Text Analysis

Text Analysis:

In As Media, we have been looking into how text is presented to the audience, how the colouring of the background really expose the title and make it clearer to see and how the font and colouring connotes and denotes and how they represent and conform to the convention that movies of its genre typically need to have. I chose three films to analyse, these three films are: 'Tron Legacy (2010)', 'Psycho (1960)' and 'King Kong (1933)'. The reason why I chose these film is because each film has a distinguished way in which they use typography, the way in which they size and length the text, the positioning of it and the colour that is used helps to not only give off enigma codes however actually subliminally states the genre, the personality of the characters and the theme of the film.

Tron Legacy

 

Tron Legacy had really use typography in its title sequence effectively. It uses a really bright blue colour scheme which really works upon the background of the title sequence. The colour of the background is dark so the colouring of the text is clear to be seen, the text is big and fills up the frame. The size and the colour schemes go hand-in-hand with one another as the mixture of both really attracts the attention of the audience, with all the focus being set on the big and colourful title. The contrasting colours of the black background and brighter text is used quite frequently in title sequences, this is because black and dark colours are not eye-catching and therefore does not attract the attention of the audience however unlike the text which is usually a brighter colour than the background. Colourful texts attract the audience, by having the dark background and the colourful text together help to focus just on the text and to imply that these texts are important. The difference between a dark background to a more colouful one is that a dark one is bland and so colourful texts show up better on it but a colouful background would be attractive and eye-catching so the text will not be able to shown at its best.

When we see the neon colour of the title then we connote the future, this is because we assume that the future will have all these colourful neon colours so we are quick to associate the colour quickly to the future. The font is really thin however is shaped to make the words of the title and gives off that futuristic and robotic tone, the colour and font then helps to determine the genre of the film, which is 'Sci-fi'. 

The way in which the title appears is that it is placed upon the outskirts of a building, this is a post production text as it was placed after the shooting of the building and the city. This is a contrast of what we are expecting to see in a sci-fi film because sci-fi usually center their location in a more futuristic and high technology area however this looks to be set in a more modern and present time area, this could create enigma codes as to the link in which the title and present location has with one another. Overall just by looking at the title sequence, listening to the futuristic and space type music that is playing in the background and the neon coloured text then the genre is likely to be determined just by looking at it, all these concepts associate with sci-fi and therefore the conventions really does conform to its genre.

Psycho

 

Another text that I chose to analyse is 'Psycho' which was first created in 1960 however was remade in 1998. This title has some similarity to that of 'Tron Legacy' however also has it differentiation too. The similarity that 'Psycho' has with 'Tron Legacy' is that they both choose to display their text upon a black and dark background and use a brighter colour for the text. This once again is good to use as the audience are able to really grasp the text that appear clearly without the necessity of moving closer to see it, it is eye-catching and allows the text to really stand out at us as audiences. Although they use the same idea, Psycho uses the classic colours of black and white. This at the time was use very frequently in the past however as time went by, film started to use other ways to display their typography, making it look really presentable and decorative unlike this text which is just black and white and the font remains basic and not as eye-catching. From looking at the two title sequence, we are able to see just how much title sequences has changed over the years, from when they use to be just bold and plain letters that would continuously appear and disappear, the very simple and boring animation and transition for the text, to what it is now, really colourful and in your face texts, the fun and creative animation of the text and the visual that of abstract openings that would paint its own story and keep the audience intrigued. 

Psycho title sequence is bland and boring however does give away indication to what we are expected to see. The title 'Psycho' in the title sequence appears in the center of the screen, allowing the audience to familiarise ourselves with the title of the film but a few moments later the title start to disorientate and move out of proportion. The film title 'Psycho' connotes somebody that is not mentally stable and out of place, this has links to the title as the words to break apart and move out of place, connoting unusual which is exactly what the word 'Psycho' represents. The title and the disorientation of the title could have links to the character, as a psycho is somebody crazy and unstable then it could or represent a character within the film and may be considered a psycho or may have very similar traits to one. The way in which the words are displaced and the strips of lines that would make up the next frame and the text, this could be a symbolic code for a knife. Knives are used to pierce and strip through objects, this could suggest that knives are used within the film. Knives usually connotes death and pain, this could also suggest that the film may involve killing and so help to determine the likely genre. The colour scheme is quite dark and creates a mysterious atmosphere, this colour scheme is a convention for 'Horror' and 'Thriller' films. There is nothing happening within the title sequence except for the disorientation of the text, it help to exaggerate the mysterious atmosphere that the colour already creates and gives off enigma codes as the audience will want to know what is the need for the disoriented texts? what do they have to do with to narrative of the film?

This film has little symbolic codes that may have association to the bigger picture of the film and also creates enigma codes with the style in which the display the texts. This film was later remade in 1998 however the remake was an intertextuality of to the previous film. The remake referenced the style of the old film, it uses the stripped lines and and the disorientation of the word 'Psycho', it also uses the bland texts and style of crediting; also uses the black and white colour schemes however the 1998 version has green within it. Title sequences really influence others as seen with this film, this film's title sequence is good to not giving away anything about the plot and setting of the film unlike 'Tron Legacy' however uses more interesting symbolic codes that give off the possible personality of the character through the way they used their typography.

King Kong

The final film I chose to analyse was 'King Kong', this film is really different than the previous films, in a way, worse than the other title sequences. King Kong was created in 1933, the way in which they credit the main people of the production is very traditional to older films. Whereas most modern films (I.e.: Iron Man) would wait until the end of the film to then credit those who have helped with the film, King Kong decides to credit before the film begins. This could be a good idea however also a bad one. It is good as with modern films and the crediting being at the end, not many people stay down and watch the whole of the crediting, by putting the crediting at the beginning of a film then the audience are mostly forced to watch the crediting if they hope to watch the rest of the film however it is bad because it is boring to watch a few words appearing and therefore affect the audiences' interests to watch the film. 

King Kong tries to use the idea of dark colours and brighter text however this film displays the white text on a grey background, this is not as clear to read from unlike what it would be if it was black as the grey and white both stand out with each other making it hard to just focus upon the text. Although the colours are not effective, the font is really big and bold, also uses overshadow, this helps to read the title, the big and bold font attracts our eye upon it, forcing use to focusing only on the words as it takes up quite a lot of the frame. The overshadow help to draw the text out more so that it is a bit easier to see and focus on.

The transitions are really basic with just simple fade to the next frame, it express the fact that the film is old. When 'King Kong' title appears, it is much bigger that the rest of the text, also it is on a frame of its own. This helps the audience know that this is the title and everything else is the crediting. All the text I have analyse do the same, they always find a way to make the title of the film different from the other text seen in the sequence, Tron Legacy uses a different font but the title sequence does not contain much credits or other fonts, Psycho slits the the title apart and makes it ridge and out of place; King Kong make the font bigger and bolder than the other text.

From the text it is really hard to determine the genre of the film as the text does not really have any indication to what the film may have in it however because the text is big it could suggest that the film will have link to things that are big and bold. This text does not give off as much enigma codes unlike the others however it does make the audience wonder why the text is so big? The film could also have a binary opposition of small versus big, as the title of the film is really big and has hardly any text upon it whereas the other text is smaller and has much more on its frame, this could be a representation of big and an individual and small and many of them. This then could possibly connote a battle between, actions and violence, this could determine the genre of 'Action'.

Overall, text is very important in title sequences as by just looking at the text and how it is used could help determine the genre of the film, plot, representation, theme and binary opposition.