Title Sequence Clips Review

My initial impressions of the impact of the opening sequences of films was completely different than my initial impression of other films I have seen. I was shocked by how detail oriented these directors are with just the opening scene of the film. For example, the opening scene in the movie “Space Odyssey” starts out with just a black screen and some faint music that changes intensity as it continues. And what I never realized before was that the director was trying to make the audience feel as though they are in space to help them feel as though they are a part of the movie. And with the intensity of the music fading in and out, the director was building suspense in the viewers to grab their attention. “The typography and visual style created in the opening sequence can establish the mood and image system not only for the film you are about to watch, but for the poster, DVD/video packaging, web site, and all promotion and branding graphics,” (Source 1). These simplistic details that I usually would skip over or not pay any attention to have a much deeper meaning now that I’ve analyzed them. 

The next thing I noticed when taking the time to analyze these opening scenes was the little clues left behind that hint to something bigger that’s going to happen later in the movie. For example, the movie “Scream”, besides the name itself, the opening clip to this movie shows the title, which is white, but it then fades into a red color and starts dripping to symbolize blood. “Titles design in film is arguably set to become an acclaimed aspect of the film going experience,” (Source 1). Another example would be “Jaws”, the reasoning behind this is that in the opening clip the classic “Jaws” music would start just before something bad happened. So, this will foreshadow that anytime that music starts, something bad is about to occur. And these are both examples of foreshadowing because they both lead you to an idea based on one little detail that will help you conclude on how the rest of the movie is going to happen. 

Now I have always took the time in movies to analyze the characters and they develop over the course of the movie, but I always took the beginning for granted when getting an idea of the characters or the plot before it actually happens. A great example is in “Pulp Fiction;” the characters start in a diner acting all sweet and innocent but as the scene continues, they start talking about and evidentially end up robbing the diner. This little beginning clip is a key detail to the rest of the story and the characters' lives because it reveals how easily they blend in as this regular couple and have this adrenaline junkie type relationship and will have this criminal lifestyle/relationship. And another example would be in “Choose Life,” this movie starts out with the main character being chased by the cops while he’s voicing over the scene and other clips of him in his past life. He talks about how he doesn’t understand why no one just does what they want to do when in the end we all die and nothing we do matters; this gives the idea that his character is going to be very careless and the plot is going to be very scattered with his impulsive decisions. 

My current decision on choosing film on my portfolio project is that I still am not convinced that I want to choose the film option. My reasoning is that when it comes to something that creative, I almost always overthink everything I want to do and by the time I start doing the project I realize my original idea is not going to work and by that point I'm disappointed in my project. This is going to be such an important part of our grade and I want to enjoy and take my time when completing this project and I know I will have a hard time completing nevertheless enjoying working on it if I choose the film option. So, as of right now I won’t be choosing film on my portfolio project.