the activity happening. 

Title Research: Watch the Titles Website

Watch the titles website goes more in depth on the placement of titles and how they appear. I would use this website to understand how to locate my titles throughout the opening scene of my project. The directed by is always the last title to be shown from the opening scene. Therefore, I would make sure my name appears last. The title of the movie is also important in how it appears. If its an action film, the title of the movie can appear from the barrel of a gun. Titles can be a resemblance of what the movie is. Horror films can be gruesome, with blood dripping down the letters. The fonts go hand in hand with this as well, as they can match the genre. The titles usually come in as a fade in and fade out or they can dissolve in. There's many ways to edit the titles in the film. Most titles appear in the order of importance. The actors will be priority, along with edited by, and produced by. It is very important to make sure the titles come by the order of importance so the audience see's the mention-able individuals. So overall, this website will be very useful to guide me through this project.  

Title Research: Art of titles website

Art of the title website offers a variety of example films and their titles. The titles all have different fonts, color schemes and sizes which help me to understand why certain titles are used. I'm looking at this site because it is very informative to know the styles of titles. I noticed how the comedies have more upbeat, colorful titles. The horrors have a more gruesome approach to them, dark and timid. The title images allow the audience to know what they are going to watch, without knowing the title or genre. The titles therefore, capture the genre through its formatting. The backgrounds also correlate with what the genre is, along with the title. The title is supposed to provoke an emotion or feeling in the first few seconds of the opening. By doing so, the audience is connected to their feelings and what to expect. This website is very helpful to understand emotions and feelings. I noticed that the titles has some special fonts involved too. The titles correlated with the action of the film, or some sort of correlation to what the movie may be about. The titles can be of all different shapes and sizes to get the audiences attention. therefore, this website will be useful to understand how to format my titles.  

Genre Research: 13 Cameras

The film: 13 Cameras

Camera angles/movements/shots: A lot of the angles are high angles and most of the shots were close-ups. The angle help contribute to the cameras and how they were position to spy on the victims. The close-ups showed the characters reactions to things. There were other shots used in this film such as, wide shots, two person shots, over the shoulder shots, hand held, POVs, and low angle shots.

CLAMPS:

COSTUMES for the characters were mostly modern everyday clothes but for the "stalker" his attire ripped up, raggedy, worn out clothes.

LIGHTING alternated depending on the setting. In the house the lighting came from lamps and house lights, when the setting switched to the footage room it was just computer lights projecting onto his face making him look sketchy. In the basement he used these types of tool lights which made the place look dim. and the also used natural lighting or porch lighting for the outdoor scenes

ACTING for the characters was very normal except for with the "stalker", his behavior differed with the rest of them. He often acted very strange and barely spoke and was very creepy.

MAKEUP set apart the tenants from the stalker. The stalker often looked dirty and the other characters were well put together.

PROPS that were used are the film were, the cameras and outside tools/weapons that was used to trap the main character.

SETTING is in California when a married couple expecting a child moves from New York into a new house that is rigged with cameras all around by the home owner. Most of the scenes take place in the house of in the yard some in the stalkers " footage room".

Editing: They used a lot of transition in this film. There mostly jump cuts. They mostly made these transitions using the similarity in sounds. 

Sound: There is a variety of sounds such as natural noises like wind and trees rustling. And there was music that would intensify the feeling of the audience by letting them know something was about to happen. There were also similar sounds making transitions better.

Elements: The elements in this film were the constant transitions from the tenants in their house to the stalkers footage room to show what is happening in the house and how he reacts to it.

Elements that appeal: I liked the fact that they used actual spy cameras to capture the reality of the man filming them and alternating between the spy cams and the actual cameras because it shows us that they're unaware that they're being watched.

Elements that don't appeal: There were times that the stalker would go into the house to set up cameras and fix up the basement but when he did he would feed the dog burgers which I think was unnecessary because it made the dog sick and the tenants worried.