X VODCAST2: Titles

VODCAST

In this vodcast, I speak about the titles in different movies.  I've looked at some Working Title movies as well as Warp movies.  It is clear that a title is very important as it anchors the genre and the preferred reading.  This is shown through the font, colour, size and case.  It is interesting as a few movies don't have any titles at all.  The order is also important to look at as this will help us create our film opening.  I look at Tyrannosaur (Considine, 2011), This is England (Meadows, 2007) and Four Lions (Morris, 2010) from Warp and Bridget Jones's Diary (Maguire, 2001) from Working Title.  I then looked at some zom-rom-com genre specific movies such as, Zombieland (Fleischer, 2009) and Anna and the Apocalypse (McPhail, 2018).
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X FILM OPENING EG1 Pretty in Pink

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IDENTS

• Only one company ident (Paramount Pictures)
• Now usually a few company idents

TITLES

• Wording, font use, order - all very important
• In older movies, usually all put at the end

TITLES IN ORDER 

(If in bold - bigger font size)

• PARAMOUNT PICTURES PRESENTS (all upper case and sans-serif - less likely to connote sophistication) - Black and white connoting seriousness / drama genre.  Polysemic title - sans-serif font with white on black.
• A JOHN HUGHES PRODUCTION (all upper case, sans-serif).  Expected auteur theory however usually "Film" and not "Production".  

SHOTS

• Exposition shot - narrative enigma.  Some degree of context - a working class area (grass growing over pavement, rusty car, broken roads)
• Panning shot showing both sides of the track - Born/from the wrong side of the tracks - One side is a nice area than the other.

X SEMIOTICS1 applied to Warp films

TYRANNOSAUR

Tyrannosaur poster

• Rule of thirds, centrally framed connoting this man as the protagonist
• However, prop (wooden baseball bat), lighting, mise-en-scene etc connote he could be the antagonist
• Own binary opposition - creating narrative enigma
• Serif font signifying a drama genre
• Wrinkles - older man - older audience
• Skin head, vest top - working class
• Terraced houses on edge of poster - working class
• Dark weather - drama
• High key lighting on only one side - reflects his two different personalities - drama
• Small 'a film by Paddy Considine' denotes auteur theory
• 2 awards won & reviews to lead promotion
• High angle - surprising for protagonist
• Bare tree - drama 
• Violence - in this shot - violence to himself - self-loathing
• Contemplating - not stupid like the stereotypical working class
• Narrative enigma - what is he regretting?
• Names but not big or bold
• All upper case

LE DONK & SCOR-ZAY-ZEE

Le Donk & Scor-zay-zee poster

• Bright colours with title, stars, graffiti (not serious)
• Fat character signifies comedy in this case
• Wearing scruffy clothes, therefore not glamourising the working-class
• Underwear hanging connotes a comedy genre
• Setting = covered in graffiti (connotation of rough area) + (typical warp)
• Intertextual reference of 'Spinal Tap' 
• Stereotypes = short hair, relatively masculine colours
• rule of thirds - centred on the cover (protagonist)
• more inviting as character is directly referencing the character with hand gesture
• Text = scruffy serif font
• Narrative enigma as we don't know who the character is + his eyes are covered by sunglasses
• Long-shot/extreme long-shot
• Mid angle
• Shane Meadows made clear on cover = denotes the auteur theory
• Small text showing the actors (not famous actors, therefore no need to have their names clear on the cover)
• Not a star vacuole + film ratings on cover
• Showing off film festival ratings
• intertextuality with name (Martin Scorsese)
• Two shot

X THEORY1 The Auteur Theory

Richard Curtis

DEFINITION

• The director has a distinctive style (like Tarantino)
• They tackle social issues
• Assumption that the director is the creator (ignores the editor and writer etc.)

RICHARD CURTIS (A COUNTER EXAMPLE?)

Screenwriter, film director, film producer, television producer.

Known for Love Actually (2003), Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) and About Time (2013).  Associated with a subsidiary of a big 5 conglomerate NBC-Universal.  Very successful in commercial terms - his movies don't usually get critically acclaimed!  

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Has a distinctive style.  Typically rom-coms (hybrid) with white, middle class, southern English actors.  Doesn't tackle social issues such as racism, sexism, poverty etc. but arguably disguises it therefore he is not considered an auteur.  

However... he's known for working with a mainly female centred genre.  Just as is the case with others such as soap operas and women's magazines, this is considered "trashy".

Filmography

SHANE MEADOWS

Shane Meadows

Director, screenwriter, actor. 

Known for Dead Man's Shoes (2004), This Is England (2006) and TwentyFourSeven (1997).  Associated with an Indie company, Warp.

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Has a very distinctive style.  Mainly social realism genre with characters with different representations - e.g. working class, northern English.  Tackles racism, mental health and poverty.

• fits definition 
• warp minimal box office
• win lots of awards
• flawed and complex protagonist who by the end you sympathise with 
• low budget 
• racism, mental health, poverty all included
• actors with different accents and races
• social realism genre
• Dead Man's Shoes - hybrid - psychological thriller and social realist