Title Credits Research

Title Credits Research

Fight Club - 1999

Director: David Fincher

'Fight Club''s opening scene seems more reflective of the sci-fi genre than it's own (drama) and it's title font reflects that.  The font of 'Fight Club''s titles is quite curved and slanted looking, following the look of the opening sequence but not necessarily the tone of the rest of the film.  The 'Fight Club' titles are in capital letters again giving the sequence a professional feel and the title goes across two lines forming an almost pyramidal shape accentuating the sci-fi feel of the opening.

Whiplash - 2014

Director: Damien Chazelle

The titles in 'Whiplash''s opening sequence are very simple with the film's main Title coming up fairly small in the middle of a black screen.  The title for 'Whiplash' is white, contrasting and standing out from the rest of the screen, and the title is written in all capitals meaning all the letters are the same size, giving a sleek and professional look to the title.  The title is also written in a clear block font again making it stand out against the plain background. Interestingly, in 'Whiplash' the film's title is the first credit given and in fact the first thing the audience sees, after the sound of drumming.  This subverts the usual film opening convention of having the main title in the middle of your opening scene, giving the audience a very clear and basic introduction to the film's main theme, drumming.

The Road - 2009

Director: John Hillcoat

Like in 'Whiplash' the Title for 'The Road' is simply white writing on a black background and it is, again, the first shot of the film.  The title for 'The Road' is fairly big taking up a large proportion of the screen, and like with 'Whiplash' and 'Fight Club' is written in block capitals.  The font of 'The Road' is very angular making the title stand out from the screen and giving it a very serious look, reflective of the contents of the film.

Taxi Driver - 1976

Director: Martin Scorsese

'Taxi Driver''s titles are shown against the opening sequence of a New York taxi driving though clouds of smoke.  The titles are also coloured yellow, the colour of taxis in New York. As well as being yellow, the font of  'Taxi Diver''s title is very interesting with a 3D effect being given to its block lettering.  The font is very angular, written entirely in straight lines as opposed to showing the usual curves of letters, and like all of the  other opening is written entirely in capitals.

Production Company Logo

Production Company Logo

We decided upon our production company name, COMA Productions, as it is an acronym for all of our names, Cassidy, Owen, Molly and Aimee. Once we came up with our name we decided to think of things which we related to comas some of our ideas were; dead people, hospital scenery and heart monitors; of these ideas we decided upon the heart monitor as we thought it would be the most impactful.   We decided to brainstorm a few ideas for production company logos before deciding on a final design.  Here are three of our ideas:

Idea 1:

Our first idea was to have the line of a heart monitor running over the top of the name of our production company.  This is quite an impactful and professional logo with the white standing out, bold against the black background.  However, it may come across a little boring and uninventive and the title of our company may come across a bit small and difficult to read.  This however a good idea if we learn how to animate the heart beat with sound effects giving a smooth and professional introduction to our film.

Idea 2:

Our second idea was to write the 'M' of COMA using a heartbeat monitor.  This was our favourite idea as it is a fun and interesting logo which does not require animation ignorer to attract the audiences attention to our company and film.  The light blue again the black background brings a vibrancy to our logo making it stand out whilst also maintaining a professional look and feel.  However, there may be some issues with the translation of this logo as it is quite spaced out and some people may not be able to make out the 'M' or that it is a heartbeat.

Idea 3:

Our final idea was to incorporate the word COMA into the heartbeat with productions written underneath.  This was our least favourite idea as the finished product came across childish and unprofessional with us having to change the font to suit the look of the heartbeat.  Although the overall look of the logo was not ideal we did make the logo all white to give as much professionalism as possible and the word 'productions' was kept in capitals to give optimum impact.

Idea 4:

We decided to combine ideas 1, 2 and 3 and created an animated production company logo in which a heart beat comes across the screen and takes its place as the 'M' in COMA.  This is a really sleek production company logo and looks very professional with the animation really adding to its look

Production Company Logo Research

Production Company Logo Research

Before creating our own production company logo, we looked into famous production companies and their logos which are used in movies. We looked at the main features of their logos including; colouring, font and animation.

The Weinstein Company      

The Weinstein Company introduction is kept
short with the logo being the only thing featured.
The logo fades in and out and then fades out at
the end of the intro. This draws the viewer's
attention in and makes the logo stand out. The
company name is also the last thing seen during
this fade out.  The background is black which
makes the white logo bolder. The logo is kept
simple and only features three triangles
Music is played in the background of the
introduction which makes it seem more dramatic
and grabs attention. This logo shows that we do
not need to over complicate our own production
company intro/logo.

