Audience and Institutions Practice Essay

Assess the importance of marketing in the media area you have studied. 

Personally, I believe marketing through the media is essential to the film industry. Now and even before the age of advance technology that we live in, films can’t rely solely on word-of-mouth for advertising. Promoting films through different forms of media can be effective and makes movies more likely to be successful.  

To begin with, cross media convergence is one method used to help films gain publicity. Before ‘Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald’ was released, there were many reruns of the Harry Potter series. Harry Potter merchandise was distributed alongside the ‘Fantastic Beasts’ merchandise is stores such as Walmart. By marketing the ‘Fantastic Beasts’ movie with close relations to the Harry Potter franchise, this attracted Harry Potter fans to the film which increased its number of viewers. As a Harry Potter fan, I found myself being drawn to ‘Fantastic Beats’ because of the correlation between the films; I even saw ‘Fantastic Beasts’ as soon as it was out in theaters. In short, cross media convergence was impactful for marketing ‘Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald’ and was most likely the reason for the film’s great profit.  

Moreover, music has also been used to market films. The nostalgic soundtrack of ‘Jurassic World’ captivated new and old fans of the ‘Jurassic Park’ to the new film. As a child, I watched ‘Jurassic Park’ so when I discovered that ‘Jurassic World’ had music based off the iconic theme of the film, it made me want to see it even more than I already did. As a cross promotion technique, Kendrick Lamar preformed “All The Stars” featuring SZA, a song off of the ‘Black Panther’ soundtrack, at the College Football Playoff National Championship Game. This was a good strategy because there were many viewers at the event so the movie could gain more exposure. Kendrick Lamar is also a popular artist so it makes fans, like myself, excited about ‘Black Panther’ since he was one of the movie’s main features. Therefore, music can bring in more viewers and generate buzz which can help films gain more popularity.  

However, advertising through the media doesn’t mean automatic success for films. ‘UglyDolls’, a film based off of a toy line called Ugly Dolls, didn’t make as big of a profit as STX hoped it would. The film had characters voiced by well-known singers such as Nick Jonas, Kelly Clarkson, and Janelle Monae which attracts viewers to the film and made creating a soundtrack for the movie an easier process. A synergetic relationship between Cold Stone and ‘UglyDolls’ because Cold Stone made an ice cream flavor and candy toppings specifically for the movie. ‘UglyDolls’ was launched on 3,562 screens but only brought in a net of $8.5 million despite its substantial advertising. What also lead to its demise was that the film was released only days before the movie ‘Pokémon Detective Pikachu’ was out in theaters which would take away the spotlight from ‘UglyDolls’. This demonstrates that media marketing doesn’t guarantee that films will be a blockbuster hit. 

In conclusion, marketing through the media is vital asset for films. Promotions through different methods of media advertisement can help films entice viewers and make good profit. However, sometimes media marketing just isn’t enough for a film to prosper. 

Extract Practice: 24

The theme that the director was trying to convey is that the main character is an important, prominent figure in the storyline. The situation that seems to be occurring in the extract is that a bomb is set to go off and the main character is the only one who can stop it. The director has incorporated different elements that build suspense and tension that revolves around the main character.  

The interrogation room the main character is in while being questioned is used to show that she has valuable information and also contributes to the overall suspense of the film. A man, who seems to be an interrogator, sets down paperwork on the table which demonstrates that the main character is an important figure in the plot since it is signed by the president. The ticking that is heard when the main character looks at the clock shows that the situation at hand is high risk because there isn’t a lot of time before the bomb goes off. The clock the main character glances at could also be a graphic match that represents the amount of time that is left before the bomb explodes. The shot reverse shot of when the main character and the interrogator are talking builds tension because the more straightforward questions the main character is asked the more heated the exchange gets.  

