History of Opening Titles/Credits Research

Horror opening title fonts that are usually used and examples of them plus why they were effective to use: 

- Halloween - 

ITC Serif Gothic 

The colour matched the pumpkin and therefore the atmosphere of halloween. It also created a false sense of security and juxtaposition of the light colour and elegance of the font to the picture of the angry looking pumpkin holding a knife. The small pointy spikes at the corners of the letters also looks quite sharp and intimidating. 

- Scream - 

Futura

The capital letters create boldness and match the word it is being used on "scream" as well as animates the poster and draws your attention to the title. This is also done by having be the only the coloured on the poster as the rest is black and white. By having the font be quite simple, the small dagger looking symbol on the letter "M" is emphasised, showing a sense of slasher and horror. 

- Nosferatu - 

A modern serif typeface 

This font has small flicks on the end of the letters which makes it look quite elegant, like calligraphy, however the boldness of the font and the colour black makes it look quite gothic and dark, matching the vampire aesthetic of the film and indicating the horror effect. 

Which was the first film to use text in the opening title sequences?

Of course films originally started with subtitles within the film as films used to only be silent, and usually with the cast coming up before the film started, however there was a time when the opening credits were played during an opening scene to help set the atmosphere in the movie as well as shortening the length of the movie itself, therefore allowing for more scenes and longer dialogue. Films originally has opening credits before the film started that usually lasted 15 minutes, in order to prevent piracy and to credit the actors and production/creative team, but in 1954, the film "The man with the Golden Arm" was released and Otto Preminger brought on graphic designer Saul Bass to design the opening for the film. This was the first film to have the title sequence be important and essential to the film, with animation and movement in the background of the titles to help set the atmosphere of the film. 

History of Opening Titles/Credits Research

Horror opening title fonts that are usually used and examples of them plus why they were effective to use: 

- Halloween - 

ITC Serif Gothic 

The colour matched the pumpkin and therefore the atmosphere of halloween. It also created a false sense of security and juxtaposition of the light colour and elegance of the font to the picture of the angry looking pumpkin holding a knife. The small pointy spikes at the corners of the letters also looks quite sharp and intimidating. 

- Scream - 

Futura

The capital letters create boldness and match the word it is being used on "scream" as well as animates the poster and draws your attention to the title. This is also done by having be the only the coloured on the poster as the rest is black and white. By having the font be quite simple, the small dagger looking symbol on the letter "M" is emphasised, showing a sense of slasher and horror. 

- Nosferatu - 

A modern serif typeface 

This font has small flicks on the end of the letters which makes it look quite elegant, like calligraphy, however the boldness of the font and the colour black makes it look quite gothic and dark, matching the vampire aesthetic of the film and indicating the horror effect. 

Which was the first film to use text in the opening title sequences?

Of course films originally started with subtitles within the film as films used to only be silent, and usually with the cast coming up before the film started, however there was a time when the opening credits were played during an opening scene to help set the atmosphere in the movie as well as shortening the length of the movie itself, therefore allowing for more scenes and longer dialogue. Films originally has opening credits before the film started that usually lasted 15 minutes, in order to prevent piracy and to credit the actors and production/creative team, but in 1954, the film "The man with the Golden Arm" was released and Otto Preminger brought on graphic designer Saul Bass to design the opening for the film. This was the first film to have the title sequence be important and essential to the film, with animation and movement in the background of the titles to help set the atmosphere of the film. 

Shoot Day Reflection Video

The video (click on photo):

Shoot Day Reflection Video

The video (click on photo):

Preparation for Evaluation Questions 2

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Target audience profile:

Age Range: 12+ (preferably up to 40)

Where they are based: Western countries, United Kingdom, United States of America, etc. - possibly urban but mainly countryside areas 

Why is this important?: The characters would be in the countryside and surrounded by trees in and old style house, which would appeal more to those in the countryside as they would possibly relate and be more scared by the film as it is showing a setting similar looking to where they live. 

