Title research blog: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

  There are so many movies in the world and each movie has their own title sequence in the beginning of the movie. My group was tasked with looking at a few examples of title sequences and research them. the one I decided to look at is was the title sequence from the movie The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. 1.How many titles are displayed during the opening sequences to the film? There were 8 titles displayed during the opening sequence of this film. 2.What images are prioritized in the opening sequence? Images that are prioritized in the opening sequence were mostly red and black pictures that had bodies in the picture. 3.What connotations do the images carry? All of these images had a negative connotations they all gave off scary, and creepy vibes. The images that they showed gave me chills. 4.How is the genre reinforced through symbolic and technical codes from the outset? The genre of horror is reinforced through the technical and symbolic codes of this through many ways. The main purpose of horror is to scare the audiences by using the creepy and uncomfortable images that the creator imputed is very likely to have an effect on the audiences in a way horror films should.  5. How does the film establish an enigma from the outset? The film established an enigma from the outset by not establishing any specific characters or the plot. The producers didn't tell us who the bodies were so it left us guessing. Throughout the movie the audiences are guessing, about the bodies. 6. What strategies are used to ensure the film appeals to its audience? producers and film makers will use many different tactics to ensure their films are appealing to a large audience. horror movies use tactics that will make these audiences get a very uncomfortable and eerie feeling. they use tactics like using dark red colors or put some creepy images in there so people get scared. 7. How has technology been used effectively? Technology has been used in this movie effectively because they used technology to create the Images in the title sequence and to create all the edits to the movie and the CGI. The editors also used technology to create the eerie music in the background while playing the title sequence. All of these techniques came together to create this great movie.

Title research blog: watch the titles website

Hello! To better understand how and what the title markers do to make the opening sequence for a movie, my group and I went to the website www.watchthetitles.com. While trying to find a website to look at for our research on the opening titles we stubbled upon this website. On this website, you can find example titles from many different genres of films. Not only are there block buster films but there are also video games, student projects and tv shows. Along with this array of example films, this website offers interviews with the creators of the different films offered on the website. The opening and its titles are very important. The opening titles set the mood for the whole movie. For our project my group and I needed to do some research on the opening titles for our genre, horror films. While on this website my group and I watched an array of the opening titles of different horror films. While watching the titles we've come to notice a few things. When watching a couple of the films we noticed that the titles didn't often take up a lot of time and are usually short while also giving a creepy, eerie tone to the movie. This is usually done by the editing of the titles and the sounds used in the opening and throughout the movie.The sound is often an eerie, unsetting sound that helps create the tone of the movie. This website was very helpful for our research on the opening titles for horror movie.

Title research blog : Art of the watch

Hello! In order to get more information on the opening titles of movies, my group and I went to the website www.artofthetitle.com. At this website, you can find information on titles from all types of films from documentaries to feature films. With this website, you can also get summaries of films along with interviews with the cast and crew of the film. The opening titles of a film are very important because they set up the tone of the film and they are the audiences first impressions of the movie. The reason my group and I had to visit this website was because we need to research title sequences for our project. We watched a variety of horror movie openings and we noticed a couple of things. The first thing that we noticed is that all of the titles that we watched had an unsettling tone to them. The titles are usually displayed on a black screen but sometimes images or scenes will flash on the screen that will help to tell the story. For all of the titles, music was playing and helped to heighten the creepy and disturbing atmosphere of the film. I learned that the titles should be relatively short and should not take up too much time. Another thing that my group and I noticed is that the opening titles seem to be displayed in a specific order. The first title that would show up was usually the main cast but sometimes the main title would be the director and the name of the movie. After the cast, the titles for make-up and sound would be shown. After them, the producers and the movie company that helped to create the film was displayed. And most of the time, if it wasn’t shown in the beginning, the writer and director of the film would show up followed by the title of the name of the film. Using this website showed me what a proper horror movie opening title sequence should look like.

Genre research; Quiet place

My group and I have been watching recent horror films to better understand this particular genre. One of the films that we watched was the 2018 horror film The quiet place. Directed by John Krasinski, the quiet place follows a family that must live in silence to avoid the creatures that hunt by sound. We chose this movie for this project because this movie was one of the highest grossing horror films bring in $340.9 million in the box office. While watching this film we noticed a big variety of camera angles shots and movements. the camera angles that we caught was a lot of eye level angles, high angles, and low angles. This movie also has a lot of camera shots like medium shot, medium shot, close ups, aerial shots and over the shoulder shots. The movements that were used in the film were pan, flash pans, tracking shot, and zooms. The quiet place also had a very interesting mid en scene which can be shown through the abbreviation C.L.A.M.P.S. C for the costumes was fairly normal. Most of the characters were humans that wore the cloths related to the time period that they were in. The only out of the ordinary costumes were the ones the actors who were playing the monsters wore. L for lighting, the light in the movie was fairly dark even when it was supposed to be the day time which gave the movie an eerie feeling. A for actors, the acting in the movie was incredible. The role which they had to play was not easy. They didn’t have a lot of dialogue which meant that they had to act through their face, they had to really emphasize the emotions in their face to make up for not having any dialogue. M for makeup, the makeup was very light, normal looking makeup. Except for the makeup used to create the mysterious monsters. The makeup was a lot of effects makeup to create the terrifying monsters. P for props, this film had very little props but the props it did have included the red lights that were strung around the farm that the family lived at which flashed red when the mother of the family went into labor. Another important prop was the hearing aid that the daughter of the family had. This prop was very important because at the end of the movie the mother and daughter found out that the hearing aid created a frequency that killed the monsters. S for setting, the setting of the movie took place at a farm in the country side, a forest, and a store. The main sound used in this film was some Ambient sounds like the waterfall and leaves crunching. Also a little bit of dialogue between the characters. The movie had a lot of common horror movie elements but also had a lot of original elements of its own. The movie was a horror film that was silent the whole run time but also provoked a sense of fear with the actions and facial expressions used by the actors. An element of the movie that I did enjoy was the plot of the movie and how well the actors played their roles without a lot of dialogue. The concept of the movie was such a new concept and the movie didn’t really rely on jump scares. The elements I didn’t like was how dark it was all the time. The darkness did give a eerie feeling to it but it can be overwhelming when you watch it for 2 to 3 hours. Overall, this movie was a great horror movie and it really showed us how to make a horror genre film.

