Opening Credits

Opening Credits

Opening credits are important at the beginning of the film are important as they show in the cast and camera crew who has done what job, e.g. George Hoy - Director. Also the opening credits give the audience an idea of what the film is going to be about and what type of genre it's going to be also the music that accompanies the opening credits will also tell the audience more about the film. For example if the opening credits were red and bloody then the audience will know that the film is a horror film then if the music that accompanies the credits is eerie then is creates suspense for the audience as they will not know what is going to come next.

I analyzed the opening credits of the thriller film se7en, the colours of the film were all dark dull boring colours, however half way through the opening credits a drop of red blood covers the screen. This creates tension for the audience as they know that the man who is doing all these things at the beginning is anger and wants to hurt somebody and the colour red and blood are connotations of this. This shows the audience that there will be bloodshed within the film and anger and passion will also run alongside the bloodshed.

The writing on this opening credits are all white, crocked and all the letters are different sizes, the credits look like they have been scratched onto the screen and not written. This will create tension for the audience as the credits show a sense of mentally instability as they look like they have been scratched on.

The conventions of a thriller film that are within this opening credits are the digetic sounds that have been exaggerated by the director to create a sense of suspense as the loud noise of pages turning and sticking things down are eerie sound as none of the audience knows why and what he is doing. The music that accompanies the opening credits is also very eerie changing from loud music to quiet music during the opening scene this also creates tension as it makes the audience again think of mental instability as the person could go from a normal person to an evil exaggerated killer in a matter of seconds. All these conventions of a thriller exaggerate what the actor is doing within the film and makes the audience think more about what he is doing and his mental state. The man is also mysterious and this again builds up suspense as the audience do not know who he is and why he is sharpening up blades but they do know that he is angry and wants to kill nut the audience do not know who are why he wants to do it.  

The order appearance in this opening credits; production company, director, actor, title of film, actors continued, casting, music costumes, editors, production, camera operator, co-producer, producer, writing and director. The director is mentioned twice within the opening credits as it emphasises the director of a film as he is one of the best thriller directors and his name is last because he is the most important person within the credits as he makes the film. The title of the film is the middle of the credits, this is not conventional for a thriller film as the title is normally at the end of the play. The title being at the middle of the play doesn't create suspense as the audience know half way through the play the name of the film whereas the title being at the end of the film will be more conventional and will also create more suspense as the audience will no know for the whole opening credits what the film is called.

The second thriller films opening credits that I have analyzed is The birds by Alfred Hitchcock, the colours used in the opening credits are again quite plain and dull it creates the sense of eeriness as this type of opening credits doesn't really give you many clues about what the film is about except for the birds flying across the screen at the beginning. 

The writing being on a dull white background creates tension for the audience as they do not find a lot out about the film and what's it about this therefore lets them use their own imagination for what the film is about. However the writing within the opening credits are light blue, this creates a sense of hopefulness and this bright colour is happy, this will let the audience know that there is some hope for the people within the film this creates a sense of enigma as the people will be puzzled why there is dark dull colours then the writing is bright and hopeful.

Conventions of a thriller film are used to specify thriller films from any other genre of film. Within these opening credits the conventions of a thriller film consist where the dark, black birds fly across the screen at the beginning this creates suspense as the audience know that the film is going to be about birds however they do not know what they are doing. The birds are black and it almost symbolises a funeral as the music is eerie and a violinist, it sounds like something that would be played at a funeral or when somebody has just died. The black birds also exaggerate this as black is associated with funerals and the birds are flying around aimlessly and looked distressed, this would evoke the idea that there is a lot of unorganised chaos and also distress, the audience will pick up on this and they ill realise that the birds are a lot to do with the distress they cause.

The order of appearance this opening credits; Director, Film Title/ Writer, Actors, Director of Photography, Production Designer, Assistant director, Costume designer, Editor, Production Manager, Special Photographic Advisor, Special effects, Pictorial designer, Sound Recorder, Make up, Hairstylist, Assistant, Set decorator, Script supervisor, Wardrobe supervisor, Title maker, Electronic sound production, Composer, Sound consultant, Colour technician, Screenplay and Director. The director chose again to put his name at the beginning and the end of the opening credits as he is the most important person within the whole credits as he directed the film. The title is the second credit to come up his again is not a normal convention of a thriller film as they are normal at the end of the credits, but the film title being at the beginning of the opening credits doesn't create enough suspense as it would have if the film title was at the end of the opening credits, this would create suspense as the audience wouldn't now what the title is and wouldn't give them any clues what the film is about.

For the opening credits of our group thriller film, we collectively discussed our ideas for the text size, colour and the font style. 

Using different films as our inspiration, we decided that we would want the font to appear fragmented (as it does in Psycho) or to flicker, (as in Se7en) as though the mind of the attacker is mentally unstable. 

We also decided that the size of the font for our title should be the biggest, as this is one of the most important elements within this opening credits sequence. The size of the font will gradually decrease as the different names appear on the screen, to connote both the importance of the members of the production team, and also hold connotations about the fading sanity of the attacker, as the unstable and twisted part of his mind consumes him, just like the size of the font decreases.

The order of appearance that we will use is:

• Production Company
• Director
• Editors
• Music
• Actors
• Casting
• Storyboards / screenplay
• Costume / make up
• Location manager
• Safety manager
• Director

We will also use a mixture of natural sounds and dramatic music as the soundtrack for our opening credits. As in Se7en, the natural sounds will be enhanced, and play over the top of the dramatic music. This will enable us to make the film appear as realistic, and therefore as threatening as possible.

I will suggest this font to my group as I feel this is a good way to start our thriller film, this shows signs of a conventional thriller film opening credits as it looks fragmented and this then gives the impression of mental instability, it also looks like it has been shaded and coloured in this would Give the impression to the audience that somebody has spent a lot of time on this and drew it out. But at the same time shows the good and neat writing this will show the audience that there are two sides to the person who has written this a mentally unstable and also very neat and tidy.

I will also give this as a suggestion to the group as I feel this will give a good indication to the audience what is going to happen within the thriller film and almost foreshadows it as it looks like that the writing has been written in blood. It will then show the audience that within the film there is death this is very conventional of a thriller film as every thriller films opening credits that I have anaylsed give clues to the audience within the opening credits about what is going to happen within the film.