Title Research: Watch the Titles

 My AICE media teacher assigned us to research two different media websites, one being watchthetitles.com. When I first opened the website, I was greeted with a page that looked like this: 

I was not sure what to expect, but after further research on the website, this is what I found:

This website is "A project dedicated to the art of title design." Instead of enjoying the design of the actual movie, this website wants you to appreciate the design and thought that goes into the title. You see some examples of movie titles at the main website screen. 

After I research and saw the basics of the home page, I started to explore the website a little more. I started by clicking on the tab that says "title sequences." Once I clicked this, I saw a number of different title scenes from popular movies, some of which I recognized. From this page, you can click on a title sequence from a movie that you want to watch. This helped me understand the actual meaning of a "title sequence." After going through the title sequence tab, I clicked on the next one, which is "Designers". I already knew what to expect when clicking on this slide. This tab shows you a list of title designers. Once you click on one of their names, it tells you about what movie titles they have designed, what company they work for, and a quote from them. Finally, the last tab says "studios." This slide shows a list of studios. Once you click on one of the studio names, it tells you which title was made at that studio. It also tells you a brief description of the studio and what happens there.

Title Research: Art of the Title

My AICE media teacher assigned us to research two different media websites, one being artofthetitle.com. When I first opened the website, I was greeted with a page that looked like this:






Since I already researched the other website first, I knew somewhat what to expect. At first, I did not know exactly what a “title sequence” was, so I looked up the actual media definition. A title sequence (also called an opening sequence or intro) is the method by which films or television programmes present their title and key production and cast members, utilizing conceptual visuals and sound. As I researched and explored the website, I found two tabs on the top. The first one was titled “title sequences.” Once I clicked on it, I found headings saying “Top title sequences of 2019” and others. There were also headings of title sequences from popular movies, as well as title sequences from classic movies. 

I then clicked on the other heading named “designers + studios.” This reveals a massive list of names of title sequence designers, as well as studios where the title sequences are made. IF you click on specific names/studios, it will show a picture of that person/studio and a brief description of who they are, and what they did in the media industry. This website is definitely a great learning experience for anyone that is interested in media. Before going into the website, I had little knowledge of what a title sequence was and their importance. 

Genre PowerPoint Revisited

We need to research genres for our final project and since we already did a PowerPoint on this genre, we will use it. The genre was western and we did this genre because we randomly drew it out of a hat. We had done this presentation at the beginning of the year before we had done any filming. We will not be using this genre in our final project because it doesn't seem to fit our pitch. The presentation was to give examples of lighting,camera angles, movements, Mis-en-scene, and the elements of the genre. Westerns use lots of natural sunlight, lots of camera movements, and almost all camera angles. Westerns also have a dessert setting, wild west props, and violence.

Genre Research: Baby Driver (2017)

   Another movie we picked to do research on was Baby Driver, a recent Thriller movie that was a hit in theaters when it came out only 3 years ago. The movie itself is about a young man working as a getaway driver for a rotating gang of bank robbers and his eventual "escape" from the clutches of his boss. the movie itself is very action heavy, and it uses music and different camera angles to keep the viewers attention.
-The camera is used not as a portal for the viewer to view the events of the movie, but as a tool the director uses to get the most out of his actors and therefore the scene. tracking shots following both the police and baby make every scene nothing short of eye candy. even while there is no driving or action the camera is used to show the emotions and feelings of each character. zooms, tracking shots and extreme close ups are just some examples of the techniques used in this movie.
-the costumes are not as prominent as other movies, but still each article of clothing is used to portray the personality of each of the characters, such as the headphones of the protagonist or the cold personality of the crime lord. the setting is a basic city, the marvel comes from the stunt driving and the thrilling situations the characters are put in.
-Sounds are an extremely important part of this movie. the first 10 minutes are all completely in sync to the music that the protagonist is listening to in his headphones. the main character is partly deaf, so he uses music to get into the "bank robbing mood" the main relationship sprawls from music too. every track has a different feel and plays a massive part of every scene.
-editing is bouncy, thrilling the audience with quick cuts and shot reverse shots.
-the main elements in this genre are action with risk of death to put the audience on the edge of their seats and music to get the veins pumping with Adrenalin.
my final review -
this movie is fantastic. the music works in tandem with the movement and just makes for an overall amazing experience for any moviegoer.