The high angle when the interrogator is speaking to the main character displays that he’s trying to get her to submit to his authority and give him the information that he wants. The closeup of the main character when she smiles at the interrogator after saying he has to follow her lead shows that she is condescending and has more superiority in this situation than he does. The split scene when the interrogator choked the main character creates panic and shows that the interrogator doesn’t like that he doesn’t have as much power as she does. The fast tempo music when the people watching from the monitors ran to the interrogation room while the main character is being choked suggests that the spectators have to be quick or their only source of stopping the bomb could be killed.  

In conclusion, the director of this film made it so that the words and actions of the main character have heavy influence on the situation at hand. The interrogation room setting implies that the main character has some sort of value to the people she is being questioned by. Her presence has also been acknowledged by the president which also adds to her prominence in the film.  

CCR

Final Task

Re-editing

The corona virus pandemic caused Stephanie and I to not physically be able to edit together. We agreed that Stephanie would handle the re-editing. We got on a phone call to discuss the edits we would make. After that, Stephanie got to work. Typically, we would call each other while she was editing. However, this time we didn’t call but I knew Stephanie was more than capable of handling this by herself. When she finished, she sent me the video. She also informed me on what edits she made beforehand. She added in a black screen in the first 10 seconds of the opening. The screen had white text which gave background information as to what the film was about. We added this because we wanted to give the viewers some clarification on what’s going on in the film since our reviewers told us they were confused on the plot. We took inspiration from Star Wars for this part. 

The next thing Stephanie added was an establishing shot. Our reviewers said that we didn’t include an establishing shot in our film. To fix our mistake, Stephanie inserted the shot I took of my backyard and included it in the opening. Stephanie also inserted some new clips for the opening sequence. She had to add filters to the new scenes that were apart of the flash forward. For some of the clips, she duplicated the audio and inserted it into its designated scene. She did this so that the audience could hear some of the actual audio over the music in the background. Lastly, Stephanie inserted some new titles and rearranged them so that they were evenly spaced out. She told me this editing process took about 90 minutes. 

Looking at Our Review Sheets

While Re-editing, Stephanie and I referred to our review sheets that we got. Two different groups watched our opening and filled out a sheet about their thoughts on it. I only have one of the sheets so I will be discussing that one. Our movie was the correct length and did tell a story. However, what Stephanie and I were alarmed by was what they thought the plot of our story was. The group believed our opening was about a girl that makes a wish on her birthday and enters a nightmare that she realizes is fake. The second group that reviewed us also didn’t get the plot right either. Their guesses weren’t too far off to the original storyline. However, Stephanie and I discussed this and realized we needed to fix this issue when we re-edit. We were glad to see that they thought our transitions weren’t choppy and that we had the correct titles.

They also thought that our lighting was good throughout the film. They did not have any critiques on how we can improve the lighting. They also thought that we had good sound while filming. They did not have anything to say on how we can improve the sound quality also. They didn’t see our tripod or other people filming. We were confident in this aspect because most of the time one of us was behind the camera making sure anything that wasn’t supposed to be seen was not caught on camera. When it came to the camera angles and movements, some angles they didn’t mark as present in our opening. However, Stephanie and I felt that some of those camera shots that they said weren’t there were actually in the film. Things that our reviewers liked was the sound and light quality. However, they did find the plot to be confusing and suggested that we add dialogue in order to clarify where the red dot comes from.

Re-shoot Blog

The corona virus outbreak has made reshooting much more difficult. When we were back in school, Stephanie and I originally planned on doing reshoots the weekend before spring break. We didn’t feel that we had many scenes to redo but we knew that we had a lot to do in re-editing. We had discussed which scenes we wanted to re-film such as the scene when Stephanie falls out of the chair and looks towards the door. We also wanted to add in scenes that we were missing such as an establishing shot. But before we could actually reshoot, our school was closed due to the corona virus. We attempted to try and plan someway for Stephanie and I to meet up. Stephanie’s mom agreed to letting us film only if I could go over to Stephanie’s house. However, Stephanie’s mother kept changing her mind about letting me come over and my parents were also skeptical about letting me go. We decided that it would be better for us to do our parts for reshoots individually.

