Title Research: Silent Hill Revelation

1. How many titles are displayed during the opening sequences to the film? - There are a total of 28 opening sequences.

2. What images are prioritized in the opening sequence? In the opening sequence of the film the  images that were prioritized were of ballerinas trying to protect themselves in a chaotic scene.

3. What connotations do the images carry? The images carry the connotation that something horrific has occurred within this place and the outcome of it is can be seen by these images.

4. How is genre reinforced through symbolic and technical codes from the outset? The genre is reinforced through symbolic and technical codes from the outset of the film because the beginning of the film because it creates a mood of suspense within the audience and it has viewers questioning how all of the chaos could have started.

5. How does the film establish an enigma from the outset? The film establishes an enigma from the outset by establishing a scene of mystery that creates some suspense within the audience. The different images of a ballerina trying to catch a knife and another ballerina trying to protect herself from things that are falling from above.

6. What strategies are used to ensure the film appeals to its target audience? The strategies that were used to make the film appealing to its target audience were: creating a sense of suspense, adding in incidental music that assisted with the mystery mood, and the directors left it off with a cliff  hanger so it would leave the audience wanting more.

7. How has technology been used effectively? You want to consider camera angles, transitions and editing techniques. Technology has been used effectively because, the editing of the opening was done by using many different/unique camera angles that aren't normally used. The transitions from title to title also shown how well technology used when creating this film. The titles would appear then disappear and afterwards another title would appear on the screen.

*I got this movie from the website: www.watchthetitles.com 

Research Title: Art of the Title

In order for my group members and I to learn more about adding titles into the beginning of our films, we were told to take a look at two websites. One of these websites is called https://www.artofthetitle.com/titles/ aka"Art of the Title" which is a website that is used for showing title sequences at the beginning of films. When a person clicks on the website a grey background will appear with posters from movies such as "the Politician". This website is a good website for learning about title sequences because it gives background information of the movie as well as a visual of the title sequences being shown. Located at the top of the home page is a drop box that gives people the option view all titles or to view all features. There's also a search box in the right corner so that people can just search up a film instead of exploring the sight to find it. It's basically a quicker way to find what you are looking for. This website also has a box at the top of the page with the names of designers as well as studios. Another good thing about this sight is that it doesn't just give the titles of movies it also gives titles for things such as short films and tv shows. The films that are on this sight date back to the 1900's all the way to 2020. The films on this site include many different genres such as: horror, comedy. action, and even thrillers. In addition, to what was previously mentioned this site is also good because the films are organized in chronological order. If they weren't in chronological order then it would be harder to find what you are looking for. In my opinion, this website is truly a helpful website. Not only for its titles but for the information that comes with it as well. All in all, this is a website that I would recommend to others if they are wondering about how titles work.

Title Research: Watch the Title

In order to learn more about the titling that should be included in our project, we were recommended sites that specialize in showing the title sequences of shows. One of these websites were https://www.watchthetitles.com/. It's website is titled, "Watch the Titles! A project dedicated to the art of Title Design". Once clicking on to the site, you will see a black background with dissolving slides of different movies. The good thing about this website is that it is extremely organized. At the top of the screen, there are four sections or main categories: Title sequences, designers, studios, and search. These categories will drop more categories when hovered over. Below the slides at the top, there are many more categories that assort the title sequences by their common traits.  Examples of this include feature films, event titles, TV shows, and student projects. Shockingly enough, the movies in these are not ordered chronologically. To the average eye, the movies are randomly assorted. The movies range from comedy, to animation, to horror. The website also has a section for interviews. These interviews are ordered by actors, not interviewers. I personally am impressed by this website's design.

Genre Research: Bird Box

1.) Common Camera Angles (CAMS)

      -High angles

        In the movie, there were majority high angles. This varied from slightly above eye level to aerial shots in order to convey different purposes, mostly towards the climax and the end of the movie. For example, when Tom went outside to check who was at their door, the people unaffected by the murderous force were viewed from a high angle purely because of the angle that Tom was standing at, somewhat similar to a POV shot. However, the scene where they had to travel the river (nearing the waterfall), the high shot was utilized to show how drastic and treacherous the situation had become.

