Hannah's 3 title sequences

Analysis of three thriller title sequences

 

Shutter Island

I began by looking at the opening to the film 'Shutter Island'. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKV_7NG1bCk 
The title sequence begins with a fade in from black to a shot of an abandoned looking corridor which looks as if it could be a prison. The first credit  - "A film by Martin Scorsese" - flickers onto the screen in a bright red gothic-style font. This type of font and colour is typical of thriller and horror openings as it immediately conveys the genre through the connotations that the unsettling font style gives.  By using a flickering effect on the text rather than just having it fade in then fade out - the way that the credits of a comedy or romance film/programme would be - the audience is already unsettled and suspense has immediately been created. The first credit is positioned in the bottom right side of the screen in a dead space. Due to the dark lighting of this particular shot, the text is the first thing on the screen which the audience's eyes are drawn to.


The following two credits are in an identical style with the same 'flickering' animations. They follow suit by being placed in an empty space on the screen. Like the first credit, the text is placed in a darkly-lit area of the shot and so the credit is very prominent.




 The third credit, however, is in white instead of red. This could be to convey the themes of the film (good vs. bad) with the contrast of connotations from red and white, with white gives the impression of purity and innocence. The text is placed in a more central part of the screen than the previous three credits which suggests this particular credit could be more important. However it lasts the same amount of time - 4 seconds - and continues with the same flickering animation as the previous credits.

The credits continue in the same style and same white font as the previous, until the music begins to build to an intense climax and the screen fades to black. The screen then fades back in with the text 'Shutter Island' in the same red as was used initially. The text doesn't use the same animation as before, this time instead it zooms in until the screen is fully covered with the words. This demonstrates the importance of the title compared to the previous credits as the font is much larger and the amount of time it's shown on screen for is longer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gedDJTPq70