Title Research Blog

For this assignment, we had to go onto two websites that have movie titles and choose which ones that fall into our specific genre. The first movie that I watched which was on the Watch the Title website was The Poker Club. Although this title was an animated one, it still managed to fit the common conventions that are used to display thriller and suspense movies. In this opening title, the non-diegetic sounds were very prominent. The music had a suspenseful low tone to it that usually signifies that something isn’t right or there is a dark theme behind the movie. Whole watching the animation, I also noticed that the colors that were used were very dark, saturated colors. There were no vibrant colors it was mainly like a rusty red, black, or white. There were also shadows that were being casted in the animation which also conveyed the dimness of the color scheme. The last thing that I noticed is near the end of the animation, there were blood splatters that dripped onto the poker card along with a gun in the middle of the poker table which added to the fact that this wasn’t your average Poker Club and that the title was hinting towards murderous themes.

The next movie that I watched was on the website Art of the title and the title that I watched was Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘Dial M for Murder’. Even though this film was a thriller movie, it didn’t really fit the common conventions for a thriller at all. The music for the opening sequence was not suspenseful at all nor did it leave me feeling as if something wrong was going to happen in the near future. Ironically the music wasn’t exactly upbeat but it most certainly wasn’t eerie. In the beginning it did begin to sound a little scary-ish but then it turned into more peaceful orchestra music that was more calming than alarming. The lighting however was kind of dim which is something that thrillers specialize in because most of them are shot in dim or dark lighting. Other than those too things, nothing else was shown. I believe that since this title is older than most horror or thriller movies, the conventions weren’t as well known or prominent in the title sequence. This movie was made in 1954 so there were no special effects that could be done to convey the fact that it is a thriller film. The font for the film on the other hand was more of a creepy kind of font which could also convey the thriller twist. In older thriller/suspense movies, they would use creepy fonts that would lead the watcher to believe that it was a thriller even if that isn’t really a popular convention in thriller movies today.

The third title that I watched was also on the website art of the title and it was called Zodiac which was directed by David Fincher. This movie shared a lot more things in common in regards of conventions than the previous movie Dial M for murder. In the very beginning of the opening an establishing shot of San Francisco was shown which is a convention that I have noticed in most thriller movies. The movie is also very fast paced so it feels as if you are moving with the actors throughout their normal morning routine. I don’t believe the fast paced opening is a convention but it was something that I noticed while watching the title. The also used an over the shoulder shot and a point of view shot which is also a convention that usually corresponds with thriller movies. When a point of view shot is used in a thriller it makes the movie more suspenseful because it makes you feel as if you’re the one it is going to happen to along with the overwhelming sense of you don’t know what is going to happen next. In the opening, usually in a thriller when the director wants you to focus on something later they do a close up of the object that they are watching which is what happened in this opening as well. However, something that didn’t really fit the convention of a thriller was the non-diegetic sound. The music or the opening was very upbeat and fast paced which wasn’t really on the suspenseful side nor did it make me feel nervous for the actors. The lighting also didn’t really fit the convention of a thriller because it was shot in a brightly lit area that had a lot of natural sunlight because it was filmed outdoors, which also took away the eerie affect that lighting usually has.

The final movie title that I watched was on the website watch the title and I watched the title Se7en which was also by David Fincher. The opening of this movie was actually quite frightening. The conventions for thrillers or suspense movies were spot on for this opening. For the music, it was definitely more on the eerie creepy side along with the font which looks like it was written wobbly or by someone as if they were deranged, The opening used a lot of high angle shots and extreme close ups to capture the movements of the hands that were being filmed. The extreme close ups of the subjects hands that have bandages, and peeling skin that are doing off tasks also add to the creepy effect that the film is giving off. The lighting for the film is very dim and the colors aren’t vibrant at all. The colors are all ill, muted colors that makes the scenery look as if it hasn’t been touched in years. There are a lot of white, off white, black, and beige colors that make themselves prominent in the film. Lastly there were a lot of shadows that were being casted over the disturbing or creepy images that were being displayed in the film which showed that the lighting for it wasn’t really that great. This film opening in particular used a lot of the main conventions that thriller movies are recognized for and it really sends chills down your spine just by watching the opening.