Though in my last blog I mentioned I'd wait to research stylistic and mise-en-scene choices regarding the period I want my opening to take place in, I now realize why waiting so long is a bad idea. Because of this, I will focus this post on the period drama aspect of my opening. My idea for my opening is to use the tragedy convention of psychological dramas, meaning that a tragic event took place before the movie commences and the film consists of the "aftermath" or breaking down of the main character's emotional state. I also liked the idea of an unreliable narrator, so perhaps the trauma can be the stem of their unreliability. Still, I want to keep the contrast aspect of perfect on the outside and odd on the inside. For this reason, I want the credits to develop a pristine, Regency Era type of setting and mood.
In the 1996 film EMMA, the opening credit sequence features the perfect extreme long shot to display the period they're portraying in the movie. The horse-driven carriage and the regal font for the title pair together flawlessly. The carriage moving somewhere as the title is being shown implies that there's more to come and doesn't make putting it at the end of the opening feel conclusional. Instead, it alludes to their next stop and adds a sense of continuation even though the opening itself is ending. The font difference between the original author's name and the title is subtle but makes such a difference. The smaller cursive font makes the all-caps bold title have an even bigger impact by comparison. I like how it develops a familiarity with the protagonist from the beginning.
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