Title Research: Trapped

How many titles are displayed during the opening sequences to the film? 
There are 31 titles displayed in the opening sequence. It ends with the title and the creator of the movie.

What images are prioritized in the opening sequence? 
Some of the images in the sequence are close ups of corpses and the injuries that led them to death. It also shows the setting of the movie which is in the ocean because the movie takes place on a boat.

What connotations do the images carry?
The images are shown to tell the viewer what the movie is about. It does this by showing these images that consist of setting and foreshadow. It uses action matches and graphic matches to switch between the two types of images used to make the sequence more interesting.

How is genre reinforced through symbolic and technical codes from the outset? 
The genre of crime is reinforced here by the slightly spooky music as well as dark and dead images. It also alludes to the genre being a mystery by showing a dead body but not the killer.

How does the film establish an enigma from the outset? 
The movie uses the outset to establish a sort of tension or wonder in the viewer's mind. It gives the audience these interesting images without explanation. This tactic makes the viewer want more and become more invested in the film.

What strategies are used to ensure the film appeals to its target audience? 
The film uses a strategy like what was said above. It leaves the viewer with questions that can only be answered in time within the movie. It appeals because the target audience would be mystery/crime lovers and they always want to figure out what is happening before the movie shows it. To do this you must be fully attentive towards the film.

How has technology been used effectively? 
The technologies that were used consist of close-ups, establishing shots, action matches, graphic matches, low lighting, and ominous music. It uses close-ups when it is showing different body parts of the corpse. It uses establishing shots to show that it takes place in the ocean by showing large waves hitting rocks. It uses the action and graphic matches to switch between the close-ups and establishing shots. Finally, the low lighting and ominous music add to the mysterious tone of the movie.

Title Research: Motherless Brooklyn

How many titles are displayed during the opening sequences to the film?
During the opening sequence of the film, 32 titles are displayed. Such titles include cast, producer, film editor, and production designer.

What images are prioritized in the opening sequence?
During the opening sequence, images of Brooklyn and its characteristics are accentuated as the movie directors want to ensure that the audience knows that the setting takes place in Brooklyn even though the movie titles implies that. An example includes the Brooklyn Bridge. There are also a variety of different random objects such as shower heads, film tapes, books, gears, and penguins. Unfortunately, by only watching the opening sequence, there isn't a clear or definite explanation to these images.

What connotations do the images carry?
The movie directors want to ensure that the audience knows that the setting takes place in Brooklyn even though the movie titles already implies that. The out of the ordinary images make the audience want to understand how they all connect to the movie's plot.

How is genre reinforced through symbolic and technical codes from the outset?
The genre of mystery is reinforced throughout the outset and one can imply that there may also be crime and drama present. The music instills wonder in the audience. Also, throughout the outset, the technical codes seen is the key lighting used. This includes dark lighting and shadows.

How does the film establish an enigma from the outset?
The film uses the outset to make the audience wonder what is occurring in Brooklyn. This interest makes the audience want to continue watching the remaining part of the movie. Additionally, the incidental sound at certain points during the outset appeals to the audience's curiosity since the music increases the suspense and tension present during that part of the movie.

What strategies are used to ensure the film appeals to its target audience?
At certain points, incidental sound is used to capture the audience's attention. The movie's target audience is most likely watching the film for the crime and drama seen throughout it so ensuring that the outset includes music that immediately begin to increase one's interest is very important. Additionally, the film was able to establish curiosity by the wonder behind some aspects in the outset. This includes the occurrence when there were a lot of children on the street, allowing the audience to use this part to make a connection with the title of the movie. There were also many nice transitions introducing the people involved which, unlike boring transitions, kept the audience attentive.

How has technology been used effectively?
In the opening sequence, technology was very well incorporated by providing different transitions and editing techniques. Such techniques include using a wipe out, a zoom in, and a zoom out. A wipe out was seen where one part was replaced by another. There were multiple zoom ins and outs to show clarification or to show the bigger picture.

Title Research: Seven

How many titles are displayed during the opening sequences to the film? 
There are 26 titles displayed. The ones displayed were the director, who the casting is by, the main actors, and of course the title of the movie. The title of the movie comes about halfway through the opening sequences, not too soon but also not too late.