     - Wide Shots

    Wide shots were extremely common, and were used not only as establishing shots, but as shots to drive and evoke emotion. It was noticed that wide shots are always used in some way, shape or form when the force takes over the people. (Except for Tom). When Saundra was hit by the bus, when the mother of Boy (Olympia) jumped out the window, and when the old lady(Cheryl) collapses after stabbing herself. It can be noticed that all these shots took place at their deaths, perhaps to give the viewer the full visual of what had occurred

    - Close ups

     Close ups were also commonly used shots, but they were used for a different aspect of the possession. While wide shots were used to show the product of the force, the close ups were used to show the event taking place. This, also contrary to the wide shots, apply to every individual. Right before their deaths, there would be a close up of the fear on the faces of those impacted right before they die, most likely utilized in order to represent them being impacted by the force. (They were used in other senses, but this is the most frequent utilization)

    - Zooms

  Zooms were extremely common and occurred typically between a medium shot to a close up. They were used to enhance close ups in order to further excel the mood that the creators intended to display. However, this was not the only purpose, and they were also used to accompany tracking shots.

    - Tracking Shots

   Tracking shots were used very frequently throughout the film. Similar to high angles, their use was very versatile and was inserted for many different purposes throughout the film. In the beginning during the hospital scene as she walked past the lady banging her head on the glass; as she was driving with Saundra, who later crashed the car; and as she was running with the group to find a place of refuge. This was the most common use. However, towards the end the purpose of a tracking shot changed- although used to follow people nonetheless, it was also used to surround them as the camera circled the faces of focus. This was seen when Tom became impacted by the force as well as when the main character heard the sounds of the force and ran with her children to the sanctuary.

2.)Mis en scene (CLAMPS)

  -  Costume: in the beginning of the movie, everyone wore vibrant and clean clothing. However, as situations deteriorated, clothes became dull and dirty (climax to falling action). As the movie came to a close as they entered the safe place (school for the blind), the clothes, though never returning to the level of brightness it once was, returned to its clean state.

- Lighting: the movie, as commonly seen in thrillers, had started out with bright lighting. Partially attributed to the close and setting, the colors bursted through the screen in the first few minutes of the film. This was met with a contrast after the death of Saundra— the colors were no longer bright, though the light still shone, and as the film progressed, the lighting gradually became darker and less vibrant up until they found refuge in the school.

- Acting/Actors: the actors used to create this movie were experienced in their craft and included people such as Sandra Bullock, Trevante Rhodes and Jacki Weaver. The excellent acting skills of every individuals propel the film, contributing to its immense success.

-Makeup: aside from your average makeup design in the beginning of the film, the sole purpose of makeup in this film was to make the characters look worn and dirty or to add blood for effect. This included full body makeup.

- Setting: the setting was elaborately thought out and planned. Although a few of the scenes were attributed to green screen, most of them were properly scouted by the producers. The most commonly  used setting was likely the forest, which was used when the mother and her two children ultimately had to travel alone to find safety.

3.) Common Editing

 - Cut: cuts were extremely common, simply because they are the most basic transition between non-correlated elements.

- cross cutting: cross cutting was seen throughout the film in various representations; most commonly between a POV shot of them looking through the blind folds and their present actions. An example of this is towards the end when they are running up the stairs and there is a constant switch between the blind fold POV and an extreme close up of the family scurrying up the stairs

- shot reverse shots: shot reverse shots were also extremely common, used in most every two person dialogue.

4.) Common sound: 

-Scores: scores were the most common usage of background sound in the film. Music in the background was intense, but under no circumstance did they use words or a singer to contribute to that.

- Diegetic sound: diegetic sound was used throughout the film. Steps, creaks, scratches, ruffling, and leaves were all used appropriately according to the location and the action.

-Dialogue: dialogue was also used very frequently; there was constant communication between the characters in the movie so long as they were not alone. 

-Non-diegetic sound: on occasion when the force would come on the people, particularly towards the end, you would hear noises that did not properly suit the scene or location. The best examples of this is at the end when the main character hears Tom calling her to look at him even though he’s already dead. His voice does not fit into that scene, nor did the noise that accompanied his pleas. 

