Film Titles and Credits - The Orphanage - Jess D'Alvarez

The titles in 'The Orphanage' were separate to the moving image and formed their own mini narrative. However there was at least 3 minutes of film before the titles began. I think that this is used to introduce the film to the audience and this might even be when something crucial tot he film happens, in order to draw the audience in and keep them watching.

The Titles:

• A hand, thought to be a small child's, tears wallpaper off of a wall and reveals the titles.
• 'El Orfanto', the main title is revealed by many young children's hands and you can see that they are wearing the same clothes, shows that they are probably the orphans from the orphanage as they are wearing the same uniform that the young girls were wearing in the first 3 opening minutes of the film.
• The tearing of the wallpaper could relate to the revelation of secrets of the orphanage
• The wallpaper is a dull grey colour and then when the titles are revealed the wallpaper is red. This could possibly mean that there will be a change in the orphanage, getting rid of the bad and making a new start.
• The tearing of the wallpaper could resemble actions that occur in the movie, for example the children of the orphanage could tear the wallpaper and then secrets are revealed.
• During the titles a shadow of a child's hand appears and looks like the child is stretching out for help, this indicates that something bad happens to a child in the movie.
• As well as this, there are shadows of two hands reaching out for each other, this again indicates that something bad might happen to a child and that they need help.
• It looks like cracks, which you would usually see in a wall, have been magnified, throughout the titles. I think they have been magnified in order to emphasise the fact that the truth of the orphanage if finally being revealed.

Sound:

• Can hear the tearing of the wallpaper.
• Once wallpaper has been teared off, there is a loud symbol sound. Possibly used the emphasise the tearing of the wallpaper.
• There is non diegetic sound. It is soft and sounds like a piano and violin playing, however it adds a haunting effect to the titles.
• The non diegetic sound gets louder and faster towards the end of the titles. I think this is done in order to create suspense.

Editing:

• The shots during the titles fade into each other. I think this effect is used because it fits in well with the music. For example, if each shot just simply changed from one to another, then the titles would have a completely different pace, they would look very fast and would not fit in well with the music.
• Shots fade into one another, and we are able to see writing from previous shot, fade into next shot. In my opinion the slow pace of the titles makes them feel more haunting and also fit in well with the music.