The Art of the Title Sequence; Analysis of 9 shots

Here's a link to watch it Blade II

After i have browsed through the 'Art of the Title Sequence', I have found many movies that I am familiar with. Such as: The Hulk, Aliens, Batman and etc. I tried watching most of the title sequences of the movies that I have seen, but also the movies that I haven't seen.
However, as I have finished watching most of these, I made up my final decision and chose the title sequence of 'Blade'. I chose this because I am familiar with it more and the fonts of the titles appealed to me as it matched with the character in the movie.

The structure of the title sequence in Blade starts off with the third category which is the 'Titles on a plain background, followed by the narrative opening'. It had a black plane background with the Production Company's Name which is the 'New Line Cinema'. It was then followed by another structure which is the first category 'A narrative opening with the titles running throughout' which shows the name of the film production. In my opinion it's also fitted with the second category which is the 'discrete title sequence' because the clips were not continous, there were a lot of jump cuts that shows different clips.

On the other hand, the style of the titles are in Serif fonts, it's either the 'Times' or the 'Courier'. Apart from the Film Company's name and the Film Production, these were followed by their association with Imaginary Forces, and then followed by the title of the film 'BLADE'. All the titles of the company were in red font which signifies blood and death. It also matches with the character's role which is a vampire. The title is in silver, with sharp edges at the end of each stroke of every letter, it has a red highlight outside the letters. The silverness and sharpness of the this font symbolises the title and the features of a 'BLADE'. It can also suggest how sharp the movie will be because of their weapons and extra-ordinary strengths.

The clips that are placed over the titles has dark lightings. It only shows the figure of the character and also their shadows. There was also a clip which is in contrast with the rest of the sequence because it has a negative effect which symbolize the flashback.

For the types of shot, I found it difficult to recognize the different shots that were used because of the fast pace timeline and jump cuts. But i have noticed that there were a lot of close ups on the weapons and photos. Again, this tells us a big clue that this movie will have a lot of actions using different kinds of weapons as it is already being introduced in the title sequence.

However, this title sequence has appealed to me because of the fast pace timeline used and how the voice over matches with all the clips that were being said. It also gives me chills, because of the dark lighting of the clips as it looks mysterious and suspenseful. My favorite clip was the clip right at the end when Blade used his sword. It has a good use of effects and sounds then it directly went straight to the title.

The Art of the Title Sequence

The Art of the title Sequence was introduced to us by Mary in today's lesson. We were asked to visit it and browse through the page. It is a site where people can share their title sequences that they have originally produced and gain feedbacks from the audience.

There's a list of movies at the right corner of the page that allows us some title sequences of different movies.

In my opinion, this site is very helpful as it can help us with some techniques of producing a title sequence of our own. We could also read the feedbacks, where we can learn something to improve on that particular title sequence which we can use for our own one.In today's lesson we were given a question sheet to answer as our homework.We are required to choose a title sequence which appeals to me, copy it on my blog and write a short analysis of it.

What makes 'No Country For Old Men' suspenseful

'No Country for Old Men' is a crime thriller film which adapted for the screen and directed by Ethan & Joel Coen. The main stars were Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem and Josh Brolin.

This film is about an ordinary man whose found a fortune and delivers that is not his. However, he leads himself into a difficult situation as a hit man is hired to recover the money which made him to go on the run. Later in the film, Tommy Lee Jones appeared by playing a police officer and tries to solve the crime and to find out what's going on.

After watching the film in class, our task was to find and analyse 3 examples of scenes in which we thought it was suspenseful. The first example was a scene where Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) found the dead bodies, heroin and cars; at this point the audience knew that there was a drug dealing and that it has went wrong. Then Brolin slowly opened the car door in which the audience expects something to jump out. Secondly, in the scene where Josh Brolin checked into a new hotel room and as he tries to get the money in which he has hidden in the previous room. At this point the editor uses cross cutting as the hit man (Javier Bardem) catches up to him and slowly opened the door and this is done to help create excitement. Thirdly, in the scene where Josh Brolin changed hotel and found the tracking device hidden within the money in the suitcase, he then knows how the hit man found him. He then turned the lights off so he can see if anyone is walking towards his hotel room. This scene is suspenseful because the audience don't know if the hit man is outside his door and the uses of dark lighting helps to build tensions and create excitement.

I thought No Country for Old Men was a good example of a thriller movie, this is because it has a good storyline and the actions were dramatic as there was no sound effects which made the audience interested in it. Furthermore, it is also edgy as some scenes were scary which made the audience to jump out of there seats.

Technical audit - Editing.

Using Final Cut Pro

In lesson we had a tutorial on how to use Final Cut Pro. We familiarized ourselves with the program after we got taught the basics.

