Nathan Old Boy Title Research

Despite originating in South Korea, Old Boy has found popularity in the rest of the world as it has subtitles to translate what the characters are saying. These subtitles enable people of all languages to understand the film. The subtitles are positioned off screen so that none of the frame is covered by text, which allows spectators to view all that is going on without distraction.

Not only are there subtitles throughout the film, but also opening titles early on in the film. These are superimposed onto the video to help differentiate between subtitle and opening title. We can easily read both the names of the cast and crew as well as the translated subtitles. The different fonts and sizes also ensure the audience knows the different titles contain separate pieces of information.

The opening titles to the film only begin three minutes into the film, suggesting there are scenes of high importance before this stage. The delayed titles show how important the first three minutes are, as there can be no distracting titles, and imply that the central male in the scene will be an important character as the film progresses. The absence of titles at this point allows the spectator to fully concentrate on what is occurring in the sequence. The contrasting colours in the opening also mean that the white titles wouldn't be readable against the initial white setting, so they are better to be left until we see the exterior setting.

When the titles do appear, they are animated in a way that reveals the words character by character. This nature of the flickering and revealing text suggests an element of mystery in the film. The titles are parallel to the sound, with subtle yet high tempo non diegetic orchestral music, which repeats itself and suggests that this is a Thriller film. The mysterious nature of the titles matches with the connotations of the perplexing soundtrack. The music then crescendos as we zoom in towards a seemingly important object on the ground, and continues to grow in vigor when the title of the film appears on screen. This synergy between the titles, music and visuals creates an enticing opening sequence.