Opening Credits

The purpose of the film credits within a film are to portray the important members that are part of the production. Credits identify the main characters and crew that have made the film come together. They inform the audience of the type of genre the film is, as the credits resemble the significance of the narrative.

Se7en - Opening Titles

• The colours used
• The style of credits
• The use of generic conventions in a thriller film
• The order of appearance 

The credits within 'Se7en' are shown in white  on a black background. Both are contrasting colours, therefore making it stand out. The text helps to portray the type of genre the film is and with the effect of the lettering being slanted, with a jumpy effect  reflects that the character is clearly unstable. This is conventional it promotes unstable characters.

There is a specific order of appearance in which the credits are shown in:
Production company, director, actor, title of film, actors continued, casting, music costumes, editors, production, camera operators, co-producer, producer, writing, director.

Within the opening the scene between the viewing of credits, an unknown character is shown in a black and white/ sepia effect. This makes the scene very dull, but his actions portray that he is planning to take some form of action. A flash of red within, tells the audience that the film in going to involve blood and death, therefore giving an insight of what his plan consists of. The fact that one character is shown throughout the opening scene promotes he is the main character. This is conventional to a thriller film as it tells the audience that the film involves death, and with the amount of planning the character does, shows that it needs to be well thought about in order for it to come off.

There is a mixture of non-diegetic and diegetic sound which compliment each other throughout the scene. The suspense building soundtrack collaborates with with the sound of his actions (eg. turning a page). This is conventional as as a result it continues to build tension making the audience feel eager for the character to reveal himself, they want to know what he is planning to do and who may die.

Psycho (1960) - Opening Credits














The credits within 'Psycho' are shown in white  on a black background with grey lines crossing through, blocking out part of the word, to then becoming clear. Both are contrasting colours and the boldness and size of text, makes it clear for the audience to read.

The order of appearance in which the credits are shown in are:
Director, title, characters, co-stars, screen play, directors, production group and music.

Within this opening scene it doesn't include any action between the credits. This makes it extremely dull and doesn't give an inside to the film itself, therefore the audience have to watch a relatively simple screen for a couple of minute which can be boring. This is an example of how new and old films contrast, and how they have improved over a period of years.

With the background being black portrays mystery, and the text in white gives the idea of innocence. The grey lines that continuously cross over the screen, revealing sections of the word within a credit. These lines suggest hidden identity and the feeling of being trapped. This is conventional as it gives a basic outline to what codes and conventions will included which suits the thriller genre, it gives an insight to what roles characters play.

This scene only includes non-diegetic sound, but what a very well chosen track it is. It is an extremely upbeat, suspense building track that plays throughout, that possibly could relate to a murder scene within the film. This in conventional as all the colouring, sound and the way it is presented, all compliment each other in portraying certain scenes that the film includes. All aspects continually build suspense for the audience as they become anxious of what is to come.

As a group, we decided that the credits in 'Se7en' were better, as we felt that there was more action in the background to feed off of, in order to get an idea of the film before it begins. It has the effect of building a greater suspense and understanding for an audience, and this is what we are going to try and aim towards when creating the credits within our thriller opening scene. I found Se7en inspirational as the colours, style of credits, sound and the generic conventions all mix and compliment each other, therefore ticking all the correct boxes in making a good opening scene.

In discussion with my group we have come to a conclusion of the type of credits that we would like to include in our opening scene:

Size:
Title- Large
Characters- Medium
Crew- Small/medium

Colours:
Background- Black
Text- White
A very sterotypical choice of colours which i feel is conventional, to portray the contrast between the mystery from the villain and the innocence of the victim.

Order in which they appear:
1st- Title
2nd- Characters
3rd- Crew
I felt this in my view came under the order of importance for when an audience is watching, with the main focus of what film it is and who's in it.

Style of font:
At a slanted angle, slightly jagged with a mixture of bold and normal lettering. Our reasoning behind our choice is to try and portray to our target audience instability of characters. It also connects with our generic conventions that we have included within our opening scene.