EVALUATION QUESTION 1

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

I am going to compare nine shots from a title sequence of our inspired 'Se7en'.
On 'www.artofthetitlesequence.com'. This will include nine shots from my own title sequence in comparison with the se7en title sequence. I want to outline how my opening sequence uses, develops and even challenges the forms and conventions of real media products.

This is an example of you will find on 'the art of the title sequence'. Now, I am going to find nine shots from my own title sequence that resemble our original inspiration in any way and analyse the similarities and differences.

Here is a few screen shots that show a variation between my use of different types of shots from my own title sequence and a few titles themselves. There difference that you will already be able to acknowledge is that unlike se7en, our title sequence does not contain the titles on the actually images themselves. This was our own personal trademark that re-occurs through out our title sequence that does not take place in at all in the title sequence of 'se7en'. 

As you can probably see, both of these shots contain the titles of the productions. The differences between the two are extremely noticeable on the screen, for starters the screenshot taken from 'se7en' is on a background of something that is already the beginning of images that we are going to see something else on the screen however, my title sequence is completely unpredictable, over visual effects we had sound effects that right away indicated that this was going to be a thriller, but there is only so much that you can show on a picture. Considering that the 'old mill productions presents' only shows the style of the 'creepy' chosen text and the music, is it arguable that without any real information given so far it engages the audience even more than something that contains primary information?

This shot is one of my favourites, unfortunately, it is quiet dark, the differences between these two shots is that they are both taken from different angles, the idea behind them is pretty much the same, however in the screenshot from 'se7en' i believe that what was being portrayed was somebody who is in control of the situation, he has his hands on the notes, on his private property, this emphasises on the fact that the character has got something to hide, but he is in control of what he is hiding. On the other hand the shot that I have taken from my title sequence is portrayed in a different way. My characters hand are open for the audience to see, the audience knows what he has done, he's not in control of what the audience can see. I also thought that even though the lighting in really dark in this shot is still reflects to a certain extent on the atmosphere of the situation, the darkness has a slight bit of red in that was done through the editing, signifying blood. Our opening isn't the same as 'se7en' because we didn't want it to be, we have borrowed aspects on something that we would agree is original and this will be reflected in further shots that i am going to discuss. 

I know that when you look at these two shots, there are no obvious similarities what's so ever. The angles are all completely different. The screenshot taken from 'se7en' is an extreme close-up of fingers and the screen shot taken from my opening is a wide shot of a full body. If you step back and try and have a look at what the two characters are doing you will see more similarities. For instance in the 'se7en' screenshot we see pealing of the fingerprints, a change, an unknown identity. In the screenshot taken from my thriller we see a person, but we do not see a face, in my opinion the two shots are both thrilling and inviting towards the audience. We don't see any real characters, just aspects of them. 

This is probably one of the most important shots in both title openings. In se7en the title is written small and is on a filmed background. My opening is on a black background, both texts are effective, and something that I cannot show you with a photograph but the 'Violet' turns to the colour violet in a few seconds. The fact that the title is so big, it takes the focus off all the other titles, which admittedly I would change if I had to do this all over again. 

This is a shot that I have personally found very effective within both thrillers. In 'se7en' you can tell a lot about the character, the close up of the pen and the paper as he slowly writes notes is extremely well done. It shows us that the character is very precise and pays attention to detail. In my opening shot the camera is watching the hand movements and photographs from a distance. It is not an extreme close-up as the other one is, but the shirt sleeves and veiny hands give away information about the character showing that they are of an older age. The photographs scattered over the table show that he is not precise and doesn't pay as much attention to things as the other villain would.

I have chosen this shot to display the use of names within the two openings. Of course the two had to follow their original patterns that is why yet again se7en has footage behind the titles and my opening doesn't, but I believe it is more suspenseful, to maybe have a break in between harsh flashing shots, which makes the audience eager to see more. 

These are two shots that are similar because of the lighter atmosphere in the background. They both add some freshness to the darkness and gloominess of the rest of the film. They are both effective extreme close-ups which give more information about the rest of the movie. Our 'violet' title is reflected in this 'forest violet flower'. Where as the se7en screenshot is again the re-occuring theme of close-up fingers, where the villain is playing with metal indicating this movie is going to be almost an ongoing unpredictable game. 

The significance of these two shots is again the titles. Whilst I believe the titles in se7en are hidden in this screenshot under the 'play bar' I suppose my opening is yet again more suspenseful just because it is a break from the flashing images, however I do still think that the blending titles with footage is also extremely effective. 

The two things in this that are alike is the greenery of the screenshots. Whilst the close up of the dollar bill is to indicate what the movie is about, it contains money and some sort of criminal aspect. Where as my opening is a wide shot of the main character and at that a wide/establishing shot again showing people more of the details of the movie reflecting that it is not so much a criminal thriller as it is a psychological sci-fi thriller.