To help us in designing our own opening titles we analysed
some horror films opening titles to get an idea of what works and what will
look good for our production. The first film we looked at was cabin in the
woods, they used red titles that connote blood and danger, this is an
interesting look for a film as most of the time the titles are in white or
black. The red contrasts the plain, simple colours usually used in films and
leads the audience to believe the film will have a lot of blood and death in it.
They are placed off center which is more aesthetically pleasing than them just
being placed in the middle, this coincides with the rule of thirds which
suggests that each image should be divided up into nine equal sections (two
evenly spaced horizontal lines, two evenly spaced vertical lines) and that
important compositional elements should be placed along these lines or their
intersections. This technique is useful as it's claimed that placing a subject
with these points creates more tension and interest in what's on screen that
simply placing the subject in the center of the screen. Therefore I would
probably copy this design pattern and also have my titles placed on these
'lines' or their intersections to make my titles more interesting and
appealing.
Another set of opening titles this time uses white text
which I think looks more professional and still holds an aspect of horror about
it. Red text can look cheap and unprofessional so I think we will use white
text instead, therefore we can have a black or red background and the colours
won’t be contradicting and the white will stand out. This set of opening titles
also uses the rule of thirds with the titles being placed in the low corners of
shots and off center, this reinforces how much better titles look if placed off
center and so I think it would be a good idea to copy this. The titles are
quite small so not to drag too much attention away from the shot which I think
is key but they are large enough and of a bright enough colour and clear enough
font that they stand out and can be noticed by the audience. They are
aesthetically pleasing to look at too as they glide over one another with a
subtle enough movement that it doesn't steal the scene away from the focus of
the shot but stands out enough to be noticed, also the font is clear to read so
not to confuse the audience.
Out of all these features I think it is a good idea to have
white text as red looks unprofessional and black would be too dark to work on
any shots, especially horror as the scenes are likely to have low key lighting
so the text won’t stand out. Also coinciding with the rule of thirds and
placing the titles off center is a good idea as it makes them look better and
have a more interesting look for our film, as well as that having a large
enough font is key so the titles can be read but not too small as you don't
want them to overshadow what’s going on in the scene. Another important factor
is a clear font, nothing too swirly or jagged - simple but unique font to
coincide with the appropriate colour, size and placement.