This software is used by big companies when they add the finishing touches to their film and piecing it altogether. This program along with others would make our final piece of our Thriller Trailer to a high quality standard.

The tutorial we used to familiarize ourselves with was the BAIT Tutorial.
Some of the techniques we learned were:

- Opening a clip from browser menu and dragging it in to the left canvas to be edited.
- Input and Output points
- Dragging clips onto the time line
- The arrows on the time line indicating what point it is on the sequence
- Using video transitions- e.g. dissolves, fades etc
- Learning how to build a sequence on the time line
- Using audio clips
- Distinguishing between the two window canvas: from original clips that can be viewed to the edited clips that are placed in the time line
- Combining all clips with effects and sound onto the time line to make a effective sequence

Here i have created a sequence from a selection of different clips. I had made it seamless by making sure all the clips are connected fully with no gaps, and I made a match cut to make the sequence run smoothly and reaction shots between the two characters.
I started out with a establishing shot of the cafe, then the boy in the cafe about to run out but then the old tramp walks in. Then there is reaction shots between the old man and the boy and a match cut where the boy still refuses to give the lunch box.

When watching a clip, i then decide where i place my input points by typing 'i' then finishing off by typing 'o.' I then drag it onto the other canvas beside it on the right, where it then adds onto the time line sequence automatically without having to drag it onto the actual time line. If i want to make one of the clips to be cut slightly, i can just click on the clip and select the edge and move it to cut off the seconds on the clip.
I then added some video transitions which is placed onto the video clips- mainly right in between where a different scene is about to take place. I then added audio clips- which can be selected to be shorter/longer by dragging it across the time line horizontally.


By using Final Cut Pro, I can easily make a movie sequence from its convenience and handy features.

Skills Audit Editing

For today's lesson

Skills Audit Editing

For today's lesson I learnt how to use Final Cut Pro-Bait Tutorial.

The teacher taught us the basic steps on how to produce a short video clip.

It was quite difficult as the layout of it was all new to me. Howe

ver, I already had an experienced in editing video clips using Windows Movie Maker therefore some of the tutorial was familiar to me.

In the Final Cut Pro-Bait Tutorial there was fo

ur windows that has individual purposes. There was this wind

ow where we all browsed in our video clips, and here's an image of it:

This window above contains video clips and soundtracks.

Afterwards we were taught how to drag it in to the viewer where we played the video clip to cut some scenes. In order to do the cutting, I had to press 'I' as the input, so that it would mark where i want my chosen clip to start then 'O' as the output, so that it would mark where i want the clip to end. After I have finished cutting, I could either transfer it to the canvas where it will automatically be drag down to the timeline. And here's the picture of the viewer and the canvas:

This is the timeline, where the video clips and soundtracks are being combine to produce a title sequence. The long blue rectangles at the top are the video clips; the green below the blue rectangles are the diagetic sounds of the video clips such as the talking; and the last green rectangle at the bottom are the soundtrack in order to give an effect or to add an emotion to the clip.

The picture below is the full image of the final pro-bait tutorial program. I took this photo to show what it looks like while i was practising producing a title sequence.




We also learnt how to add transitions and special effects (SPFX) on our video if needed. I also learnt how to do a 'match cuts' on a video; which means cutting a clips in order for it to look seemless. For example: In this video clip that I have edited; the clip when the old man was taking the food from the plate then putting it in his mouth. I cutted a clip while his hands were going down on the table, then another cut from a different clip of the man taking the food in a close up shot. This is what you call a 'match cut'. Unfortunately I didn't get the chance to take a picture as an example of this.

In my opinion, as long as I keep practising using the final pro-bait tutorial program, the better I will be in editing. As I said at the beginning of this blog, it was quite difficult but as soon as you get the hang of it, then it will just be like a piece of cake for you.

Skills Audit-Editing

opening a clip from browser

dragin clips on timeline

transistions and audios

build sequence on timeline

final cut pro BAIT tutorial

No country for old men.

In lesson, my classmates and I watched a thriller movie: No country for old men. The majority found it highly entertaining and scary- the film provided suspense and tension throughout.
The suspense generally was due to the mise en scene and the sound- which emphasises the scene and the possible fate of the characters in the film.

How was suspense created in the film watched?

Based in Texas, the plot was that the main character- Llewelyn Moss finds a massacre of dead bodies and stashes of cocaine isolated in the desert. He finds 2 million dollars, which he keeps to himself. A psychopathic serial killer- Anton Chigurh is in pursuit of the money and killing everyone in the way.

Suspense was mainly created in this film by the use of no non-diagetic sound- it was all down to the sounds on the set. The use of this builds great tension as the audience would not know what may happen next and giving them the effect that something may jump out and scare the viewer.

