Evaluation

Question 1
In what ways does
your media products
use, develop or
challenge forms and
conventions of real
media products?
What are Formal
Conventions?
 What are conventions?
The media form we created is a film title
sequence.
Conventions are almost like symbols that are
recognised in film due to their style, form or
content. For example conventions in a thriller
may be guns (prop). This could be through
technical terms also, such as lighting, camera
angles and sound.
The purpose of title conventions, such as the
order, font, sounds, animation and images is to
set the theme and mood for the film. So jagged
fonts and eerie music would represents the horror
genre, which sets a creepy mood for the rest of
the film
Why are they important?
Conventions are important because
they give meaning to media products,
as they give you what you would
expect from a particular genre. This
helps an audience distinguish whether
they would like to see a particular film.
Directors or producers might want to
challenge conventions in their films, to
break stereotypes, by challenging
certain representations of groups. For
example in a thriller, it could be the
male that is seen as vulnerable, instead
of the female character.
What is a Title
Sequence?
What is a Title Sequence?
A title sequence is the part of a film, usually at the
beginning, in which the title as well as key distribution
and production information is presented.

The purpose of a title sequence is to:

- Entice the audience and make them want to continue
watching the rest of the film
- Introduce key characters or concepts
-Include credits to claim ownership over the film
Conventions of a Title Sequence
There are very clear conventions in a title sequence that distinctly separate it from the
rest of the film. These are what an audience should expect from the title sequence of a
film.
These conventions are:
Distribution/ production company ident first
Title Credits
An introduction of the main character/ characters
Setting an atmosphere to give context to the audience
Establishing genre
An introduction to the genre
An introduction of a theme/ concept
Establishing time period or location
Order of credits
Production Ident
Distribution Ident
Distribution in title sequence
Production in title sequence
The purpose of the order
The reason the production and distribution
idents are shown first, is so that the viewer
can associate the companies with a specific
genre, such as New Line Cinema is known
for thriller movies. The production and
distribution establish the genre for the film

Main Actor 1 The main actors are shown after to also

establish the genre as certain actors are
Main Actor 2
associated with specific genres, such as
Film Title Ben Affleck is majorly in thriller movies.
All actors are also except extras are
Actors cont.
included due to contractual terms.
Casting
The film title is presented after the mood has
Costume design been set.

Music producer
 Company Ident

My group and I decided that we wanted our

idents to be very minimalist and clean. Our
production company is called Film 7
because we were inspired by Film 4, which
is a company that makes films similar to the
one we were making. We called our
distribution company Young Minds because
we thought that it was very representative
of our group and how we see ourselves as a
collective.
A distribution ident in an opening sequence is
supposed to help the company claim ownership
over the film. The ident is supposed to be
recongisable enough that it brands the film.
This is good for an independent film company
as a good ident can make it very memorable to
a new audience.
Conventions of a Title
Sequence: The Title
Credits
Comparison and influence of real media
The position of our title was influenced by Gone Girl as the centre position
of only the title showed that the main focus was the name of the title.
In Gone Girl, the transition of the blank screen with the title in the centre
to the scene setting slowly fading in was somewhat replicated in our
work, as it made it easier to fade into the scene where we change the
setting from indoors to outdoors. The slight change was that we did not
fade in, we jump cut from the title straight to the next shot.
The jagged font that we used in our title sequence was influenced by Se7en
Gone Girl Sequence Our sequence
Gone Girl Sequence Our sequence
 Similarities
- Most credits are the same, most
notable: both idents, the main 2
actors, the film title.
- Both are Discrete title sequences.
-Similar positioning on credits on
screen.
-Both white text
- Both on a mixture between still
and moving images
Differences
- The directors are in different
places. As we were an indie film the
director are not normally seen as
important.
- We have significantly less credits as
we were a smaller cast so people like
the sound designers come really
early.
- Gone girl has a blue tint whilst
ours has a more high temp colour
grade.
- Some credits are on a blank screen.
Conventions of the genre-
macro and micro conventions
of film openings in your genre
Camera
GONE GIRL OUR TITLE SEQUENCE

The opening shot our title sequence is a close up the

kettle being boiled. This was done to set the
The opening shot of the sequence is a close up of a
atmosphere of her being at home, and that it is initially
woman's head in a high angle. This makes her appear
a fairly normal start to the day. On the contrary to
vulnerable and weak.
Gone girl, the next shot is a bird's eye view of her
The next shot is an extreme wide long establishing
putting coffee in her cup. We did not have any
shot that helps to give the audience context in the form
establishing shots at this point, where the shots are
of location.
long shots.
The rest of the establishing shots used are mid shots
that also are used to pair with the credits.
Mise-en-scene
GONE GIRL OUR TITLE SEQUENCE

Props: Lighting and Setting:

Unlike the opening of
Gone Girl, our sequence
includes a lot of props
such as the coffee, kettle,
cup. This is done to
show that her day starts
normal.
In the house is quite low
key, similarly to Gone
Girl.
The setting in our
sequence starts in the
house like Gone Girl, and
then transfers to outside.

The establishing shots used in this opening

sequence are very effective in setting the location
and time period.
They help the audience to see that the film is set in
a rather small, isolated town. Costume:
Like Gone Girl, the costume is casual, to
The use of low-key lighting throughout helps to reflect that her day is normal.
give the sequence a mysterious and dark feel to it.
 Editing
This sequence is edited in a way that
does not follow the normal conventions
of a thriller film. There are a lot of jump
cuts used, however, the overall pace of
the opening is rather slow. I believe
that this is used to firstly establish the
location and how the area is rather dull
and not particularly lively. but secondly,
i believe that this pace is used to show
the 'calm before the storm' that is the
rest of the film. Alongside jump cuts,
the sequence also uses fade in and fade
outs between the titles on a black screen
and the opening establishing shots.
Sound
The first thing we hear in this sequence is the
non diegetic background music. It sets the
atmosphere for the overall film and contrasts
greatly with the shots that follow it. The music
is mysterious, eerie even and the shots show a
small, isolated and seemingly normal town. But
even before we see these shots there is the
opening shot of a woman. We hear narration by
the protagonist. At first this seems like a man
talking about his wife but then he begins
describing how he would like to hurt her. This
juxtaposed with the shot of a man stroking this
womans hair helps to create an air of mystery.
Towards the end of the sequence we hear foley
sound of birds.
 Gone Girl Our Sequence
The sequence shows that the film is going to be
Our sequence shows a young woman going about
centred around a marriage. We also learn about
her day normally, as she makes a cup of tea
some kind of incident or that something
before she leaves to commute on the bus. She
important is going to take place as we see the
then realises that she gets followed, and starts
phrase "The morning of". Prior to that we hear a
being chased by her kidnapper, which leads into
man talking about his wife and we see a shot of
the main body of the film
a woman.

Key Plot Points

Conclusion:
Overall the conventions of our title sequence is similar to some movies where the story starts,
with the titles.
We have not really challenged the conventions of title sequence, as it is quite simple and
generally follows a conventional title sequence