Title Sequence

In this lesson we had to think about how we could create our title sequence and what would be suitable for our film, in order to achieve this, we watched several examples of title sequences in productions linked to horror. This is what we made of them:

1) Blade 2 - Throughout this title sequence the main character spoke over aall of the images, explaining his role in the film and how he has got this far, this is due to this being a sequal to the original "blade" This gives the viewer and insight into what may happen. Also during this speech, blade mentions many conventions linked with vampires (such as garlic and sunlight) this makes magnifies the theme of vampires in the film. This is accompanied by several shots of preparation for what looks like a battle, swords, bullets and other weapens are seen in close up shots which makes the scenes very mysterious as we dont get the whole picture. Also in this sequence there are many clips of the previous film, maybe to refresh the minds of anyone watching this after the original, this also informs the new viewer of any important things that they would need to know.

2) Halloween - Very simple scene in which a black background is constant, on which there is a pumpkin next to orange writing, obviously highlighting the aspect of halloween in the film. We hear a tense, reasonably fast paced soundtrack which is in great contrast to the images we are seeing, the camera gradually zooms into the pumpkin throughout this sequence which introduces a very strange feeling, the pumpkin does not look like a typical example, its face looks more intimidating than the normal. We also have flashing orange lights which again reinforce the theme of orange/halloween. This sequence is ended by the sounds of children singing halloween songs which also adds an eerie feel to the scene.

3) Dawn of the Dead - Flashing images of death, blood, gore and horror. Inbetween each one, the screen turns black then flashes back again (could suggest life...death...back to life as a zombie) Over all of this carnage we hear a press conferance in which the disease is introduced and announced. Also we hear doctors talking about the symptoms of the disease each of which makes it feel all the more real. What was very strange was that the soundtrack to this horror was a very light hearted american song, which was in great contrast to the imageswhich made it seem extremely strange.

4) True Blood - Typically hillbilly american culture, we see a mix of religion, sex, death and wilslife. This was to show that the vampires fit into this typical environment. Again with this sequence we hear a very american soundtrack, however this time it was linked to the images we see. We see important actors and producers alongside these shots. This is a very action packed example, showing the american culture and what lies within it.

After watching these examples we were asked to come up with our own version. This is what we came up with:

As our film is set within wollaton park (inside the clubhouse) we thought we could show the lead up to our character entering this location, we would show a P.O.V shot of his/her jounrey through the park and what she witnessed, this would include swings inadvertently swinging and the paranoia of our character leading to him/her escaping into the clubhouse. During these scenes we thought that we could have the shot freeze at which point the names of each member of our group would appear in the scene (eg - he/she could be walking down a path at which point the name of one of us would appear on a nearby tree or on the ground) This is still a work in progress but we feel that this could be a success.