Establishing Conventions of my Genre & The Order of the Titles

Establishing Conventions of my Genre

By doing the relevant research such as my deconstructions of opening title sequences I was able to establish the typical conventions of my genre. For example in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Vantage Point, Sherlock Holmes and Red Lights all use weaponry within their title sequences, such as guns, this was a typical convention for any spy/action/thriller film, this is what the audience expect to see and what helps them to distinguish the genre of a film when watching it. I also noticed the music in all of these title sequences, plus Psycho, The Driver, This Means War and Cargo were all quite low and typically quite scary that makes you nervous, with higher notes every now and again to keep you focused on what is going on or to draw your attention to something, but also to scare you. They also in most cases use a fast past to show that its thrilling and full of action, which is again, what you would expect. I also noticed that in most of them there was not a lot of colour, except red and oranges and the typical blacks, greys and white. This again is expected as it shows how they try to blend in and how they are then able to highlight things by using bright colours. By establishing the types of props used, the characters that are within them, the typical scenery, the font, music, colours and lighting that are used within these I think that I know what people will expect to see and how to subtly connote and convey the genre of my film within the title sequence. I think by doing these deconstructions, general research and audience research I was able to come up with a clear idea of how to use these to improve my own ideas and get across my genre clearly.

Order of Titles

The opening sequences I looked at unfortunately don’t actually use a specific way in which they have their title sequences appear except for the motion picture companies followed by the production company, these 9/10 came first. As this was the only thing my title sequences had shown to have in common I decided to research how titles were supposed to appear on the screen through a title sequence. From the research I did I found that usually they are put in place to signify their importance, so, as I previously stated, in 9/10 of the titles I had deconstructed began with the motion picture company, followed by the production company, this is also what I had found in my research, that it is more than likely these will be the first things you will see as they are likely to be the things you recognise, e.g. Warner Brothers being the big motion picture. The director is usually next, then any A-Listing celebrities, the title of the movie and then the rest of the principle cast such as the composer, costume designer, film editor, production designer and so on. By knowing this I am able to fit my titles in the way in which I believe it should be set out using this as a guideline. For example my actors are not major so would come after the title rather than before.

Identifying My Target Audience

Identifying a Target Audience

My target audience is for male and females from the age of 18-60, although I would say due to the content the film would only be rated at a 15, even though there would be a lot of violence and fighting and has kidnapping involved, none of it is glamorised, and neither do you see bad injuries. I believe that my particular target audience would enjoy this type of film more. From my audience research I can see that the majority of people within this broad range will go out and buy my genre of film as well as go to see it in the cinema, so it is wise to include them within my target audience so get as big as reception as I can. I also think that the target audience I have chosen will be able to appreciate the story line better than someone younger as well as them finding it much more appealing. My research showed 2/3’s of my target audience are likely to be men which tells me I should aim this slightly more at men and include things that would draw them into the film more such as guns, cars, violence and women, the typical conventions of my genre.

Title Design Ideas

                                                                  Title Design Ideas

 

·         I liked this writing but I decided that it connoted the idea of horror rather than a spy/thriller so it wasn’t the best option for my film.

·         I like this font idea as it looks like the formal secretive stamps that they used to have on the front of the files in the secret service in older films.

·         I like this one as it looks as though firstly it has got wires running through it with the distorted effected and secondly with the double letters it connotes the idea of someone leading a double life.

·         I like this font as it is really in your face and really stands out and kind of like a stamp but with the distortion going throughout it to show the thriller side of the movie.

·         I like this one as it reminds me of the first but a more modern one, it’s like a text or computer like version, but you can instantly tell it’s a spy movie by the way it comes up and the style it is in.

·         I thought this title design was really cool and you instantly know it’s the title, and the idea there’s a barb wire running through it is great, but again it looks too like a horror film title, so would not suit my film genre.

·         I like this as it looks quite like a battered, distorted image connoting action which could link with spy, but I felt the font itself was too bold and didn’t scream the genre of the film.

