Production: Titles

As part of our project, we have to include the use of text within our opening titles to communicate with the audience about the companies and people involved in the making of the film. I decided to work with a couple of softwares in order to create the effects I've been wishing for the title ''Christo''. It involved the use of combination of the two; Adobe Premiere Pro and Adobe After Effects.

I begin with a blank project in Premiere Pro. I thought that inserting the text first would be a good way to start the titles. I clicked on 'Title' in the menu bar above, then followed the drop-down menu to 'Default Still'. This opened up a window where you can edit the text as much as you like until you're satisfied.

Although I loved the wide range of different fonts and the numerous abilities to edit the text, I realised that Premiere Pro didn't have the effect radius blur, which I would need to achieve one of the effects. This is when I decided to connect Premiere Pro with After Effects. To do so, I first dragged the text file from the project area where all footage is kept, and dragged it into my sequence. I had to extend the file to a relatively long file so that it could last at least 6 seconds. I then right-clicked on the file and selected 'Replace with After Effects Composition'. This automatically opened After Effects and required me to start a new project in order to edit the file from Premiere Pro.

I decided to alter the font to 'Big Caslon' because I thought this would fit the atmosphere best. Furthermore, I wasn't satisfied with how little the text was, so I decided to increase this by 150px. Even if the size is too big, I can always reduce the scale when working in Premiere Pro. I left the text simple so it's not overcrowded with tonnes of effects due to the fact that the text has to serve its purpose of notifying the audience with the title of the movie. I wanted other elements to take care of the role of making the opening titles look appealing and add to the mood of the film.

To apply the effect I was hoping to do, I looked at the tab where all Effects and Presets are stored. I wanted to blur the text, so I looked at the 'Blur & Sharpen' section, where I managed to locate Radial Blur. I was aiming to achieve the effect that the text gets thrown onto the screen amongst the splattering blood, so I thought adding an impression of motion-like blur to the text will achieve this effect. I ensured that the type for the radial blur is 'Zoom', so I could create the impression of the text being zoomed out onto the screen. Furthermore, I made the Antialiasing to Best Quality so I can later on export the file to HD. I then had to play around with the amount and the keyframes of the radial blur. To be able to use these, I had to click on the tiny stopwatch to activate the keyframes as these are the main mechanisms for creating animation. Keyframes come in small diamond shapes, which you add and adjust their positions along the sequence. The marked points allow you to add or make changes for the property at the current time whenever you change the property's value. For my first keyframe, I placed it at the very start of the sequence and set the amount of blurriness to 100%. I ensured that the centre of the blurriness where it focuses is in the middle of the title. Although the text itself isn't in the centre, it makes no difference when it gets to editing with the file in Premiere Pro because the text will not be distorted when changing its position. To then reduce the blurriness, I added a second keyframe and dragged it further along the sequence to set the point where the blurriness has reached zero. For this keyframe, I reduced the blurriness to 0%. Now the space between the two keyframes represents something like a transition from 100% blur to 0% blur. I review the animation once then save the file into my area for later use.

When I return to Premiere Pro, the file changes to the settings that have been adjusted in After Effects. Now, whenever I wish to make changes to the file in After Effects, the file in Premiere Pro will automatically react to the adjustments, so editing is made easier. But if I edit the file with Premiere Pro, nothing will change to the file in After Effects.

I then decided to work on the zoom effect. I have the radial blur set on the file from After Effects, so now I can focus on actually making the movement of the text. Firstly, I had to relocate the file because originally it was not centred when working on it with Adobe After Effects. To edit this, I double clicked on the preview window until the frame appeared. I then moved the file across the screen to my satisfactory point. Now, my aim is to make the title appear like it is being thrown onto the screen. I first zoom out on my preview screen where I get to witness my final result. Because I'll be zooming in the text quite a lot, I zoomed out to 10% so that I can use the frame of the text to extend it to its furthest until I have reached the limit. To get the frame to show up, I double click on the screen (for future reference: ensure that other layers are locked to make it easier for selecting the file as it will select whatever is the closest to the area you're clicking on). Once again, to create animation I used keyframes to set the points in order to change the settings of the file's scale. I didn't want the text to stop moving as soon as it was thrown onto the screen - I wanted it to continue zooming out, but I don't want this to be too noticeable so I added a third key frame and dragged this all the way to the end of the clip. I set the scale settings slightly different from the previous keyframe so that the text appears to be slowly zooming out into the background.

