Idents and Graphics Research

Idents

The idents will appear at the very start of the film and last no longer than around 10 seconds. Mostly the companies involved in a short film are independent so the idents remain simple, lacking fancy and complex animations and designs. The colour palettes remain simple- black and white typically, but if any larger companies are involved their colour palettes may change so as to suit the genre.

Graphics

As short films are, obviously, short in length, the credits typically roll over a scene. Although this can be found in feature length films also, short films need to get the ball rolling quicker. So as not to disturb a scene or take any attention away from it, the size is typically quite small and they will be located usually in the bottom left or right corner. Sometimes they will change this to go with their style, by having the graphics located suitable on props/specific part of the scene (walls etc). They are usually kept simple and plain, using the colour palette that will best show up against the background footage (normally white). They may attempt to link it to the genre by having a dark colour palette (red, blue black), and in terms of linking the font to the genre most crime dramas do follow a plain but bold theme. The transitions are kept simple with each graphic staying on screen for a whole shot, or fading if a shot is longer than around 10 seconds. The conventional order of credits is:

(NAME OF THE STUDIO) or (NAME OF THE STUDIO) PRESENTS 

(NAME OF THE PRODUCTION COMPANY) 

STARRING 

(FILM'S TITLE) 

FEATURING or WITH or ALSO STARRING 

CASTING or CASTING BY 

MUSIC or MUSIC COMPOSED BY or ORIGINAL SCORE BY 

COSTUME DESIGN or COSTUME DESIGNER 

EDITOR or EDITED BY 

PRODUCTION DESIGN or PRODUCTION DESIGNER 

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY 

PRODUCER or PRODUCED BY, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER 

BASED ON THE BOOK (PLAY, GRAPHIC NOVEL etc.) BY or FROM A PLAY/BOOK BY (older  

BASED ON THE CHARACTERS BY or BASED ON THE CHARACTERS CREATED BY 

(SCREEN) STORY or STORY BY 

WRITER(S) or WRITTEN BY or SCREENPLAY or SCREENPLAY BY 

DIRECTOR or DIRECTED BY

With short films they may leave out some credits out but this won't ever include the companies, director and producer, or some just leave all of their credits until the end.