Friday 27th January 2012

In today's lesson we began analysing three different title sequences one was one of the other media studies groups title sequence and the other two were 'American Beauty' and 'Narc'. first of all for my classmates title sequence I particularly liked which was called 'Forever United'. the group have gotten really far with some really good shots and techniques. this includes, the 180 degree rule where the character is walking off the screen and then reappearing in the next scene in the correct position. I know that we will have to do a 180 degree rule because my group doesn't want to confuse the viewers. Also I particularly liked the way the title faded in once the camera panned from the two characters to the sky and moon. 

the other title sequence was 'American Beauty' this title sequence was a young female adult complaining about her father for being a 'Loser' there is then a establishing shot and a few shots of who we presume to be her father. there weren't many titles but the ones that I saw was a red coloured sans serif font which was centred. the red is a connotation of love and romance which links with the film genre. the titles being centred resembles the film being traditional yet the sans serif font symbolises sleek and modernness.My group will be editing titles and ensuring they will not be centred as it is quite traditional and is not usually done nowadays. the first scene is of a woman clearly being filmed, we know this due to the editing which makes the shots more grainy or desaturated. the video camera is a symbol and ironic later in the film but also gives us the knowledge that someone else is in the same room with her.there are multiple close up shots of the daughter and father, the shot of the close up of the daughter allows us to read her facial expressions which is an eerie angered emotion, these shots also allow the viewers to gain an attachment to the characters.the non- diegetic commentary of what appears to be the father is extremely dull and boring which makes us feel as though the father is extremely bored and fed up with his life, it seems as though he is always doing the same routine as well. there are a few specific shots which make the viewers feel as though the father has a dull life this is due to the mise en scene of the film, this includes his simple and plain grey bedroom which has no photos or posters but plain drawers and his neatly put slippers next to his bed symbolising his life seems mapped out and   the same. whilst the commentary is being said there is another non- diegetic sound which is an upbeat happy song, this is a juxtaposition because the music contrasts with the man tiring voice to make him sound even more dull and insignificant than he normally would without the music.

For the last analysis we viewed was 'Narc', the title sequence was a chase scene, it seemed the protagonist was chasing the man who has injected the protagonist with some sort of drug which clearly has side effects because the camera is extremely unstable and not at all steady, this not only allows us to acknowledge that he is drugged with bad effects but makes the chase seem much more realistic and makes the viewers seem a part of the film. also all of the scenes have a very obvious edit which is a sort of blue tint, it makes the location and times seem very cold, wintery and depressing as the colour blue is associated with loneliness, winter and depression.  however there is a sort of juxtaposition with the editing and the colours, this is that everything has a blue tint except the playground and the little boy that is held as a shield. this contrasts and makes the man seem a much more evil and twisted character but also the child seems much more innocent and youthful than he would have done. thirdly, in the title sequence there is the use of peaks and valley's because there was a valley when the bad character picked up an innocent child as a human shield and then a peak when the audience and the character finds out that none of the bullets shot the child but the man was killed but then a drop when we realise that the pregnant woman  has been shot as well. this adds to the horror and suspense of the realisation of what that characters actions had caused. Lastly the titles was centred suggesting that the film may be traditional yet the font was a thick scribbled sort of font which looked dirty and filthy which implies that the film is more of an action or thriller genre.

Looking at these three title sequences I think that our group really could use some of the shots and techniques as inspiration for our own thriller sequence, such as 180 degree rule when the character is perhaps walking around, also we could use the shaky camera as part of when the character is killed by the murderer and also the peaks and valleys to add twists and to add  suspense whenever possible in our film.