Miramax Films

Miramax's production company logo focuses
more on the animation than the actual logo. It
has a big introduction with a sweep through a
city. Its actual logo only appears in the last
couple of seconds of the introduction. We are not
going to be able to do this kind of animation as
we do not have the skill or the time. The
Miramax logo is kept very simple with a black
background and a bold white font. The word
'Miramax' is the biggest word as it is the name of
the company so it needs to stand out. Music is
played in the background to make it seem more
dramatic. We could use some sound in ours but it
would only be impactful if it was an animation.

Metro Goldwyn Mayer

Unlike the others, MGM has remained simplistic
when it comes to animation and sound. The only
moving part of this logo is the lion in the middle
which roars. The actual logo is complicated with
many artistic pieces added. It takes up the whole
screen and is balanced on both sides. The
background is black which makes the golden-
orange colour of it stand out. The production
company's name is the biggest part of the logo so it stands out. We will most likely keep our logo
design simple and less decorative but MGM's
logo intro showed that if we were to make our
logo animatic then keeping it simple works too.



Our own production company logo/introduction should be kept short to hold attention but also due to the limited skills and time we have. It is most common for the logo to be featured on a black background with bold lettering to make the name stand out. If the logo were to be an animation  sound (most likely music) should be added. If there is no movement sound should not be added and it should be kept a still.

Location Recce

Location Recce

Aimee's Sister's Bedroom:

Our piece opens on a shot of the protagonist sitting on the edge of her bed looking forwards. For this we decided to use my sister's bedroom we chose it because it is a fairly plain room with white walls and white furniture so will be easy to make it look sparse.  In the room there are two windows on the opposite wall from the bed meaning we will be able to naturally light the actress' face.

Bedroom Door:

One of our shots involves the protagonist leaning against the inside of their door barring someone from entering for this we decided to again use my sister's room for continuity.  Although the door is again opposite the windows it is a lot darker than the bed and we can film later in the day to give us more control over lighting and allows to make this shot darker.

Aimee's Kitchen:

There is one shot in our opening in which the camera circles around the protagonist inside a kitchen.  We decided to use my kitchen as it was again in my house, enabling us to film everything in one day and it also fit the look we were looking for in the kitchen scene.

Aimee's Bathtub:

We are using the bathtub for the scene in which the protagonist submerges herself into the water and the title appears on the screen.  The bathtub we have chosen is also in my house limiting the locations in which we need to film. this will give us more time to get the shots we need.

 Dunton Green Tunnel:

 This is for the scene in which the protagonist has    ran away from home and is hiding in a tunnel.  we  chose this because it fits the dirty, dingy look we are aiming for.  The white walls will contrast her dark appearance adding to the creep nature of the scene.

Dunton Green Tunnel Wall:

This is for the scene in which the protagonists face is grasped by an unknown antagonist.  This wall is in the tunnel in which we will film the above scene.  Although there is limited space within the tunnel this shot is a close-up so limited space will not affect filming.

Dunton Green Bus Stop:

This bus stop is for the scene in which the camera circles around the protagonist.  This is a good location because it is a stereotypical bus stop, demonstrating her vulnerability as a young person alone in public.  It is also a 3 minute walk from the tunnel meaning we can film all of these scenes in one shoot.

School Medical Room:

This for the final scene of our opening in which the protagonist is seen to be in a hospital room.  This is a convenient location as it in our school and looks like a hospital room.

School Hall:

This is for the scene where she stands on the stage and the camera circles around her.  We will put out chairs in the main floor area because there will be muffled applause to accompany.  This is also in school so will be easy to fit in to our shooing schedule.

Park:

This is for the scene in which the camera circles around the protagonist standing in a park.  We chose this location because it is in our local park. For this location you can use 100% natural lighting, reflecting light where needed.

Bridge in Park:

This is a good bridge as, like with the tunnel, it is very dingy looking and has a good view of the river.  In this location there may be limited space for filming but we will complete test footage to assess its suitability for the shot we require.

Casting - Rose

Casting - Rose

Meg Dobson
 Age: 16
Height: Mid-height
Hair colour: Brown
Eye colour: Brown
Skin colour: White

Meg has long dark hair, dark eyes and pale skin, similarly to what we are looking for. The long hair means that it can be make to look scruffy. 





Shannon O'Doherty
Age: 16
Height: Small
Hair colour: Brown
Eye colour: Green
Skin colour: White

Shannon has very long hair, which is also good for the scruffy look, however it is too light and we are looking for a darker colour palette. 




Aimee Langan
Age: 17
Height: Small
Hair colour: Brown
Eye colour: Blue
Skin colour: White

Aimee has long dark hair and pale skin, creating an effective contrast. However, her eyes are too bright for what we are looking for.