A few days later, Stephanie and I FaceTimed to talk about which scenes we should redo. We decided that I should do an establishing shot of my backyard and Stephanie does a redo of her falling out of her chair. When I went to go and film my backyard, my camera’s SD card wasn’t working. Instead, I used my phone to record it. I found that my cellphone has a camera quality that’s almost as good as my Nikon camera. After that, I sent the video to Stephanie. She informed me that she had also finished her reshooting as well. We FaceTimed again to talk about how we were doing in our new environments and how we would go forward with our media project. Our teachers suggested that we put our previous projects in the blog where we post our final opening so we can show progress. We were a bit stressed because we couldn’t find our music video and commercial projects because they were downloaded onto our school laptops. We ended up deciding not to include them since we didn’t have access to them. We also decided that Stephanie will handle re-editing while on call with me so we can try our best to work on our opening together.

Editing Blog: Editing With Stephanie

When I got home, I face timed Stephanie so we could discuss editing our opening through iMovie. Stephanie first informed me of the editing she did so far. She selected the tapes and put them in order. Next, she trimmed the clips. She also told me this process took around 45 minutes. We then moved onto discussing what new edits we would make. Initially, we planned on having a voice over in the beginning, but we didn't end up using it because we felt like it wasn't necessary. For the majority of our call, Stephanie was adding titles to the video. Before, we wanted to do a pattern of red and green for each of the words in the title. We were also going to put some parts of the titles in bold.

However, we didn't end up doing those things. Instead we had one title be green, then the next be red, then the one after be green, and so on. We also did not put any of the titles in bold. Next we talked about what music we wanted to added to the film. Since our opening has a lot of action in it, we decided to use fast tempo music. When we found music that we liked we had to ensure that it was uncopyrighted. Luckily, the creator said it was free for anyone to use. At that point, I had to leave the call but Stephanie continued editing in my absence. We wanted to add diegetic sounds like doors shutting, gun shots, etc. So, Stephanie had to record the sounds and add the audio into the video.

Peer Review: Katie's Group

When Stephanie and I couldn't figure out how to upload the person we had to peer review's movie, we decided to review another group's video. A girl named Katie asked if we could review her groups video because they didn't have anyone to review or anyone to their video. So our groups exchanged our movies. Stephanie and I watched the other group's film the first time and we had complete forgot to actually fill out our peer review sheet because we were so invested in the movie. We watched it again a second time and actually paid attention to the things we needed to find. The video was the correct length and it did tell a story. We thought the story line of the film is that two women kill men by tricking them into going on dates. The transitions were very clean but they didn't have all the correct titles. Throughout the majority of the film, there was good lighting. However, in the scenes where the girls are driving in a car at night, the lighting could've been improved.

The sound quality wasn't the best in some parts of the film. In scenes where there is noise in the background, the group can use voice overs for the dialogue. The group did avoid filming the tripod, other people filming, etc.. As for camera angles and editing, the group had a wide variety of both. However, some things they could add to the film is an establishing shot, a pan, and a shot reverse shot. Stephanie and I really enjoyed the plot of the film. It was interesting and easy to follow so it kept our attention. Some critiques we had were that they should add those camera angles that they were missing, finish adding all of their titles, and improve the lighting and audio in the car scenes. Overall, we were happy to be reviewing such a good film. We felt inspired by it and we want to use some of the techniques this group used in our film when we do re-shoots.

II

Editing Blog: Editing by Myself

The last day of editing in class had begun and our movie was still far from finished. For the third class period in a row, Stephanie had to stay home because she had the flu for the whole week. It was up to me to finish the movie. I started by finishing up selecting our footage. After that, I began to trim the clips do my desired length. This took up a majority of the time I had in the period. Once I finished that, I added a filter to a scenes that were apart of the flash forward. I was getting very frustrated because my computer was going very slow and for some reason the filter wouldn't show up. I decided to give up on adding the filter then moved onto adding the subtitles. As I mentioned before, my computer was lagging so this task took longer than it probably should've.