What images are prioritized in the opening sequence? 
The images that frequently come up and are prioritized are the newspapers, baby images, and a razor. There is a lot of writing materials, like notebooks, leaving you to believe that there will be some sort of journalism or a detective.

What connotations do the images carry? 
The images carry a dark and ominous connotation. It is suspenseful and mysterious, and the images leave you wanting more. The images are confusing, which also leaves the audience at the edge of their seat.

How is genre reinforced through symbolic and technical codes from the outset? 
There is low lighting and suspense, which follows the conventions of the genre. The angles also continue the conventions of the genre with the close-ups and over the shoulder shots.

How does the film establish an enigma from the outset? 
The film establishes a suspenseful and mysterious enigma. The opening sequences leave you confused and wondering about all the writing materials, the baby photos, and the newspapers.

What strategies are used to ensure the film appeals to its target audience? 
Like said before, the opening sequences leave you feeling suspenseful. This appeals to the target audience because the people that watch crime movies love the suspense and the mystery. Having the mystery makes it so people won't walk out of the movie as it is on.

How has technology been used effectively? 
The low lighting and closeups and over the shoulder shot are similar to the crime genre and even follows its exact conventions. This leads the audience to believe conventions will be used throughout the whole thing and can prepare for low lighting, high angles, over the shoulder shots, and more conventions.

Title Research: Hostage

How many titles are displayed during the opening sequences to the film? 
The opening sequence of this movie has a total of 29 titles displayed. Some examples of these titles include the director, the production company, who the film is by, and the title of the movie. The last title is who the director is, just like most opening sequences in movies.

What images are prioritized in the opening sequence? 
The images that are prioritized in the opening sequence are a lot of buildings surrounded by polluted air. The air looks polluted due to the redness. The colors of the opening sequence stick to red, black, and beige/light brown. Telephone poles are also prioritized and so are the roofs of buildings.

What connotations do the images carry? 
The images carry a spooky and ominous connotation. Even though the exact color of the sky isn't clear, it still looks as if it is gloomy out. The opening sequence makes it seem like the movie will be somber.

How is genre reinforced through symbolic and technical codes from the outset? 
The genre is reinforced through the lighting. It follows the convention of having low/dark lighting. There is also high angles, following the genre conventions once again.

How does the film establish an enigma from the outset? 
The film starts off and leaves questions as to why there are buildings, gloomy air, and telephone poles. The opening sequences don't give you any information as to what the plot of the movie will be.

What strategies are used to ensure the film appeals to its target audience? 
The film appeals to the target audience of people that like crime movies by building suspense. This will ensure that people won't walk out when the movie is going on.

How has technology been used effectively? 
The camera angles, similar to the crime genre, include high and low angles. There is also low lighting. Following the conventions of the crime genre while in the opening sequence shows that they will probably follow the conventions throughout the whole movie.

Title Research: Watch The Titles

During this portion of my group's research, we are starting to look into titles. To help us as we research, we will be looking at the website www.watchthetitles.com. The structure of this website is very convenient as everything is placed where my group and I can easily locate it. We are looking at this site to develop a better idea on how titles are placed in movies. We also wanted to see if their placement or the moment they're seen affects their significance. While looking through this website, I realized that there are a lot of different movie beginnings provided that relate to the crime genre. "Watch the Titles" separates the top of its home screen into Title Sequences, Designers, Studios, and Search. As I mentioned before, this structure allows for easy identification of what I need to select: Title Sequences. It was also convenient for this website to cut the title sequences into just the first couple of minutes which meant that I would be able to know when the titles would stop showing up. With every movie, the website provides its title and a picture so that the audience somewhat understands what the movie will be about regarding its genre. This helps me save time and look through some videos more efficiently as I won't be selecting movies that don't have anything to do with my group's genre. After watching a couple of videos, I learned that the main title of the movies is normally shown very creatively and spark interest. This ensures that the audience's attention is captured and that they continue to watch the remaining portion of the movie. How the titles are placed and their order, is determined by their importance. An example is the director, whose role is very valuable and the majority of the time is seen at the end of the title sequence, usually the last job.

