Friday, January 31, 2020

Title Research: The Reaping

The final  film we're going to be discussing the opening sequence to is The Reaping a film introduced in the year 2007. I've watched the opening sequence of this film at ArtOfTheTitle.com. I studied it based on our horror genre. I examined it due to the following questions.


How many titles are displayed during the opening sequence? The amount of titles in the opening sequence are 20 titles total. It starts off with series of main actors and producers and closes out with company presented by which in this case is the Warner Brothers. The titles come in on a black background with a red text. They come in as a jumble of words but as soon rearrange into words. They stay like that for a little and then leave in the same way they entered.

 What images are prioritized? The images prioritize are very vague they do not show clear imaging of what exactly is taking place. They scenes are a close of up a lady’s face, then it goes into the titles where there are red washed photos of things such as leaves very close ups of those said leaves. There are also some unintelligible pictures but they mostly flash onto the screen and then leave.

 What connotations do the images carry? The images has you feeling very intense, anxious and anticipated as to what's occurring and what's happening. The music that goes along with the opening makes it even more unsettling. Since they are extreme closeups, they are unsettling because we have no clue what they are. The feeling of not being able to understand what something is is a common fear in humans so they use this to their advantage.

 How is the genre reinforced through symbolic and technical codes from the outset? I would definitely say the genre is enforced through the score the opening sequence. The bumps along the music takes you on a roller coaster through emotions. The pictures changing goes along with the music in perfectly timed switches to other close ups.

 How did the film establish an enigma from the outset? The enigma in the film established is very intense and dramatic the way that was established was through the use of different elements of filming as well, such as sound: the extremely suspenseful instrumental. There are flashes with the use of editing, and lighting as well contributing to the mood and theme of the genre.

 What strategies does the film used to ensure that the film is appealing to it's target audience? The film uses a certain aesthetic throughout the film, and the color design is very dark themed. The font used was a red font. These are inherently creepy due to the previous mindset of horror. Which is, as I said before, unsettling images and creepy fonts.

 How was the technology used effectively? There are no camera angles of any sort used in the opening sequence more so graphics and mainly editing. With editing there were a couple of fade ins- and different sorts of transitions to move the titles along. The titles also had a floating effect making a dramatic entrance each time through the sequence. There was also the ability to change the colors of the images to make them all one color.

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