Planning Opening credits - Miss Georgiou

The purpose of opening credits is to make the audience aware of the different actors within the clip and the roles that various people have played without the making of our sequence. These roles include; the director, the production company, the lighting, editing and the acting. The credits include various fonts and effects to influence the audience, giving them an insight into what the film might be about and foreshadowing the different events that may take place. This is key to an opening sequence as it can build up suspense and mystery for the audience making them want to watch on.

This clip taken from Se7en is a typical opening sequence for a thriller. First factor that coveys this conventional thriller genre is the colours used in the clip. Firstly the colours of the white font contrasting with the dark colours of the clip shows death and the relationship between the victim and the antagonist. White represents everything good, pure and innocent; this being the likeable victim. This is juxtaposed with the darker background shown to be darker and gloomy; the darker colours being the antagonist. The fact the darker colours take up the majority of the image could represent the antagonist pursuing his victims, the majority of black colours could also show mystery and death, this creates an eerie feeling to the clip as the viewers build up suspense and tension thinking about who may die and what might happen.
Much like the use of colours, the style and font of the credits has a lasting effect upon the viewers. This font used throughout the clip is done to show the psychotic mentality of the of the antagonist. One way this is done is through the flashing font and the random layout of the words. The font is constantly jittering and moving around, this is representation of the character. The random, flashing font is used to show how twisted our antagonist is. The effect this has on the audience is that we become fearful of the man, as we are not sure what he may do. This creates an enigma as we want to see the outcomes of his psychotic behaviour. It helps us build a relationship with the characters of the clip. We see the potential dangers of the deranged man and sympathise with the innocent girl. This is highly conventional to a thriller as it builds a sense of tension and suspense when the girl is under threat.
The vital component key to this effective credit sequence is the use of various techniques used to develop the thriller conventions that show the genre and build suspense and mystery for the audience. The whole piece is created to focus upon these conventions and show to the reader that this is a typical thriller film. One of the vital conventions demonstrated in this clip is the use of an enigma. This is created in various ways through iconography, lighting, font and style of the credits. One way in which the lighting creates an enigma is by making it dark and low key. This means that we do not see a lot of the events taking place, we only see brief glimpses of the antagonists mysterious actions. This makes the audience think about what is going on in the clip. Iconography and glimpse of red colours is a way of foreshadowing death throughout the clip. The sequence shows brief images of knives, victims names and blood. Although not showing it in any detail this furthermore builds upon the enigma created throughout the clip. We begin to think about who may die and what the antagonists motives may be. It engages the viewers as we try to put together what deranged scheme the antagonist may be planning. This is key to an opening sequence as the mystery built by the enigma forces the audience to want to watch on which is the main objective for the clip.

After analysing the successful, effective credits developed for se7en my group and I have individually created credit designs of our own. I have took various techniques and factors from the credits shown in se7en to develop my own. The first factor to my credits is the font and style they are presented in. The font I have used is a bold yet jagged and irregular, rustic style. This is personified by our antagonist. He is made out to be a large physically built, powerful man. This is represented by the brick-like structure of the font; it presents a strong dangerous character within the film. In addition to this the rustic, jagged look to the font is used to show the deranged, crazed mentality of the antagonist. All this is used to build a relationship with the character; we feel frightened of him and it creates tension as we think about what he may do within the film.
Also, another component that is important to the clip is the colours used. The credits will be a white colour, contrasted with the dark filters used on the clip. This makes the wording stand out so that the audience will focus upon them. It highlights their importance and engages the viewers. The white and black colours also, furthermore, foreshadows the two main characters of the film and there innocent plus deranged intensions. White represents everything good, pure and virtuous; this being the favourable victim. This is juxtaposed with the darker background shown to be dim and murky; the darker colours being the frightening antagonist. The fact the darker colours take up the majority of the image could represent the antagonist pursuing his victim and taking control of her life, the majority of black colours could also show mystery and death, this creates an eerie feeling to the clip as the viewers build up tension thinking about who may die and what might happen.
The last element of my credits is the positioning and layout in which they will appear. They will appear to be random throughout the clip. This is done to give a slight clue and insight into the plot of the film. The random positioning of the credits makes the film seem crazy and deranged. This is foreshadowing the events of the clip with the psychopathic antagonist and the plot twist near the end. The effect this has is that it builds up an enigma as we think deeply about what weird and manic events may take place within the clip. It engages the viewer and forces them to want to watch on. In addition to this the size of the font will differ depending on the credit itself; more important and relevant names will be bigger and therefore clearer to the audience. This furthermore engages the viewer and highlights important information such as the title and key actors. It advertises the film additionally making people want to watch on and discover how good the movie is.

After each developing our own unique credits, my group and I put our ideas together to discuss our final credit design. My first input to the group discussion was the use of my bold, strong, rustic font used to personify the powerful, deranged antagonist. Cara and Emma both felt this was a good, effective idea and we included it in the final design. With font and style being a key factor to the credits I felt that this went very well. We saw clearly that this idea of an enigma should run throughout the credits as well as the sequence itself and found it easy to choose the font as this easily incorporated this idea by giving the audience an insight into what the antagonist may be like, and building suspense as we become frightened of him.
Another way that we have elaborated on this idea of an enigma is through the layout and presentation of the credits. Much like my individual credits we have done this by giving the viewer a clue and an insight into the twisted, terrifying plot of our film; however Cara and Emma had a large input on this factor. Firstly we have decided upon setting the credits in a random layout, appearing all around the screen. This was recommended by me and is done to show the twist of the plot and the twisted idea of death and stalking. Secondly, the words themselves will be presented as flashing and jittering throughout the sequence. This is personified by the antagonist and his deranged mentality making him terrifying and unpredictable. It forebodes his twisted ideas as he stalks the young girl, forcing her into a suicidal state of paranoia. This idea was developed by Cara and was instantly recognised as an effective way for giving the viewer an insight into the scary plot of the film. The final input to the presentation of the credits was made by Emma; this was the blur effect added into the transition between credits. This gives an eerie sense to the white, glowing words; it could forebode the frightening plot and the death within the film. This builds tension and suspense for the audience as they feel scared about the prospect of watching the scary film. All of these factors creates an enigma for the audience as we think about the outcome of the death and stalking enforced by our deluded, menacing antagonist.
In addition to this another key component discussed between the group was the use of colours within the sequence. We all used the contrast of glowing white contrast on darker, black background. After each of us including these simple, yet effective, colours in our individual credit designs it was key that this was included in our final design. The effect these white and black colours have is that it foreshadows the relationship between our antagonist and our victim. The white representing innocence; being the victim and the black showing evil and death being the antagonist. The overpowering darker colours juxtaposed the little white in the sequence could show the victim in danger and the over powering forcefulness of the antagonist. It foreshadows terror created by the antagonist and furthermore builds upon the enigma as we think about the outcome of the frightening plot.
To conclude, the communications with the group was very successful as we ended up with a clear plan of our final credits that have been designed to be very effective for the viewer. I contributed greatly to the final design, with many of my ideas and techniques seen to be very effective by the group. This gives evidence of my efficient, successful planning and research into the creation of our credits.