Title Research: Art of the Title

I chose the Art of the title website for my research. This specific website is not only recommended by my teacher but also by Cambridge. We need this to have examples of what title sequences looked like in real movies. There is a great deal of examples ranging from many different genres. If you would like to find one specific genre, all that is needed is for you to type the genre into the search bar. Their selection is from movies that are slightly older but they still represent the idea. There are many different titles to look at during opening sequences. In one specific genre there are many different variations of that genre. The research of the different types of titles was vast. You would see the different jobs in the movie as well as their names. These include actors, producers, artists, directors, etc. These titles stay on the screen for up to 5 seconds. The titles start with the movie name and end with the director of the movie. The site is very simple to use so i believe that it will be easy to find the right example movie. I enjoy using this site because it makes it easier than trying to find the opening clip of a movie from Netflix or YouTube. All in all, I hope that the movie research will go smoothly and correctly.

Genre Research: Panic Room

Another movie that came to my mind after talking with my group was Panic Room. Jodie Foster and Kristen Stewart star in this movie as a mother and her daughter whose house is invaded by robbers and they have to stay safe. While watching this movie, I paid close attention to all of the details put into it by its creators. Such details include camera movements, angles, shots, mis-en-scene, editing, and sound. The camera angles that I noticed throughout the movie were establishing shots, two-shots, three-shots, low and high angles, medium shot, close-up, medium long shot, over the shoulder, and medium close up. The camera movements seen in this film lacked variety since there were only a couple used. These were pan, tilt, tracking shot, and zoom. As for mis-en-scene, there was a lot of thought put into each scene. For costumes, the characters wore clothing that was appropriate for who they represented. For example, the police officiers wore their uniforms, a robber wore a black ski mask, and a neighbor wore his pajamas during the middle of the night. There was a variety of lighting as well such as natural lighting in the daylight and at nightime and articial lighting in the house. Also, in the house's panic room, there were fluorescent lighting that at one point began to flash. The acting in the movie by each actor and actress was exceptional as was the makeup that was able to showcase a burn on a robber's face, sweat from the mother's face, and blood on a captive's face. Some props seen in the movie were a gun, flashlight, cell phone, cameras, and a watch. The setting in entire movie was set in one specific house with a panic room that was mainly filmed too.
Unlike "Secret Obsession," in this movie there wasn't a large range of editing techniques used. After watching the complete movie, I noted that there were only a select amount of editing techniques used that would be repeated and replicated in the remaining scenes. Such techniques include jump cuts, cutaways, eye-line matchs, and action matches. The most common technique used similiar to most crime movies was cross cutting. This allows the audience to see what is happening to both the criminals and the innocent with two different scenes that are occurring at the same time. This movie also used a couple of sounds. Like most movies, there was dialogue, diegetic and non-diegetic sound present. However, this movie also had incidental sound and ambient sound. At one point, no sound was used to accentuate the importance of a lamp falling down in the near future which would alert the robbers. There were both elements that I liked and disliked in this film. I believe one element, not commonly used in crime movies, were the allusions to certain things such as Edgar Allen Poe and the Titanic. These allusions incorporated some relationship between the audience and the characters since it helped me personally better understand what the characters were doing or thinking. Another element that I liked was that the movie began with incidental sound right away. This made me gain interest immediately on what was going to happen in the future. An element that was commonly used in this movie that I didn't like so much were the scenes that were supposed to create tension but actually made me bored. Such aprts included conversations that would've been better if they got to the point faster. In these scenes, the directors decided to make it longer than necessary making the situation last for a while and this led to multiple scenes that were dull.