Genre Decision Blog: Thriller

   After all our research on genres, we have finally decided what our genre for our film is going to be. The first 2 minutes will be a thriller. Thrillers are very cool and a perfect genre for our film. We have many ideas on how we will film it and what camera angles we will use and a thriller has exactly what we are looking for. The lighting is low key and natural which is good for us because we don’t have other types of lighting that would be good for our idea. Costumes are common clothing which is good for us because we already have that. Finally, a thriller is good because it will be good at giving the feeling of suspense and then the audience would want more.

Genre Research: Get Out (2017)

  "Get Out" is a popular movie that was released in 2017. It is categorized as a thriller.

Camera angles

• POV shots.
• Close ups
• Extreme close ups
• Tracking shots
• Canted/Dutch
• Birds eye view

The camera angles are especially important in this movie. A specific example are how Close-up shots are used in this film. The shot of the main characters face as he is being hypnotized shows extreme emotion, which then makes the audience feel the same fear he is feeling. 

Mis Ec Scene

Costumes- Common modern clothes are used in this film because it is when the film is taking place. However, formal clothing is used in the film during scenes which are important to the development of the story. 

Lighting- There is many different lighting techniques used in this film. However, the two that stand out the most are high and low key lighting.
Actors- In this film, there are only a few main actors, and little extras used. This adds to the mysterious effect that this movie gives off.
Makeup- Makeup is used in film to portray the personality of the character. In thrillers, not much makeup is used since the identity of characters is supposed to be kept hidden. 

Props- The main element of thrillers is suspense. Suspense is greatly built with props. Common props that build suspense are knives, guns, blood, and curtains. Many of these are used in this film. 

Setting- Thrillers usually take place in cities and suburbs, however they can become specific and take place in foreign cities, desert themed places, and polar regions. This specific movie takes place in a isolated house.

Common Sounds

There is a large use of digetic sound in this film. There is also some non-digetic sound that is used. Score is used as well. the type of music is eery, which builds suspense.

Common Editing

Editing in thrillers is also crucial because it will develop the feeling of suspense. To create suspense, fast pace and slow paced editing is used. This helps create tension with a scene. 

Elements of genre: This movie uses suspense, tension, and excitement as its main elements. This keeps the viewer hooked on the film. Thrillers stimulate the viewers moods by giving them a high level of anticipation, expectation, surprise, and anxiety. All of these moods are built through the Mis en scene, camera angles, sound, and editing.

Which elements did I like? 

My favorite elemet in this movie was the suspense. It makes you feel scared, however you still want to see what happens. It keeps you hooked on the movie. 

Which element did I not like?

My least favorite element was tension. Tension is similar to suspense, but instead it usually ends with a scare. I am not a scary movie person, so that is why I do not like suspense. 

Genre Research: American Psycho

  Another movie I picked to do research on was American Psycho, a Thriller movie that was rated pretty high by critics. The movie is about this american business man that is narrating to the audience the entire time he kills people. This describes the title of the movie with an imperfect killer that is going insane.
- pretty much all the camera angles are eye level and sometimes low angle. All camera positions were used but mostly over the shoulder, long shot, medium close ups, and 2 shots were used. There are a surprisingly amount of zooms in this movie, along with hand held, tracking, pans, and tilts.
-The costumes are normal business suits and common clothes. Lights are common and natural with other lights on faces to make them pop. The acting if very good and people are very serious with it too. The makeup they use is not a lot, mostly women's normal make up and sometimes blood. props are normal business objects, sometimes weapons, food, and drinks. the setting is in the city in an office and rooms and streets.
- Sounds are diegetic and nondiegetic with voice overs and there are lots of dialogue. They use a sound track too.
-common editing would be lots of cross cutting, some cut aways, and shot reverse shots.
-The elements of the genre in the movie are lots of suspense and things that get my heart racing. The movie gets my brain thinking.There are common clothes in this movie, common lighting, and pretty much everything you would see in the Mis-En-Scene for this genre. This movie has the same camera angles and movements as well.
-I loved the suspense that they used. I loved that they really were confusing and manipulating the audience the entire time watching.
-I did not like how long it was though, it seemed like the same thing over and over but, I feel they made it work.