Today I found myself with an annoying migraine (haven’t had one of those in a while) so I had to sit still, in the dark, waiting for medication to take effect. I started perusing through a multitude of random thoughts, and stopped by my guilty pleasure script that I finished writing a couple of months ago. I wrote a sequel script to the animated movie Tangled. At the time, in fact, the entire time I was writing it, I wrote it with the title "Entangled" in mind. It just felt like the most obvious choice, but now, it feels a little silly (maybe it's the medication giving some contribution here XD)
I had some time (in complete silence, in the dark) to rethink it, and I decided "Tricked" would be a much better name, since the following movie I had planned was named Untangled (again, a little silly, come to think of it), now I chose yet another word starting with T and ending with ED. Now the 3 words match, and they all have seven letters too, for the scrabble fans out there.
But here comes the catch, a title like that -> "Tricked" comes with obvious hints for the plot, and the second title I chose to replace Untangled is even more spoilery than "Tricked"
So where do we draw the line? How worth it is to spoil, or give certain hints in movie/series titles? Does it ruin people’s experiences? Is it worth the gamble? I'd love to know some opinions.
Also, what is your process when choosing your titles? Mine seems to be migraine induced. XD
In my little guilty pleasure script, I'm sticking to my spoilery decision, I already changed it on my loglines.
Tricked: https://www.stage32.com/loglines/69130
Cheers!
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Who is Eugene and why is he in the logline? On another note I use belladonna for migraines and one dose works well.
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Sorry to hear about the migraine, Ana Robson. I hope you're feeling better! I like titles that hint at the plot, especially one-word titles. I don't see it as spoiling the stories. Titles can only give away so much. I see it as using titles to hook producers, directors, etc.
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Hi Maurice! Maurice Vaughan Yes, I'm feeling better, thanks! How is it going with you? Yes, I guess one word titles can’t be THAT spoilery, in this case it does leave the viewer expecting for some sort of twist, that can be fun or annoying depending on the person watching. And imo movie titles need to be simple, they're more memorable that way. There's nothing more annoying than those "generic franchise: dawn of the uprising of the return of the revenge of the infinity movie sequels"
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Ilanna Mandel Oh, yes, some people have recommended me belladonna as well, I should give it a try! Have you seen Tangled? He's one of the protagonists, alongside Rapunzel, it's a pretty fun movie.
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btw I decided to post this entire script on my portfolio, if anyone is looking for some fun, disney-laced adventure to read over the weekend
https://treeprojects.myportfolio.com/entangled
Let me know if it's any good :))
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You're welcome, Ana Robson. Glad you're feeling better! I'm doing fine. Thanks. I think simple titles are more memorable. I also like titles that have more than one meaning.
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Maurice Vaughan yeah when we get to think of a title with 2 meanings is always amazing, but at least for me those ideas are harder to come by. I like searching up obscure words or names in other languages, that's my favourite hobby whenever I'm stuck on a script. I start looking around on old name generators or just browse my thesaurus. If I find an interesting word I usually save it for later.
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That's a great idea, Ana Robson! Thanks.