Titles & Taglines

Titles

Titles are a movie’s identity. They are the audience’s first indicator of what a film will be like. More often than not, a title is a clue as to what the theme or plot of a movie is and it can serve as a play on words.

For example, the movie Whiplash (2014) is titled after a phrase which means to jerk or jolt suddenly. The movie however addresses the title in many ways. The main use of the word whiplash is through the music sheet the title character has to learn to play. Also, the title character is often subjected to physical and verbal abuse from his music teacher. This abuse can be seen as injury from the teachers sudden fits of rage. Finally, the title character gets into a car crash during the film causing literal whiplash. But having a title that incorporates so many elements, the audience gets to experience a more impactful film.

When making your own films, it’s important to catch the attention of your audience or film festival judges right from the title. By coming up with a unique title that directly relates to your movies theme or plot, the film is more likely to be memorable and feel more complete.

Taglines

Taglines are the clever phrase of words that can be seen either on a movie poster or in a movie trailer. The tagline serves the purpose of hinting to what the film will be about while also leaving the audience wanting to know more.

In the movie The Prestige, the tagline is ‘Are you watching closely?’ This tagline runs so deep throughout the movie. It is a line of dialogue that is constantly said throughout and it also challenges the audience to pay closer attention. By the end of the film, you can even ask your self if you watched close enough to everything that happened in the film. Right from the beginning, the tagline sets the tone for the entire film. When making your own tagline, be sure to make it clever enough to get the audience wanting more.

Below, we’ve listed some titles and taglines we really like that incorporate plot, themes and mystery. If you’ve seen any of the films below, you’ll know how clever the tagline works for the film and how it hints at what’s to come.

Gone Girl
Tagline: You don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s…