Sound & Music Analysis - Top Gun

The top gun opening sequence music uses both diegetic and non-diegetic sounds.  The music starts when the production companies music is normally playing, this makes it seem like the music is as important as the film it self.

Up until the actual title of the film, the sound is just music playing.  the music sounds like it was made so you could tell something big was about to be introduced.  Throughout this period, different instruments get added into the track and it gets gradually louder like it is building up to something.  Even after the titles, you feel like something big is still about to happen.

When the title appears, you get the first bit of diegetic sound added in - the sound of aeroplanes, however it isn't completely obvious what the sound, so it is giving the audience a clue of what the film might include.  This sound of aeroplanes then bridges into the next shot of people and planes - the first look of the actual movie.  The diegetic sounds get louder and you start hearing different ones like the wind blowing and different plane sounds.  Then at about 1 minute 24 seconds, a non-degetic sound is added and it sounds like lots of different people talking on the radio, and late on you can hear just the one conversation and what it sounds like is the confirmation that a plane can take off.  The engines then get louder and as the plane sets off, a different track comes on and this is what feels like the last 2 and a half minutes has been building up too.

This track is a lot more up beat and reflects what the film is going to be about. it is also a parallel sound, the plane finally taking of and this is exciting and the music is also exciting.  Although the music is the main sound that you can hear in this part of the sequence, you can also hear what sounds like things being fixed and plane related sounds but the sounds being played are, a lot if the time, not what is being showed in the scene.  This use of off-screen diegetic sound gives the scene a 3D feel.

After this the only noise other than the music is the planes taking off and landing.  The music is also parallel in this scene as everyone on screen is excited and happy about the landings and takings off going well and this matches the music in the fact that it is up beat and happy.

Institutions

If a company were to distribute my film I would want it to be Columbia Pictures.

This is because it is owned by Sony and this would be useful because they have a lot of cross media convergence and synergy.  For example, it has gaming, music production/consumption, phones, T.Vs and more.  This would help the film get more promotion as there could be, for example, a PS3 game and people who like gaming get the game and like it, might want to see the movie.  So a wider range of audience would want to see it.  It is also a very well know company and has distributed a lot a very good movies.

Research into Film Genre

If the above doesn't work...

http://www.powtoon.com/p/c6yVkkGcqoh/

Title Sequence Analysis - Sherlock Holmes

Order of titles:

• Directed by
• Screen play by
• Produced by
• Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson were created by
• Executive producers
• Co-producer
• Director of photography
• Production designer
• Editor
• Cast - Robert Downey Junior then
• Title as title is RDJ's characters' name
• Rest of cast 
• Casting by
• Music/music produced by
• Costume designer
• Visual effects supervisor
• A ............ presentation
• In association with
• A ............ production
• A ............ production
• A Guy Ritchie film

The titles all look like they have been written with an old fountain pen, in an old looking font giving the feeling of mystery, and this also depicts when the movie is meant to be set.  Scenes/shots of the movie are shown before turing them into inky drawings on tea-stained coloured paper.  Once the shot has been turned into a drawing the title comes up and the ink around it keeps moving like someone as spilt it.

The short and snappy shots from the movie show it is going to be an adventure and fast paced movie and the music backs this up with it being up tempo and high.  The scenes shown from the movie are all black and white, even though the movie is in colour, this also tells the audience that it is set in the past.  By using scenes from the film you are giving the audience a taster of what is about to come.

The font used is an olden day type of writing and the colour is either black or white depending on the background, so it can stand out.

Compared to Serenity, they show not a lot of the cast, only the main characters and it also shows what they look like in the film.   This may be because it is set in the past, the actor may not be as recognisable and this helps people show who they are.

View sequence here >>> Sherlock Holmes (2009) — Art of the Title <<<

Title Sequence Analysis - Serenity

Order of the titles:

• The universal logo and music

Then there is about 10 minutes of film before:

• Title of movie
• Cast
• Casting by
• Costume designer
• Music by
• Editor
• Production designer
• Director of photography
• Executive producers
• Produced by
• Written and directed by

This genre of this movie is sic-fi/action/adventure and the titles of the film reflect this.  Firstly the font of the title 'Serenity' looks like it is old and has been written on an old, a bit torn, piece of paper and with the picture/logo behind it, it looks like a sort of martial arts logo, with the Japanese looking writing behind the title.  That's what it reminds me of.  So that may reflect the action/adventure side a bit.  As the shot zooms out, the title is the name of the ship, which gives it, its sic-fi element.

The titles begin once the camera is in the ship.  The font of the tiles is very straight, with no curves, giving it a kind of futuristic look.  Also the way that the titles appear is like an electric blue wave and this forms the words.  Sparks are also formed on top of some of the letters.  The colour of the titles are white as the background colour is quite dark throughout the sequence and this makes it stand out more.

After the first 4 or 5 cast names are shown, the time gap between them grows, maybe meaning that they aren't quite as important or that they want you to concentrate on what is happening in the shot.  However, they do name a lot of the cast, so the ones named must have a decent part in the film.  

Once in the ship, they use one shot for the whole part until the ship lands.  It is here that the titles are shown.  Once this long shot has finished, you know its the end of titles.  By doing it this way, there is a clear start and end to the titles.

View sequence here >>> Serenity (2005) — Art of the Title <<<