Credit Sequences

Credit Sequences

An opening sequence  of a film will contain the credits, title and logos of film institutions so the audience are aware of who will be featuring in the film as well as gaining an idea of what the film is going to be like based on the title or the company that has helped made the film.

Insidious: Throughout the opening credit sequence of 'Insidious' the colour red is used for the writing. The colour red signifies danger, warning and violence; therefore reflecting the genre of the film (horror) and warning the audience about what is going to happen next. The font used is conventional for the horror genre as it is very basic but bold and in capitals. At the same time it also has some significance with a devil due to the 'horn' ltike points on some of the letters ('I', 'N', 'U'). This font style clearly conveys the the genre of the film. The title is much bolder than the other credits and is centred in the middle of the screen as it needs to be eye catching for the audience. The title takes up most of the screen and has a black background behind so the audience focus on the title rather than the background. Following this, the credits after the title appear in red and then duplicate. The duplication then turns into a different font which is wonky and has 'ghost' like appearance. This could be an indication for what is going to happen in the film: are ghosts going to haunt them? This font creates narrative enigma and immediately sets the atmosphere of the film. Once the font has changed the writing then turns into grey and dust. This also adds to the fact that it could represent a ghost. 

The background of the credit sequence has a montage of black and white images. These black and white images show numerous rooms in a house; this could also add to the narrative enigma created as it gets the audience asking whether this is the house that the storyline will be set in. The camera angles begin at eye level and straight but then change to a canted angle shot. This creates the feeling of disorientation and anxiety within the audience, which creates suspense and tension. As the credit sequences continue, there are slight changes to the still images. To add tension, the director has interpreted minuscule elements such as a black figure in the corner of the screen and footsteps on the floor to scare the audience. These small changes catch the audience out and gets them thinking.

The non-diegetic sound used in the credit sequences is very high pitched and makes your hair stand on end. The score of the music uses violins to create the high pitched, 'cringy' sound to make the audience feel uncomfortable. This tone of sound is very conventional of a horror film as it instantly builds up suspense as it makes the audience feel uncomfortable. When the title of the film appears on the screen the music reaches its crescendo, this is purposely done to grab the audiences attention. The music is very irregular and doesn't follow a pattern, it is continuously going up and down in pitch at speed. This signifies the disorientation of the film and the genre of the film. 

One of the film companies that contributed to make 'Insidious' was 'Haunted Movies'. The fact that the companies name has the word 'haunted' in it establishes that the genre of the film must be horror. 

In the opening sequences of some films, they change the institution logo so that it represents the genre, for example, Columbia Pictures made the statue of the woman grow long black hair and the colour of the screen changed to a greenish colour when they produced 'The Grudge 2'. In the credit sequence above, this hasn't been done. However it adds that extra feature to the film and sets the audience up for what they are watching before they've even been introduced to the characters or setting of the film. 

Se7en: The opening credits in 'Se7en' are very complex in terms of editing. Firstly, the font colour is white which could be used for many different film genres however this film is a thriller and thrillers usually entail crime and investigation. The colour white usually connotes innocence and simplicity but in this context it can be used to represnt the white writing on a chalk board; trying to figure out an investigation or could possibly convey the chalk outline you would see surrounding a dead body. Secondly, the font is almost quite childlike, it looks as if someone has hand wrote the credits which could signify the psychological state of mind of the character that appears in the opening sequence. This reinforces the thriller genre, investigating crime and finding explanations of why people do what they do. The filckering of the writing signifies the messy, disorentated mind of the characters. Similarly, two different fonts are used and have been layered (superimposed) in the editing process to represent fragmentation: like the characters mind. This character might have multiple personalities or some other kind of mental disability.

One of the film companies that helped made Se7en is New Line Cinema. This company have also made films such as The Conjuring, Nightmare on Elm Street, Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Friday 13th therefore the audience can establish that this institution are known for several films of the horror/slasher/thriller genre thus they are aware of the significance of the company.

Overall, the way in which both films present their credits are very similar but have slight differences. Both use disturbing music to create tension, both use editing on the credits for different effects (Se7en - flickering, Insidious - duplication and 'ghost' - like interpretations), both have a montage of images or clips to introduce a message and hint to the audience what the film is about. But the overall message produced is very different as the genres are different. The director of both films has added all of these factors (font type, colour, background and sound) to enhance the credit sequence and communicate the genre of the film.

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