Titles and Credits Research



Mind Map of Titles and Credits

Summary of Research -

From looking at various genres of films I noticed a few similarities between the title and credits sequence of each different genre. For example, comedies had light hearted music and a very calm opening/closing scenes. They also had a smooth transition for each credit appearing on screen. Action/Thrillers tended to have more upbeat music and fast pace transitions of credits exiting/appearing, making them more disruptive of the action. Also, unlike comedies, there was generally a montage of shots, rather than one complete sequence of action.. In general however, music was played and directors/producers were mentioned before the actual title and actors names. The placing of the title (or if the title even appeared) varied so it was difficult to tell whether this was due to the film being a certain genre or not. It seems to be a decision made on the basis of the smooth running of each individual sequence.

I looked at a documentary of a band as well because, although ours is a fiction film, this is close to our coursework opening sequence and is the style we want to imitate in our biopic. I noticed that there was no music until about a minute into the sequence and the shots consisted of close ups of instruments or stages – the credits appeared subtly for the producers and directors and then became more noticeable and ‘edgy’ when actors were introduced. This was helpful to see because even though our ideas lean to the film being more drama and emotion-based, due to the suicide that opens the action, it could be placed under the ‘coming of age’ genre as well and needs to suit the 'rock documentary' style genre.