Title Pending
I’ve never been good with titles. With a title, you want something that’s smart and witty; something pithy; something that gets at exactly what you’re going for, but also looks good on a marquee.
I guess Jaws was an okay title.
The short film I’m currently writing has no title–yet. I’ve christened the Final Draft document after the main character’s name; but this is both unoriginal and boring, two of the worst sins a writer could commit. How many times have we seen a title that is simply a name? Lenny, Zelig, Barton Fink, Sherlock Holmes, and, of course, Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice. The list could go on and on…
There are also the films that involve the main character’s name: Deconstructing Harry, Meet Bill, When Harry Met Sally, The Big Lebowski, Scott Pilgrim Versus the World, Ocean’s Eleven, The Fantastic Mr. Fox, and, of course, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. These tend to be much better titles; but I’m still not that big of a fan of them. Why should we care about the people named before we even know who they are?
I prefer a title that has no character names in it. So the question is this: how do you create a great title?
Perhaps it would be best to start by identifying great titles that already exist.
But are there any? I don’t know if there are. Thinking of the titles of my favorite movies, the only one that I might call a “great title” would be As Good As it Gets. At first glance, it’s a happy, carefree, feel-good title; that is, it seems lame. But there’s a darker edge to it: as Melvin Udall asks in the film, “What if this is as good as it gets?” The title hints that, if you think things are bad now, don’t worry: it’s just going to get worse. This title works on multiple levels; but does that make it a great title? I don’t know. It has a certain ring to it, but it’s not a “classic” ring; it just sounds… well, nice.
I’m not sure Shakespeare had the best titles, either. Romeo and Juliet? Really? The play that is considered the greatest love tragedy of all time, and you name it Romeo and Juliet? What about Hamlet? Macbeth? Titus Andronicus? (Side note: I’ve always wanted to do a dinner theater production of Titus Andronicus where we would serve pie for dessert.) Even the bard wasn’t very good with titles – though Much Ado About Nothing and A Midsummer Night’s Dream are both up there. Why didn’t he put that kind of poetry into his other titles?
So how do I determine the title of this short film? Theme is important – but if the theme could be boiled down into just a handful of words, I wouldn’t need to make the film, would I?
It seems like a lot of people reference Shakespeare when creating titles. Maybe I should do that. What do you think of Much Ado About a Midsummer Night’s Dream? Too kitschy? Well, it’s late. I don’t have any insights about titles; certainly none that could help you, dear reader, considering I can’t even help myself. I just have one piece of advice: avoid puns, unless they’re funny… so, avoid puns.
Thank you, and good night.