The final title

Finalising our Title

We had various title choices while in the production of our trailer, and due to the reasearch we collected through out survey we decided to go with what the votes were telling us which was to use a sharp, one word title which had enough information within it to show the viewers what our trailer could be about.

We had a range of title ideas, the ones that were cut out of the ideas as a result of the research was 'The Daily Grind' and 'Hustle Hard' as these were two word titles which we believed wouldn't be direct enough to be an effective title, therefore it was cancelled from the list of ideas.

The ideas we had left were

• Strap (The latest slang term for a gun)
• Hustle
• LDN

Out of the three we immediately dismissed 'Strap' due to the fact that it is an extremely new term and to appeal to young people from all cultural and social backgrounds we believed that is was too direct, meaning if we were to use it as our title not everyone would be able to understand it straight away and have a picture in their mind about what it will be about.

Our final two choices were LDN and hustle. Out of the two we believed LDN was the better choice as in an instant it immediately sets the scene and shows you where the trailer is being set, due to the fact that the title is Infact the city. As we are shooting an urban drama, LDN will be connected to the stereotypical conventions of London which involves the knife crime, the gangs and drug usage, which would allow the viewers to paint an accurate occurred within their minds about what our trailer will be about. 

So our decided title for our film opening is LDN. 

Opening Credits Research

4.3.2.1 and Shank 

 

These are the first pieces of text that we see come up in both of the trailers in 4.3.2.1 and Shank. Instantly the audience first see the titles of other movies related to the genre, allowing the audience to know instantly what the genre is, as well as if it's from an acclaimed producer. The two films they pick 'Adulthood' and 'Kidulthood' are iconic for the Urban Drama genre, therefore if the audience enjoyed these films, they know that they will enjoy the films featured. 

 

 The next point that both the trailers share in common is that they then feature the basic storyline and plot of the film within a few (or one) short sentence/s. The typography that they use relates to the film also, with 4.3.2.1 the iconic London background is shown as a dark silhouette image, and there is an emphasis on 'they' and 'target', showing the film has a group of protagonists and a 'target' based plot.  

Shank uses London again to emphasise the genre of the film, and the date that is not too long away in the future. The line 'the gangs have taken over' would strike a nerve from the audience as gangs pose to be a problem in society. This short declarative statement is combined with the bold font that has been chosen, against the dark and off brown colour. 

4.3.2.1. uses the movie title as an opportunity to create a tag line, with 4 girls, 3 days, 2 cities and 1 chance. This gives more background knowledge to the viewer and creates a tense atmosphere. 

In comparison to this, Shank integrates the movies release date into the tag line and plot overview. The three separate statements are used at different stages of the trailer, but they make sense fully when put together 'This march, there is one rule, kill". The use of the verb 'Kill' implies violence in the film and is used in a way to attract the young audience to this Urban Drama film. The Kill also adds to the implied meaning of the movie's title "Shank" which would only be understood by the youth of today. 

Shank uses the actors names in order to gain credit and recognition for the film, as well as known characters of the film to be recognised by the audience. 

 

Both film titles are used towards the end so that the audience remembers the title. They both continue with the same theme as the other parts of the credits, and share the same typography and backgrounds used. 

Both trailers then continue on with the credits with the main tag line of the films, Shank opts for a longer tag line which takes up 2 spaces within the montage trailer, whereas 4.3.2.1 uses a shorter tag line. Yet both are still related and are important to include into the trailer as the audience will remember them as one of the last things that they see in the trailer. 

Shank then reiterates the release date of the movie. What I found interesting was that 4.3.2.1 didn't mention their release date, and after my research I find that to reduce an audience's desire to see a movie if they do not know when it will be released in the cinema.

Final details of production companies, and actors are mentioned here which is a common convention for all opening credits, and I feel that for total effectiveness we also need to recreate something like this. 

Manipulating Text Photoshop Test

This tutorial stood out to me as imagery is vital in our genre in order for media expectations to be met.

I wanted to find out if I could teach myself how to manipulate text on Photoshop and decided to have text on a background. For our genre I found this picture to be most suitable, the dark picture combined with the bright colours of the graffiti allow many connotations about the film to be made.

I once again split the screens on my mac so I could follow along with the tutorial. I once again had to work with layers, and I felt myself finding this much easier due to my previous experience of Photoshop.

I then placed an impact font that was black with 'Urban' written on it - to give me and idea of what a one word title would look like edited. By placing these layers in a certain way according to the tutorial, it allowed the text to be filled in with the background image that I had selected.

I followed along and bevelled and embossed the text to make it more emphasised when I placed it back on the picture.

It was hard to see the text against the background as it hardly stood out at all.

But by using the Radial Blur,  I was able to see the text much more as it stood out much clearly against the background. I really liked the way that it stood out very clearly against the corner, but if I had to do this again I would have moved the picture over to that the text is almost sprayed across the wall.

My final manipulated text. 

Titles used in Urban Dramas

 

 

Green Street

 

• Green street uses a red colour within its typography which is very effective due to the bloody nature of the violence within the film, therefore you automatically create a link between the red colour and the blood that you will encounter when you watch the film.
• The faded effect in the typography is also effective as it can correlate to the gritty type of film green street is, the faded effect seems as if it is worn out or old, or even un maintained, this could be similar to the living conditions or the everyday life that the characters in green street are affiliated with.

Shifty



 

 

 

• The typography used for shifty isnt a stereotypical typography that would be used for an urban drama as you would expect it to be a more hard and rough looking font, which could signify things such as danger and peril, however, this one doesnt so you have to look more in depth to see how this title suits the film
• First of all I believe this typography suits the film as it is not a conventional urban drama, this urban drama is more about the struggle of a single protagonist rather than a whole gang and their dangers
• Also the title is mainly used to benefit the poster as the I in 'shifty' runs all the way through the poster creating a divide between the characters, threfore the title isnt supposed to have a great impact in terms of the film but more in terms of the poster.

Kidulthood



 



 

• Kidulthoods most recognisible trait within the title is the lowercase 'i' within the kidulthood, that takes away some of the maturity within the title, as this film is about young adults who are involved in gang and drug related violence, the small i benefits the film so people know the story wont revolve around sensible mature teenagers but more reckless and bad behavioured rebels.
• The typography is very basic, the font is a simple bold one which is coloured black, this then relays focus back to the poster itself which is more important as it shows the main characters and the environment that they are a part of.

 

4.3.2.1



 



 

• The title for 4.3.2.1. is effective due to the little words that go along with the numbers.
• As you can see the way the words link up like '4 Girls' gives the viewer a small insight within the actual storyline, this is effective as the actual count down of the numbers 4 3 2 1 make it seem as there is a sense of something running out such as time of chances of survival.
• The typography once again is a simple one, a simple white bold font, this takes away the focus from the title and makes the viewer look at more subtle things which prove to be more important in the overall film.