Monday 19 March 2012

Titles Reaserch By Dan Sheridan

I have found three title sequances that are all different and one un commonly used one that i find vrry interesting.
  • The Butterfly Effect
  • SWAT
  • Casino Royale
  • The Dark Knight (this is the unusual titled one)
1) The Butterfly Effect:
     The title sequance starts streight off in this film with a quote which is from chaos theory - this quote says "It has been said that something as small as the flutter of a butterflys wing can ultimatly cause a typhoon halfway around the world." this quote is important to this film. during the film he finds a way that he can change his present by in a sense, going back in time and changeing what happend. even the smallest of things he changes when he goes back changes something big in the present changeing his entire future. as this quote is being played there is an eerie sort of technological fluttering going on as the backing soundtrack. this sound is used later on in the titles where it says the films name. The quote stays on screen for nine seconds then fades away into the opening scene. During thisd scene we see the camera is in a fixed position but is panning left, it reaches the corner of the room where in between the two windows on either wall there is a dark area, in this dark area there is a title, this is a white text on a dark background, this makes the words stand out and easier to read, the camera pans away from it and they use this pan to get rid of the title. Then it carries on the rest of the opening until the end where he is writeing a note, the camera zooms in on the last two words that he writes down which read "save her" while he is writeing this note he is speaking it allowed so the audiance can hear what he is writeing as again it is importanct to the film. as it zooms in the part where it says save her the is in the whole screen where at which point it starts to crack and break away into the shape of a butterflys wings, this then starts to get more transparent and fade out. Behind it there are butterflys flapping their wings and flying around the screen, these then also fade out until finally a big butterfly flys into the centre of the screen this then starts to merge with a MRI scan that has started to fade in from behind. On this mri scan we can clearly see a large tumer on the brain, this is anather key to this movie and understanding it. The butterflys and the MRI scan is blue and when the title "The Butterfly Effect" appears over this blue in white text, it clearly stands out and is easy to read. the title has been centerd directly in the middle as thats where the butterflys and the scan has drawn the audiances attention to. then tit fades out to the next scene but the title stays on for a few seconds then fades out.

2) SWAT:
     This starts with blue flashing lights supoidly being police lights flashing on the screen against a black background, this interpretation of it being a police light is becouse blue is commonly associated with the police and it is a film about swat which is part of the police. the words that are gonna appear start big and only a few letters are showing partly moveing around on the screen behind the blue lights. This is then followed by the full words fadeing in in the centre of the , these are in a white text and are placed on a black and dark blue background, again anather way to draw the attention of the audiance. during this title sequance we hear a police radio talking about a situation that is happening which then gives the audiance a clue to what the next scene will be about, this is also anather way how the audiance interprates the blue lights with the police. This title sequance then fades out of black into the next shot. In this film the title sequance is short, it gives all the information needed (name of film and the coumpanie who presents it (columbia pictures presenrts)) this short introduction allows the action to start sooner, it grips the audiance just enough to keep them there till the opening sequance starts which then takes over.


3) Casino Royale: - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzX14t4dCQ0
     bond picks up a gun and points it towards the screen the he shoots, the screen at this point is in what supposidly ment to be the baral of gun. Blood then starts driping down and filling the scene asif someone has been shot and we are seeing it from a type of POV shot.  then the music starts as the blood gets halfway covering the screen, this is when like all other bond films keeing the tradition the title sequance turns into a sort of music vidio but relevant to the film and only includes the charecters. the words that first appear when the blood is halfway dcovering the screen say "Albert R Broccoli's production LTD presents" this then moves into an animated vidio with the theme of gambleing all to do with the film itself. all the vidio is made up from black and red coulers, these are the coulors of the playing cards and are made up of the shapes or somehow go into the shapes of the playing cards (clubs, hearts ect) This vidio also includes other types of gamble items such as roulet wheels. bond is in nearly all the shots in this animation and is fighting and shooting, when he kills a bad guy they turn into lots of the card suites (e.g clubs) and when he fires his gun the bullets are also the card suites. the white text that appears throughout this title sequance always stays out of the way of the action so that its not in the way of the action and vice versa. The titles and words itself are set out in a neat way and are organised and in the same pattern everytime, even tho the words arnt in the same places they are neatly placed around the animation.

4) The Dark Knight:
    This sequance I found very interesting. it starts with the blue warner brothers sign, blue being a dark couler, the blue is on a black backgroung throughout this sequance, then the screen is filled with a blue smoke and then there is a clearing forming in the middle of the smoke, this is in the shape of the batman symbol, this is black so it stands out from the blue smoke and is easy to see, this then cuts into the opening sequance where from now on there is no more titles, the only information we have is the batman symbol, this is so well known they havnt even put a title on it, and the fact that it is a dark screen and cold and dark colours it adds a spooky and mysterious effect to this, this is a verry interesting title sequance as not even the actors or any crew or film companie are named. this is a good example of how no text can be used and still the audiance can recognise the film, this shows how popular batman is and how many people relate that symbol to batman.

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