Planning - Titles and Distribution Companies

    As the very tedious and boring part of my planning, I also researched distribution companies to understand how a real psychological thriller would be released. This helped me think of my project as a real media product instead of just a school assignment, which I knew would be helpful to think about because this is eventually going to be one of my CCR Questions. 

My group and I really wanted to try and understand the industry side of media as we believed it would help our film feel ore polished and professional. I looked at companies like Netflix and A24. Netflix is known for distributing a lot of psychological thrillers and reaching a wide audience through streaming. A24, on the other hand, focuses more on independent films and unique storytelling, which fits well with psychological thrillers.

I also thought about how distribution affects the film’s style. For example, films released by A24 often have a more artistic and slow-paced style, which influenced how I planned my opening and the font for our title. 

This is our final draft for the title of our film Paranoia. We wanted to be as creative as possible, hence the creative writing and the dripping swirl behind it. I took inspiration from A24 while designing this title because I really loved how they are always unique with their titles. To me, one of the things that makes me want to watch a movie is the title page so it had to be captivating - which I think in the end it was!! 

Another thing that I took from both Netflix and A24 is their logos that flash at the beginning of their media. Watching clips of film openings helped me realize that creating logos for both a production and distribution company would make my opening feel more realistic and professional which is exactly what I wanted.

Branding is an important part of the film industry, not just the film itself. Santiago specifically wanted our project to look like an actual media product, so he, with our guidance, came up with our own company names and designed logos that matched the psychological thriller genre, using darker colors and simple but slightly unsettling designs such as the bloody hand and the crawling spider which is my personal favorite!