RESEARCH: ART OF THE TITLE - GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY

For my research, I used the website Art of the Title to explore the methods film companies use in order to intrigue their viewers, through the use of a title sequence or film opening.

I chose to analyse Guardians of the Galaxy, a 2014 Marvel action/sci-fi film, because of its comedic elements; comedy is a typical convention of many Marvel films. I wanted to understand the effects of using comedy in a film opening to see whether it is an element which I then want to incorporate into my own film opening. In this title sequence, directed by Erin Sarofsky, Peter Quill (played by Chris Pratt) steals a valuable orb that is wanted by Ronan the accuser. He eventually forms a group with unwilling heroes to stop Ronan – the ‘guardians of the galaxy’.

The title-sequence opens with a camera shot that displays a canted angle of a planet. Next to the planet, typography spells out ‘MORAG, Abandoned planet’. This immediately reinforces the main science fiction genre and signifies to the audience that we are no longer in our own world and therefore anything could happen. This connotes danger and possibly even wonder, as for the viewer there is the sense of the unknown. A darkened colour palate further reveals the desolate nature of the planet, as there are not vibrant signs of life, reinforcing the viewers intrigue into an environment so opposed to any they know.

As the title sequence progresses, the audience gains a greater understanding of the harsh nature of the planet, through camera shots from all angles portraying the clear visual style that helps to establish context of the surroundings. The protagonist is shown to be struggling against the elements; connotations of danger surrounding this unknown world are emphasised and therefore the tension is increased. An effective aspect of the title sequence, is that there is a clear narrative structure within the opening. The sequence shows the protagonist moving towards a goal (the orb) and so there is a clear objective and meaning of the opening. This keeps the anticipation and intrigue strong as the viewer infers that what is happening is key to the narrative of the film as a whole. Consistently throughout the sequence, there is a use of point-of-view shots, so that the viewer has an insight into the character of the protagonist. As Peter Quill’s face is masked for the first section of the opening, the viewer is impacted to feel detached from his character. However, the POV shots help the audience to better understand and relate to his character. As Quill continues forward, he pulls out a scanner that reveals what seems to be the planet in a former life, this pushes the audience to question what lead to the planet becoming abandoned, increasing their intrigue to find out more. Diegetic, digital sound effects accompany the activation of the scanner, adding to the sci-fi feel of the film.

 

Throughout the first half of the title sequence, there is continuous sound, in the form of non-diegetic music and diegetic sound effects used to build up an awareness of the nature of the planet, e.g. rain. The music is a parallel sound as its successful in building up an eerie, mysterious ambience, highlighting the science fiction genre. As Quill reaches the structure there is a significant build-up of volume and therefore suspense, increasing the intensity of the scene and signifying to the audience that we have reached a momentous part of the opening and influencing them to question what is about to happen. The music is then halted and replaced by digital sound effects as he removes his mask, revealing his face. The revelation that the protagonist is a human, means that an aspect of the tension is released for the audience as they can instantly relate to his character, whereas before a sense of mystery was maintained as the entire mise-en-scene was unfamiliar to the viewer. The absence of non-diegetic sound emphasised the presence of ambient sounds, such as dripping and echoes of his movements in the ruins. This quiet creates an uneasy atmosphere and may cause the viewer to feel unsettled as it is clear that something significant is about the take place.

Instead, this build up of tension is broken by the sound track of ‘Come and get your love’ by Redbone playing through Quill’s cassette player. This significant tonal shift is unexpected by the viewer, and therefore emphasises the comedic elements of the music, in comparison to the desolate planet and uneasy atmosphere created previously. The audience is relieved of their anticipation through Quill’s humorous dancing in time with the music, making the film immediately more fun and appealing. The chosen Redbone song ‘Come and get your love’ has a mass appeal to a range of generations as it was (and still is) extremely popular, as the audience is likely to know the song the comedic aspect will therefore resonate more with them as they can relate to what they are watching.  As the vocals come in, bold, impactful text spelling ‘guardians of the galaxy’ fills the screen, reflecting the upbeat nature of the song. This is also comedic as beneath the lettering in the background the long-shot captures Quill dancing which is a large contrast to his surroundings demonstrating the films balance between action and comedy. As the music does not reflect the desolate nature of the planet which we see on screen, it is contrapuntal sound. A more light-hearted tone for the film is set, so the audience will have a greater desire to carry on watching as they can expect more comedic elements like this.

