Textual Analysis of the Opening Title Sequence from the film, 'Bullitt'

The film, 'Bullitt', is from the murder mystery genre. This is shown through the choice of images, typography, cuts, sound and camera angles used in the opening titles.

All the images used in the opening titles are all very dark, which is usually viewed negatively. Dark is usually associated with crime and murder, which relates back to the genre. The images mainly consist of close ups on the characters faces, which are mostly taken from low angles. This angles connote importance, as well as making the characters appear intimidating. Furthermore, the close ups connote tensions which would relate back to the genre.


The typography used in these opening titles is typical of crime genre films, which covers murder mysteries. The font is bold and square, which is see a lot in opening title sequences in American crime films. It connotes importance and dominance, which is why it is used when police are investigating crimes in films.


The cuts used in this title sequence are quite peculiar. They appear in different ways, which could relate to the murder mystery genre. One particular cut shows the following shot appearing through a name on the credits as the name grows bigger. These cuts could represent the varying twists and clues in the plot of a murder mystery genre.


Finally, the background music used in these opening titles is soft jazz music, very similar to the iconic music from the film, 'The Pink Panther', which is associated with investigations. Because of this association, the audience assumes that the film involves the investigation of a crime of some sort.

Textual Analysis of the Opening Title Sequence from the film, 'Sleuth'

The film, 'Sleuth' is in the murder mystery genre. This is shown through the choice of images, typography, cuts and the background music used.

There are few images used in the opening title sequence, however, the ones that are used are bold. It starts with a black screen with the sound of type writing (we can assume that this would be diegetic sound), then small, thin white writing appears in the corner. This would connote that the it is quite emotionless film, the characters are cold hearted and there is not a lot in there life anymore. This relates the murder mystery genre, as the opening titles would symbolise the murder.

The next image is in a dark room with the silhouette of a man staring at a computer screen with surveillance recordings on the screen. At this point, the non - diegetic, background music starts. The music is quite a sad orchestral sound. This, again, could connote the emptiness of the characters life; he is spending his life in a dark room watching surveillance footage of, what we assume is his house, which appears to be very grand. This can relate to the murder mystery genre because, the character may have killed in revenge, of a previous incident, which has left their life empty.

The cuts used are very slow and soft transitions. This could also relate the the character in the film, connoting the emptiness in his life.

Textual Analysis of the Opening Title Sequence from the Film, 'Se7en'

The film 'Se7en' is a thriller/ murder mystery film.


We can see that the film, 'Se7en', is a thriller/ murder mystery through the use of images, typography, cuts and backing music.


The sequence contains the images of open scrapbooks filled with information and photos of different people. Also, there are drawings of different men which have died is bizarre ways. The collection of pictures and drawings of bizarre deaths could connote either the investigation of a crime scene, linking back to murder mystery, or, the room this is taking place in is dark and messy, and we only ever see the hand of the character which could connote an obsession/ stalking, which relates to the thriller genre. Furthermore, it shows the making of the scrapbooks and a hand moving hair on to a clear bag, this has connotations with crime scene investigations, which links back to the themes and genres of thrillers and murder mysteries.


The typography within the sequence is very small and thin jagged. The letters are not written in a straight line. This would be associated with being in a hurry, and jotting down notes, which would related back to the genres of thrillers and murder mysteries. This is because it shows rushing around and taking notes as if investigating a crime.


The cuts in these opening titles are very jagged and sharp, much like the typography used. This is used in as it disorientates the audience, keeping them entertained by the fast pace, and not knowing the next action. Furthermore, the use of fast cuts connotes action and danger, which are all part of the genre.

Moreover, the background music used adds horror themes. The music is quite disturbing, and disorienting, which adds to the overall atmosphere of the opening titles. The music uses a lot of screeches, which have the effect of adding a little fear to the opening titles. All of the sound used in these titles are non - diegetic sound. This adds to the affect of the overall atmosphere the opening title sequence creates.

Research of Murder Mysteries

Use the arrows to navigate around.

