ZombieLand title sequence analysis

The title sequence for Zombieland shows several different zombies chasing down normal people. The whole of this sequence has rock music playing, this connotes anarchy and rebellion. The font that is used are in bold red letters. The red letters could connote that the genre of the film is horror as red is usually associated with danger,blood and gore.

We then see a mid shot of a man who is has blood pouring from his mouth,showing that this film will be violent and gory, this is backed up through the whole title sequence as some form of blood or attack is always preset. This also connotes that the film is a horror genre as the 'man' looks like a zombie and blood is also a typical convention of horror films.

There are several shots throughout the sequence that show ordinary workers running from the zombies.One shot is of a woman running whilst spilling her drink in the air. Her expression shows sheer horror as she is clearly fearing for her life as a potentially bloodthirsty zombie is trying to attack her.

One man that is being chased is holding a briefcase, this shows the audience that the zombies do not care for the people that they are going after, and that they are just after anyone they can see.
Another zombie is in her wedding dress, this could foreshadow that the zombie formation could happen at any time, and that these zombies would have been normal people living normal lives, which also shows that their may be some virus that is effecting them in this way.

Although there are clear links to the horror genre in this title sequence there are also comedic elements as well as several binary oppositions. One shot its shown of a zombie stripper chasing after a well dressed

 business man, the fact that the woman is almost naked add to the comedy of this sequence. Also, usually it's men that are after strippers, yet this time it has been flipped around. This could also show that the women in this film may possibly be the stronger gender as several zombie women are shown throughout the sequence.

One man is holding a sign reading 'The end is near' this could foreshadow that the end is near due to the zombies and that the zombie apocalypse may have possibly been predicted to end the world.

The whole of the sequence is in slow motion, this could be to show the typical stereotype of a zombie, that they are slow and can be out run. Although the fact that both the zombies and humans are in the same slow shot could foreshadow that the humans will not be able to escape the zombies and they could possibly be at the same speed. 

There are also shots of Zombies attacking policemen and firemen.This shows that the zombies have no care for the people that they are attacking and it especially shows that they do not show and respect for authoritative figures.

At the end of the title sequence there is a shot of a man with a machine gun. This foreshadows that the uninfected people may take a stand and attempt to rid everywhere of the zombies in order for them to be able to survive.

Abandoned Title sequence ideas

After we had come up with an idea for a film we had to think of ideas for our title sequence. These are our ideas.We particularly like the idea of having children singing a nursery rhyme as it would fit in with our film and help to make it appear creepy.
 
Other ideas we had include:

•     Burning a dolls house
•     Burning children's photo's
•     Following down a stream
•     Showing shadows
•     The moon.

For the text we thought we could use old looking creepy font, to show that the film is of the horror genre.

For the sound we thought of:

• Children laughing
• Low eerie music 
• Children singing
• Children laughing
• Water running from the stream

Fight Sequence

For this fight sequence we had to spend a little amount of time to create a small storyline. We then spent the rest of the day filming for the sequence.
After shooting the footage, we edited the sequence together and removed all of the sound. We then made a note on the type of sound we would need and how many, eg. punches, slaps etc...
We then gathered the resources we needed, including walnuts,  and went to record the sounds of breaking bones and slaps.

This task taught me how to create effective foley sounds and i was also able to learn how to put these sounds onto Final cut. I found out that a simple snap of celery could sound like a persons bones snapping.

Overall, this task was fun to complete and it also taught me tools i could use later on for other filming tasks.

Class notes: Sound Design and Codes and conventions

Sound design includes: sound track, dialogue, wild track, foley sound, non- diegetic, diegetic and SFX.

Sound design is: The creation and layering of dialogue, background noise and other sound effects to create a sophisticated aural environment.
There are three main types of sound, Realism, Hyper-realism and unrealism/surrealism.



Codes and conventions of a opening sequence:

• Details of cast and crew.
• The films title
• An introduction to character or character type.
• Indiction of place.
• indiction of historical period.
• Information regarding mood and tone.
• Introduction to signature theme tune -Leitmotif.
• Information about genre.
• Questions that the viewer finds intriguing (Sets up enigmas)
• Patterns and types of editing that will be echoed in the remainder of the film.
• Mise-en-scene and cinematography that will be echoed or elaborated upon later in the film.

STINCS

S- Setting, where and when the film is set.