Genre Research: Wolf of Wall Street

The movie that I chose to watch was The Wolf of Wall Street. This movie has very famous actors including Leonardo Dicaprio, Matthew McConaughey, and Margo Robbie. The movie focuses on Jordan Belfort, who is focused on by the FBI due to his empire of success, which he got by defrauding wealthy investors out of millions of dollars. He and his friends live life going to parties, having sex, and doing drugs. Like many movies, the camera angles, movements, sound, mise en scene, and more were thought about heavily, affecting movie quality. This movie is out under the crime genre. It follows a lot of the conventions, making it similar to other crime movies. It does have a lot of different qualities, which separates this movie from others. The common movements that were used as the zoom-ins/outs, the tracking shot, and the tilt. They used a lot of different camera angles like the establishing shots, mid-shot, long shot, and over the shoulder shot. They also used close-ups, 2 and 3 shots, and high angles. The CLAMPS of a movie is the mise en scene that is used. It stands for costumes, lighting, actors, makeup, props, and sound. The costumes in this movie are tuxedos/fancy clothes because they're business people. They also wear boat/rich people clothes that they wear while they're chilling around/on a boat. This fashion is commonly worn on fraternity boys. The lighting in the movie is bright/outside lighting, usually. It also has building lighting, while they’re in the office and night time/darker lighting. The actors are usually serious and they act tough, but they do make occasional funny comments. The actors are also brilliant because they are businessmen dealing with hundreds of millions of dollars. The makeup, like most crime movies, is natural/as if they aren't wearing any. Common props in this movie include money, cars, boats, phones, and watches. Since they are rich, they tended to have items commonly associated with rich people. The sound in this movie includes the dialogue, the songs played at the parties and the songs that are background noise (non-diegetic sound). There’s also a lot of ambient sounds like cars in the background. There were a lot of different editing techniques used in this movie. These include jump cuts and cross-cutting. The movie also had action and graphic matches and cutaways. Like said above, the movie followed a lot of its genre's conventions. This included the props like money, the high angles, and the tracking shots. An element of the movie I really liked was watching them live such extravagant lives. It felt like you were living with them and you were part of their action. I didn’t like the parts of the movie that weren’t action or tension-filled. They were necessary, but they felt boring. This is, of course, a part of every movie, though. Other than that, this movie was fantastic and definitely fit the crime genre in many aspects but also challenged the conventions in ways, too.

Genre Research: Secret Obsession

After talking with my group, we decided which movies we were each going to watch. The first movie that came to my mind that used a crime genre was "Secret Obsession." In this movie, a woman loses her memory and is brainwashed into believing that a stranger is her husband until she realizes the truth and attempts to escape. A lot of thought was put into this movie regarding its camera movements, camera angles, mise-en-scene, and sound. I tried to pay attention to the small details that have the biggest impact and took note on them to better understand the conventions of crime movies. In this movie, the camera movements used most often were tilt, tracking shot, and zoom. These camera movements were used to make sure that there was more intensity in each scene depending on what was occurring. There were a variety of camera angles used as well such as establishing shot, medium close up, medium shot, close up, extreme close up, dutch shot, long shot, aerial shot, three-shot, two shot, point-of-view shot, and over the shoulder shot. These camera angles used help the audience know the importance of each thing being shown in a scene. For example, the alternating low and high angles used to signify that Brenda Song is weaker than Mike Vogel. The mise-en-scene used in this movie was essential in creating the correct concept and environment for the idea that the directors were trying to convey. The costumes in this film were casual and reflected typical clothing that one might wear on a normal basis. Additionally, in the hospital, the nurses were given scrubs to wear and in the police station, the officers were wearing their uniforms. In the movie, the types of lighting used varies profoundly. For one, during the night of the car accident and the murders, the lighting is very dark and there are many shadows. There is also plenty of artificial lighting and natural lighting seen as the characters are inside of a building and when they are outside with sunlight. The acting used in the movie is very dramatic and well thought out as all of the people seen act accordingly to their role. The makeup displayed in the movie was extremely appropriate. For example, in the beginning, Song had her mascara smeared because of the tears and rain, which also caused her hair to be soaking wet and she also had blood on her face from the car accident. Towards the end, Song had a large bruise on her ankle and scratches on her face made by sticks and twigs from her fall. Some props seen were a knife, keys, lighter, rope, gun, flashlight, computer, and a walking cane. Most of these props fit the conventions for typical crime movies as they help set an ominous and thrilling mood. The settings utilized included a hospital, a police station, a bedroom, a garage, an office, and a tattoo parlor. This variety in settings helped develop a sense of where the scenes were occurring, especially with the help provided by the establishing shots. The sounds used most commonly were diegetic sound, non-diegetic sound, dialogue, incidental sound, and ambient sound. The editing techniques that I noted were reaction shots, eye-line matches, jump cuts, action matches, graphic matches, cross-cutting, cutaways, dissolves, and fade-outs. In this film, there were a couple elements that I liked and disliked. I liked the flashbacks that Song would occasionally have during the film because it would share with the audience small hints as to her background which would help us uncover the mystery. I think the parts of the film that I didn't prefer were the unnecessary scenes that lacked the tension and suspense seen in other parts. All in all, this movie fit the majority of crime movie conventions and yet was able to incorporate some new aspects that challenged them. 

