Saul Bass

Saul Bass (1920-1996) was not only one of the great graphic designers of the mid-20th century but the undisputed master of film title designs. When film for Otto Preminger’s controversial new drugs movie, The Man with the Golden Arm, arrived at US cinematic screens in 1955, a note was stuck on the cans - "Projectionists – pull curtain before titles". Until Saul Bass, the lists of cast and crew members which passed for movie titles were so dull that projectionists only pulled back the curtains to reveal the screen once they’d finished. But Preminger wanted his audience to see The Man with the Golden Arm’s titles as an integral part of the film. The movie’s theme was the struggle of its hero, a jazz musician played by Frank Sinatra, to overcome his heroin addiction. Designed by the graphic designer Saul Bass the titles featured an animated black paper-cut-out of a heroin addict’s arm. Knowing that the arm was a powerful image of addiction, Bass had chosen it, rather than Frank Sinatra’s famous face, as the symbol of both the movie’s titles and its promotional poster. That cut-out arm caused a sensation and Saul Bass reinvented the movie title as an art form. By the end of his life, he had created over 50 title sequences for Preminger, Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick, John Frankenheimer and Martin Scorsese. If it was not for Saul Bass I highly doubt that many of the film titles you see today would have been so cleverly put together if it was not for his great past work.

From looking at the work which Saul Bass came up with its given my group and I the inspiration to really go in depth with our design of the title opening and names. It has proven to me also that film making has a lot of processes to go through and does not only come down to the filing but initial preperation and excessive amounts of meaning.

Film Titles and Production Company

Within todays lesson we thought it would be a good idea to come up with our production name for example "21st Century Fox." After many thoughts we thought it would be quite ironic to call it Warner Sister which associates with Warners Brothers. In order to not seem like we are deliberately copying the production company we decided to make our own logo and a completely different sliding screen in order to seperate us from their company and ultimatley prevent claims of us going against copyright. In addition to this our group made lists of names in which we could use as our titles. Our favourite so far was Regrets as it goes well with the idea of the film as Katie will kill although not intentionally. However it is only early days and therefrore this isn't settled as we were told that titles are usually the last idea which will come to mind.

Opening Music

Within this lesson my group and I were trying to find a suitable song for the opening sequence. Using Youtube we searched in horror music although the music was too eery compared to what we are trying to convey in our opening. For example we are looking for a type of music which would be used in a thriller although when we typed in thriller in Youtube it came up with the famous Michael Jackson video. I then realised that I've heard a song which would be ideal for our theme. Blinded by the lights is a song by The Streets which is a garage based song which has a tempo that is quite slow and the lyrics also talk about taking drugs which in essence relates to Katie being in the club. However, due to The Streets being a well known group we are unable to use this song as that would be copyright and we would therefore lose marks. For this reason my group and I were extremely annoyed as after a long time of searching for a thee song we were adamant that this was the song we wanted to use. In addition to this we then came across the song In for the Kill by La Roux but once again we came across the same problem. Our aim now is to keep searching but not let it take over our planning on other important aspects of our filming.

Thursday 20th January 2011

Within this lesson we were shown three videos of opening sequences from the previous years. All of their short clips shown to us were of a level four which is the grade in which I want to achieve. The examples shown to us were a realisation to my group and I that simplicity can be most effective whereas our idea was quite complicated. After watching all of the sequences and how the concept of their ideas were so simple to view this made us question whether our idea was too complex. Therefore throughout the rest of the lesson we spent our time effectively cutting chunks out of the opening sequence of unneeded clips which will shorten the sequence and make the whole opening more worth watching.

Influences

The Descent

One of our first influences shown to us in class, as an example of an opening sequence, was The Descent. This is a film which targets the woman as taking the male role which links to our view of going against the female stereotype. The opening sequence of this film shows the female canoeing and taking part in predominantly male activities, whilst her husband watches and looks after the child. We see the first murder within the first two minutes; this immediately captures the audience’s attention as it is completely unexpected. This gave us the realisation into how important it was to hook the audience in the opening sequence in order to set the mood for the rest of the film. In addition to this the opening sequence ensures that the audience will want to continue watching and gives them an insight into what the film is going to roughly be about.