Now I decided to work on the real action in the background. I decided to add blood splatters that are also thrown onto the screen along with the text. I searched the Internet for any blood stock footage that I could use. Luckily, I found a splotch with no watermark, so I inserted this file into the project. I repeated same edits as for the text, except that I didn't include the radial blur, so it didn't involve me in using After Effects for this footage. To edit its entrance, I first set the scale of the splatter, zooming in as much as possible. Once again, using keyframes I set the points to match the ones the text has to allow the motion to flow when reviewed together. I also followed similar settings of blur as the text so that I get the depth of the two right. Furthermore, I thought that the blood wasn't bright enough, so I added an adjustment effect that allowed me to increase the colour red in the splatter to give it more gore.

I discussed with my team, and we came to a decision of adding more blood splatters, so this time I searched for some image stock of blood splatters via google. I managed to find two similar ones that will be placed on each sides. I repeated the processes as for the one in the middle. I placed the second one on the lower corner on the left side, and the third one at the top right corner to give it some sort of composition.

I reviewed the result and had a thought before coming to a decision of giving the titles some depth. I decided that the mid ground will be the blood splatter in the middle with the text 'CHRISTO'. For the one on the left, I decided to put this one in the foreground, and the one on the left in the background. To achieve this effect, I played around with the settings for the blurriness, so for example if the mid ground is in focus, the foreground will be out of focus equally to the background. If the foreground is in focus, the mid ground will be out of focus, and the background will be twice as much out of focus. Same goes with the background; mid ground blurred, foreground double blurred. This too involved using keyframes to set the times when one layer becomes blurred and the other is in sharp focus on the screen. I believe that zooming out and in a bit also helped create the effect of the lens focusing from one blood splatter to the next.

For the final touches, I decided to make the text flicker to get that sense of imperfection. To do so, I cut up the text file into 7 identical pieces. In some cases, it involved me duplicating few files to get 2 copies of the text on the screen at the same time with different aesthetics. I also relocated some text files so that they don't always stay fixed in the original position.

To finish the opening titles, I transitioned all the files so that they all fade into black in the end. I ensured that the transitions' lengths are all equal so that all files fade out at the same time.

Here is the final result:

I think that for a first attempt, it is relatively good due to the different uses of effects. I never used Premiere Pro or Adobe After Effects but the use of similar programming such as Sony Vegas and Final Cut had given me a head start. Generally, they have similar ways of functioning, so I got the hang of Premiere Pro and After Effects fairly quickly. However, I do think that I could have improved it.

One way I could make the opening titles more successful is leaving more area at the start. I edited all my starts on the edge of the timeline, which means that some of the footage was actually lost at the beginning. This includes one of the main features; the throw of the text. When I play it, the motion at the beginning of the blood and the title being thrown onto the screen have been lost, and I think that if I was to leave a few seconds before the actual footage, it would have not skipped the beginning. Now that I have learnt from my mistake, I will ensure that I leave a few seconds before my actual footage so that no work is cut off.

Additionally, to improve the opening titles even more, I actually think that I shouldn't have gotten carried away with the effects too much because the titles look more like they have been edited for the trailer of the movie. I think that with the sudden movement and a range of effects look too dramatic compared to our opening titles. The mood isn't right, and I think that if I was to edit this appropriately for the opening titles, I would have toned down with the effects, like losing the motion of the text and the blood splatter being thrown on the screen and setting the titles in a more eerie atmosphere would have been more appropriate.

I conclude that for my first attempt, I have experienced the ups and downs. I might have learnt how to handle both softwares, Premiere Pro and After Effects, I haven't met the criteria that us as a group were working with, which makes it rather difficult to use these titles in our movie. So with the mistakes identified, I think I will be much more aware of my editing in the future.