Art of the Title Grid Activity

This is the opening of our film titled 'The List', which is about a psychopath who has a list of people he is trying to kill. In the opening, he drags a dead body into his workroom and uses a saw to saw her up, before crossing her name off a list on a whiteboard.

The face of the psychopath is not revealed, apart from in the 7th shot, although he is wearing a mask so it is hard to make out what he looks like. The final shot of the list indicates the main plot of the film as this is the first name crossed off the list, suggesting he is going to try  and kill the rest.

The titles are white, which link to the night-vision effect on the camera in the opening. The titles are also simple but slightly blurry, identifying the film as mysterious and creepy, as well as the shots identifying the film as a horror.

The audience are expected to want to understand the enigmas set up in the opening, such as who the psychopath is and why he has a list of people he is trying to kill and cut up. They should also have identified the genre as a horror due to the use of props such as the saw, as well as the night-vision camera styling and the extreme high and low angles, creating a unsettling and disorienting feeling in the audience.

As a whole, the grid is successful as it sets up the plot of the film by the final shot of the list but doesn't give away too much plot detail by showing the psychopath's motives or any other main characters. The use of different shot types also keeps the audience interested in the action. In hindsight, we could have included a better insight in the character of the psychopath through use of shots including some of his personal items or a better establishment of the setting.