I was having trouble changing the colors of the text in the titles so I had to ask someone around me to help me out. While I was working on the titles, a notification popped up on my computer saying that the laptop's battery was almost dead. At this point, I was already stressed and this just added to it. There were about 20 minutes left in the period and I wanted to do everything I possibly could during that time, but it didn't seem like it would work out that way. I still needed to finish the titles, add music and sound effects, and put a filter over the flash forward. So I texted Stephanie and told her my dilemma. I also told her that I would use i Movie on my iPad and edit the movie from scratch. Stephanie told me she felt bad for not being there so she would download the i Movie and edit the clips. I was disappointed in myself because I felt I had failed my group for not being able to finish editing the movie by myself. With that being said, I was also very grateful because Stephanie and I make a great team and I don't think neither of us would've been able to succeed in any of the projects in our media class by ourselves.

Editing Blog: Selecting Our Footage

After we finished filming at Stephanie's house we decided to import the footage to Stephanie's Google Drive account. We wanted to do this because if for some reason we aren't able to import the footage from our SD card onto our school laptop we would have a backup. This proved to be beneficial to us during our last project which is why we wanted to do it again. For some reason the footage wouldn't download onto her account so we didn't end up doing that. When we got back to school we began editing. We got an SD card reader from our teacher and imported our raw footage onto our school's laptop. We then imported the videos onto Pinnacle Studios. As usual, Pinnacle Studios gave us trouble before we even started editing. Once we got the application to work properly we got to work.  We started by selecting the raw footage we wanted to use in our film. We made sure to refer back to our storyboard during this process.

We didn't get to finish choosing all our footage. So we made plans to finish our selection next class. When we had our media class two days after we resumed our editing. However, we didn't get far because our computer died. We don't have chargers for our computers and we are only able to use Pinnacle Studios on this computer so Stephanie and I decided we wouldn't edit that day. We also had work for other classes so our class time wasn't wasted. The week after, Stephanie didn't come that day because she was sick. I finished to picking out the clips for our movie that period. However, this took longer than I expected because it took the whole class period. I was a bit disappointed by this because we only had two days left to work on this and if I kept working at this rate, I wouldn't  finish on time. The next class period Stephanie was still sick so she didn't come. I didn't edit because I had to do work for another class and another group was editing on our computer. I started to really worry if I was going to be able to complete this assignment without Stephanie's help.

Filming Blog: Things That Went Wrong

During filming a lot of things didn't go our way so we had to improvise quite a bit. The first thing that went wrong was that Stephanie got injured when we were filming. Stephanie had to jump over my legs to get to the other side of me but when she did she hit her head on my mini chandelier. We had a safety kit on stand by in case something like this happened. Luckily, she only had a small cut on her finger and I gave her a band-aid. I swept up the glass shards that fell from the chandelier as well. Next, it started raining when we were filming outside. We had to be quick and film during the short intervals when the rain had stopped.One scene that was hazardous was when we had to run on wet tile that was right next to my pool. To prevent any injuries, Stephanie and I jogged slowly when we did the scene. We also brought the safety kit outside with us.

During filming we noticed some potential racial issues that could be perceived as racism. I am African-American and I played roles such as a guard and a kidnapped could raised potential issues. We decided that Stephanie should do a scene where she played as a guard so we wouldn't have any problems. Moving forward, when Stephanie and I went to go purchase a doughnut, we had to run in the rain which could have led to us getting hurt. There is a scene where Stephanie had to fall out of her chair. In one of the takes, when Stephanie was falling her chair had unintentionally flipped over. We put pillows on the ground to keep her safe when an accident such as this one happened. Lastly, when recording our last few takes my camera started to shut off because the batteries were exhausted. I didn't bring extra batteries and Stephanie offered to go buy me some more. However, I took the batteries out of the camera for a few minutes then reinserted them and the camera turned on again.