Creep

The main thing which caught my group’s was the way in which the lights merged alongside the fast jump-cuts which made it unclear to know what was happening yet still portrayed the theme and kept a tense atmosphere of a thriller. The character being chased was a female, this fits our intentions but we will then twist it around at the very end of our opening sequence keeping the viewers in suspense. The titles are creative the way in which the torch shone over each word which linked to the theme of their film being in an underground train station. As the opening sequence comes to an end the title of the film is presented with bold letters and a black background with the tube symbol, this is a great way to show the film is officially starting and gives an insight to the storyline without giving much away.

Monster

Although my group and I were unable to upload a video of the opening sequence due to my own knowledge this film links extremely well to our idea. This biographical thriller is about a serial killer who was a former prostitute until she was raped by a former client. Rather than her being the stereotypical victim of rape she then goes on to murder him and this ultimately turns her mentally ill. A few months after, she carries on killing up to six more men which in essence is similar to the concept of our own film. When thinking of how to cast our actors and direct them in the film I feel that the main actress within Monster is the kind of role in which we are trying to portray.

Target Audience

My group and I believe that our film is aimed at females due to the main character being a female her self and not sticking to the usual stereotypical ideas of most horror/thriller films. This in itself will intrigue the female audience as it’s a fresh idea which has not been done many times before. Although the actress will be the main focus of the film males will still enjoy the film with its mysterious storyline and twists keeping their attention throughout. The age we feel it has been directed at is the young adults, demographic from 15-25. This is due to the fact we feel it would be certificate 15 and with its realistic storyline this age group will be aware and relatable to this storyline, scenes, soundtrack, and locations. Anyone who seeks to find a good mystery and enjoys the element of an unexpected surprise will find this plot enjoyable.
In addition to this the idea of our film not being directed to an award winning director or script writer means that realistically there will not as many viewer to see the film than their would with a film such as Avator. Also, the lack of well known actors add to the down fall of views ultimately as well as their not being a high budget. Usually low budget films are not looked highly upon and therefore will not bring in viewers as some people may feel that if not a lot of money is put into a film then it might not be good enough to have a lot of money spent on it and therefore not good enough to pay to watch. Therefore the people who might be more inclined to watch the film may be those who are avid film buffs who are willing to watch films out of their usual preference.

We looked at www.imdb.com to look at our main influences and see the trend in user ratings. Creep was one of them because of the gory storyline and the style of the opening sequence. Below is a chart which shows the ratings for various age ranges and gender:

The descent is also shown, below, by ratings and from this we are given an insight into our influences audience and can relate it to our own film.

For both films we can see that under 18 for men and women is the most popular age group and our own film is targeted to 18-30 year olds which fits perfectly. Therefore certificate 15 is very appropriate as these ages are interested but because of the theme being a thriller it wouldn't appeal to any younger audiences.

Outline and Synopsis of Opening Sequence

Outline

 My group and I have decided to use an opening sequence which will entail a series of jump-cuts, using various visual camera effects, to betray the idea of a young girl on a night out; eventually getting in an illegal cab.  Having consumed too much alcohol on her night out in the club this leads her to be unaware of her surroundings and being taken near a darkened area of town by the illegal cab driver. Unlike the typical thrillers where the female is the obvious victim, the roles switch. Katie, the main actress, does something which will affect the rest of her life.

The synopsis 

After a dramatic and unexpected beginning, the consequences of Katie’s actions are gradually revealed to the audience through a series of flash backs in which we find out Katie has been sexually abused by her father as a young child. This explains her reaction to the male driver at the beginning of the film and as the film continues we see a pattern of Katie's distrust in men. In her psychological mind set she feels as though innocent citizens are being secretly targeted and brutally slaughtered. Katie then comes to realisation of the horrific events she has caused throughout her life, in which she is eventually tracked down by the police. However, her revenge on men doesn't end there...