 I decided to choose between the 3^rd and 5^th titles as I think they connoted a more of a spy thriller theme, in the end I decided to go with the 5^th one as the title sequence itself could end up looking more thriller than it does spy, so by using this title it would make sure the audience understood it was a spy thriller. However, if it is possible I am going to try and use both the 3^rd and 5^th, it will come up in the 5^th, and stay on screen for a few seconds and jolt out of that into the other one, like a flicker, before going back to the original, I think this would look good and professional if I am able to do it but it also shows the more thrilling side to it.

Ideas for name of film.

After I had thought of some ideas on a name that would suit my genre and storyline, I then cut it down to 3 titles, Trip Wire, Deception and Time Bomb and asked my class of 16 to vote on which one they thought was best after I briefly explained the story line. There were 3 votes for Deception, none for Time bomb and the remaining 13 decided on Trip Wire. By doing this I was gathering audience research although it was in within my media studies classroom.

Questionnaire Analysis - Audience Research

Questionnaire Analysis Audience Research

I used 16 people to fill out my questionnaire that I created to find out more about what my target audience would associate with the genre I have chosen to help me put together my opening title sequences, using the key things they had pointed out.

The people I asked to fill out my form were mostly 16-18 and mostly female, but two of them were 25+ which gave me a slight insight as to the different views of the age groups.

I asked general questions like their gender; 13 females and 3 males, their age; 14 aged 16-18 and 2 aged 25+. I also asked a general question of what films they liked to see in cinema with the options of Action/Thriller (6/16), Romantic Comedy (5/16), Comedy (3/16) or Horror (2/16), by doing this I was able to get an idea of what people that have a different favourite genre perceive the kind of film I am producing to help me understand how I need to make my film come across and the conventions they highlight that I need to include. However, I also asked more in depth and more detailed questions about the kind of film I am producing so I could comprehend what other people expect from the genre I am doing. As I had predicted, both age groups had the same ideas about how that kind of genre would come across and what it would include to help show and point out what the genre was. This was an indication that no matter what your age, gender or what films you enjoy the expectation of what would be within the title sequence and the film itself would be the same. For instance my last question was ‘What kind of things would you associate with an action or spy thriller film? What kind of props or affects would you expect to see that would give away the genre of the film throughout the title sequence?’, everyone answered nearly the same things, they all included such things as modern gadgets/high technology, male actors in suits, guns/weaponry, upbeat fast pulse raising music and the body language of the actors. This audience research really helped me to picture what I was going to do and include in my production to help get my genre across to my target audience easily and clearly.

Initial Idea for Film & Target Audience Research

Idea for my film

My original idea for my film was to have a secret agent fall in love with a girl who bumped into him somewhere very public, he would then get talking to her and he would ask her to go out, a few months down the line, his boss comes into his office and shows him files with the girl he’s dating picture with a different name showing she is a secret agent from elsewhere, so he discovered he’s been played and lied to for her to get information to report back to her end, so he has to go and sort out the mess that has been caused by playing her at her own game. However this idea would need the right kind of age and look of actors for it to be taken seriously and unfortunately I could not find willing adults to do this for me.

However it didn’t take me long to come up with a new idea that would be more appropriate to the kind of people I could find. I decided instead of divulging straight into action I would play the title sequence out a bit like in one of the title sequences I deconstructed; Vantage Point. I like the way you could tell the genre so easily and get an indication of what was going on without it giving away too much but intriguing us to find out more at the same time. I also liked cargo, the way in which the girl was shown to look so helpless and lonely. I think my film is going to be based around stalking and kidnap and throughout the title sequence you will see this without too much being given away. I also like the idea of it being in an orangey sepia colour or black and white so I can have certain added colour at certain parts to initiate importance.

Target Audience Research

To help myself understand even more so of the genre I was looking into, I did a questionnaire which would hopefully help me see from other peoples perspectives what they think about the genre I am doing and what they expect from it (this is shown in the “Questionnaire Analysis” Above).

I then did more target audience research into the possible title ideas I had come up with. I initially came up with 10 different names; I then decided I would narrow them down by deciding which ones made most sense with the genre and the story line. I chose Trip Wire, Deception and Time Bomb as I felt these titles fit in best with the overall idea of my film but was also intriguing and without a doubt suited the genre of my film. Again, just above you will be able to see how I did this.

Film Certificate Rating