More Organic Titles

Over the Christmas and New Year I have been debating what kind of objects to use or what scene to set up for my title sequence. Obviously, it's a psychological crime thriller so I believe the imagery of the genre such as a mood board, surveillence photos, psychological notes etc should be prominent.

I first thought it would look good to have a camera walk through a detective's office door and head towards a table, panning down and over it so it fills the screen. I later thought as the title sequence can only be up to a minute maximum, I'd probably have to cut out the door shot and shoot straight from the desk, firstly to save time for cast names to appear, but also because it's very important I set the scene for the film in that short space of time during the titles.

I very much liked the style of 'The Walking Dead' title sequence where the camera always appears to be moving in a certain direction, but the scenes change to reveal props, photos of characters etc which tell a story. I want to make sure I achieve that with my title sequence, keeping the dissolving ink titles, but incorporating the movement and props.

An idea came to me when I saw the title sequence for 'Red Riding', http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YL3qypfj8DY&feature=fvsr a very quick intro involving a mooodboard, it got everything across to me in one clean shot. It made me want to drop the idea of using a desk at all and rather have a large mood board on the wall, to focus in on different points telling the story then zooming out to reveal the full thing. The moodboard could include any of the props I described earlier and not look as out of place as perhaps the desk shot might have been. It can be a real tangled web to weave through and almost signifies the narrative of the film itself with it's twists and turns.

I have organised to shoot some test footage on Thursday with a few of the film crew, using a Canon 5D and testing my co producer Richard's Fig Rig. It should give crisp, clear images with a smooth ease of movement to capture or scan all the details in fluid movements. I will also develop and post on the blog a storyboard of how I want all this to look which will be very useful when we come to shoot.

We have firmly decided who to cast now and a final draft of the script has been sent to the actors, so not only can the production finally get off the ground, but the title sequence can be finalised. I am looking for photos of cast members etc to use in the moodboard, so the actors will come in great use now they've been selected.

The production composer, Josh also needed a copy of the final script so he could get a feel of how the music should be for the film. Now he has the script, it won't be long before I can take the track and incorporate it into the titles. I think these next few months will certainly be the most productive for the piece now we finally have access to the vital components needed.