The title sequence is concluded with Quill picking a lock of some description, in order to access the orb. This reveals elements about his personality and nature of his work, so the audience is left wondering the significance in the wider film. The final shot is of the glowing orb, this demonstrates its importance and the audience can infer that it is the main focus of the film. It is accompanied by the music fading out, depicting its clear power.

 

 

 

RESEARCH: ART OF THE TITLE 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo'

To start off my research, I used the website Art of the Title to explore film openings and title sequences to better understand the ways in which film companies successfully engage their viewers. 

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a 2011 psychological thriller based on the 2005 novel written by Swedish writer Stieg Larsson and directed by David Fincher. I chose to analyse the title sequence of ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ because as a viewer myself I was immediately intrigued and I would like to learn from the success of this film opening and the thriller conventions that it uses, as I hope to further explore the thriller genre when we progress to filming our own film opening.

The title sequence opens with a black screen and a 5 second build-up of non-diegetic music. This successfully helps to build up anticipation for the reader as tension is built through the increasing volume of the sound. This anticipation is broken with clear audio codes of drumming which make the rhythm more fast paced as the beat and tempo increase, this rock music is asynchronous as we do not see the source of the music within the scene. The music (‘Immigrant Song by Led Zeppelin) remains continuous throughout, the howling vocals contributing to the overwhelming impact on the audience created by the intensity and chaotic nature of the music. This helps to create a sense of thrill, that allow the audience to infer the genre of the film; thriller.

Sudden flashes of light in the beginning shed a white light on aspects of the mise-en-scene. The flashes of light are in sync with the rhythm of the music, forming a beat. The flashes start off by returning to the darkness but as they become quicker they cut to the next shot, this increase of the tempo builds up the intensity, helping to further intrigue the viewer. The use of close-up shots adds to the sense of the unknown, and causes the audience to become disorientated as they cannot understand the context of the shots, this may influence them to become more engaged in the sequence, as they search for details. Just under 15 seconds into the title sequence the viewer is introduced to a smooth, oozing black oil-like substance, a ‘viscid, black ooze’ that seeps over the mise-en-scene. Its flowing form contrasts with the chaotic rock music adding to the uneasy feel, however the way in which it overwhelms, penetrates and seeps into everything it touches fits with the overpowering audio codes; it is ‘suffocating and sensual and silent’. Both the music and the mise-en-scene contribute to the immersive feel of the film opening, making the viewer feel involved and engaged in what they are watching. 

The distinctive visual style of the title sequence also contributes to the intense thriller feel. The colour palate is tones of black and white, alongside flashes of glowing ember, these colours have sinister connotations which may cause the viewer to feel unsettled. Furthermore, this creates a murky feel as most of what we see is shrouded in darkness so we are unable to understand what we are being shown. An ominous atmosphere is created as a result of this and the audience is caused to feel somewhat disorientated and overwhelmed through a mix of the intense audio and visual codes. The constant movement of the camera shots also adds to the hectic, fast paced feel. This feeling is a good indicator of what the film is likely to entail and therefore will intrigue the viewer to watch more.

An unusual atmosphere is created by the mise-en-scene, as we see a range of objects and forms, ranging from a keyboard and cables to bodies overwhelmed in the black substance, conflict, drowning, dragons and flames. Rapid cross-cutting of shots creates a disorientating effect as the viewer is unable to properly focus on, and attempt to understand, any one thing, this creates a sense of confusion. Although the cross-cutting is rapid, the movements within the scenes are slow and flowing, much like the oil. As the title sequence progresses, there is an increase in the quantity of shots including flames. Flames have sinister connotations, as well as linking to ‘dragon’ in the title. This may cause the audience to search for a link between the two references, and form an intrigue as to what significance the dragon has.  

RESEARCH: ART OF THE TITLE 'MINDHUNTER'

Mindhunter is a Netflix drama based on the true story of a man who pioneered the science of profiling serial killers, directed by David Fincher. 

 I chose to analyse this title sequence because of its dramatic qualities, which I hope to be able to learn from and emulate when I make my own film-opening. I think the successful build up of tension and feeling of suspense is really effective and I am inspired by the psychological thriller-like feel which is a genre I intend to explore in my film opening.

