Art Of The Title Grid Activity

 

1) Summarise your film idea. Provide a brief synopsis and outline what happens in your film opening.


Our film, The Art of Alchemy, is predominantly a crime-thriller with elements of horror and science fiction. The protagonist, portrayed by Louis Caldwell, has an underground lab in which he practices the ancient art of Alchemy, an aspect of science banned worldwide due to it's potentially devastating power. Despite being pursued by the police, the Alchemist is able to use his skills for the betterment of Mankind. The film opening introduces a major setting (the lab) as well as the protagonist. The Alchemist is portrayed experimenting within his lab.

2) What kind of information has been included in your film opening?

The film opening informs the audience of the producer, director and starring actor. The protagonist is also introduced to the audience as well his science/chemistry-related profession. The scene ends by revealing the name of the film.

3) How do the titles link to the main film idea?

The typography we used is very sharp and distinct, reflecting the Alchemist's meticulous and academic nature. The simplicity of the font encourages the audience to focus on the actual shots.

4) Summarise the expected audience reaction. What should the audience be thinking by the end of your opening? Is your opening clear or ambiguous?

Our expected audience reaction can effectively by split into two categories: intrigue and shock.
Intrigue: Our film opening is indeed intended to be ambiguous. The majority of the shots are CUs or ECUs, preventing the audience from viewing the full picture. The protagonist is also portrayed in an intriguing manner (see question 5). The audience should be thinking about the scientist's identity by the end of the film opening as well as his motives.
Shock: Shot 4 and 6 are intended to shock the audience. The ECUs of dead animals have connotations of horror as well as adhering to the scientific theme. The shock engages the audience effectively, ensuring that they are attentive straight from the get-go.

5) Identify three things you included in your grid that are important in the construction of an opening sequence and explain their role in understanding the film.

Representation of the Alchemist- It is a common convention of thrillers to create a sense of mystery around the antihero from as early as the opening scene; a convention that we duly followed. Significantly, the audience are never able to view the Alchemist's whole body from the front, and are instead subject to several close-ups of different body parts. This enigma is kept up throughout the movie.
Framing and angles- The close up framing as well as the tilt used in shot 7 create a feeling of discomfort within the audience, typical of the thriller genre. This discomfort is replicated throughout the film.
The opening and final shot- These two shots in particular are effective within the opening scene. The opening establishing shot introduces the protagonist and the setting. The framing and camera positioning is also visually appealing. The final shot is extremely interesting and epitomises the intriguing cinematography we attempted to achieve.

6) How effective is your project as a film opening? Explain your answer.
I think our project has the potential to be very effective, held back by a few lighting and title mistakes. The titles appear rushed and incomplete. With more time, the typography and positioning of the titles would be thought out more thoroughly. In addition, the lighting of the shots was far from ideal, with our group having to resort to the night-vision effect in an effort to rectify this problem. Fortunately, the effect was not too bad and contributed to our chemical theme and mise-en-scene.
 The most effective aspects of our sequence are probably the enigma of the Alchemist as well as the creative and sometimes shocking camera-work, displayed in all nine shots.