RESEARCH : Art of the Title - Split

Art of the Title - Split





The title sequence has sharp cuts with unique angles and lighting, starting with a brief shot of the antagonist wearing a mask then seemingly leaping at the screen, almost reaching out to grab the viewer. There follows a plain black background, with simple text,which helps to build the illusion that there is something sinister happening as there is a black background . Black is associated with darkness, which is often a fear of people’s as they may be scared of what goes on in the dark, which helps build the illusion of fear and uncertainty.

A hard cut to show the company that made the film, in the same font as before, helping to keep that illusion of fear and uncertainty. The company that made it is known as ‘Blumhouse’ a company known for producing low budget films such as the purge and insidious, but receiving huge profit margins.

It them shows the title of the film, ‘Split’. The font seems to be a very simple text, and is effective as it again helps with the illusion that the story will not be as simple as the font they have chosen.

It is followed a canted, worms-eye shot of a long pipe, it is also quite dirty as well, so it seems to be unused and abandoned, which helps to grip the viewer in as it builds this almost impossible situation for the protagonist to escape from and makes the viewer want to go and see the film as they want to know how they escape from this near impossible situation.

Then a cut to a black background with the words, ‘James McAvoy’ on it occurs, he is a well known actor and putting his name in the trailer will grip more viewers in as they know who he is and they will be more willing to see that film as a result of that.

Followed by another canted,worms eye shot of the pipe, followed by more text of ‘Anya Taylor-Joy’ and ‘Betty Buckley’ indicating Yet more actors taking part in this film. Though even though they are arguably the main characters, they are not shown before James, as James is far more well known.

Next, a shot of one of the protagonists on a hospital bed being pushed around, this helps to build the illusion of fear, as for all we know this is a psychopath with equipment that he can use to hurt people. Followed by a cut to black with two more actress’ names, in their own cut, on it in a simple white text.

Another cut to show yet again another plain black screen with three different actors and actress’ though because they have arte all crammed into one shot it makes the viewer believe that they are not one of the main characters and are instead likely to be characters that are abandoned at the beginning of the story or will save out protagonist at the end. There is thena cut to show who chose the cast, again on a simple white text on a black background.

Followed by another worms-eye shot showing the protagonist in a hospital bed as it moves further down the hall, the music intensifies and there is then a buildup of fear in the viewers as we begin to wonder what will happen to her. There is then a cut to show who chose the music for the film, who chose the costume designs, and who edited the film, all in the same simple style.

It cuts to a canted long shot of a girl rolling over in bed, the canted view makes the viewer wonder if they are looking through a webcam of some kind, which helps to make an image that there is something really sick happening. Followed by a cut to show who the production designer was, again in the same font as the others.

Following this it cuts back to the bed , but instead there is a figure, dressed all in black standing over the girl, where we instinctively believe that something bad is about to happen, the music then intensifies some more, making the viewer start to get worried, and almost panic due to the buildup of creepy shots, music and cuts.

It cuts to show the director of photography, again in the same font, followed quickly by a cut to show that the camera in the girl’s room slowly turns black, making the audience want to know what will happen to the girl. There is then a cut to show who the executive producers are, as well as who the main producer are. There is then a cut to show who wrote and directed the film, again all in the same simple font.

The final shot of the trailer is an eight second clip of the protagonist on her side on a dirty mattress not moving, only her eyes open gradually and almost in a jerky fashion. Which indicated to the viewer that she is not healthy and has been hurt in some way, again this is an effort to make the viewer go to see the film as they want to know what happens next and how they will get out of the seemingly impossible situation.