Title Sequnce Research

'The Truman Show' Title Sequence


Although this is an ending credit sequence, I thought it would be good to look at how a similar film incorporated it's titles. I like how it plays on the fact that Truman's life is extremely ordinary and the simple animated characters. I flows really well and uses the titles to influence the characters (almost as if they are Christof manipulating and controlling his life). However, I don't think this style of title sequence would be right for our film because it would be difficult to find a place to put it without it breaking up the action of our story too much. Also, the length of it would be a problem because it is two minuets long so wouldn't be appropriate for a five minute film.

'The Matrix' Title Sequence


This title sequence incorporates the technological theme by using the computer code effect to establish the genre and style of the film. I also like how the code drops down to make the words of the title as it makes the action run smoothly. The colour green is present throughout the sequence (even on the logos for the production and distribution company), which symbolises its importance as it is the colour of the code on the computer. The code comes forward as the camera tracks through them, which could represent that the audience is going into the matrix. There is a light that appears at the end of the code that turns into the police officers torch. This is an effect way to move from the title sequence to the action and it also allows the audience to join the story in media res, However, like the above title sequence, it would give away the twist of our plot so it wouldn't be appropriate.


'The Stanley Parable' Title

At 4:15 in the video (below)

Stanley, walks through a door to see the name of the game 'The Stanley Parable' on the wall in front of him. I really like this idea for our film as it is a creative and effective way to integrate the titles into the action and it will also highlight that David is unaware that his world is fake. I like the idea of having our titles appear on the wall when David comes out the lift in a similar way to how it is done above. However, this means that we might have to use a green screen to get the effect that the title is actually attached to the wall. If we tried to add this in editing then the titles would overlay all of the action onscreen so David wouldn't be able to walk in front of the wall because the titles would overlay him as well. This would make it look like the titles are floating in mid air and not actually stuck to the wall.

Examples of Posters related to 'A Truncated Parable of Complete Normality'

In the film poster we want to be in a position where it reflects the film and most of its story giving it a sense of intrigue to the film and appeal to it. We therefore decided to pick mainstream and individual films which would make sense for the film as we only have 5 minutes for the film and whilst we feel our film is independent, we feel it may be helpful to learn from various independent films.

The Source Code

The Source Code is a prime example we may use as inspiration for the film and for the film poster as it shows the protagonist Colter Stevens in unlocking a mystery on a train. As part of this, he is stuck in a virtual world and is brought back into a real world to solve the code. This links as part of the poster as the scales which break apart can represent the different worlds being both virtual and real life. This relates to the design of the poster as until the first train explosion the protagonist does not realise he is from a program which is from a virtual world and is controlled by someone. As a result of this we may decide to use elements of this poster for the film as the big twist in the film reveals that our protagonist is a virtual world character and not someone who is real so we may decide to use the protagonist breaking through the barrier to show what was real and what is not.

The Matrix 

The Matrix is another example we may use in terms of posters as contains various things which works as part of our story and for the genre we are doing being a crossover of drama, psychological thriller and also on the borderline of science fiction. One of the big things we may consider the possibility of colour for the film poster as the big reveal explains that our protagonist is a virtual game character and not real. This is something we may decide to maybe hint in the film poster as whilst we want our audience to get an idea about the film and what it does contain we don't want our audience to immediately get the twist that he isn't real. We therefore will be careful when considering the colour of the posters and the possible graphics we might place on the poster.  

List of "Tricky" Effects

Shot Number: 

Effect Type: [Green Screen]
Purpose: So we can use level 3 of Barnsley College to incorporate the colour Yellow into our film.
Problem: That level has a large number 3 on the wall, taking up the space we would like to use for the title sequence.
Solution: Use a green screen to cover up the number, and then make it the same colour as the rest of the wall. We will also be able to use the plain wall to place text.

List of "Tricky" Edits

Shot Number: 
Edits Type: Glitches

Purpose: In order to give a clear indication of the difference between reality and fantasy, random items and people will glitch throughout the film.

Problem: Unsure as to how to introduce these effects into the production of the film.
Solution: [Gifs and

List of “Tricky” Shots

Shot Number: 9E

Shot Type: Crane shot
Purpose: In order to enhance the apocalyptic feel about the movie, as the character walks off into the distance, we decided to include a crane shot on an empty street.
Problem: Having access to a crane is obviously a huge problem, as any access we could get will be both costly and difficult.
Solution: The closest we will be able to get to a crane shot is to use a higher leveled ground, possibly either a balcony or even a ladder. As long as we follow every necessary safety procedure, this will be easily achieved. An inability to record 

Shot Number: 3C & D
Shot Type: Walking into the camera shot
Purpose: To change the audience's perspective as David walks out of the lift.
Problem: It is going to have to be precise otherwise it won't cover the camera so the screen goes black, which will make the transition look slow and messy.
Solution: We will use tape on the floor so that the actor playing David will know exactly where they have to stand to make the shot work.

Film Poster Research - Mainstream

The Truman Show

Although this design is extremely relevant to the plot of our film, and is an efficient way to put this across to the audience, it will not be used as our final film poster. The reason being while in this film, the audience have privileged knowledge, and are aware that Truman is living in a virtual world, but we don't want our audience to know that our protagonist is fictional until the very end of the film. Using a film poster like this will most likely give away our biggest plot twist.

Total Recall (2012)

This design would be appropriate for our plot however it would give away the twist as the audience doesn't know that David's world isn't real until the end. I still think that it might be beneficial for us to experiment with some designs that incorporate this technological theme because we might be able to subtly include it into our final poster without making the plot twist too obvious.

Short Circuit

This design is quite simple, which would work for our film, and suggests to a potential viewer that this isn't an average sci-fi film that has robots in it. I also quite like the fact that Number 5 (the robot) is alone on a mountain top because it shows his isolation but also the enormity of his story. The tag line at the top hints to the audience the important part of the plot but it doesn't give it away.

Our Title Sequence

After looking at title sequences individually, we decided that the most appropriate for our film would be the integrated title used in 'The Stanley Parable'.

Below is a sketched storyboard for our film.