Film: The Dark Knight Rises
Sound/Music: The opening credits to The Dark Knight Rises are backed by tense orchestral music (non-diegetic) which builds up gradually to increase suspense. There is a sudden pause followed by faster, more modern music that comes back in. Whilst the music has more modern elements it still has an orchestral feel throughout.
Visuals: We see close-ups of an almost stalker-like investigation, with photos of the main characters being developed, with the actors names next to them. The titles and names are slightly obscured by water, smoke and ice, giving it an edgy and dangerous tone. The screen flickers occasionally and the writing changes position with jerky movements.
Font: All the credits are in white, with the same font, in capital letters; other than the title of the film which is in red with a different font. This is effective as red has negative connotations, such as danger, fear, violence, death, pain etc. The harshness of the capitals make it obvious to the viewer that the film is a serious one, as well as tense and dangerous.
How does it establish genre: The images behind the opening credits are mysterious and suggest danger, possibly for/caused by the characters pictured. This tells us the genre will be action, whilst the credit to 'DC Comics' at the very beginning suggest that it will most likely be a fantasy also.
Genre B: Romantic Comedy
Film: The Love Punch
The opening credits to this film are not available on YouTube, so the video above is the trailer.
Sound/Music: We are first shown the opening scene before the credits appear, therefore the sound in the scene is diegetic. However when the credits do appear, they are backed by non-diegetic music ('Whatever You Want' by Status Quo) which has a fun and almost playful feel, suggesting a funny, uplifting film.
Visuals: After the first scene, which introduces the main characters, we see the credits. They are part of a colourful animation with lots of geometric shapes in a 70s-like style. They are images that relate to different parts of the film (e.g cats, a diamond, a plane). The credits continue, after the title, overlaid onto the second scene, in the bottom corners of each shot.
Font: The font is bold and rounded, in white, suggesting fun and a light-hearted theme with elements of seriousness. The font, along with the animation, reminds me of pop art due to the bold colours of the background contrasting with the light text.
How does it establish genre: We know instantly that it is a comedy due to the comic first scene and the colourful animation. The images shown in the animation suggest travel and adventure, along with love.
Genre C: Musical/Horror/Comedy
Film: The Rocky Horror Picture Show
Sound/Music: The music behind the '20th Century Fox' production credit has been altered to fit with the music of the film, preparing us for the genre. The first song of the film is the fist thing we see after this, and it continues to play until the first scene begins, after all the credits have been listed. It is a fitting introduction to the extreme, musical, comic film. The song tells the viewer exactly what is going to happen in the story which is a very surreal approach to filmmaking as the element of surprise is removed straight away.
Visuals: The first thing we see is a mouth with red lipstick singing the opening song. This is followed by the actors' credits, then we return to the lips again. Next we see the creators' credits overlaying a frozen black and white image of the mouth. Finally we return to the coloured mouth as the shot zooms out and the image transitions into the first scene.
Font: The font used for the credits looks as if it is written in blood with drips. This tells us that the genre is horror combined with comedy, as it is a slightly comic twist on what is meant to be a gruesome font.
How does it establish genre: The blood like credits make the horror genre clear, whilst the use of the role of each character being listed in the credits (e.g hero) makes it more obvious that the film is almost mocking cliche horror films. The fact that the song describes what is to happen throughout is a strange and unique technique mirroring the strangeness of the film.
Genre D: Comedy/Drama/Romance
Film: Breakfast at Tiffany's
Sound/Music: Very quiet diegetic sound is heard behind non-diegetic music ('Moon River' by Johnny Merger and Henry Mancini). Is is a very calming song that suggests class and elegance. It doesn't suggest comedy, which is to come later, but is does imply drama and romance.
Visuals: We see a taxi pull up outside of a Tiffany's store followed by shots of Holly Golightly (played by Audrey Hepburn) walking around the city whilst eating her takeaway breakfast, in front of the Tiffany's window. This introduces the main character and the surroundings.
Font: The credits are placed in front of the visuals in a classy and elegant gold font. This suggests, along with her outfit, that this will be a film about a woman with lots of money and a glamorous life in the city. However we later see that this is not the case and that her life is much more complicated.
How does it establish genre: The iconic image of Holly eating her breakfast in a ballgown, gloves and large pearl necklace is so contrasting that we see this film will include elements of comedy, and tells us that her life may not be as perfect as it first appears.
Genre E: Comedy
Film: On The Beat
Sound/Music: Playful comedic music is heard over a childish cartoon, accompanied by classic comedy sound effects that are synchronised with the animation on screen (making it pleonastic).
Visuals: We see a cartoon of police running after a robber in a comic chase. The animation has a comedic style with very squat characters. It is all in black and white as the film was released in 1962 (colour was used at this time but was not really necessary for the film and would not have fitted with Norman Wisdom's style).
Font: Black and white text, in a playful font is used for the credits. This shows us that the film is a comedy.
How does it establish genre: The opening credits are like a short comedy film in itself. This introduces the viewer to the fact that the film is clearly a comedy about the police. The fun music and sound effects help us to see this also.
No comments:
Post a Comment