Hobbies and Interests: those who are more interested in horror films will find our product more appealing, especially those who appreciate more paranormal/slasher movies and enjoy a good adrenaline rush

Education/Jobs: those who are younger and possibly students will maybe relate to this product more, as the main characters will be children in their teenage years who also go to school, and the main character in our opening sequence is a boy of the age 14/15, which is clearly visible 

Income: in our film the, room is quite big for a living room, which would probably show that the character is quite wealthy. The other characters in the movie would probably, therefore, also have the same amount of wealth. This would then probably appeal to those who receive an average income or who live a moderately wealthy lifestyle, as it would possibly scare them more as they can relate to what they are seeing more than those with a different lifestyle

Preparation for Evaluation Questions 2

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Target audience profile:

Age Range: 12+ (preferably up to 40)

Where they are based: Western countries, United Kingdom, United States of America, etc. - possibly urban but mainly countryside areas 

Why is this important?: The characters would be in the countryside and surrounded by trees in and old style house, which would appeal more to those in the countryside as they would possibly relate and be more scared by the film as it is showing a setting similar looking to where they live. 

Hobbies and Interests: those who are more interested in horror films will find our product more appealing, especially those who appreciate more paranormal/slasher movies and enjoy a good adrenaline rush

Education/Jobs: those who are younger and possibly students will maybe relate to this product more, as the main characters will be children in their teenage years who also go to school, and the main character in our opening sequence is a boy of the age 14/15, which is clearly visible 

Income: in our film the, room is quite big for a living room, which would probably show that the character is quite wealthy. The other characters in the movie would probably, therefore, also have the same amount of wealth. This would then probably appeal to those who receive an average income or who live a moderately wealthy lifestyle, as it would possibly scare them more as they can relate to what they are seeing more than those with a different lifestyle

Preparation for Evaluation Questions

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

A media institution is a company that owns and creates the media product. We would probably get ghost house pictures to create and sell our film as it has produced similar horror films and work, such as poltergeist, which is a movie we looked at as research, the grudge, and the possession. 

A film distributor is responsible for the marketing and selling of a film. There are many different film distributer companies, some of the more well known ones are: BFI, Discovery Film festival, Disney, Guerilla, Lionsgate, Paramount pictures, Parkland entertainment, Picturehouse entertainment, Sony, Universal, Vertigo, Warner Bros., 20th century fox The main 5 distributors, also known as the big 5, are: Disney, Paramount, Sony, Universal, and Warner Bros.

These companies all have a wide range of films that they have distributed, Disney has released quite a few horror films, however they are more family friendly and are not usually gory, unless they have also been released by a subsidiary of Disney, such as marvel or 20th century studios.

Paramount pictures has released quite a few popular horror movies, one being a quiet place, which won Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Sci-Fi/Horror Movie in 2019. It has also released a movie called Friday the 13th, a classic horror movie about murder and bad luck, which our opening title sequence fits perfectly, as it fits a mysterious murder, as well as the irony of the boy watching the ghost show and then getting haunted himself. 

Sony has released, ghostbusters afterlife, which, while being family friendly, also has effective horror scares and jump scares. 

Universal has released the classic horror movie "the mummy", which is a horror film and also includes slightly haunting images within the film, although is hasn't released many horror films, and the few they have have not been very popular. 

Warner bros have released recent popular horror film classics, such as the conjuring 1 + 2, Annabelle, the shining, gremlins, Beetlejuice, the exorcist, Dracula, and many more, it would therefore be a very good film distributor for our film as many people would associate it with this paranormal, frightening and fantasy films which have proven very popular with both the younger and older audience. 

The age range of these films are usually 12A and anything above as the scares that come with a horror film may be too much for kids younger than that. This shows that these companies are more aiming towards a teenage or young adult audience, which would also be the best age range for horror movies as most teenagers crave adrenaline, therefore gravitate towards horror films as a source for that. 

These film distributors usually have a high budget as they are the 5 most popular and successful distribution companies in the industry. You can also tell that they are high budget by the high quality of most of their films, especially in recent years and even in the past 10-20 years, most of the films these companies have made have been quite high quality. 

The film distributor company that I think would suit our film the best would be Warner Bros. This is because the horror films they have produced have been extremely popular as well as truly frightening to watch, as well as secures high ratings for them, and I think the company could help make our film very successful and a true horror movie.