TEXTUAL ANALYSIS

INTERTITLES

Title: Homefront

Director: Gary Fleder

Writer: Sylvester Stallone

Staring: Jason Statham, James Franco, Winona Ryder.

Date: 27th November 2013

Genre: Action, Crime & Drama

After the high intensity action during the opening scene the sequence of inter-titles follow the main title. The sequence of inter-titles is presented in a series of videos of wildlife such as large woodland areas, animals like crocodiles and birds flying

across large lakes meanwhile non-diegetic music ‘I've got mine’ by The Black Keys plays. I feel like the music plays a very significant role in this part of the film as it is a rock song. The

Black Keys are an American rock duo and the song used in the scene is the stereotypical rock song which creates the hard, tough atmosphere especially following the opening scene it makes sense to have this song choice to keep up the generic

conventions of the action film.

PLOT SUMMARY:

Homefront stars Jason Statham as former drug enforcement agent, Phil Broker, a family man who moves off the grid with his daughter, to a seemingly quiet bayou backwater to escape his troubled past. However, Broker’s world soon becomes anything but quiet once he discovers that an underbelly of drugs and violence riddles the small town. Soon, a sociopathic methamphetamine kingpin, Gator

Bodine (James Franco) puts Broker and his daughter in harm’s way forcing Broker back into action in order to save his family and the town.

The very first inter-title used in the film is during the opening scene. This is an ariel shot of a motorway at night with the first inter-title, which states the three institutions

involved in the making of the film. These are:

Open Road Films,Endgame Entertainment,and Millennium Films.

This information is very key and that is why it is the first one.

So for my production I will apply this by ensuring my first inter-title includes the institutions that will be “involved” in the film.

The main title:‘Homefront’

This is a police car’s headlights blurred out which the audience sees right before the camera goes into a

shallow focus.

The colours in this shot where the main title

appears are mainly dark shades which can portray the intense nature of this film. Or the colours can even suggest a mood to the audience of mystery

and criminality.

After the main title appears the non-diegetic music ‘I've got mine’ by The

Black Keys starts to play over a series of moving images of wildlife.

The first set of inter-titles clearly state the names of the principle actors in the film. These names come first because they are

the main parts and therefore play a fundamental role in the making of the

film, Secondly these names are well known in the world of acting/films and this could suggest why their names are displayed on the screen on their own.

In my opening scene I will have the main actors names in the corner of the shots fading in and staying on the screen for around 5 seconds before disappearing

and the next name appears.

These inter-titles showed me that when making the inter-titles one must make sure everyone in the production (in front and behind the camera)

have to be given recognition. So in order to make my opening scene look realistic I will be making up names to be the roles of casting,

costume and set designer and more.

These inter-titles say the names involved in casting, production designer and producers

which are all very essential jobs in the making of the film

This inter-title states that the screenplay was written by Sylvester Stallone which is a core piece of information and also is extremely important for this film. Firstly it is stating the writer of the film and therefore the person deserves full credit and

secondly, Sylvester Stallone is a very famous person and brings attention to the film and thus

more viewings, ratings and revenue.

The very last inter-title is the director. Even though the principle actors went at the beginning which shows importance however this inter-title is the last the audience would see and therefore the name is more likely to stay in their mind. The director is the most important behind the screens

role as this person ensures everything going on set is perfect and runs smoothly. Without a

director there would be no film.

This research has shown me the different inter-titles a film must include and also a way of displaying them. This therefore allows

me to start thinking about the way I want to create the inter-titles for my opening scene.