The Art of Using Birds in Movie Titles

For ages, movie producers have tried to find new and innovative ways to make their movie a blockbuster. One common trend that has been observed most frequently in the past decade has been the use of birds in the titles of movies.

Some of the most successful and highly-acclaimed movies of all time have used birds in their title: Black Swan (2010), One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), and Chicken Little (2004) to name a few.

There is speculation over when this trend started but most movie buffs agree that the first big movie that used a bird in its title was Alfred Hitchcock's 1963 thriller, The Birds. After The Birds's gigantic success, many movies followed in its path, but were forced to take circuitous methods of using bird names.

There are many ways you can go about using birds in your title. Some movie makers like to make movies about penguins and be very straightforward with their titles such as Penguins of Madagascar (2014) and March of the Penguins (2005) while others like to take trickier approaches such as Robin Hood (1973), Robin Hood (2010), and Black Hawk Down (2001).

Although these movies took the approach of adding a bird in the title while keeping birds out of the plot, nobody has done as good of a job at subliminally inserting a bird in a movie title than Michael Moore with his widely successful 2002 documentary Bowling for Columbine which cleverly inserted the word "owl" into the title.

We might never know if the fact that birds are in the titles of these movies are what made them successful but we can at least say with some certainty that the use of birds didn't hurt the films.

Sci-fi and Fantasy Escapes

Movies. That is all I was interested in when I was younger. It wasn't until I reached about ninth grade that I suddenly became fascinated by TV shows. It all started with my father introducing me to a great show called Stargate SG1. This is a show about a military operation that has found a way to travel through the glaxay via wormhole. The wormholes are established through the use of a stargate. Each stargate on different planets have their own "addresses." SG1 is the first team sent through the wormhole to discover new worlds. So, this mix-matched team begins their adventures where they fight the Goa'uld (parasites that take over their host's mind and ruled over early human civilizations as gods, like the Egyptian gods), and many other enemies over the course of 10 seasons. This show was absolutely brilliant and was my obsession for a very long time.

After Stargate SG1 ended, I really didn't watch any other shows for two reasons. Number one, my knowledge of TV shows was limited and I didn't really want to spend the energy to find a new one. Number two, what could match up to my Goa'uld fighting heroes of the universe? It was only when I was a freshman in college and I discovered the wonderful Netflix, that the world of TV shows opened up to me again. I can't even begin to remember how many shows I have watched to date now, but I can list some of my favorites.

First of all, I should mention that my heart lies in the science fiction and fantasy realms. My theory behind this is that I personally love the feeling of being able to escape my own life for a time and delve into a completely new dimension and "experience" adventures with unforgettable characters. Anyway, I remember one of the new series that I fell in love with was a TV show called Robin Hood that was on BBC starting in 2006. There is not much to explain in the way of plot since almost everyone knows the story of Robin Hood, and it was a great show plot-wise, at least up until the very end. I won't give it away for those who decide to watch it, but it made me very upset. I guess it was a good thing that I was so upset because that is a sign of a good show. The acting was fabulous, and the presentation was altogether well edited.


I believe the next show I watched was Battlestar Galactica, which was on Syfy from 2004-2009. The concept behind this series was very interesting and the story was great... for about the first two or three seasons. Then something happened where nothing made sense. I don't know if that was because on Netflix the seasons were split up by half seasons (such as season 4 and season 4.5, why would someone do that???) and I missed a seasons worth of episodes or if the plot just went crazy. I never ended up finishing this series, but I did enjoy most of what I was able to see.


During the summer between freshman and sophomore year in college, my parents and I became huge fans of another BBC series called Merlin. Merlin is a show depicting the story of King Arthur and his knights of the Round Table all from the perspective of a young boy named Merlin. Of course, the events of this series do not necessarily follow what is depicted in the novel The Once and Future King written by T. H. White. In this show, Merlin is a young boy who is sent to Camelot by his mother to live with an old friend, Gaius. Except there is something special about Merlin that no one else can know about; Merlin can use magic, a offense punishable by death. It isn't until Merlin learns from a dragon trapped below the castle that it is his destiny to protect the cocky and rude Arthur that all the adventures for Camelot begin. This show is still playing, and I believe is on season 5. Some of the graphics and CG aren't the best, but the plot is so engrossing that you can get over it pretty easily.

Soon after that, came another one of my absolute favorite shows, Falling Skies. If you have not seen this show, I highly suggest you watch it. Yes, it is another end of the world show, but it is so much more than that. Once you think you have the story figured out, they throw another twist at you. The filming and CG is very good, and I can't wait for the next season to begin.

Some other series I have watched include, Downton Abbey, Lost, Terra Nova, part of Grey's Anatomy and Once Upon A Time. Downton Abbey is a show put out by Masterpiece Classics and has a great plot, and is filmed in such a way that you feel you are truly a part of the story. The characters are so unique that you end up falling in love with them. It is a story about a well-to-do English family living on the cusp of the twentieth century and their servants. The dynamics between these two groups flow together and apart at different parts in the story. I have only seen up to season 2, so if anyone knows whether or not this show is on again please let me know.


Terra Nova only has one or two seasons, I believe, because someone told me they it was cancelled. I don't know why. I absolutely loved the storyline. It is about a family living in a future where the Earth is on it's last leg thanks to pollution and lack of resources. People can't even breathe the air with out a device that filters it. In order to get a chance for a second life, the family accepts the offer to become a part of project Terra Nova. By going through a rip in the time continuum, they find themselves on Earth but millions of years in the past, with dinosaurs for neighbors. The family and the whole colony of Terra Nova must learn to survive or die in their new world.

What I think is the most amazing thing about all of these is that the CG doesn't have to be the best. The acting, the sound, the cinematography, and really great story lines all come together to make these shows successful in drawing in the audience to different times or even different worlds. I'm always up for suggestions for new shows to watch. Recently, someone suggested that I watch the new show Revolution, which is about a futuristic world where all electricity doesn't work. Cars don't work. iPods don't work. Nothing. The government falls and militia take over. Amidst all the chaos is one girl who is fighting to get her younger brother back from the militia men who took him. It looks like a very promising show indeed.

~Amber Capogrossi

Foley Artist

Hey guys, the title is a link to this video that I just watched about foley artists. It's basically a video of this foley artist who apprenticed on Empire Strikes Back demonstrating some foley techniques, showing the camera around his workroom, and talking about how they put together the individual sounds for a scene in a movie. I thought it was pretty cool, and if you're interested in working on sound as a career, it looks like it'd be a pretty sweet job.

SoundWorks Collection: Gary Hecker - Veteran Foley Artist from Michael Coleman on Vimeo.

Robin Hood

I watched season one of the BBC series Robin Hood, and while the story line is ok, the rest is terrible. There are blatant jump cuts everywhere. The ending involves a celebratory jump, where it freezes in mid air. Also the jokes are terrible. Instead a cat got your tongue, they say sheriff got your tongue. Not only that, but then they explain how its ironic it is. I thought the British said that Americans did not know what satire was. This is the only BBC show that I have watched. Has anyone noticed any similarities in other BBC shows