Genre research; It

    Hello! The next step in my genre research is to watch and breakdown a film in our genre. Since my genre is horror I chose the movie IT which came out in 2017 and is by Stephen King. This film just like any other has it's own conventions, mis en scene, and elements. The elements for this film would include 8 main characters: Richie, It, Bill, Beverly, Eddie, Stanley, and Ben. The main element in this horror film is eliciting fear. The film incorporates suspense and mystery as well. Violence and pop outs as well is pretty common in this film. And at times a moment of silence to signify something is about to happen. I enjoy the pop outs and the mystery because I feel as though it draws me more into the movie. However, the violence is probably one of my least favorite elements of this movie, luckily there wasn't that much. Most of the fear provoking scenes were done through more creepy than violent visuals. Some common camera angles in this film are lots of eye levels, over the shoulder, low angle, and high angle. Some common editing in IT is flashbacks of Georgie, jump cuts from character to character, it has a high pace editing which creates a sense of urgency for the conflict of the killer clown to be resolved. Cut aways were also shown a  lot so that the viewer could see the characters reaction. For sound, the main of course was dialogue but the creators of this piece also put in background music in some parts to help build tension. Digetic sound was shown a lot such as from stepping in nature, rain water, or wind. But non-digetic was common too, particularly from the sounds made from the villain. IT's mis en scene can be organized through the abbreviation C.L.A.M.P.S. C for costumes. The wardrobe in this film is 80s inspired clothing for all of the characters. The clown , IT, costume was a huge white classic circus inspired costume with matching boots. The lightning in this film is overall low and gloomy which helps build the mood of eeriness. The actors are a group of teenagers who all live in the same town and a man who plays the part of the demon clown. Parents of the children are briefly shown as well. Makeup is only dramatic for IT seeing as though he is the monster clown so he needs that extra effect from makeup while the majority of the characters not really. A main prop used in this film and is known as a type of signature is a single red balloon. Finally, this horror is set in Derry, Maine.

Genre research; Hereditary

In order to get a better understanding of the genre that we chose, my group and I watched and evaluated a couple of horror films. One of movies that my group and I researched for our project was the 2018 horror movie Hereditary. Directed by Ari Aster, Hereditary follows a grieving family being haunted by tragic and disturbing occurrences. The reason we chose this movie was because Hereditary was one of the highest grossing horror movies of 2018 and was one of A24s most successful films. We noticed a variety of camera shots, angles, and movements throughout the film. For angles, there were eye-level angles, low and high angles, and oblique angles. The movie also used a variety of movements such as zooms, tracking shots, tilts and pans. The shots used in the movie were long shots, three shots and medium shots. Many times, throughout the film were close-ups and two shots used. Over the shoulder shots were used quite often during conversation scenes.
Hereditary also had a very interesting mis en scene. The costumes were regular street clothes and didn’t really stand out too much. The lighting in the movie started out bright in the beginning of the movie because many of the scenes were shot in the daytime but by the final act, the lighting was very dark, and it was almost hard to see. The acting was great in the movie. There were some very great and impactful monologues and the actors and actresses did a very good job at showing their grief. The make-up in the film was pretty plain and didn’t make much of an impact unless an injury was shown. The injuries that were created in this film were very bloody and gruesome. The make-up was also very well done and the injuries that were displayed in the film looked very real. There were many props used throughout the movie, the most important props were the dollhouses that the main protagonist creates that help to tell part of the story and a journal that helped to establish a malevolent entity. The settings were pretty basic. The movie took place in a house, a high school, a treehouse, and a couple of other less relevant locations such as a craft store. The main sound used in the film was dialogue but there were also a couple of other sounds. The movie had an amazing original score which made for a more impactful ending. A couple of non-diegetic sounds played throughout the movie such as the quiet mouth clicking noise that would occasionally be played as well as the sound of injuries being created or messed with. There was incidental music and ambient music played and, in some scenes, there was no sound at all which helped to heighten tensions.
The movie followed many of the common horror movie elements but also had a lot of original elements of its own. The movie followed the element of an evil force arriving to a family. The movie also had a fair amount of violence and tension throughout its run-time. Hereditary did an excellent job at provoking fear and creating an unsettling tone. An element of the movie that I did enjoy was the that the film kept a consistent tone throughout its runtime and I really liked that the movie didn’t and rely on jump-scares to create the feeling of fear and relied on the actual plot to create that feeling. The elements that I didn’t like in the movie was the violence. There was a lot of violence in the movie which is okay but a lot of it seemed unnecessary and prolonged. Overall, I think that this was a great horror movie and helped me to understand how to make a movie fall into the horror genre.

Genre research we decided

  Hello! My group and I have confidently made the decision to do our 2 min movie project on the genre Horror! We took time to research 3 different genres. Which were war, action, and horror. We dissected each of them and looked into how each of them are produced and were most drawn to horror. We believe doing horror will allow for us to be most creative. We just overall love watching the genre and want to create something as good as we've seen from other creators. We have a pretty clear set plan of the plot we want to do. I'm very excited to the next stages of this project.