opening edit research

In the film Scream, we see a black background and due to the edits used we can tell straight away that it is a horror film, due to the fact that it turns red and we hear a non diagetic screaming sound. As well as that, before it turns red, we see it start flashing red and white, which shows a sense of urgency or could signify the police presence within the film, further representing it as a horror film. The colour of the font is white and seems quite simplistic, the colour associations of white are purity, so this creates an enigma due to the fact that it is a horror film, leaving little space for purity in this slasher. During this title sequence, we also hear a non diagetic screaming of a female followed shortly by a gunshot. This could foreshadow future events that could occur within the film where a female character could be killed by a gunshot. In our horror film we could try and incorporate this style of font with the black background, and use it effectively straight after the first character is hit in the face with the POV shot by the murderer. This would make the screen black, leading perfectly to the title sequence.We could also try and use the non diagetic screams or gunshots to show off further that it is a horror film.



Donnie Darko has a different approach to horror titles, due to the fact that it is placed in the foreground of a natural establishing shot. It is seen as soon as the main character walks out of the shot. It as got a fancy style to it, with the main colour also being white which could be seen as quite natural as well as the fact that it contrasts with the background colour of purple to make it stand out and make it clearer as well as making it bolder. Above the letter 'i' we see a bright light beginning to form and this is used as the edit to lead into the next shot. There is a 3 second white screen which is used to show the end of the first sequence and to show that something else is occuring. The actual font is grainy and jagged at the edges, this gives it a look that it is rough and used before, which could show the correlations with the main character of Donnie who is metaphorically jagged at the edges and is a bit rough throughout the film. As well as that, when the title appears on the screen, we hear a non diagetic ghostly female voice singing. This adds an eerie effect to the title scene and could set a theme for the entire film of it being ghostly. I think that it would work well with our film if we had the non diagetic sound of the females voice as well as the light colours schemes which lead perfectly into the next scene.




In Se7en we see a different approach to the opening sequence as it has shorter shot lengths with a dirtier style to the sequence. The fact that the style of writing seen within the opening sequence is more of a handwritten style, we can see from this that it has been personalised by whoever the main protagonist or antagonist is and it gives it a more untidy look and like the sequence has been made by a character within the film. As well as this, the soundtrack is that of a non diagetic eerie style which makes the audience feel uncomfortable. This sets the tone for the rest of the film as the semiotics of the lighting, props (pen and also scissors) and also the sound builds up this image of the film being dark and full of horror. The fact that the text seems to shake, adds a sense of urgency or unsteadiness that will be developed further later on in the film.The text seems to be on a black background and the actual text is rather bold in it's style and it constantly goes in and out of focus, which can be used to make the audience feel nauseous and or uncomfortable

Overall i think that from Scream we could try and take the fact that there is a black background with the title in the foreground and use that well with the action. As well as this, we could have the font flashing another colour to try and recreate the sense of emergency. From Donnie Darko we will try and take the complexity and cryptic style of the font as it seems that it would fit well with our horror film. As well as that, when the white colour takes over the screen from the ball of light, we could use that well with our black background to lead into the rest of the film and show that it was the end of the opening sequence. From the film Se7en i think that we could take the style of writing to give it a darker look to the film as well as this, we could try and have short shot lengths which could show off the same type of things that se7en did to create an enigma for the audience.