Naming My Film - Titles

This blog, I will be talking about my process in deciding my title and what was my thought process through choosing it. I know I'm a little late to this, but since I haven't started the post-production stage and I wont for half a week or so, I don't have to worry about rushing the creation of my title.

The Essence of Titles:

        Titles are an extremely important aspect of any movie or tv show. This is because a title is the very first thing the audience sees. The title can make the viewer decide right off the bat whether the film will be of their interest or not, like a very first impression of your film. Picking the correct title is vital to portray the correct tone, mood, and message of your whole story and establish the base of where and how the movie will stand.

        But finding a title is harder than it seems. To find a good title you have to make sure it fits your genre,  target audience, characters, plot, and so much more. Many movies title their films based on their characters, location, feelings, situations, meaning, and backstory. Many good film titles indicate an idea of the genre which can allow the audience to understand what the film may be about.

Pre and Post Research:

        Before even beginning to research, I already had an idea for my movie title, which now when I look back at that title, let's just say I'm glad I decided to take a different approach with it. My idea before researching was to name it "Parasomnia" to reflect and show the sleep disorder and cause of the main characters struggles. However, after I thought about it for a couple of days, I knew that was lame and just wasn't a good title. So I decided to research online for a bit.

        

After a while of researching horror movie titles after horror movie titles, I realized I was approaching this incorrectly. I shouldn't have been using Google to dictate my ideas for my title. I knew a title wasn't something I could just search up and find, it had to be something that I could feel and connect with MY story. I decided to sit alone in quiet with my thoughts for a couple minutes.  

        I couldn't come up with anything, so instead I thought if I forget about picking my title for a couple of days, then maybe I would have an easier time at choosing a good title for my project. And well, I was kind of right. After a few days, on Tuesday, March 7th, 2023, I came up with a decent idea during class. 

       Though I was still deciding exactly what it could be, I thought maybe using the word "Puppet" or something along the lines of that would be interesting. Since the main character isn't in control of her body at night, I thought the title could reflect off the fact that she acts like a puppet at night. Thinking of that idea, I thought of the titles "The Puppet" or just "Puppet". However, I still wasn't sure on this title, so I thought waiting on it for a couple more days might do the trick.

        Today, on Thursday, March 9th, 2023, I thought of another good idea. On first look, the title may seem like every other ordinary title and may look like a simple title, but when you match it together with the story and plot of my movie, it all makes sense. In class, while I was thinking of what sort of blog to make, I decided that I hadn't done a title blog. I knew I hadn't have come up with my title yet, so I started brainstorming. While my mind was running in circles, I thought of the idea of using the word "Help". Simple right, well just hold on and listen to my thought process through that. 

        The reason I thought using "Help" was good was because the main characters whole meaning in the movie is to be begging for help and asking for someone to stop her nighttime urges and personality. However, I still thought that the word "Help" was too simple, it needed something else to it. That's when I thought of it: "Help Us". Again, seems very simplistic, but when you put it together with my plot. The real meaning is that the main character is begging for someone to help stop BOTH of her personalities, because she can't live with two different versions of her. So the title "Help Us" can refer to her asking for someone to help both her nighttime personality and her daytime, normal personality. 

                   -Dana

P.S. This might not be my final title, just a really close idea. I may come up with one more sophisticated later on.

Sources:

Script Reader Pro. “Movie Title Ideas: 3 Ways to Come up with Cooler Titles.” Script Reader Pro, 16 Nov. 2021, https://www.scriptreaderpro.com/movie-title-ideas/#:~:text=Take%20care%20when%20picking%20a,of%20your%20way%20with%20words.