British Social Realism // Production Log Four

What have you learnt about title devices? 

This week was focused on how the opening credits of films are presented to us, which I have learnt is very important for the audience. They have to be interesting to draw the audience's attention as they are the first impression of your film. Many films use the opening credits to establish the genre and themes that may appear in the film, this leaves an enigma amongst your audience and keeps them interested. 

I have learnt that to keep the opening interesting for the audience, the credits are short, but are kept on the screen long enough for them to be read. They are also always in a clear font and colour so the audience can see them. In British Social Realism films the colours are usually black or white, to keep them simple as it emphasises the film is realistic and not as fictionalised as Hollywood films. Also, to keep them short, only key roles are featured in the film's opening, for example, the production companies are first shown, followed by the main actors, then key names from the crew are mentioned, finally finishing with the editors, producers and lastly the director of the film being shown.

In British Social Realism films commonly, the production companies would be shown with a plain black background, but the rest are super-imposed graphics meaning they overlay the images shown to us. 

How will this impact your production? 

I plan to show my graphics in the same way that I found in many BSR films, which shows my production companies on a black screen, but the credits to follow being on a transparent background, so the opening sequence does not bore the audience. I also plan to use a plain colour for my font (black or white) so it is simple and easy to read, which is also another common factor amongst realist films.  My credits will also follow the structure I mentioned above which is as follows: 

Production Companies, 

Main Actors, 

Crew, 

Editor, 

Producer,

Director. 

What methods might you use in the opening and why? 

I quite like the idea of a smash mouth opening to throw the audience straight in to the story. I feel this is a really effective way of drawing the attention of your audience and making them aware of the themes of the film within the very first minutes. A really good example of this type of opening is "London to Brighton." I found this opening quite unique and it interested me straight away and left me asking questions to what might have happened before the scene being shown to me. I need to research more into how the credits are shown with this type of opening, but I like the idea of showing the production company and having some action and then showing the credits on top of calmer scenes that follow. The credits would be clear, but not take much attention away from the scene so would most likely be shown in black or white.