Genre Research: The Captive

For the film, I chose The Captive. It is about a child getting kidnapped and the parents needing to find clues to save her. At the beginning of the movie, I looked for many things. Firstly, the camera angles, movement and shots. I found that the tracking shot, pan and establishing shot were most relevant. I then started to look at other things like the character's costumes, they wear winter clothing because it is snowing where they are. I try to find some types of lighting but at this point in the movie, there are none. I see that there are not that many notable actors except Ryan Reynolds. Usually, in crime movies, makeup is used for injuries but there are none yet. Some of the props used consist of phones, brushes, glasses and a piano. The sounds consist of different types of dreary music that bring down the mood. For editing, I see shot-reverse-shot, cross-cutting and jump cuts. The element I liked was The unknown factors of the movie that keep you interested and make you want to know more, putting you on the edge of your seat. The disliked two elements from the beginning of the movie. Firstly, due to the fact that it is the beginning of the film, it becomes slightly slower due to the need for character development. Secondly, since it is the beginning of the film you have to quickly learn the storyline which can cause some confusion at times. I then started to look for things in the middle part of the film. At this point, the story is developing a lot more and is becoming more interesting. The movie uses a close-up shot when two characters are video chatting. Also, a two-shot when two characters are in real-life conversation. The costumes used at this point are police uniforms and orange jail jumpsuit. These are used to represent cops and inmates. When it is daytime the lighting is brighter but at night the lighting is darker. At this point in the movie there is still no combat and thus no makeup is used for injuries. The sound still just uses eerie music to make the movie creepier. For the editing aspect, it is pretty similar. It uses shot-reverse-shot for conversation. Jumpcut for switching scenes and cross-cut to have two scenes happening in unison. The element I enjoyed from the middle part of the movie is the fast-paced build-up to the movie's climax which keeps you interested in the film. The element I disliked is how it takes so long to reach the film's climax. At the end of the film, there are a lot of similarities. These include CAMS, CLAMPS, and editing from the beginning of the film to the end. Something that was different was the sound used. When the climax was reached the music was upbeat and fast but in the end, the music was slower and happier. The element liked was how the whole story was wrapped together and the good guys prevailed. The element that was disliked is how the good guys always win so the movie is always predictable. All in all, the movie was good and represented the crime genre well.

Genre Research: Crime

Our group has spent a lot of time choosing our genre and we have decided on the genre of crime. Initially, we started to brainstorm and think of some rough drafts. I threw out the idea of a kidnap and we started to talk more about it and more ideas like it. We established that everyone in our group enjoys the crime genre as a whole. We enjoy it because it is interesting, suspenseful and action packed. We chose it because these aspects develop the film, leaving you at the edge of your seats and make you want more. In conclusion, crime is the best genre for our group's taste.

Genre Research: Drama and Comedy PowerPoint

Genre Research: Powerpoint

In the PowerPoint, I talked about all aspects of the crime genre and movies. I talked about lighting and how crime movies usually use black and white lighting or lowkey lighting, which creates a chiaroscuro effect. I said that panning shots are used to go from one scene to another. Usual props used are obviously weapons such as guns and knives to increase the tension in the scene. Crime movies often have elements of harm to others which increases scene tension and suspense. I mentioned some examples such as The Godfather and Scarface. Sounds used are non-diegetic to build suspense. Also, the music tends to start off slow but slowly builds up throughout the movie. The elements that I favor are the suspense and action because it keeps me interested and at the edge of my seat. The element that is unfavored is the mystery because it keeps the plot slow and slightly boring. That is the crime genre summed up. Thanks, guys see ya later.