The Italian Job (2003) Title Sequence Analysis

Today we looked at the title sequence of The Italian Job to see the techniques used. First we see the production company logo Paramount.

The sequence doesn't give to much away and it does this by never filling the whole screen but making the majority of it black with a small snippet of it video. This gives us a sense of mysteriousness. The title sequence contains no dialogue and only two shots of who I believe is the main character. There are many credits featured in the opening, including Director, Producer and Music. At the end of the sequence, only a small title of the film is shown.

The sound within the opening sequence mysterious and simple and speeds up slowly over time creating suspense and a build up to the first scene. The cuts used within the sequence match the beats of the music creating a cleverly timed opening.

Overall, the title sequence doesn't give to much and isn't very revealing at all but creates a mystery which would help capture the viewers interest even more.

Horror Film Research

Horror is most popular with male teenagers and young adults and for that, most horrors are targeted at that age range. Although horrors are watched by woman often, they are not seen as the majority of the viewers. Because of the smaller target audience, horror films do not generate as much revenue as other films and get lower rating by critics. Most horrors are rated 15+ prevented lower aged audiences from watching and the films are found to not interest older audiences.

Some of the top grossing horror films are older classics where horrors were more popular, in today's society they aren't so popular due to the wider range of other films now being released regularly. One noticeable film from the list below is 'A Christmas Carol' which is a modern CGI film aimed at children and the family but still classed as a horror because of its 'scary' aspect. Another film, 'Paranormal Activity' which was very low budget did very well because of its simplicity but its ability to scare people because it was set in a home using a home camcorder. It shows that there is a very wide range of horror films out there and by using the right technique, it can become a high grossing film.

Top-Grossing Horror Films:

1. What Lies Beneath (2000) - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0161081/
2. Gremlins (1984) - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087363/
3. The Blair Witch Project (1999) - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0185937/
4. A Christmas Carol (2009) - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1067106/
5. Godzilla (1998) - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120685/
6. The Ring (2002) - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0298130/
7. The Grudge (2004) - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0391198/
8. Paranormal Activity (2007) - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1179904/
9. Scream (1996) - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117571/
10. Scream 2 (1997) - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120082/

Cinema & Film Habits - Questionnaire

I conducted a questionnaire to find out about peoples habits of watching films to what their favourite genre is to where they like watching films.

The age range of the participants of questionnaire was 12 to 50.

The most common favourite genre of film is action/adventure for males in from all ages with comedy being second. Females according to my questionnaire prefer comedy from a younger age and romance/love films from an older age.

From my questionnaire, most people preferred going to the cinema than staying at home because of the big screen, sound and atmosphere. They also said that it’s better with friends at the cinema and that they don’t mind watching films at home.

When asked “How many times do you go the cinema?” The response was similar for everyone because of one reason, the price. Most people I asked said they rarely go more than once every two months because of the price of going being too expensive. Although, the younger proportion I asked go to the cinema more often than older people. From the older people I asked, they said that the films made these days less suit the older generation and do not interest them. Another reason for people not going the cinema that often is because there is no local cinema and it requires travelling to a different town.

Lastly I asked if the actors starring or the directors of a film affect their likelihood of going to watch the film at the cinema or buying on DVD, everyone answered no. But if well known actors are starring, they said they are more likely to see it.

Here is a copy of the questions used:

Male or Female (Circle One)

Age: 

What is your favourite genre of film?

• Horror
• Comedy
• Action/Adventure
• Sci-Fi
• Love/Romance
• Other:

Do you prefer watching films at home or at the cinema? Why?


How often do you go to the cinema? (Tick one)

• Never.
• Once a year.
• 2-4 times a year.
• 2-4 times every 6 months.
• More than once a month.

Why don’t you go more often?

           Do the actors starring or directors of the film change your likelihood of watching a film?

Prelimary Task

Here I am testing the camera work using 180 degree rule, action match and shot reverse shot. I edited the video using Adobe Premeire Pro.

Here you can see the timeline of how I edited this video.

I learnt how to effectively use Adobe Premire Pro effectively and use the camera equipment in this task.