For me in particular, I found these three scenes very suspenseful:

1. Where Llewelyn finds all the dead bodies

This is near the beginning of the movie- the audience does not know what had happened. However the main character Llewelyn slowly discovers all the dead bodies and examining the place. We would expect something to jump out especially when he is opening the car doors which builds the tension as more and more dead bodies are being discovered.

2. Where Llewelyn anxiously focuses under the door, footsteps and shadows

In my opinion this is where it reached to its peak of climax- where Anton finally catches up to Llewelyn and is just outside the door, Llewelyn finds out at that point that the suitcase full of money had a tracker and he knows that his killer is just outside the door. This built suspense and tension from the camera focus of the shadows underneath the door where the audience knows Anton is just outside. The lighting is dark, the only digetic sound being his footsteps and heavy breathing. When Anton switches off the light it is almost pitch black, the audience's suspense is heightened as we can predict that at any moment he would blast the door down suddenly.

3. Where the sheriff was hesitating to open the motel room door

This is also a point where there was heightened tension and suspense- the audience can see cross cuts between the sheriff about to open the door, and to the serial killer Anton just behind it. The flow of this scene was slow- the hesitation of the sheriff about to open the door where we as a audience knows the consequences of doing so builds the tension even more so.

Photography Activity:

As a group, we were given a sheet of paper that had a list of words on it. Our task was to choose 6 words and take photographs that will convey their. We had a group discussion on which words we were going choose. We have chosen Claustrophobic, Paranoid, Happiness, Twist, Calm and Futuristic. However, we only had 1 hour to do all the decision making on taking the photographs, which is why we didn't get the chance to take photos based on Futuristic. So, after the lesson, i took my own photographs for this word.

After the photography task we had to choose four words individually. So, I have chosen Claustrophobic, Paranoid, Happiness, and Calm.

CLAUSTROPHOBIC

For this photo, i have converted into black and white which represents how dark and alone a place is when a person is claustrophobic. I have also added a distorted effect which made the photo looks narrow which depicts how small and narrow a person feels when she/he is trap in being claustrophobic. I think the composition is very well planned (elevator and sitting in the corner) makes the person looks very trap and locked up.

PARANOID

I have edited this photo in photoshop and combined two pictures and added an effect of box blurr. I have also adjusted the brightness and contrast of the photo. In my opinion this is very effective as it shows how a paranoid person thinks. Being paranoid is like having more than one brain that are constantly thinking and worrying about things that are going on around them.

Happy

I chose this photo because it's simple yet very appealing. Being happy is unexplainable therefore in my opinion, if you see someone who is happy, this happiness could have a deeper reason to why it exist to a person. I liked how the person is looking straight to the camera and having a genuine smile which can attract an audience easily.

Twist

I think this photo could represent the word TWIST. It was very hard defining twist through a photo. However, our group had an idea that it could be like in movies. For instance; this photo represents how the girl at the front can represent happiness in life however, a twist will occur as someone will try to ruin this happiness which is represented by the girl at the back.

No Country For Old Men (What makes it suspenseful?)

No Country For Old Men is a crime thriller film directed by Joel and Ethan Coen starring Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem and Josh Brolin.

It's about a young Texan man who

fortuitously found a fortune in a desert and delivers it. However, he came across to a situation that lead him in the killer's hands. The movie quoted that is a "cat-and-mouse" drama. Later on the film, Tommy Lee Jones joins the film and tries to investigate the crime.

We were given the chance to watch this movie by our Media teacher to help us define the word suspense and the elements in creating this. Our task was to look for at least three examples of a suspenseful moment whilst watching the film, then list notes of what makes it suspenseful.

My first example would be the scene when the Josh Brolin went to the desert during nightime to check the dead bodies with a track of heroine. He was looking around the dead bodies and the tracks then suddenly he glanced back to his car and there was already another car parked beside it. Then three man came out of the car in silhouette searching his car. This scene was suspenseful for me because of the mise-en-scene which includes the dark lighting and the open empty space. Also, the silence of the surrounding adds to the tension and the shadows that was shown after he glanced back to his car.

The second example would be the scene when Josh Brolin checked in a room in a hotel and he was trying to reach for the money from the previous room while killer Javier Bardem was slowly opening the door. It was suspenseful because of the use of editing which is the cross cut. Again the empty and silence surrounding helps creates tension.

My third example would be the scene when the man changed hotels and found a detector inside the suitcase. He then had an instinct of the arriving of the killer in that hotel, so he turned off the light to see if someone will walk pass his room. It was suspenseful for me because of the use of dark lighting and the shadow of someone going back and forth outside his room.

This film of No Country For Old Men is a good example of a thriller movie because of its dramatic actions. It was lacking of sound effects, the silence of the mise-en-scene was mostly use in this film which i think is very effective as it makes the audience jumps off their seats whenever an unexpected scene occurs. The dark lighting and the setting also adds to this effect. The dark lighting creates an enigmatic effect and the open empty setting illustrate isolation and being helpless which clearly helps the movie in creating the 'thrill' towards the audience.

