Research: Opening credits and typography ( Mr LSH)

Opening credits and typography 

 

 

Opening credits are the written information presented to the audience on who produced the film, who is involved in the film and other production role. The opening credits are effective in thrillers when accompanied by sound to create tension and fear. This can be very effective when the images do not make sense, making the audience question what is going on. Some people watching films may find the opening credits very interesting as they would want to see if the characters are familar or if the production is good. 

The purpose of the opening credits is to show the audience the whole that have been incolved to produce the film and in some cases the audience would give great importance to the star actors for example if Badd Pitt was listed as one of the actors in a film they may think that the film will be something good to watch.

Opening credits have different effects on the audience this is based on the effects, sound and images used.

Purpose of film credits

• Advertising
• Giving credit to those who took part
• Outlines major actors/ crew members

If the opening credits of a film starts with something unexpected like a scary soundtrack this may make the audience feel scared and tension would build up and their expectation could change and they may predict what they might see in the following scenes.  

Here we can see that the opening credits have been used very well from the Sev7n movie. Kevin Spacey who is the most important character and his name doesn't appear in the opening credits. He suggested that his name should stay a screat till the end of the film and this was a suprise for his fans. This made the film more interesting as the audience didnt know what to actually expect. The opening credits of Se7en includes moving images of books, blade and someone writing something. Which makes the movie more mysterious and causes excitement for the audience. Low-key lighting and dark colours are used throughout the opening credits. The low key lighting makes the opening appear mysterious and disturbing when it is mixed with the dark colours and images shown throughout the credits.
 

Some opening credits make it iconic and rememberable this is usually the case it cartoon type of movies e.g. Toy story which focuses on the relationship between toys and chldren and what toys when they're not around.
This shown in the opening credits of Toy story and the use of music allows us to understand the film better e.g. 'you've got a friend in me' by Randy Newman.

 

 

The opening credits in different films may vary however the credits include most of the followings in differsnt orders; 

• Actors
• Casting
• Title
• Music 
• Editing 
• Desgin
• Producer
• Co Producer
• Director
• Written by 

This post helped me to come up with some ideas that I could use in the thriller production that I will be creating. I know that using moving image in the credits makes it more effective and sets the mood for the audience. It allows the audience to predict what my happen in the film. Moreover, I think that the most significant two parts in the opening credits are the sound used and how the credits are made more noticable. For example for a film like Toy story the music makes the film look more fun and enjoyable  whereas in Se7en we was introduced to a slow disturbing soundtrack added to the opening credits creates suspense among the audience and makes them feel distured when they hear metal scratching together. In my own production I may use slow disturbing soundtrack to make the scene more mysterious as it is a thriller production. On the other hand, I would want the credits to be clear for the audience to see and focus on as well as the moving images that will be used. I would like the actors to appear first and followed by the following Title, Directior, Written by, Producers, editing, music and casting.

Typography

 

 

Typography is how the writing is presented to the audience. It is a fancy word for font. When typography is analysed in films e.g. in the opening credits we mainly look at things like the style, size, letter case and colour of the font. These are important as films like thrillers and disneys films would use different fonts. 

 

 

Different fonts could be described differently e.g. this type of font can be used in romantic, love films. 

 

 

   On the other hand this type of font would be used in thrillers and horrors. The background colour infers mystery and the white suggest that their is new start beginning to something. The number '7' used in the font allows the audience to identify what film it is.