5&6.) Elements we liked and didn’t like

- The use of lighting and color design in the film was marvelously executed throughout the film. The contrast between the beginning and the ending of the movie was subtle but impactful, slowly luring the audience. However, everything including the execution, the editing and the shots were marvelously placed to create this excellent film. The camera movements and angles were excellently placed for it to seem realistic, and the editing used for the glint in the eyes was spectacular, and really. improved what already was excellent acting.

I found no fault with this film.

Genre Research Powerpoint

In order to explore and test a different genre, my group members, Jahrvia, Lauren, and Anishkaneel and I made a PowerPoint on the genre war. In this PowerPoint we discussed all of the aspects that are found within films of this genre. These aspects can be identified as C.A.M.S., mis en scene, editing, and sound. C.A.M.S. stands for camera angles, movements, and shots. In the PowerPoint, we described the most common of each in the genre. Mis en scene is everything that you see that makes up a scene. These can be identified as C.L.A.M.P.S. It stands for costumes, lighting, actors, makeup, props, and setting. When discussing editing, we described the most common ones for the genre; we did the same process when discussing sound. To add on, in the PowerPoint we also discussed the elements that we did and didn't like. Overall the PowerPoint was a very helpful and constructive tool to help us explore another genre.

Genre Research: The Intruder

The Intruder, a thriller movie made in 2019, is about a young couple (Scott and Annie) that buys their home from a lonely, mysterious widower (Charlie). Trouble arises when we discover that Charlie is too attached to the house and refuses to let it go, then ends up feeling the same way about Annie. He will stop at nothing to get what he wants. This movie is filled with suspense and action. This allows the audience to stay intrigued, alert, and speechless wondering what’s going to happen next.

The camera angles present in this movie are close-ups, medium close-ups, eye level, high- angles, low- angles, and God’s eye. Close- ups were used for n this movie to show the characters emotion to what just happened, like a reaction shot, and to show the intensity of the situation. Medium close- ups were used to show the conversations between the characters and the emotions that came along with them. Eye- level angles were used to capture the realness of the situation. This also applies for high angles, low angles, and God’s eye (aerial). The camera movements present in this movie are zooms, dollies, tilts, pans, and tracking shots. Zooms were used to focus in on the subjects when the scene is calm. Dollies and tracking shots were used in this movie to capture the actions like running and jogging which is very present in this film. Tilts were used to build up the scene by showing the aspects of the scene and the physical characteristics of the subjects, then getting to the main idea or focus of the scene. Pans were used to show the areas that were important to the scene(s). The camera shots present in this film are establishing, two- shots, three- shots, over the shoulder, long, medium-long, medium, point of view, and wide shots. Establishing shots were used to show where the following scene is taking place. Two- shots and three-shots were used to show the main conversations taking place between the main characters. Over the shoulder shots did the same thing, but they also showed the intensity of the conversation. Long, medium- long, and medium shots were used to show the characters’ full physical response and reaction in a scene. Point of view shots were used to show the antagonist’s (Charlie) view when he’s lurking and spying on the couple. Wide shots were used when the scene is calm or uneventful; this is usually followed by a zoom.

There were many aspects that made up the film. These are known as mis en scene. Said aspects are, costumes, lighting, actors, makeup, props, and setting. The costumes in this film are the day-to-day modern wear of average citizens. The lighting in this film is both natural and artificial, but mainly natural. The actors in this movie portray various strong emotions to fit the scene; they come out of there true characters in a remarkable way to get the audience to really feel and understand the direness of the situation. The makeup in this movie starts off simple, like the every day makeup that majority of people wear; this was present on Annie. As the plot thickens the makeup progressively gets gory; it starts with a few bruises, moves to a bloody gash, then ends with both of those combined and an added puddle of blood coming from the antagonist. The main props used in this film were a few shotguns, an axe, a wooden baseball bat, smart phones, and modern cars. This film had many different settings that proved to be important to the scene. These settings include inside and outside of the house, the woods which the backyard of the house led to, the hotel where the antagonist was supposedly residing, an office inside Scott’s work establishment, outside of a bar where Scott was meeting with clients, inside of 3 cars, a café where Scott found out information that led to the climax of the film, the closest road to the house, and the hospital. All of these were in the suburbs and city side of Napa Valley, California.

