Directions Unit: Title

A couple of days ago I finally decided on my film title. I've been through a lot of options in my head but haven't liked any of them enough, or if I have, they haven't fit David Fincher's usual title styles.

He usually titles his films (or directs already titled screenplays) with one word, two words or longer titles beginning with 'the'.

I like shorter names, so I wanted either a one or two word title. I also wanted it to be smoke of fire/flame related. This is because Mara's smoking, drug 'cooking' and taking of drugs is a big part of the story. I think it also relates to her life going 'down in flames' since the death of her mother.

The titles I thought of included...

Down in Flames
Up in Smoke
Burn

I never felt happy with any of these titles. The first two are three worded and I felt like that was too far from Fincher's style, and the last I felt was simply just too plain.

After weeks and weeks of trying to think of the title, the name just suddenly came to me. I was thinking about smoke, which lead to thinking about smoking, and the words inhale and exhale came to me. Exhale immediately sounded perfect. It's still smoke related without being too obvious, and it also relates to Mara trying to calm and compose herself every time she has a painful flashback. It also fits perfectly with Fincher's titling trends by being a one word name.

So my directions film is officially called...