This document discusses titles and credits in movie trailers. It begins by providing examples of 5 movie trailers analyzed by the author. It then defines the difference between titles and credits, with titles appearing at the beginning and end of trailers and credits listing the cast and crew. The rest of the document discusses various aspects of titles and credits, including their purpose, placement in trailers, relationship to genre, and how they fit within the narrative structure.

1. Title/Credit Convention Research
Katia Martins

2. My Chosen 5 Trailers
The Fault In Our Stars (2014)
Drama/Romance
Shutter Island (2010)
Mystery/Thriller
If I Stay (2014)
Drama
Sex Tape (2014)
Comedy
American Horror Story (2011)
Drama/Fantasy/Horror

3. What is the difference between
titles/credits?
• Titles are usually shown at the beginning and
at the end of a trailer with the trailer name
and production/distribution companies.
• Credits are usually shown at the end with the
cast, any sponsor names, and social media
sites.

4. Titles
• The Fault In Our Stars-
• If I Stay-
• Sex Tape-
• Shutter Island-
• American horror Story-

5. Credits
• The Fault In Our Stars-
• If I Stay-
• Sex Tape-
• Shutter Island-
• American horror Story-

6. What do they say/what are they
about?
• Reviews- newspaper reviews and other film site reviews that give
their honest opinion about the film.
• Extra info- (based on true stories/books/tv shows)
• Credits- cast and people who helped make the films such as
production and distribution companies.

7. • Release dates- This informs the reader of when the film is being
released into cinemas.
• Social networking- This is so that the audience can interact
with the film site and other social media sites e.g. facebook and twitter.
• Brief intro to the story- to help the audience understand
the story better.

8. Who?
Titles and credits are about
• Actors and casts
• Production/distribution companies
• This is so that the audience knows who the actors are and
they usually do this when big actors are in the film in order
to attract audience attention, the cast is shown in order to
also attract audiences as they may know and have liked any
of their past works, production/distribution companies are
shown as they helped to fund the business and also big
production companies have a good reputation which
audiences will know about and enjoy.

9. Why?
• Purpose of titles is to inform the audience of
what is happening and to give a background
information of the story an also to name the
actors and directors.
• The purpose of credits is to give “credit” to
everyone who was a part of the film and also
to allow the audience to know who did what.

10. When?
• They usually last around 3 to 5 seconds and
they appear at the beginning and at the end
around 5 times.
• They usually are 5-8 seconds apart from
eachother.
• The actual film title usually appears near the
end around 10 seconds before and lasts for
about 5 seconds.

11. Where is the title placed in the
sequence? Why?
• The production and distribution companies are
usually at the beginning of the trailer this may be
because they are the ones who funded and
produced the film.
• The main characters usually appear in the middle
of the trailer in order to attract the audience.
• At the end of the trailer the cast are shown as
there are many of them involved in the whole
making of the film.

12. How do they fit in the narrative
structure and narrative enigmas?
• Titles fit in with the films narrative structure
as they help the audience understand what is
happening.
• Titles are also done in order so that the
audience can raise questions and leave
enigmas in order to make them watch the
film.

13. How do they fit in with
genre/subgenre?
• The horror genre titles and credits usually
have some sort of special effect on them
depending on what the film is about.
• The comedy genre titles and credits are
usually bold and simple but with a statement.

14. How?
• Comedies tend to try and show a part of the
story line in a simple way, for example the
“P’s” in “Sex Tape” has a play sign as it has to
do with the story.
• Drama/Romances use a more unique way of
showing the title such as hand written or
animation.