The common edits in the film were cross-cutting, shot-reverse-shot, cutaways, eye-line match, action match, and jump cuts. Cross- cutting was used when the protagonists were talking about the house while leaving the house viewing in the beginning of the movie. While they were discussing their thoughts of the house and their future plans, the antagonist was doing something questionable and heinous in some people’s eyes. This contradicted the original calm, optimistic tone and mood set by the protagonists. Shot-reverse-shots were used to show the magnitude and severity of the situation. Cutaways were used show the thoughts of the antagonist, and events of the past. Eye-line matches were used after a close-up of a character to show what they were looking at. Action matches were used when a characters were describing or doing something in one scene and another character was doing the same thing. Jump cuts were used to show the passage of time. After the couple toured the house and were discussing it, the next scene shows when they move into the house. Later in the movie the holidays change from Thanksgiving to Christmas in the matter of minutes.

The common sounds in this movie were diegetic, non-diegetic, dialogue, voice-over, incidental music, ambient, and sound bridges. The diegetic and ambient are found when the scene takes place outside, like bird chirps and leaves rustling, and inside, like water running and dishes clinking. The non-diegetic sounds can be found in scenes outside, like when there were shots fired outside of the house. The dialogue present in this movie goes from calm to very dramatic and intense. Voice overs are present when the protagonists are having a conversation that relates to the antagonist’s actions in the next scene; this conversation continues into that scene. Incidental music was used to build suspense in the movie, like when one of the characters are about to do or find out something exciting or important to the movie. Sound bridges were used in this movie identity the suspicious sounds being heard. The protagonists would hear a strange sound in one room of their house and go to find out where it is coming from in another room in the house.

The elements that I enjoyed in this movie were the acting abilities of the actors, and the detail that was put into the settings and makeup. The elements that I didn’t like were predictability of the scenes, and the lack of intelligence in the characters’ actions.

Genre Research: A Quiet Place

A Quiet Place (2018) is a movie about a post-apocalyptic society where a supernatural being, sensitive to sound is dominant. In order to survive, people must stay silent. This movie follows a family trying to figure out how to survive. This movie fits the theme of thriller because it keeps the audience on the edge of their seats, wondering whether the monster will hear/find the family. It also ends on a cliff hanger, with a sequel coming out this year.

Camera angles, shots, movements:

1. Tracking shots are very common in this movie because of how fast the monster is. There's plenty of running for this reason.

2.  Establishing shots show the emptiness of the town and where the family is.

3. Close ups were used to show character reactions.

4. Wide angles to show the family walking in a line when they travel.

5. Low and High angles to bring life to a shot.

Mis en scene:

Costumes- the characters seem to be wearing layers of clothing, however its just regular clothing. They don't wear shoes.

Lighting- varies throughout the movie; in daylight it's light, at night it's dark with the exception of string lights that the family uses as a warning for the creature. 

Actors- The actors in this film had to be able to show emotion without any type of dialogue. They even learned a bit of sign language for the role. One of the actresses is actually deaf in real life.

Makeup- The makeup used just made it look like they had been living the same way for a long time, whether it was making them look dirty or tired.

Props- When traveling, the family carries baskets, bags, etc to fill with supplies. They also have a radio system inside their house that they use for S. O. S. signals. Another significant prop is the hearing aid for the deaf character which happens to help when sensing the creature.

Setting- post-apocalyptic society; they live on what seems like a farm.

Editing and sound:

Diegetic sound- the majority of this film is quiet so you can only hear the sounds of nature.

Non diegetic sound- the noise of the monster is added.

Score

Shot reverse shot- when the characters are speaking to each other in sign language.

Eye line match- when looking at the monster, this editing allows the audience to see the character's reaction.

Jump cut- often followed by a title with how long they've lived in silence.

Elements liked and disliked:

I loved that this movie was able to keep my attention even with the lack of sound. There wasn't anything that made me dislike this movie. I would 100% recommend it to anyone who enjoys thrillers.