Reflection on Title Order

My findings for commonalities for titles with in a title sequence is;

1. Distribution company 

2. _____ presents

3. A ____ production 
4. Film Title
(the order from 5-13 can vary)
5. Minimum 7 Actors/Actress
6. Casting by
7. Music by 
8. Costume Designer
9. Edited by 
10. Director of photography 
11. Co-producer
12. Executive producer 
13. Produced by 
14. Directed by (always comes last)

Reflection on Research into Film Openings

From looking into these 5 film openings its become clear that my film opening must establish at least 2 of these factors;

Genre
Setting
Characters

I have found that for my film I would have to establish 2 of these in order to keep the audience incited however mustn't given any too substantial away about the plot. I have noticed that film opening are used to subtly forebode events that may happen later in the film and may aim to do so within mine. On the other hand however 'Spider-man 2' and 'Life of Pi' did not do this, and despite not foreboding what is to come there movie opening where still effective as it would leave vague/subtle hints.
I noticed I have also noticed that the number of actors and actresses may vary due to how many characters with in a story for example 'X-men' would have a bigger cast then 'Juno' as there are more characters with the plot.

Identity Opening Scene

Title Sequence Order
Columbia a sony pictures entertainment company
Columbia pictures presents
A Konrad picture production
A film by James Mangold
John Cusach
Ray Liotta
Amanda Peet

Identity

John Hawks

Afred Molina

Clea DuVall

John C. McGinley

William Lee Scott

Jake Busery

Pruitt Taylor Vince

and Rebbeca DeMornay

Carmen Argenziano, Marshall Bell, Leila Kenzle

Matt Letscher, Bret Loehr, Holmes Osborne

Casting by Lisa Beach, CSA Sarah Katzman

Costume designer Arianne Phillips

Executive Producer Stuart Besser

Music composed and conducted by Alan Silvestr

Film editor David Brenner, A.C.E

Production Designer Mark Friedberg

Director of Photography Phedon Papamichael, ASC

Produced by Cathy Konrad

Written by Michael Cooney

Directed by James Mangold

The Opening of Identity is very insightful for the audience as it intriguing. Right from the beginning, through the music to close up shots of castes recordings and murder case files the audience already knows the genre of Mystery, Thriller. 

Much like Alien (1979) the Title 'Identity' creeps in through other titles, because as they fade one letter is left behind. 

As shown in the white circles below:

All the titles fade in and out however apart from the Title 'Identity'. The title comes in after the first 7 titles. Each letter in the 'Identity' fade in at different times and then out together this make the title look more significant or important compared to the other titles.

This adds to the low toned eerie music along with the tape recording. The audience are given an insight into the case as they are able to see close up of files, pictures and the name 'Malcolm Rivers' which pops up numerous times. From these close up we are able to establish that the case has something to do with a murder in a Motel possible committed by 'Malcolm Rivers'. This leaves the audience intrigued, therefore wanting to continue watching on to find out the answers to there questions.

From the tape recording we can also hear 'Malcolm Rivers" talking to an interviewer, this gives us an insight to to killers mind and what he was thinking. 
The Audience is also introduced to a character, the man reviewing or looking at 'Malcolm Rivers' case, as the audience is just introduced they are unable to say his relation to the case which leaves the audience wanting to know more. 

Opening Titles for Life of Pi

Title Sequence Order

20^th century fox a news corporation company

Fox 200 Pictures presents

in association with Dune Entertainment

and ingenious Media

a Haishang Films/ Gi netter production

an Ang Lee film

Life of Pi

Suraj Sharma

Irrfan Khan

Tabu

Rafe Spall

and Gerard Depardieu

Adil Hussain, Ayush Tandon

Casting by Avy Kaufman, csa

Costume designer Arjun Bhasin

Music by Mychael Danna

Visual effects supervisor Bill Westenhofer

Associate producers Jean-Christophe Castelli, William M. Connor

Co-producer David Lee

Film editor Tim Squyres, a.c.e.

Production designer David Gropman

Director of photography Claudio Miranda, asc

Executive producer Dean Georgaris

Produced by Gil Netter, Ang Lee, David Womark

Based upon the novel by Yann Martel

Screenplay by David Magee

Directed By Ang Lee

Life of Pi opening establishes the setting and that the movie has something to do with animals, as we see a number of exotic animals. One could also infer it may have something to do with a zoo because of this. 

It's also quite slow pace which could also mean the film is like this to. It also give no hints to what may happen later within the movie, this means the audience are more shocked when they see what happens as they don't expect this young boy be stranded on a boat with a tiger(mainly).

In 'Life of Pi' some of the titles have little animations to them which reflect the animals within that scene with them. This gives the titles some life and make to opening sequence more entertaining to watch. You are able to see

Spider-man 2 (2004) Opening Scene

Title Sequence Order

Columbia a sony pictures entertainment company

Marvel

Columbia Pictures Presents

A Marvel enterprises/Laura Ziskin production

Spider-Man 2

Tobey Maguire

Kiristen Dunst

James Franco

Alfred Molina

Rosemary Harris

J.K. Simmons

Donna Murphy

Daniel Gillies, Dylan Baker

Bill Nunn, Vanessa Ferlito, Aasif Mandri

Casting by Dianne Crittended

Music by Danny Elfman

Costume designers James Acheson Gary Jones

Visual Effects Designed by John Dykstra ASC

Film Editor Bob Murawoki

Production Designer Neil Spisak

Director of Photography Bill Pope ASC

Co-producer Grant Curtis

Executive Producer Stan Lee Kevin Frige

Executive Producer Joseph M. Caraciolo

Produced by Laura Ziskin Aui Arad

Based on Marvel Comic Book by Stan Lee and Steven Ditk

Screen story Alfred Gough and Miles Millar and Michael Chanbon

Screenplay Alvin Sargent

Directed by Sam Raimi

The audience, through this opening are able to recap the first spider man movie. This is shown through the comic book style still images along with the spider webs which move in transition with the titles. This is a clearly thought out opening as it reminds the viewers of the first movie allowing them to recap it and be ready for its sequel. 