Analysis of opening sequence

Sweeney Todd

 Firstly the music is haunting and the use of non diegetic sounds of lighting adds to the eeriness which is the tone of the film. In addition tot his the rooftops are no longer used which gives the reader the impression that the film is set back many years ago.The scene which is followed by what seems to be a dolly/ steady cam exemplifies the sense of horror as the setting is dark and over looks the town as though something or some one is watching.
In order to highlight credits, the names of those who took part in the making of the film were in white which contrasted against the dark backdrop. Use of mise en scene is once again very important as the slight use of blood of the window pane which is then followed by a focus onto the barber chair is an insight into what the film involves and its main content. The recurring use of blood is used to guide the viewer around the main room where it seems that the main story lies. Then all of a sudden a cutaway is used to form the blood into the title of "Sweeney Todd" which is bold in red letters which gives us the idea that the character Sweeney Todd is a main charatcer within the plot.
Throughout the clip is almost not real as all aspects of the oepneing sequence, especially the use of blood, seems fake almost as it is is a cartoon. This idea may link tot the idea that the film is in istelf not real and therefore inforces this in to the viewers mind. Suddenly the music fades away and we are left with a grey fog which displayes the name Tim Burton who was director and at once the film starts.
 

Analysis of opening sequence

 office space

The key function of a title sequence is as a vehicle for the main credits. In Office Space the clip starts off showing the audience that the film is made by one of Americas major film studios, 20th Century Fox. Once again the title of Twentieth century fox is in focus though this time with a black back drop and blu cartoonish letters which gives the audience an idea that the film will be comedy based rather than a standard font, such as Times new roman, to imply a sense of seriousness. Cleverly, throughout the opening sequence the names of those who were involved witht he making of the film have their names also highlighted in the cartoonish blue font which gives themselves credit for their work.
The music chosen for the opening sequences is by damaso perez prado, mambo number eight. It is a playfull song which succesfully reflects the whole film therefore allowing the audience an insight into the film in which they are about to view. In addition to this at 1:50 the film cleverly sounds out the main theme tune to bring in the non diegetic sound of the cars radio in which it plays Scarface's song "no tears." This song deliberately contrasts to the stereotypes of what type of people would listen to rap music by showing a white business man wearing glasses to be overly enjoying it. Once again the use of this enables the viewer to understand that the theme will be that of a comedy.
However I feel that it is the mise en scene that plays the most important part in establishing the tone and genre. All three characters are depicted being stuck in traffic on the motorway seeming to all be on their ways to work due to their attire of suits and ties. The sense of endless traffic relates the viewer to the film as each of the characters refletcs every type of driver when stuck in traffic; the driver who tries to swerve their way in and out of the traffic thought without success, drivers who simple relax whilst listening to the radio and the impatient driver who finds themself getting easily aggitated and frustrated.
The old man who walks past using a zimmerframe is used to highlight the slow speed at which the traffic is going at and therefore adds a comical feel. The use of cutaways are used well to portray the idea of so many people being apart of the traffic though so many being alone at the same time which is once again another give a way to the tone of the film which may arise later in the film.

 trainspotting

‘Trainspotting’ has a very different style and this is very apparent to the viewer from the short clip. We are shown the production company in a plain font which doesn't make us prejudge the genre before seeing anything. We are shown the main character who is speaking throughout, giving us an insight in to his and his friends lives, it proceeds to freeze on each character and show us their name and some basic information about them; already we feel as if we know a lot about the film and involves the audience. The soundtrack stays the same and with its fast beat it really compliments what’s actually going on. From the opening scene we are given a lot of information about the film, location, and lifestyle and although its very action packed I think its good as it really makes you want to watch the rest to see what happens.