Planning Opening Credits - Miss Georgiou

The purpose of opening credits is to inform and convey to the audience the genre of the film. It allows the audience to establish the genre through the use of colours used, style of the credits, thriller conventions as well as informing them the production company and production team. The opening credits consists of the production company, director, actor, title of film, actors continued, casting, music, costumes, editors, production, camera operator, co-producer, producer, writing and director.

Through my analysis of 'Se7en' -of the opening sequence it has jerky and jumpy effects that were used that looked like an earthquake, illustrating a shadowy feeling showing a reflection or a mirror image of the writing. This allows the audience to feel many things due to their concentration on the screen it creates a sense of uneasiness for the audience at the same time there is a hidden identity which creates enigma. The credits came in the same order as above, also the director was shown twice as he believed that his name was important to be there. The main colours used were white, (this colour connotes innocence and purity the credits were seen in white so the major colour was white that stood out) black, (the use of black conveys a feeling of lost, dark, gloomy, evil and something hidden) red, (the colour is extremely vital within a thriller as it emphasises on the connotations of a thriller further, the major one being danger and it also represents violence and foreshadows death). In addition the words were emphasised by the colours but also they were edited to be flashing and so were the images creating a fuzzy and blurry look.

Furthermore, I analysed another opening title which was from the 'Black Swan', the opening credits were in this order - the production company, director, music, story, producer, executive producers, screenplay, actors and lastly the title of the film. The colours used were beige of the paper and a black crayon used for the drawing, the use of dark brown was also used of the credits. The use of the black colour illustrates the title name of the black swan as the audience may soon realise that a hidden identity is sketching a black swan, the dark brown colour of the title fades into white making a noise of a smashed glass. This could symbolise that victory is always with the good, innocent and vulnerable. Moreover the style of the credits were in capitals and were seen to be sharp and harsh. Also as I analysed within 'Se7en' the thriller conventions both came into the same category of the low-key lighting, it creates a suspenseful feel for the audience as it is a mystery that the audience would want to find out. Also in the opening scene, the main reason why the audience may feel uneasy or uncomfortable is due to the suspenseful thought of the hidden identity, as the audience are only disclosed to the hands of the mysterious person in 'Se7en' and in the 'Black Swan'.

Within our group discussion we decided that we wanted our credits to be shown from the beginning when Lucy is walking from the side of her street, until she puts her meal into the microwave the title would fade away from the scene. Our discussion of the opening credits included that we wanted the typical thriller look, we therefore chose the names to be white and the credit titles to be red. The use of these colours are very conventional within the thriller genre, allowing the audience to understand and relate our opening sequence to the thriller genre. Also, the lighting would be low-key as it would start when Lucy is walking home in the evening, this is seen to be typical within the thriller genre. For our credits we decided that we wanted to look like this, the use of the other random names, not including mine, Lucys or James, is so that the audience can understand that there were different people who specialist in a particular department - rather than our three names being on each credit title at least once as in a realistic film it would not only be three people doing all those jobs.

Production Company: RLJ Production
Actor: Lucy Nottage
Camera Operator: Ravinder Cheema
Actor: James Barry
Casting: John Hunter
Music: Emma Harmane
Costume: Elizabeth Smith
Editors: Ravinder Cheema, James Barry, Lucy Nottage
Production: Freddie Forbes
Co-producer: Christina White
Executive producer: Rupert Cole
Director: Samuel Davids
Title: Unknown

Additionally, I believe that our opening credits are very conventional as the use of the white colour signifies innocence portraying Lucy's character - as she would be shown throughout the credits. Also, red signifies danger and violence, allowing the audience to feel a bit edgy and start to feel a bit of concern for Lucy as she is walking home in the dark and is seen home alone. Finally the use of the low-key lighting is stereotypical within the thriller genre as it helps to create the correct atmosphere, feeling and emotions of the thriller and opening sequence for the audience.

Overall, I believe that our planning credits went well and we would easily be able to decide how we as a group want our thriller to be produced as, this would allow us to prepare for our filming as we need to be aware of the natural light and make sure it is dark in the evening time when it it relatable for the audience to easily realise that she is walking home late from school. Also in preparation in our filming we'll also be aware when editing which colours we would like to use and if they don't turn out suitable then we as a group can change the colours deciding which look best as a group.