Major Project: Sub-titles Research

Should Sub-Titles be Used?

Whilst researching my chosen Mockumentaries, it seemed conventional for them to use sub-titles to introduce either characters or locations - which is also typically found in documentaries. Therefore, I've decided to do a brief evaluation of my chosen Mockumentaries to see if they are used and why, plus the style used.  To remain relevant to DownStage, I will be judging this purely on the pilot episode of each Mockumentary. I will be exploring the following:

- The Office (UK)

- The Office (USA)

- People Just do Nothing

- Trailer Park Boys

- Modern Family

The Office (UK)

Whilst watching the first episode of The Office (UK), it seems that the series doesn't use any sub-titles: we only see a title being used for the title sequence and then the credits. This may be because they simply aren't needed - the script seems to introduce the characters naturally, using each character to introduce or say another character's name, giving no reason to use a sub-title. And because the pilot episode stays only in the office, sub-titles won't be needed to introduce a location. Therefore, this shows how sub-titles don't have to be used - or even perhaps they are only recently conventional to use, as this show is over 10 years old.

The Office (USA)

Despite being slightly newer than the British version of The Office, this American version too has no use of sub-titles to introduce characters or locations. This may be because the style of filming is much more documentary reliant - the programme begins with the character Michael introducing the documentary crew to the office - directly introducing other characters to the camera, removing the need to include sub-titles because of this direct introduction. Therefore, The Office (USA) only uses titles for the title sequence and the end credits.

Meanwhile, The Office has a few titles that appear at the start of the program, showing credits of the executive producers and producers. Judging from this, the style and font is very basic - it is simply a white sans serif font which has the name of the role in capitals, perhaps to contrast against the job title.

Titles used for key job titles and names

Trailer Park Boys

Moving on, Trailer Park Boys uses sub-titles to introduce both locations and characters, as shown below. However, whilst watching the pilot episode, it doesn't rely on sub-titles to introduce each character/location - similar to both versions of The Office. Nonetheless, due to the pilot episode of Trailer Park Boys airing in 2001, the graphics of the sub-title too are very basic however a bit more advanced than The Office USA. Still remaining as a white sans-serif font, this style instead is in italics, and consists of a black shadow, whilst reversing the use of capitals so the name is capitalised and the role isn't. Despite being basic, this helps to stand out but not to an extent that the audience may be drawn more to the title rather than the story. Therefore, this basic style works in a subtle yet advisable manor.

Titles used for locations

Titles used to introduce characters

People Just do Nothing

Only recently being released in 2014, People Just do Nothing too uses titles, however only to introduce characters, as you can see below. This too simply states who the character is, as well as his/her role within the story. Nonetheless, this too uses a simplistic title design - remaining completely capitalised and using a sans serif white font. Therefore, it appears this is conventional for the Mockumentary genre, which therefore is very similar to documentaries.

However, People Just do Nothing uses titles in a unique and modern way. The introduction of the pilot episode has a title saying "@bbcthree #PJDN" - the series' twitter profile and hashtag to get the series to trend. This is something I haven't come across in Mockumentaries, however it helps to keep the series up-to-date and trendy, as this appears quite often within documentaries. Therefore, I am planning on introducing this for DownStage - including our production company name 'Kabs Productions' and then DownStage. For example, it could say something like '@KabsProductions (our twitter username) followed by #DownStage'.

Modern Family

Meanwhile, Modern Family too uses titles throughout it's narrative, which in my opinion the style used seems the most effective. As you can see in the images below, the titles are used clearly to introduce each character during their interview - although positioned in a slightly less conventional position (as they are typically at the bottom left or right), it seems effective for the title to be positioned at the top, as it is directly above the characters whom are being interviewed. 

Unconventional yet effective positioning of titles...

...That are also the same as the logo, highlighting the series' branding.

Additionally, the style matches Modern Family's font - this helps to brand the series as by using the same font creates a sense of continuity. Similarly, Modern Family also has titles for the names of key job titles at the beginning of the pilot. However, to clearly highlight that this has no influence on the narrative, the font differs and is the same font used during the title sequence. Therefore, the use of titles in Modern Family to me seem very clear, efficient, and stand out compared to the rest of my research so far.

The series uses a different font & style to juxtapose against the
titles which influence the story.

Conclusion

This research has led me to a conclusion that sub-titles are reasonably conventional for Mockumentaries, however they aren't entirely necessary. It appears that they remain very simplistic, perhaps so they don't draw attention away from the narrative, however have a slight similarity to the Mockumentaries' branding, as shown by Modern Family. However, what I found most effective is the use of including a twitter reference - this is very common for documentaries meaning this will remind my audience that it's based as a documentary style, and more importantly it helps to increase audience  engagement which is crucial for any modern-day TV show. I will soon create a blog post showing what I aim to do during the edit, including types of sub-title design.