Art of the Title Sequence.
The first transition i used was the fade from black to
emphasize the long and painful
phases the main character is experiencing. The next cut
shows a bath tap dripping water,
as the sounds of the dripping and music ensue the first
actors name is revealed on
screen. I decided that all the fonts, font sizes and
placement of the credits would be the
same thought each title. This is because wanted the
audiences focus to be shifted away
from the actors and focused mainly on their motivations and
character development.
Every title that is used in the sequence is deliberately
layered over a particular image or
frame in the sequence to reflect their character’s persona.
I chose to put this title here due
to the ongoing water drop sound inferring the simple,
ongoing and lifeless character in
which the actor represents. The high angle shot looking down
on the tap infers how we as a society are looking down on his situation
becoming more severe as his sanity slips away from him. The camera was zoomed
in to focus our attention on the tap
and to infer the encompassing gravity of his situation. The
placement of the tap was
deliberately shot with the intention of placing the actors
name atop of it, the tap in the shot
represents his life and the water drops meticulously
representing his life dripping away at
a painfully slow but ongoing rate. for this shot I slightly
changed the colors in the post
editing and shifted the colors to a more teal color in order
to emphasis the lifelessness
in this character. This is also representing the calmness in
the scene, however we later find that his emotions shift.
This frame shows our main character during a flashback
sequence. Again, the camera
was zoomed to reflect his situation and its significance,
furthermore the zoom fill the
frame with his anger and frustration. I told the actor to
pull at his hair to reflect him trying
to clutch to his memories in which he cannot remember fully.
Furthermore, I shot this
scene in an empty dining hall, a place which is fully full
of people socializing with
each other, the irony here shows the representation of our
character; a lonely character
and the empty room emphasizing the emptiness of our
character’s life. The light in the
room is brighter on the right side of his face than that of
the left side, this may infer the
two different sides to his personality he possesses with his
mental instability. Also, during
the first shot of this scene we see this character facing
the wall and his back turned away
from the vast size of the room he is placed in, showing his
isolation from society metaphorically.
This shot shows the two different perspectives to the
audience, with the more dominant
taking up more size in frame when he appears due to this
side of him being the main
focus of his character, while his/her personality is shown
in the background of the same
shot, showing his insignificance in the storyline as our
focus is on his volatile and isolated
persona. The two pieces of clothing in this scene shows the
two different sides of his
personality as his darker personality always wears a large
black puffa-type jacket for
perhaps two reasons, firstly it could represent his
concealment with society and to show
his darker side to his character hence the black coat. The
other clothing used is a
chequered shirt with the sleeves rolled up, the represents
the other side to his persona,
as it is more casual and normal to our audience. The title
is the same as the first credits
shown, center frame and same size and font, as this
character will now play an important
role as the story unfolds. The fast editing and quick cuts
during the flashback infer his memory spiraling out of control, and shows the
frustration he feels for his life perhaps.
The sequence then cuts to an establishing shot of the
country lane. The title showing ‘A
Cameron Bilton Film’ appears in different stages, to show
the complexity of our main character and how his life is broken down due to his
actions. the different layers to the title
may again reflect the complexity of our character. The road
we see turns off around the
corner and out of the audience’s view, this may infer our
characters unpredictable
personality as we cannot see where it leads to, showing
another element to this
character. Furthermore, we see the sun shining however we
can only see it behind a
bundle of trees and hedging, showing that his happiness and
peace is blocked by
something.
This shot shows our character lifeless and motionless on the
ground, he is played right of frame showing that our audiences sympathy is not
fully with him due to the uncertainty of his previous actions, also this early
in the story we have no relationship build with us due character due to the law
of dialogue this early in the story.
The next shot is a handheld shot showing the car pull away
with our Main character in it. The fact that he is inside the car trapped may
show that he is trapped by something, possibly in his own mind as these
frustrations and anger is trapping him. Also, the car is driving away from the
audience, showing that his previous actions have literally driven him away from
the usual and ideological society. I decided to use this location for its small
country lanes and hedges and tree lines that encompass them. This is because I
wanted a feeling of enclosure and being trapped within something. Here, this
shows our main character being driven into a place of being trapped and unable
to escape perhaps. For all these scenes shot in the rural areas I color-graded
all the shots to have a slight purple tint. I did this to infer the balance
between blue and red, which represent calmness and anger. Which explains the
blue/teal color used in the first shots. This shows how his emotions have
shifted
This shot here is one in a series of establishing shots.
This particular shot was done to show the colors in the sky, and how they
contradict as is what is about to happen to our main character. Here, the
colors are soothing as the shot composition makes the shot calm and relaxing due
to the colors shown. However, this completely contradicts the violent and aggressiveness
shown towards him. The shots used here have little action going on, only the
diegetic sounds of the birds, wind and dogs barking. This gives the shot a very
raw and adds to the realism of the sequence. The soundtrack that lies
underneath this shows how the emotions have carried through to this moment. The
sun is the left of frame, I did this deliberately when the sun was going down
to show that his light is metaphorically about to go out, this is shown in the
shots that follow.
This frame shows our main character being dragged to his
hostage spot. The fact he being dragged infers that he is helpless and unable
to control himself, mirroring that of his unstable mental situation. His placement
in the frame is off center, showing that the audiences feels less sympathy for
him, this is because he is no longer in our main focus area. However, we still
feel sympathy for him due to his position in the foreground, while the large
open fields are behind in the background. His face is covered by a white sheet,
I took inspiration for this idea from previous hostage photos from the US Army,
this could infer that the hostage is dangerous to society and that he faces
violence and interrogation. Furthermore, the clean white sack could represent
purity, however this idea is quickly thrown away due to his various mental
issues he faces. In this scene, his hands are tied up with duct tape, I had a
choice weather to use cable ties or the tape. Eventually I decided to use the
tape, to further emphasize that this could be anyone who is taking him, this
works well with the rural location as it builds on the extraordinary
circumstances. Taking away the ideological themes we see in modern thrillers. The
fact that his hands are tied up shows again his helplessness and inability to
control what surrounds him.
This last frame shows our character before he is beaten. He
placed right of frame, more than in the previous frame. This shows that the
audiences focus has shifted from him to what’s about to unfold in the sequence.
When his face is revealed we see his mouth is covered by tape, obviously giving
him the inability to talk or shout. This shows how he potentially feels that he
cannot communicate to anyone. Showing that he feels confined within himself.
The close up his face puts us in his personal space as we are growing to know
the character in question. This also makes us see the emotion more clearly in
his face, he we can see that he is disorientated due to the way his head
loosely moves around. The background is just an unfinished brick wall, showing
the perhaps dirty and dangerous environment his capture has brought him to.
However, we later realize that his past actions have brought him to where he is
now.