Titles Analysis

Shutter Island

‘A film by Martin Scorsese’, Shutter Island was directed by Martin Scorsese, he also directed movies such as The Wolf of Wall street , Mean Streets and Taxi Driver. His name appears in the very first shot of the opening credits which suggests that he is the director, which means that he is responsible for all creative aspects of the movie. The red colour of the font suits the low key lighting in the shot as it gives an impression of danger, the size of the font doesn’t particularly stand out of the shot as it is quite small in comparison to the frame of the shot. The style of the font is simple and easy to read which helps the viewer to focus on the shot rather than the text.

Shutter Island

In this shot the audience is shown the names of the two producers of Shutter Island ‘Micke Medavoy’ and ‘Arnold Messer’ whose jobs were to plan and coordinate various parts of film production such as writing scripts and financing. Micke Medavoy had previously worked on films like Holes, Pathfinder and Black Swan.The red colour of the font in this shot carries over from the last one and helps to retain the impression of danger, the positioning of the text has changed to the left side of the frame which doesn’t divert attention form the spiralling staircase, the size and style remain the same and don’t attract too much attention.

Shutter Island

• The text in this shot uses the same red colour from the previous two shots, this seems to link to the darkness that is shown in these shots.

• The text size remains the same as in the previous shots, the text is large enough to read clearly however it doesn’t take up to much space in the frame.

• This shot credits ‘Laeta Kaldgridis’ for the screenplay in the film as she was the main script writer for Shutter Island. She has worked on films such as Avatar, Terminator Genisys and Pathfinder.

Shutter Island

• The colour of the text changes in this shot to white, this makes the text stand out more as it contrasts the dark red from the last shots, this could have been done to make the creator of the novel ‘Dennis Lehane’ appear more significant in the opening credits.

• The style of the font stays the same as in the previous shots.• ‘Dennis Lehane’ has also worked on TV series The Wire, and novels Mystic River and The Drop.• The film is based on the novel that Dennis Lehane wrote, which means that he is the original creator of the story.

Shutter Island

• The colour of the font remains white in this shot.• The style remains the same in this shot• This shot credits the director of photography for the film ‘Robert Richardson’ who has worked on films such as JFK, Hugo

and Django Unchained. • A Director of Photography’s(or Cinematographer) job consists of being responsible for all photography elements of the

film.

Shutter Island

• The colour of the text stays the same as in the previous shots.• The style of the font stays the same in this shot.• The text gives us the name of the first actor that appears in the film ‘Ben Kingsley’. However the credits do not

mention his role as an actor in the film and instead they simply give his name, this is effective as most of the audience already know who he is, as well as adding to the film’s mystery.

• Ben Kingsley has appeared in films such as Gandhi, The Dictator and Iron Man 3.

Shutter Island

• The colour of the font stays white like in the previous shots.• The style and size of the font stays the same in this shot, however the positioning changes from the last shot.• The text in this shot credits ‘Leonardo DiCaprio’ who plays the protagonist in the movie. Like in the previous shot the

actor is not given a title that notifies the audience of their job role.• Leonardo DiCaprio has appeared in films such as Titanic, The Wolf of Wall Street and The Great Gatsby.

Shutter Island

• The colour of the text stays the same as in the previous shots.• The style and size of the font stays the same in this shot.• This shot continues to show the name of another major actor in the film ‘Mark Ruffalo’, he has also appeared in films such

as The Avengers, Zodiac and Now You See Me.• Mark Ruffalo appears in the opening credits after both Ben Kingsley and Leonardo DiCaprio which hints at his their higher

significance as they appear first.

Shutter Island

• The colour, size and the style of the text stay the same as in the past few shots.• The text in this shot credits ‘Thelma Schoonmaker’ for editing the movie, she has worked on films such as Raging Bull,

The Aviator and The Departed.• Film Editing consists of taking raw footage and creating it into the final product in post production.

Shutter Island

• The colour, size and the style of the text stay the same as in the past few shots.• The positioning of the text changed again like in the previous shots.• The text in this shot credits ‘Robbie Robertson’ for the film’s music, he has also worked on other films like The Departed,

The Wolf of Wall Street and Raging Bull.• Robbie Robertson’s role in the creation of Shutter Island was to oversee all music related aspects of the film and also to

combine music and visual media.

Shutter Island

• The final shot changes the colour of the text to red much like the first few shots, this could relate to the symbolism of danger on ‘Shutter Island’.

• The size of the text has increased and is finally positioned in the centre of the frame which helps to emphasize the film’s title and setting.

• The style of the font still remains the same, this helps to make font more recognizable.

Godzilla

• The first shot in the opening for Godzilla shows the names of the distributing company Warner Bros. and the production company Legendary Pictures, both of these are presented in the same white colour, font and size.

• Legendary Pictures is an American production company that has worked on films such as The Dark Knight Trilogy, Man of Steel and Pacific Rim.

• The use of white font contrasts the dark image in the background allows the text to be seen more clearly, the text is also positioned on the left side of the frame which helps to emphasize the image of the creature in the background.

Godzilla

• This shot reinstates the involvement of Legendary Pictures.• Like in the previous shot the text continues to use the same white colour, style and size of the font which stand out form

the background.

Godzilla

• This shot introduces the director of the film ‘Gareth Edwards’, he has also worked on films such as Monsters and Factory Farmed.

• The same style of text continues from the previous shots which establishes the “classified information” theme that runs throughout the opening.

Godzilla

• This next shot gives us the name of the first major actor in the film ‘Aaron Taylor Johnson’ who plays the role of the main protagonist. His previous roles were in films such as The Avengers, Kick-ass, The Illusionist.

