Blog Post #12 - How Titles are Chosen in Film

You know a film by the title it was given, Avatar, The Avengers, Inside Out; But how are the titles for these films chosen by their creators? While some are more obvious than others, like Sonic the Hedgehog 1, 2, and 3, some are more obscure choices, such as Disney's Coco, where the film isn't named after its main character, but his Grandmother.

Miguel, the protagonist of Coco.

Guidelines


Raindance.org provides insight into how to create the title for a film, and why it is so important to the film. It says that the title of the film is the brand of the movie, which affects how it is perceived, and remembered by an audience. The title of the film can also cause the audience to feel different emotions. It also provides recommendations for the visual characteristics of a film, stating it should be 1-3 words long, to be easy to remember.

The title of a movie should also reflect the film's characters, themes, tone, or narrative, and be unique to be reflective of the movie as a whole, and to be distinct from other films.  Two given examples of these rules are Jaws, which invokes fear in the audience and is simple and memorable, and The Dark Knight, which is a reference to its main character's nickname while having a darker tone.

A poster for The Dark Knight, from IMDb


Inside Out 2


Looking for use of these rules in more recent films, Inside Out 2 comes to mind. This title reflects on the theme of this movie and that which comes before it— the films are about viewing a child's mind from the inside, and how they affect her interactions on the outside, the real world. The two affixed to the end of this movie title clearly signify that this is the second film in this series. 

A poster for Inside Out 2, from IMDb


Conclusion


With these rules and suggestions in mind, over the next few weeks, I will try to come up with a fitting title for my project, to accurately represent it. The tone of this title must be dark, yet somehow light-hearted at the same time, and it must reflect the nature of the crime genre it will fit into.
 

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