T-Theme, Mood of the film and what it's really about eg. love,jealousy,voyeurism.

I- Iconography, costumes,make-up and any props relevant to the genre.

N-Narrative, what the story is about.

C-Characters, who are they? what are they like? (principles) Antagonists. Protagonists.

S-Style, Cinematography, sound and editing.
   What the film will look and feel like


Genre: Genre is the label given to a film. Genres include, Horror, Thriller,Action, Rom-Com, Comedy etc...

The conventions of a horror film are, blood, death, sharp weapons, antagonist, final girl, monsters, stalkers etc...

Richard Morrison

Orphanage Feedback evaluation

Orphanage feedback evaluation from Rebecca Collins

Orphanage Pitch/ABANDONED and Feedback

Orphange PItch from cerenkangal

As my group started to devise ideas for our title sequence, we decided that the original name for our films (Orphanage) was not good enough and we therefore changed to another suitable name 'ABANDONED.'

The Art Of Film Title Design Throughout Cinema History

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/10/04/the-art-of-the-film-title-throughout-cinema-history/


Titles in silent film:
Words and lettering played an enormous role in films of the silent era. Film titles made their appearance in the earliest silent films, along with letter cards (or inter-titles), which provided context.

I found this interesting as it shows the importance of titles in silent films as the titles are one of the only ways to communicate with the audience as the film is silent, andf the only way to communicate would be through titles and actions.

Animation effects:
Animation effects like the ones you see in rotoscopes actually pre-date film. But the power of filmmaking was enormous, and it tempted thousands, including many artists, to try their hand at this new medium. One of the earliest known title animations is seen in the work of J. Stuart Blackton.
“Humorous Phases of Funny Faces” (1906) was directed by J. Stuart Blackton, who many consider to be the father of American animation. Not only is it one of the first animated films, it is among the first to feature an animated opening title, making it a precursor of the modern title sequence

Watching this video was quite interesting. As it shows a very early video of animation. In this video it shows some drawings that move. Also this video  shiws one of the first ever animated films, this style then became very popular in title sequences.

It was also interesting to see that some title sequences were created in this way.

The silence is broken:

 Movie producers invested considerable sums in film production and sometimes resorted to fixing a dog of a film by rewriting the inter-titles.

It seems that here, the importance of titles fonts' became more apparent as mmore money was being spent to create them.

As much as possible, they liked to convey the tone of a movie through the “dressage” of its main title. Thus, blackletter fonts in the opening credits were used to evoke horror, ribbons and flowery lettering suggested love, and typography that would have been used on “Wanted” posters connoted a western flick.

I find this interesting as i can can relate to this and i understand the importance of the font being 'right' to fit the genre of the film. And the font types that are mentioned in the paragraph above make complete sense as more flowy letters do convey romance/ love.

The concept of score visualization first conceived by Oskar Fischinger in his film “Studies” anticipates the effects created by Saul Bass in “The Man With the Golden Arm” (1955) and later by Susan Bradley in “Monsters, Inc” (2001):

I found this interesting as it shows how music can also be an important thing in title sequences as well as the font that is being used. It is also interesting to watch the title sequence for monsters inc, and realise the connection between the music and visuals.



The (True) Birth Of The Title Sequence

Breakthrough ideas in titling, such as timing the typography to interact with metaphorical imagery or to create its own world, were largely innovations that came from outsiders to the Hollywood studio system...
A great draftsman and visual storyteller, Saul Bass ran the gamut of techniques for his title sequences: montage, live action, cut-out paper animation, typography in motion, to name a few. Whatever technique he used, Bass summarized the film as a metaphor that often shone with creativity. 
This was interesting to read as holloywood are usually seen using title sequences like this but it is interesting toknow that this idea did not come from hollywood. Also, this makes you realise how much thought and time goes into title sequences.


The Digital Era, And Modern Trends In Film Title Design
Every sphere of contemporary life — and especially the film business — has been affected by computers.
'Especially the film buisness' This shows how heavily the industry would rely on computer images to create title sequences.



After reading this article, it has made me realise how much the creation of title sequences has developed. From simple lettering to computer generated title sequences. Also i realise how much of an impact Saul Bass has made on the creation of title sequences as he is responsible for many of the different techniques that are still used today in some sequences, although the use of computers has effected the way the titles are created.
This article also shows that Hollywood were not actually the first people to come up with some concepts although some people may think they did as they are such a large company.