RESEARCH: ART OF THE TITLE

Research

We viewed three examples of opening sequences filmed in a similar table top style.
Using Art of the Title, we watched the opening of Delicatessen, and noticed how its birdesye camerawork tells a story and sets the theme. The titles are also embedded in the props, which was very interesting and an unusual take of filming. Another title sequence we saw was To Kill A Mockingbird,  which gave a childish impact but had a much more sophisticated meaning deep down. You can’t see what the child is colouring until the end of the opening sequence. We also viewed work created by last year's students.
We then use these as inspiration to create an original title sequence in groups, by setting up the table top using props from our props collection.

Planning

Myself and two classmates filmed and created this table top exercise. Using the props available, we came up with a basic storyline – a man shoots his wife and their baby is left alone. We came up with this to make the most of the props available, and so the story could be obvious through the table top filming of the objects.

Filming

Our table top filming consists of objects that give away the plot – including a missing women newspaper, her wedding ring, a necklace and a picture of a ‘happy’ couple.
Our live action is a gloved hand picking up the gun laid on the table, then placing a wedding photo next to the missing woman newspaper. This implies that this is the same woman and it was the husband who shot her. On top of this, the gloved hand removes the wedding rings placed next to the pictures, symbolising the husband sabotaging their marriage.
After this, we have a flashback scene, where the women is running and we see a gun, before it is complete darkness as the gunshot sounds. This black and white edit, complimented by our song audio ‘Always and Forever’, makes the trailer gripping and viewers wanting to see more. We did two edits of this exercise – the top one we edited together and the one below I edited alone. This being my first edit of the course I wanted to experiment with different techniques, so we can all merge our skills into one for future edits.