Graphics Research and Planning

These four titles are examples of graphic titles in films that I particularly liked. The graphics for Shame (far left) and The Social Network (left) are both examples of understated fonts, the kind that I feel would fit in with the minimalistic atmosphere of my film. The colour of th etitles is white and possess no overstated animations and transitions. The main striking point of both of these graphics is that the creators have chosen to emphasise certain words via italics or bold font - this is a subtle yet highly effective approach to making titles, as it stresses the importance of what they show which in turn gives them a professional look. I strongly believe that I will transfer this technique into my trailer on whatever I decide will be the marketing point of the film - possibly my own name as a director. The other two titles are from Reservoir Dogs and Drive, two more alternative films that have enjoyed much popularity in certain circles and are cited as unique and distinctive. The graphics they use only add to this - both titles are done in a noticable colour, from mustard yellow to pink, and have a flashy font. Though this is not the kind of atmosphere I am hoping to create, one thing that interests me about both is that they are both shown over a shot from the film. In both cases, the shots have an iconic feel though are relatively basic, only really showing the characters from the film. If I were to have my graphics run over a shot from my film - which is not unlikely, as I want my trailer to have a sense of momentum and to not consistently cut to black - I would take this into account.

The image on the far left is an examle of the Cannes award for best director in its standard format, and it is easy to see why having something like this alone would fit into the atmosphere of my trailer as the font and style is similar. Furthermore, I would have no objection to this playing over black as it would still be a selling point for the film, meaning the audience would not be disengaged by a cut to black. However, the film festival graphics for Shame (middle) felt particularly compelling to me. Having my film festival graphics run over an important or impressive shot from the film would help the audience know what kind of style to expect from the film and would suggest to them that it is of a high quality, more so than a simple and more ambiguous film festival graphic over black. The graphics on the right are for the film Moon, and are an example of film festival graphics which have been modified to further fit the atmosphere of the film, doing what Shame does to an even greater extent. The furthest extent to which I would modify the look of the film festival logos is to remove the image of the wreath to give it the sparse look of my film as a whole which, though not a particularly big change, may be subtly effective.