By using comic book style images the film is going back to its roots hence appealing more the the target audience as they would mainly be those who read Stan Lees & Steven Ditk marvel comic book 'Spider Man.'

This film opening however gives no indication of what is to happen in the movie the opening only gives us a recap of the first spider-man this leave the audience wondering what is to come.

Opening Titles for Lord of War (2005)

Title Sequence Order

·     Entrainment Manufacturing Company

·     Saturn Films

·     Entrainment manufacturing company presents
·     A vip medienfonds 3, ascendant pictures, saturn film production

·     in association with rising star, copag v, and endgame entertainment
·     Nicolas Cage
·     Lord of War
·     Jared Leto
·     Bridget Moynahan
·     Ian Holm
·     Eamonn Walker
·     Sammi Rotibi, Eugene Lazarev
·     Jean-Pierre Nshanian, Shake Toukhmanian
·     and Ethan Hawke
·     Casting by Mindy Marin. C.S.A
·     Music by Antonio Pinto
·     Costume Designer Elisabetta Beraldo
·     Editied by Zach Staenberg, A.C.E
·     Production Designer Jean Vincent Puzos
·     Director of Photography Amir Mokri
·     Executive Line Producer Ronaldo Vasconcellos
·     Douglas E. Hansen co-producer
·     Fabrice Gianfermi Executive Producers Bradley Cramp, Gary Hamilton
·     Christopher Eberts Executive Producers Andreas Schmid, Michael Mendelsohn, Jmaes D. Stern

·     Producers Nicolas Cage, Norm Golightly
·     Producers Andy Grosch, Chris Roberts
·     Philippe Rousselet Produced by Andrew Niccol
·     Written and Directed by Andrew Niccol

In this opening sequence we trace the path of a bullet from production to it's fire. Nicolas Cage begins with narration "There are over 550 million firearms in worldwide circulation. That’s 1 firearm for every 12 people on the planet. The only question is...How do we arm the other 11?” As we are introduced the audience is enticed and from the opening can gather its about an arms dealer of some sort. This is shown through the life of a single bullet.

This bullets life cycle gives the audience a clear indication of what is to come from the movie. It's shown cleverly through the bullets creation and inspection, to being crated to some unnamed war-torn African Nation. Its then placed inside a the chamber of a semi-automatic, and as the director's credits is about to appear the bullet leaves the barrel and right into the skull of a child solider.

The opening is not subtle and the non-daigetic music of Buffalo Springfield's 'For What It's Worth' makes it all the more blunt however it establishes the network of human destruction with efficiency. 

Continuity Exercise

During the lesson I booked out equipment which consists of a camera and tripod to film my continuity exercise with my group, it consisted of 3 people myself and 2 other girls. We then found a spacious area where we could film on an 180˚angle and from there took it in turn to film, acting in each others continuity exercises.

At first I encounter some complications, I've never filmed before or used the equipment so I didn't know how to use. It took some time to learn how to put the camera on the tripod, how to use the tripod and also how to use the camera. After establishing how to use the equipment in the correct manner with help from the other girls in my group and through trial and error I was able to begin filming.

My first attempt in filming my continuity exercise ended in failure due to me only filming a shot reverse and not a shot-reverse-shot but also because I broke the 180˚rule.

“In order to succeed you must fail, so that you know what not to do the next time” Anthoney J. D'Angelo

The second time I filmed when much smoother as I didn't make any major mistakes. I decided to film from the right so kept to this side throughout, to comply with the 180 degree angle rule. When filming you need know when to start and stop so we decided counted down from three and then, on one would click the record button at which point we would film. This was significantly important when filming as it allows Actor A and B to know when to start and stop.

In the first scene I filmed Actress A who walked up to the door, using the tripod to track her to the door and then pushing down on the door handle and pausing. At which point I stopped filming. I then moved to the other side of the door keeping to the right, I filmed Actress A, with the door handle still pushed down, opening the door. As Actress A walks in, with her hand still on the door, says as scripted “Hey, how are you?” at the end of which lets go of the door.

I then cut to Actress B where shot-reverse-shot would take place. Once I cut to her in a mid shot where she says “I'm good, how are you?'

I paused filming her and cut back onto Actress A in a mid shot saying in reply “I'm good thanks” at which point it fades to black.

From doing the Continuity Exercise I not only learnt how to use the equipment (camera and tripod) but also how to use Final Cut Express as I had never used it before either. From the exercise I learnt how to do/obey the 180˚rule by keeping to one particular side, but I was also able to grasp how to correctly do a shot-reverse-shot by making sure it's not at different angles but in line and that it also flows. I also came to terms with how to cut clips in Final Cut Express and how to put it all together however also attained the knowledge to learn how to put in effects such as fade to black.

Overall I feel that this task has helped me prepare to film my opening as I have learnt how to use essential programs and equipment however by doing this task it has allowed me to practice these skills and obtain experience. This in turn allowed me to gain better knowledge and understanding of said programs and equipment making me more familiar with them. This will benefit me when filming my movie opening as I will be able to use the equipment and the 180˚rule in the correct manner.