Research on Film Opening Title Sequences

From studying film opening title sequences, I have summarised that opening title sequences do not really give anything away about the plot of the film, their purpose is only to establish the theme, atmosphere and tone of the film, the majority of the time they reveal nothing about with the plot.

Almost all film opening title sequences are around two minutes in length, which fits well which the brief, as it requires our main task to be no more than two minutes in length.

We also summarised that the typography was very important in the opening title sequence, this is because different fonts bring different connotations with them, and can dramatically affect the themes and tones portrayed in the sequences.

When designing opening title sequences for films, the best way is to think about the meanings, values and the theme that the plot is trying to get across to the audience, then come up with some images that represent these well, from this you can easily put together a opening title sequence for a film.

Our group has decided to do our opening title sequence on a film, within the genre of 'murder mystery'. The next few posts will be textual analysis' on film opening title sequences of this genre, and a textual analysis on the film, 'Se7en' which is iconic for its opening title sequence.

Introduction to Main Coursework

For the main part of the coursework, we have to create an opening title sequence for a new, fictional film, which will last no longer than 2 minutes.

This is what the brief says;
"The titles and opening of a new fiction film, to last a maximum of two minutes.

All video and audio material must be original, produced by the candidate(s), with the exception of music or audio effects from a copyright-free source.

The presentation of the research, planning and evaluation may take the form of any one, or combination of two or more, of the following:
• a presentation using slideshow software such as Powerpoint;
• a blog or website;
• a podcast;
• a DVD with ‘extras’. "

It is clear from the brief that we need to focus on original opening title sequences from films; here is an example from the iconic film, 'Se7en' which I will later do a textual analysis on;

Analysis of Preliminary Task

We found the Preliminary task very challenging. I feel this was because we made the it too complicated for ourselves. I feel that now we have completed the task we have made it a lot harder for ourselves to shot.

Looking at other groups' work, it was very simplistic and mainly focused on the brief, and not trying to add things that were not in the brief. For example; a lot of other groups came up with simple ideas, such as, passing small objects such as pens etc. This gave them a lot more chance to focus on the shot composition. The had more time to focus on the framing, shot/ reverse shots, match on action shot as well as displaying the 180 degree rule, which we had a lot of trouble with.

When editing, we realised that we had over complicated things, and so we decided to leave out the contrapuntal sound, as it was not required in the brief, the rest of the groups had  not bothered with it, which is why we were less successful.

However, we have demonstrated the examples of a shot/ reverse shot, match on action and the 180 degree rule. I feel we have learnt from the mistakes we have made in the Preliminary task, and will take them into the Main task.


Our Peers' Preliminary Task
When watching, we looked out for examples of match on action, shot/ reverse shot and the 180 degree rule. Each of the groups we watched showed these. Match on action was either shown through the passing of items, or the opening and closing of a door. Shot/ reverse shot was used in every group when there was dialogue from the actors. And the 180 degree rule was not broken.

The Final Preliminary Task

This is the final Preliminary Task scene from 'Escape Productions';




The next post will contain an analysis of the production of the Preliminary Task.

Editing the Preliminary Task

Now we had captured all the shots we needed, we were able to begin editing.


We begun editing by removing the shots that were not going in the scene, then cut down the shots we did want until we had the basic scene. However, some of the shots we first agreed would make the best cuts broke continuity, so we had to use other shots that we had taken when filming to compose the scene.


We then began cutting the shots together to create a seamless scene that displayed a shot/ reverse shot, match on action, and the 180 degree rule.


Unfortunately, we did not have enough time to re-shoot the shots that we wanted to, so we feel that the Preliminary Task suffered, and was not as good as it could have been. But, the scene contains all the aspects the brief required, so we feel it was successful.


The next post contains the final Preliminary Task.

Filming the Preliminary Task: Third Attempt

We felt, as a group, that we had learnt from the mistakes of the first two shoots, so we felt that the third attempt went a lot better. We got the shots we needed, and we felt they were to a good quality.

We were not under a great deal of pressure this time some things did not get so complicated. We focused on each shot individually, making sure that they were all of a good quality.

In the next lesson we will begin editing the shots we have captured today.