• The colour, size and style of the font remains the same like in the previous shots however the text alternated to the opposite side of the frame.

Godzilla

This shot reveals the name of another actor who plays a role in the film ‘Ken Watanabe’ who is known for his roles in Batman Begins, Inception and Transformers Age of Extinction.

Godzilla

• This shot continues to introduce the film’s cast by naming another actress ‘Elizabeth Olsen’ who has played roles in films such as Avengers: Age of Ultron and Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

Godzilla

• This shot continues to introduce another actress ‘Juliette Binoche’ who has appeared in films such as The English Patient and Damage.

• The colour size and style of the text remain the same in this shot and carry on appearing similar throughout the entire opening sequence.

Godzilla

• A new actress is introduced in this shot ‘Sally Hawkins’, she played roles in Made in Dagenham and Submarine.

Godzilla

• This shot reveals another actor, ‘David Strathairn’ who played roles in films like Lincoln and The Bourne Legacy.

Godzilla

• This shot features the name of another actor in film ‘Bryan Cranston’ who appeared in Breaking Bad and Argo.

Godzilla

• This shot reveals the names of two minor actors in the film ‘Richard T. Jones’ and ‘CJ Adams’

Godzilla

• This shot gives the name of another actor ‘Victor Rasuk’ who previously appeared in Jobs and Haven.

Godzilla

• This shot gives the name of another actress ‘Sarah Halley Finn’ who previously played roles in films such as Guardians of the Galaxy and The Seven Psychopaths.

Godzilla

• This shot gives us the name of the film’s costume designer ‘Sharen Davis’ who also worked on films such as Django Unchained and Looper.

• The role of the costume designer is to create the characters and balance the scenes with texture and colour.

Godzilla

• This shot reveals the name of the visual effects supervisor ‘Jim Rygiel’ who is well known for working on the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

• The job of the visual effects supervisor is to achieve the creative aims of the director and producers through the use of visual effects.

Godzilla

• The visual effects producer ‘Allen Maris’ who has worked on Prometheus and Men in Black.• A visual effects producer is responsible for ensuring that both visual effects artists and the visual effects supervisor

achieve their goal during production.

Godzilla

• This shot reveals the sound editors for the film, ‘Erik Aadahl’ who worked on Transformers: Dark of the Moon and ‘Ethan Van Der Ryn’ who worked on the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

• Their job consists of assembling sound recordings for the final sound mixing.

Godzilla

• This shot shows the name of the music supervisor for the film ‘Dave Jordan’ who also worked on Guardians of the Galaxy and Avenger Assemble.

• This job role consists of overseeing the combining music and visual media.

Godzilla

• This shot reveals the film’s composer ‘Alexandre Desplat’ who also worked on the Twilight Saga and The King’s Speech.• The job of the composer is to create original music for the film.

Godzilla

• This shot reveals the film editor ‘Bob Ducsay’ who worked on films like Van Helsing and The Mummy. • The film editor is responsible for the post production process .

Godzilla

• This shot reveals the film’s production designer ‘Owen Paterson’ who worked on the Matrix trilogy.• Production designers are responsible for the visual concept of a film.

Godzilla

• This shot reveals the name of the film’s cinematographer ‘Seamus McGarvey’ who worked on Avengers and The Hours.• A Director of Photography’s(or Cinematographer) job consists of being responsible for all photography elements of the

film.

Godzilla

• This shot reveals two executive producers ‘Patricia Whitcher’ who worked on Avengers and ‘Alex Garcia who worked on 300: Rise of an Empire.

• An executive producer is in charge of hiring, managing and organizing a movie, television, radio, music or stage production.

Godzilla

This shot reveals two other executive producers ‘Yoshimitsu Banno’ who worked on Godzilla vs. Hedorah, and ‘Kenji Okuhira’.

Godzilla

• This shot reveals the film’s producer ‘Thomas Tull’ who also worked on Man of Steel and The Hangover.• A producer will oversee each project from conception to completion and may also be involved in the marketing and

distribution processes

Godzilla

• This shot shows more of the film’s producers.

Godzilla

• This shot credits ‘Godzilla’ and the owners ‘Toho CO LTD’.

Godzilla

• This shot shows that ‘David Callaham’ created the narrative for the film, he has worked on The Expendables and Doom.

Godzilla

• This shot shows that ‘Max Borenstein’ did the screen play of the film.

Godzilla

• This shot introduces the director of the film ‘Gareth Edwards’, he has also worked on films such as Monsters and Factory Farmed.

• The positioning of the text changes to the middle of the frame.

Godzilla

• The colour of the font changes to black which heavily contrasts all of the previous shots, and adds to the effect of the bomb exploding.

• The text is placed in the very centre of the frame to attract the most amount of attention possible as it is the films title ‘Godzilla’.

Sherlock Holmes

• The first shot in the Sherlock Holmes opening shows us an Warner Bros. logo embedded into the ground, the use of the Warner Bros. logo in the first shot is effective because WB is so well known for film, television and music, which definitely encourages people to watch their movies as they are trusted for good quality due to their reputation.

• The use of the logo in the ground helps to reflect the world that the film is set and makes the logo more interesting than the original version.

Sherlock Holmes

• In the second shot we are shown the logo for Village Roadshow Pictures who helped to produce the movie, the logo is embedded into the ground just like the WB logo in the previous shot.

• Village Roadshow Pictures is a co-producer and co-financier of major Hollywood motion pictures, some of the films that they helped to produce include The Matrix Trilogy, The Great Gatsby and American Sniper.

Sherlock Holmes

• The final logo shown in the opening sequence is the logo of Silver Pictures.• Silver Pictures is an American production company that has produced films such as V for Vendetta and The Matrix

Trilogy.