Peer Review

Today we did a peer review for our films. Stephanie and I downloaded our opening onto a flash drive and gave it to the group that was assigned to review ours. The person who we were assigned to review, Michele gave us her flash drive but the video didn't show up on our computer. So we gave it back to her and told her the issue. We ended up reviewing another group's video instead. We were able to watch their video on our computer so we decided to ask Michele if we could try and load up her video again. We were able to get the video to show up on the computer. It didn't take long to realize that her video needed a lot of work. We first noticed that the video was over five minutes long. We also saw that whenever she propped up the camera to record a scene it was always in a spot where an object was covering some of the view.

At first, there seemed to be a plot developing because the main character was packing a suitcase. But as the video went on, Stephanie and I became unsure of what the story was because we couldn't hear the dialogue going on in the scenes because the background music was too loud. All we gathered from what we watched was that a girl was packing her bags to go somewhere. A way Michele could've improved the sound quality was that she could lower the background music's audio when the characters were talking. Her transitions were also very choppy. We believed that Michele didn't finish editing her movie because whenever she finished a take, she didn't cut out the parts where she went to go turn off the camera. She also had no titles in the opening. The lighting was bad when she recorded scenes on her front porch; she could improve the lighting by turning on the porch lights. In some scenes we could see the camera in the background. Stephanie and I liked the choice of background music but one suggestion we had was that Michele should just finish editing her opening.

Filming Blog: Stephanie's House

After filming at my house, Stephanie's mom picked us up and drove us to Stephanie's house. We had to film a majority of our scenes of there. We first filmed the scenes that only had Stephanie in them. For these scenes we used not only Stephanie's ring like, but also her LED lights on her wall for white light. After that, we took a break so we could have lunch. Once we finished eating, we filmed the scenes of scenes of Stephanie and I. The first scene we did was Stephanie running up and punching me dressed up as a guard. When Stephanie 'punched' me it was more of a light shove so I wouldn't actually get hurt. We had to film this multiple times because we kept laughing during takes. Next we filmed the scene of me on the floor in pain while Stephanie ran away.

Once we finished those scenes, we filmed the scenes with just me. We first filmed extreme close up of me knocking on the door. Then we filmed the tilt of me walking through the door. Lastly, we filmed a scene of me shutting the door. Originally, we wanted to use a cupcake or a cake for the scenes of Stephanie blowing out her birthday candles, but we weren't able to get one. There was a convenience store next to Stephanie's apartment so we ran over there and bought a doughnut. When we got back to her house, Stephanie changed her costume. We put a birthday candle in the doughnut and had Stephanie's mom light it for us. The last scene we did was an extreme close up of Stephanie closing her eyes while crying. Stephanie used her contact solution as fake tears.

Filming Blog: Finishing The Scenes At Kaitlyn's House

As the downpour continued, Stephanie and I decided to re watch some of our footage. We deleted whatever we felt was unnecessary. When the rain had come almost to a complete halt, we were able to film the scenes we had set aside. There was a scene where Stephanie and I were running. I asked my mother to assist us with filming this scene, which was filmed as a tilt, because we weren't able to film it ourselves. She also helped us film other scenes of us running. Next we did the scenes where I get shot. Stephanie had brought makeup so she could create a fake bullet wound on my shoulder. I wasn't very excited to film these scenes because I prefer being behind the camera. It was difficult for me when I had to act shocked when I got 'shot'. There was also a scene where I had to fall and act like I was in pain. We had to do multiple takes of this scene because my movements didn't look natural, though Stephanie did her best to help guide me. Overall, I learned that my acting skills need a lot of work.

We then filmed the scenes of Stephanie running into the fence. At first, we just filmed a track shot of Stephanie running straight into the fence. However this didn't look natural enough. So, I suggested while Stephanie is running, she looks back towards me then when she turns her head forward she crashes into the fence. This worked out because it made her hitting the fence look more unintentional. For safety reasons, we had Stephanie hit her hand against the fence then fall so it looked like she actually hit it. After filming Stephanie's scenes, we went inside and had a snack break. We realized that we had no more scenes to film, so we decided to watch all our footage once again. We deleted the clips that we felt unnecessary. Finally, we cleaned up our props and I wiped off my makeup. Overall, filming at my house went smoothly and didn't take as long as we expected.

