Facing Survival

Here it is!! The long awaited title of my film.

Facing Survival

To start, coming up with this name took some time, but mostly because I wanted to use a title that really captured the essence of the story. The original idea for the name of the film was "Last Man Standing", however this name sounded like it belonged to a different genre. So, I chose to look it up and it turns out that the title is actually the name of a comedy show that features the lives of an average American family. After learning this, I began to connect this name to the comedy genre, and it no longer felt like an appropriate title for my film. 

I thought about what the name could be for some time until I finally decided to look up effective methods that help in coming up with creative titles. The first, and most helpful technique was to have the theme of the story set. With just this information, it's possible to create a title that reflects on this.  However, if this doesn't feel like enough, there are other methods in generating a film title. For example, by taking a deeper look at characters and what they represent, or the situations and feelings that are repeated.

Another thing I learned is what makes for bad titles:

If the title is too close to another film title can lead to confusion between films, and is often seen as a negative because one film sounds like it copied the title of another.

- Kill Bill vs. Kill Phil
- While you were sleeping vs. While you were napping

If the title is too simple it doesn't provide enough information to capture anyone's attention.

Conflict (1945)

Honey (2003)

PHFFT (1954)

If the title is too complicated, someone may choose to stay away from the film because it's not understandable to them, making it seem like the film would be as well.

Quackser Fortune Has a Cousin in the Bronx (1970)

Quantum of Solace (2008)

V.I Warshawski (1991)

By knowing this, I knew what I had to avoid when coming up with the title for my film. I went back and read previous blog posts and brainstormed for some time before this title popped into my head. What I like the most about it is that it's intriguing, but it doesn't give too much about the film away.