Independent Research – Film Openings

Independent Research – Film Openings

Titles – Film openings include titles. The primary function of these titles is to show the cast or crew that helped to make the film, as well as this they are used to give credit to these people. Film titles normally try and follow the theme of the film by being a relevant font and appear in appropriate location so to not cover a face of an actor or an important part of the scene. Titles in a opening can be either integrated or non-integrated. Integrated titles means that they are part of the scene therefore characters will interact with them (e.g. lean up against them). Integrated titles can also be shaped in a way so they are a certain object but they will always be a name or title of the film. This is mostly used in animations (e.g. Catch Me If You Can). Non-integrated is most commonly used and is just normally titles.

Font - Title font is very important since it must follow the theme of a film. This also helps to hint to the audience what the genre or storyline of the film maybe. This will give the audience an idea of what generic conventions to expect when they are watching the film. A film that uses font well is “My Best Friend’s wedding”. This is due to the fact that the titles help convey the theme and genre of the film. The titles font is very different and looks like the writing that would be on a wedding invite therefore hinting to the audience that the film may fall under the Romance genre.

Reasons why titles may not be used are that to enhance the cinematic experience. This may be ruined by words popping up in the middle of the frame and therefore this may interrupt the storyline or take the audience out of the action. Even know having titles is good some directors may not want it if it ruins the overall movie for the audience.

Directors may also not use titles as some opening sequences are very important to the storyline and are critical to understanding the movie. Therefore the director may want the audience to remain engaged on what is happening within the films world and not titles since they sometimes can be distracted or take away from the overall movie experience.