Photography.

My group was given a task of a photo activity- to take pictures which represents a word. Using certain camera angles and techniques can achieve this effect, but also the emotion in the persons face and the settings used can emphasise the feeling expressed in the photo.

Futuristic














This photo can be expressed as futuristic- I have edited it in a way the colour emphaised using chrome colours- which gives a metallic metal feel to it. The photo gives a mysterious feel- the girl is looking out of the window at a tall building making the future seem vast and big.

Claustrophobic

This photo gives a claustrophobic feel to it- the surroundings look unfriendly and dark- the girl is sitting in the corner looks trapped. She is spreading her arms out as if she wants to get out, emphasising her will to escape. I have edited it which focuses gives a spotlight effect on her but her surroundings are dim and shadowed out evoking the feeling of claustrophobia.



Paranoia














This photo evokes the word paranoia, the girl here is holding her head showing that she is suffering from something mentally. Half of her face is shadowed- giving a eerie feel to it and expressing confusion. I have edited this photo to make it black and white and emphasising the contrast of black and white to give achieve this paranoid effect.

Calm

I took this photo one day because of the beautiful sunset- the complementary colours in the sky was spectacular and very different than usual sunset colours. The colours used here are more colder than warm- expressing the calm feeling. The city lights and the fact that there are no moving objects or people in this picture also emits calmness and also express different emotions from viewing this scene.

A definition of suspense.

Suspense is a build up of tension of uncertainty and anticipation of what is happening, engaging the audience when approaching a climax of what a outcome could be.

e.g. Trying to figure out a problem in a mystery novel.

For example, a 'false plateau' can cause tension in the viewer as the scene is foreshadowing what would happen next, setting the scene to contrast the outcome of the situation.

Therefore, suspense can hold the viewers attention to make them feel apprehensive to the situation- it can even cause fear or excitement.

In terms of media and the film industry, the use of acting as well as the type of camera shots and the mise en scene can make the viewer visually know it is a suspenseful type thriller movie.

Suspense and tension can additionally be clearly shown in the use of editing and sound.

We saw these types of 'suspenseful' moments in opening title sequences such as Collateral, The Shining and Panic Room which we watched as a class.

• Collateral was shown to be suspenseful from the mysterious action from the two different business men and the swapping of bags- it makes the audience curious of the relationship between the two people and what will result in that outcome from that? There are blurs and use of slow motion when coming into contact makes the whole scene even more tense.
  
• The Shining was a sequence of the camera following a car in a birds eye view/ariel shot, tracking down the car. We see the isolation of the car from the extreme long shot- the use of creepy music makes the sequence even more eerie too, from the combination of different synthesis of sounds. In result of this, we know what may happen to the character in the car in result of the opening title sequence.
  
• Panic room additionally has dark, loud, droning music which then becomes upbeat- adding to the suspense. The typography looks very interesting which the camera has different angles or shots when viewing it- the background is the top of the city buildings which makes us wonder what is going to happen in the actual movie.
  

A definition of suspense:

Suspense is an important technique use in most films’ genres particularly in a thriller or horror movie. It builds up the tension towards the audience. This occurs when a certain scene lead up to a dramatic moment or an unexpected event which stir the audience’s emotions mainly in a state of uncertainty and anxiety.

The use of Suspense helps the audience to engage with the film which allows them to crave for more and overcome their unpleasant tensions. Also, it’s enigmatic, which means that it’s mysterious and puzzling that keeps the audience guessing of what can/will happen later on in a film.

The elements in a film use in creating suspense involve sounds (e.g. a shrieking sound while someone is opening the door), a specific mise-en-scene (e.g. dark lighting in an alley), dramatic acting, camera shots and editing.

The Definition of Suspense

'Suspense' comes from the idea of a specific point in a story line or plot where tension is created towards the audience. This is created by the technique of building up on the story line which then reaches it's climax.

However not only does the audience become attracted to the point where it leaves them wanting more but they become engaged to the film. Moreover,the effect of 'suspense' is the uncertainty of the viewer.

In the sense of emotion and feelings, suspense in a film makes me feel drawn in, hungry for more and anxious to find out a conclusion.

A definition of 'Suspense'

Suspense is a feeling of uncertainty and anxiety about the outcome of certain actions. It leaves the audience wanting more and makes them think and questions what might happen next.

Thriller and suspense films are types of films known to promote intense excitement and a high level of anticipation. Suspense films are seen as edgy as the plot builds towards climax which build up tensions and create excitement of uncertainty of what is happening. The tension usually arises when the main characters is placed in a menacing situation or mystery, from which escape seems impossible.