Filming the Preliminary Task: Second Attempt

Deciding that we needed to re-shoot the Preliminary task, we picked a new location for the filming and had a second attempt.

When shooting this time, the shots were lacking quality again. With the pressures of a time limit, the shot got very confused. The first time we shot in the new location, we forgot to check for the 180 degree rule again. Fortunately, we realised our mistake before we had finished shooting, and only a few of the shots we breaking continuity, so we still had a chance to re-shoot the shots.

We took the shots back to be edited, and begun editing. However, as a group, we came to the decision that the shots we not good enough because we had rushed through the final shots.

Because, we were editing on a different day, we could not just shoot the poor scenes again, this is because we did not have the same props or costumes, so it would break continuity. Concequently, we had to re-shoot the whole scene again.

Filming the Preliminary Task

When we started shooting, it did not all go to plan. When we got the camera out and looked at the mise-on-scene of the shots, we realised that there was a lot of posters and pictures on the wall of the chosen location, which we weren't allowed to remove. Looking back at our choice of location, i think that we, as a group, chose the wrong room.

Because of this, when filming we tried to manipulate the shots around the background, so we could get the right background, to convey the desired meanings. However, this was not a very good decision because our shot/ reverse shots suffered and were not good enough.

On the first attempt of shooting the scene, we had a lot of trouble shooting. we only had the props we were using in the scene for a limited amount of time, so we decided to film the shots with the props in first. This led to later problems as we were filming shots out of order, confusing us. Also, because of this we failed to notice mistakes we were making, such as breaking the 180 degree rule when shooting the shot/ reverse shots. We had to redo these shots as it was breaking continuity and would disorientate the audience.

We attempt filming the shots a second time. This was more successful than the first attempt as we had learnt from the mistakes we made in the first attempt. We shot the scenes in order this time so we made sure they we all shot and then checked every time we shot so we were following the 180 degree rule. However, we still had to manipulate the shots to fit the background, again, because of this the shot/ reverse shots suffered. When filming we had the angle too tight one of the characters, so there was very little looking space and you could not really see if there was an eye line match.

We took these shots back to be edited, but when we looked at the rushes, we thought that these shots could have been better. Because this was due to the poor choice of location, we have decided to try filming in a different location. Unfortunately, we had run out of time for this lesson, so we are going to attempt re-filming the shots again in the next lesson.

Further Planning of the Preliminary Task

Now we had a better understanding of what we wanted to do for the preliminary task, we began to plan in further detail. We started off by writing up a list of the various tasks that needed to be done before we started filming; these included:

• Writing up a storyboard.
• Selecting the music to go in the scene.
• Finding a suitable location for the scene to be shot.
• Selecting the sound effects to go in the scene.
• Writing up a simple script for the scene.

We started off by creating a storyboard for the scene:

When creating the storyboard, we always had in mind the three aspects that the brief stated needed to be including the the task; an example of match on action, shot/ reverse shot and the 180 degree rule. Furthermore the scene had to include two characters; one character walking through a door, an object had to be exchanged and there had to be dialogue between the characters. We made sure these aspects were included.


Also, when putting together the storyboard, as well as concentrating on the visual part of the scene, we had to think about the audio that is going to be used in the scene. This included sound effects, background noise and any music that we wanted to include to help the overall affect of the scene.


We first storyboarded the audio by thinking about the effect we were trying to create. By doing this we could think about the kinds of sounds we wanted in the scene. Firstly, we thought about the background noises and music, as this is essential for creating effect. After this we thought about the sound effects to keep continuity.


After storyboarding these sounds, we looked at the sounds from http://www.sounddogs.com/, which is a free, and copyright free sound download site. We then voted on the best sounds and downloaded them, ready to begin editing when we finish shooting.


The location we easy to find as we decided to set the film in an office-based room, so we just needed an empty classroom.


Then finally we wrote up a simple script :
Shot 5
Character B: Have you got the money (rough, aggressive voice)
Shot 6
Character A: Yeah, where do ya' wanna meet?
Shot 7
Character B: The train station at 11
Shot 9
Character A: It's all there.


We are now ready to begin shooting the scene.