DEXTER title sequence re-edit: Evaluation

Summarise the conventions of title sequences that were most important to this task

For legal reasons, titles are needed in films and television dramas in order to tell the audience who has done the work in order to make the film or television drama, such as the director and the producer. However, the titles should also suit the specific genre, so the font, the colour and the effects applied on the titles must be genre-specific. and appear as if they are supposed to be there as well as moving around on the screen enough to create the feeling of movement, even in a title sequence made completely of stills by making the audience look around at different places on the screen. As well as this, it is important that the titles are in the spaces, so as not to detract from the action.

How did your group plan to edit the title sequence? (consider timings, industry requirements etc.)

We spoke to each other, deciding that a professional title sequence would have approximately twenty-five sequences, but also decided to focus on the individual titles, trying to complete them to the best of our abilities with the limited software we had. We wanted to make sure that each title was true to the genre, which was thriller. We chose the colour red and a font which reflected this and placed each title in the space. We tried to time our titles so that they looked as if they were supposed to be there.

Explain the creative decisions made by your group.

We used the colour red, which was reflective of the psychological thriller genre and was similar to the main title, "Dexter". We decided that the use of the colour red stood out against the white and black and was like blood. We made the titles move with the objects on screen in order to create the illusion that they had been infused with the sequence itself and to make it seem more natural.

How does your re-edit compare to the original?

Our sequence had one similarity to the original, which was the position of the title just before the protagonist's blood drips into the sink after he shaves and the fact that a different title appears in a new place when the blood drips in the place that the previous title has been seconds before.

Art of the Title Grid Activity Analysis

Our film, "The List", is a psychological horror in which the protagonist has a list of people who he would like to kill. In the opening of "The List", a dead body is dragged into a workshop and lifted up on the workbench. The killer then chooses a saw and cuts off the limbs of his victim before crossing off her name on the list he has on his board.

This was a significant film opening as it sets the atmosphere with the dark tone of the images and the close up shots of the objects around the room. The audience is introduced to the violence that will continue in the film immediately and information about the location of the opening is given subtly as more of the room is revealed as the opening goes on. It is not until the fourth still in the grid does the audience see the whole room, yet the background is blurry and the camera is focused on the murder weapon. The close ups on the objects such as the vice and the saw give indication of the genre and the location of the opening and information about the name of the title is given at the end of the sequence.

The name "The List" has been kept true to the horror genre as it is simple yet mysterious, which gives the audience a sense of unease. It will stay in their mind and links directly to the themes in the film. If we had given the film a longer name, it would have ruined the illusion of a horror film and created a more light-hearted tone for the film.The font itself, while simple, is also eerie and the dark against the light also help to indicate the genre.

By the end of my opening, the audience should be feeling uneasy and tense and be aware that many people will die. They should be horrified by the events which occurred during the opening sequence and, hopefully, on edge, ready to be frightened later on in the film.

It was important that our film opening was in chronological order to enable the audience to gain an understanding as to why the protagonist commits the murder, as well as to reveal information gradually. As we were limited in our choice of location, the green tone of the lighting was also important to create the tension needed for a horror film whilst also being in a room with many windows during daylight. If we did not use this particular effect, we would have had to darken the room. However, we soon found that we could use the lighting to our advantage, as shown in the second still on the grid. A third vital part of the opening was our use of close ups. The audience never fully sees the protagonist's face, which creates tension, yet using close ups enabled the audience to gain information about the character using the objects around him.

I feel that our film opening was extremely successful, as the use of close ups, lighting and eerie title font helped to create the tense atmosphere needed for a film in the psychological horror genre and also reveal information in a quick, efficient way.

Analysis of film opening: Romeo and Juliet

In the 1996 version of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, the first image the audience is given is of a television screen which turns on and the titles appear, as if someone is changing the channels, followed by a news reporter, who delivers the chorus line from the play. The television screen is surrounded by darkness, which is a way of foreshadowing the events that are to come.

The use of the news reporter provides the audience with a large amount of information in a short time, which is provided from a, usually, well-informed, objective report of the events that have happened as well as giving the audience a sense of setting. The use of the news reporter also establishes the fact that the affairs of the "two households" concerns everyone in the city, showing that they are well-known figures.

The audience is then taken through the city of Verona and the soundtrack is of opera music, which also helps to set the scene as the film is set in Italy. The words "In fair Verona" flash, which is fast-paced and reiterates the place that the film is set.

Then, there is a quick shot of the two buildings from the families next two each other and both standing out above the other buildings in Verona, which shows in one quick shot that they are, as the news reporter said, "both alike in dignity" and also shows the division between the two.

The quick shots of police cars, helicopters and arrests emphasise the fact that there will be action scenes within the film. This is then followed by the chorus line being repeated and a family tree and shots of fire, showing that there will be some tragic scenes within the film. There are many newspaper clippings of the Capulet and the Montague families which flash in shot, showing that the feud between the two families has already been established before the film starts.

There are then two shot medium close ups from the head of each family and their wives with determined, hostile looks on their faces, reiterating the fact that the two families have had large disputes for a long time.

This is then followed by medium close ups from all the main characters from the main characters in the film, and, as well as the actor's names, it is also providing the audience with information about who the characters are before the film properly begins.

After this, there are shots from the rest of the film, which create a sense of anticipation for the audience as well as making them assume the events of the film before they happen and, again, establishing that this film has action elements within it, as many of the shots show guns and other action shots.

Finally, the title of the film comes up and there is a song change, signifying the end of the opening sequence.

Reflections on shots

For my first media task we had to split up into groups in order to produce a number of film stills. One of the main factors we had to control  was the atmosphere in order to make sure we created one appropriate for the chosen genre.

In my group we chose to do horror film stills. This involved a member of my team dressing up in all black, wearing a mask and holding a baseball bat in order to stimulate a supernatural character from a horror film.

My film still was from a medium long shot with the red light from the dark room on and the door slightly open with the paranormal being looking out from it straight towards the camera. I also turned the night vision mode on the camera in order to create the eerie, tense atmosphere needed for a horror film still.

In hindsight, if I were to repeat this task, I would attempt to create a similar shot, but find some way of hiding the body of my teammate omitting the other objects in the shot, which prove to be quite distracting and spoil the illusion of my horror film. I would like to create the idea that this shot is in a house, and so the poster on the left side of the wall would not be there if I were able to recreate this shot.