Filming Blog: Kaitlyn’s House

Today Stephanie and I began filming. Stephanie arrived to my house at around 10:50 a.m.. We were both in costume already, which was a white tank top and black leggings, which helped filming go by quicker. We separated the storyboard into scenes that needed to be filmed at my house and scenes that needed to be filmed at Stephanie’s house. We first filmed the scenes that needed to be filmed in the hallway of my house. Originally, we had planned to have my sister dress up as a guard and have her act like she was constructed me. Then Stephanie would punch the guard and save me. However, we decided that I would act like I was tied up and Stephanie untied me. We also never utilized my sister as an extra in the film. This was one of the many improvisations we made.

After we filmed the scenes outside in my backyard. It started to rain so we wait to do some of the scenes. However, we were able to film some of the scenes under the shelter of my canopy. I retrieved a black jacket and a mask for Stephanie to wear when we she had to do a scene of her dressed as a guard. This scene was originally meant to be played by my sister but we thought it was more convenient to have Stephanie be a guard. We did another close up of Stephanie as a guard but this time she was shooting a gun. We wanted to spray paint a water gun black to make it seem more realistic. However, I thought about the potential safety concerns that it could pose and decided that it would be best to leave the water gun as it was. This scene was actually filmed while it was still raining. I held an umbrella while panning the camera which was a bit of a tedious task but it was worth it in the end.

Planning Blog: Storyboard

Today we created our storyboard. Each box contains 2 seconds of film. Therefore, we filled out 20 boxes. I am artistic, so I physically drew everything. Meanwhile, Stephanie wrote what was happening during each scene. The storyboard took a while to complete. However, it will be extremely useful when we are filming. Storyboards allow us to look at our plot and know the lighting, and location of each scene. This will greatly benefit us and save our time when we begin to film. After the storyboard was completed, we took pictures of the storyboard and uploaded them into our google slide. In addition to this, we also added two scenes so the opening sequences would last two minutes.

Planning Blog: Title Design in Details

My partner and I decided the title design that we will be using. We wanted to use colors like red because the name of the movie is "Red Dot".  We are also using green because it is viewed as a "correct color." We decided on how each of the titles will look, and how they will enter and exit the screen. We also listed important information like the actors and the "company names." This was similar to the participants. This was important because we decided on company names.We decided to use our initials, therefore the production company is "SK Productions." We feel that our title slides are well presented. However, we are willing to make changes if necessary. 

Planning Blog: Location, Participants, Health, Schedule

We addressed our location, schedule, participants, and safety. We figure out which scenes we will film at Stephanie's house, and which scenes we will film and Kaitlyn's. For example, all of the action scenes will be filmed at Kaitlyn's house, because she has a backyard. We believe that when someone is in a situation similar to this, they are in lighter colored rooms like white or beige. Therefore, those scenes will be filmed at Stephanie's house. We also discussed our schedule when we both can film. This is important because we need our entire group to be there when we film. Luckily, the group consists of Kaitlyn and Stephanie. We also decided who would get credited for each job. We are very excited to begin storyboarding.

Planning Blog: Shooting Script

Today we made our shooting script. We were able to stick to most of our plot when creating this script. We had our first couple scenes show Stephanie getting the red dot on her wrist on her 16th birthday. We wanted her actions in these scenes to convey the dread she has when she receives the red dot.  The next few scenes after are apart of Stephanie's flash forward of when Stephanie gets taken away by guards. We wanted these scenes to have a lot of action which is why we added violence in these scenes. We added scenes of me being a fellow "prisoner" and Stephanie attempting to help me escape. The last few scenes will be Stephanie coming back to reality, which is the moment shes about to be taken away by the guards. There are some things we still haven't decided yet, like the name of Stephanie's character. We also want to have my sister play an extra in this film but we aren't able to confirm that she will participate yet.

