What makes an effective ots?
An OTS (Opening Title Sequence) is something placed at the very start of a movie. It works like the opening paragraph of a novel, designed to catch the viewer's eye, give them a flavor of what to expect throughout the movie, and convince them to stick with it to the end. This doesn't necessarily mean it has to be a chronologically edited sequence which begins to actual plot of the movie, it could also be a more abstract piece, showing off the kind of tonne the movie will be going for. It is also an opportunity used to show key credits and production and distribution company logos.
Typically, a horror movie OTS may show the focus of the horror, be it a ghost, zombie, murderer, etc, murdering some side characters to demonstrate how the rest of the movie will work. This also provides an easy setup of tension to scare before the main story-line even begins, working as a short horror film because the actual film begins, most horror movie OTS can be viewed on their own without watching the rest of the movie and still make perfect sense. Of course, the idea is to make the audience want to see the rest of the movie, so it's all about how well you show them what you can do. It's kind of like the movie's portfolio if you think about it.
In my opinion an effective horror movie OTS must get the audience immediately hooked, it must be interesting, set the tonne of the film and end on enough of a cliffhanger, or with enough mysteries unresolved, for the viewer to want to continue watching.
Let's look at some examples of what I consider to be effective horror movie Opening Title Sequences.
Typically, a horror movie OTS may show the focus of the horror, be it a ghost, zombie, murderer, etc, murdering some side characters to demonstrate how the rest of the movie will work. This also provides an easy setup of tension to scare before the main story-line even begins, working as a short horror film because the actual film begins, most horror movie OTS can be viewed on their own without watching the rest of the movie and still make perfect sense. Of course, the idea is to make the audience want to see the rest of the movie, so it's all about how well you show them what you can do. It's kind of like the movie's portfolio if you think about it.
In my opinion an effective horror movie OTS must get the audience immediately hooked, it must be interesting, set the tonne of the film and end on enough of a cliffhanger, or with enough mysteries unresolved, for the viewer to want to continue watching.
Let's look at some examples of what I consider to be effective horror movie Opening Title Sequences.
WES CRAVEN's 'scream' (1996)
|
Scream is a slasher film, this OTS is effective as it introduces the killer, shows the audience the way he likes to treat his victims, and has him kill one immediately.
A wide shot is used to isolate Casey near the beginning, following this are lots of hand-held shots which follower her, sometimes over her shoulder. These shots linger for long periods of time, giving them plenty of time to engrave the idea of Casey begging watched into the audience's heads. At around the 2 minute mark the killer implies he can see Casey, causing a dramatic shift in tonne as some unsettling music kicks in. This music would continue to escalate as the scene goes on and things get worse. All in all, an excellent introduction to a movie, it works as it's own five minute horror even without the rest of the film to follow it, but still leaves enough unanswered questions to warrant further viewing. |
JOSEph ruben's 'The Stepfather' (1987)
This movie is centered around a serial marrying, and murdering, psychopath. In this first four minutes the 'Stepfather', Jerry Blake, is shown cleaning up after the murdering of his last family.
He then changes his appearance and moves far away (as demonstrated by the boat) in order to marry, and murder, and again. I've chosen this OTS to talk about because of how perfectly it introduces the anti-hero main character, the basic plot of the movie and the gory, abstract tonne the movie goes for. While this isn't as much gore as you could see in movies today, the volume of the music, the calmness of the killer and the contrasting innocence of those photographs to the bloody massacre we see are enough to allow this sequence to remain just as powerful when viewed by a modern audience. Also, since nothing is resolved, only the concept introduced, there is a very large incentive for the audience to keep watching. |
|
DAVID FINCHER'S 'SE7EN' (1995)
|
Here we have an example of an OTS edited in a non-chronological style, an abstract piece designed primarily to show off the credits of the movie and set the general tonne. From this we can only gather that the movie is some sort of gritty, realistic crime drama style horror.
If you pay closer attention you can see the hands marking out pages on books about some sort of odor test in pregnant women, and another gives a vague definition of transsexual, married men. Now, the person's interest in this, plus the moments of them drawing through images of women with their black marker, leads up to believe that, whoever they are, they have some sort of hatred of the female gender. This is enough for an audience to assume the hands belong to a, possibly psychopathic, male, and begin to assume that he is the film's antagonist: a serial killer who targets women. |