During the title sequence, a fragmented feel is created by the cross-cutting of clips from the titles to gory shots of a dead body. The title sequence opens with slow deliberated movements of what seems to be a man’s hand opening a recording device. This setting is used as a focal point throughout the title sequence and therefore allows the viewer to infer that those shots are likely to be high relevance to the rest of the series.This camera shot is momentarily disrupted with an image of a decomposing body, before resuming to the previous shot. These gory images are enough to momentarily shock the viewer but are only rapid flashes and therefore it is hard to understand what the shots are of, in the time provided. This effect is further emphasised through the close-up shots of the body, these eliminate any context from the background and therefore further confuse the audience. These glimpses are effective in enticing the viewer as they act as clues to hint at what the series entails. A mysterious tone is set due to the lack of detail and explanation, and is further reinforced by the lack of impact on the calm, precise movements of the hand setting up the recorder. This is suspicious as it is unclear as to whether the flashes of the body are flashbacks or memories of some sort and if they are, the man must be used to them, as he does not display any signs of a reaction.  Through this, a sense of normality is created and the viewer is likely to find themselves intrigued and willing to discover the unknown details, such as who the body and hand are, and what link they have.

There is an evident contrast of slow precise movements of the setting up of the recorder, in the scenes in which the titles are displayed, in comparison to the short and quick flashes of the body. Mise-en-scene contributes to the distinctive visual style and mysterious feeling of the title sequence through a simple set-up, and the focus on just one prop – the recorder, the absence of any further detail of the setting creates a feeling that there is a lot that is unknown, the audience may therefore maintain a fear of the unknown, causing them to feel on-edge. Furthermore, the colour palate of the recorder scenes is desaturated, in black and white, and appears very plain and simple; this emotionless, cold feel is enough to unsettle the viewer before the contrasting shock of the dead body. The intended impact of this may have been to disorientate the viewer and therefore add to the unease which the unsettling shots of the dead body have already created. The style of realism maintained throughout the opening, also contributes to the ominous feeling as it the body appears to be extremely lifelike and realistic, adding to the distress felt by the viewer.

The non-diegetic music that accompanies the title sequence is relatively simple, which contributes to the chilling, eerie feel. Although the sound is continuous, its rhythm changes slightly at certain points throughout the sequence, as another sound with a faster tempo is placed over the original piano music. The piano music ensures that tension is steadily built up throughout the sequence, whereas when the other music is introduced the subtle mix of the two sounds helps to make the music more overpowering, which fits with the thriller genre. As the title sequence progresses, the subtle build-up of sound is enough to allow the viewer to sense a build-up of tension and suspense and further intrigues them to watch on. Over the top of the music, diegetic sounds can be heard in the scenes where the man is setting up the recorder, for example the metallic sounds of the hand interacting with the recording equipment. These focus the audience’s attention on the actions of the hand and push them to question what relevance they have.

The absence of any explanation or context of the dead body in the title sequence to Mindhunter helps to set a tone of mystery that the audience will expect to be carried on throughout the series, and will therefore engage and influence them to want to watch on and discover the details that were missing in the title sequence.

 

Film Sound Techniques and Theory

                  

RHYTHM - beat or pulse, pace or tempo
Rhythm can be recognisable in music, where the pace of music matches the scene to achieve the right effect (e.g suspense or tension), speech, where it is used to hold the viewers attention, and even sound effects can maintain rhythmic qualities. 

FIDELITY - extent to which sound fits with the source in which it came from. 

A matter of what a viewer would expect to hear.

LACK OF FIDELITY - disparity between image and sound

Can make viewer feel discriminated. 

PARALLEL SOUND - sound that matches the theme of the images on screen 

e.g suspense music  in a horror theme

CONTRAPUNTAL SOUND - when we hear sounds that we wouldn’t usually associate with the events on screen

Adds impact to a scene and may influence the viewer to feel uncomfortable

SYNCHRONOUS SOUND - when the viewer hears sound at the same time we see the source produce the sound 

e.g dialogue when the lips of the character move as we hear the appropriate words spoken

ASYNCHRONOUS SOUND - where images and sounds are out of sync.

DIEGETIC SOUNDS - sounds produced in the story space of the film

Sounds which we would expect to hear coming from the action.

NON DIEGETIC SOUNDS -sound that is from a source that is outside of the  narrative space

Often in the form of music a spoken narrative

VOLUME - the intensity of a sound

Alterations in volume can have a dramatic impact on the atmosphere of the scene and can intensify the action - especially if a 

period of quiet is followed by louder elements within the scene.