Planning Blog: Sound Script

Today we started our sound script. We already had an idea in mind that there would be little to no dialogue in our film. We will be mostly relying on background music and sound effects in this film. In the scenes where Stephanie is discovering the red dot on her wrist (scenes 1-6) we wanted to build up the feeling of curiosity and suspense. We will be including a voice over of me singing happy birthday to create a sort of ominous feeling. There will be a screeching noise then silence which causes the audience to become fascinated about what these sounds mean. Later on, when Stephanie gets taken away by guards there will be many high action scenes. We will be included fast tempo music for these parts to create the feeling of excitement. There will be gun shots involved in these scenes as well. Lastly, these action scenes will be when the characters say their small lines.

Title Research:Seven

Extreme close ups of things such as someone holding a razor blade, someone cross out words in a book, and a photograph being processed in a red room, are prioritized in the opening to represent the danger that is being posed as the film progresses which abides by the conventions of the thriller genre. The images also create an enigma by making the audience wonder who or what is the antagonist in the film. When the titles for the actors appeared, they put well-known actors, Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman, first which attracts people who are fans of their work to watch the film. 

www.watchthetitles.com

Title Research: Split

There were 22 titles in this opening. Images that signify what is occurring in the opening, for example, an extreme close up of the ceiling passing by then an extreme close up of a girl being pushed on what seems like a hospital bed, are prioritized. The thriller genre is reinforced by these clips because they show what is happening in the scene, but doesn't provide background information on why this event is happening, therefore creating an enigma. This creates a mysterious and suspenseful atmosphere which are elements of the thriller genre. The transitions used to go from one title to the next resembles security cameras, which can allude to the movie being about a stalker which also adds suspense. The slow tempo background music establishes an ominous environment early on in the film which attracts people who enjoy thrillers and horror films.

 www.artofthetitle.com

Title Research: Venom

There were 23 titles in this opening. Black, white, and red images of paint splatters were prioritized in the opening. They alluded to the main focus of the film which is an alien called Venom, who black skin, white eyes, and eats humans. The symbols in the outset reinforce the conventions of the thriller genre because the ominous color scheme creates anticipation because it makes the viewers feel as though a scary antagonist may appear. The color red also signifies danger which can make the audience expect tension and violence. The images created by the black, white, and red paint splatters also help the film abide by the thriller genre because they emphasize that Venom has a distinct look that seems threatening, therefore establishing an enigma if the creature in the pictures is a friend or foe. The editing used to create the transitions of the outset was effective in peaking the curiosity of the viewers because it makes them question what the creature in the transitions, Venom, is. The film is based on Marvel comics, which is stated in the titles, which attracts the film's target audience, Marvel fans. 

www.artofthetitle.com

Title Research: Dial M for Murder

There were 12 titles in the opening sequence. This movie was made in 1954, so it contrasted with the other sequences. For example, most opening sequences are around 2 minutes. However, this opening sequence was a little more than a minute. In addition to this, most thriller and suspense movies have dark colors in the opening sequence. This movie mainly had darker colors, but there were a few brighter colors like reds. There were only 2 different angles in this scene. There was a close up of an old retro phone. However, this was a commonly used phone at the time. Then, there was an extreme close up of the dial pad. This opening sequence didn't have much of a thrilling feeling. However, towards the end of the sequence, there was a violin in the background. Violins are stereotyped for suspense, which is related to thriller movies. It is apparent that the movie is supposed to be a crime thriller, even if the opening sequence doesn't have a lot of thriller aspects. 

Title Research: Watch the Titles Website

The second website I researched was Watch the Titles. This website allowed me to watch many opening sequences. I was able to search many types of title sequences. It ranged from student films to feature films. I could also click on certain studios. This was helpful because certain studios do similar genres. This made my search for thriller movies much easier. I could also search for particular movies. This was helpful because I could watch the opening sequence that I was previously thinking about. This website allowed me to further my research in thriller. For example, I was able to find designers and studios that create thriller movies. I was able to watch the opening credits because of this. In addition to this, the website was easy to navigate. This allowed my research to go quickly. Overall, I learned a lot from this particular website.