The functions
The function of an opening title sequence to a film is to establish the visual style of the film and to introduce the viewer to all or some of the following:
Characters
Location
Narrative/Plot
Genre
Themes
The Elements
Typically, an opening sequence will contain:
Details of cast and crew.
The film's title.
An introduction to character or character type.
Indication of place.
Indication of historical period.
Information regarding mood and tone.
Introduction to signature theme tune.
Information about genre.
Questions that the viewer finds intriguing.
Patterns and types of editing that will be echoed in the remainder of the film.
Mise en scene and cinematography that will be echoed or elaborated upon later in the film
Monday, 8 November 2010
10 Great opening title sequences
10 great title sequences
1. Psycho (1960). One of the landmark Saul Bass designs: jumpy, fragmented titles married to Bernard Herrmann’s hysteric strings have you nervously gripping the arms of your chair long before Hitchcock’s slasher classic has spilled a drop of blood.
2. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962). An ancestor to Juno’s opening titles, this delicately haunting sequence by Stephen O. Frankfurt uses the paraphernalia of childhood — marbles, crayons, a whistle, jacks — to evoke the world of the film’s five-year-old narrator.
3. The James Bond films (1962-2006). It just wouldn’t be a Bond flick without Maurice Binder’s signature swirling gun barrel and curtain of blood, backed by Monty Norman’s rumbling theme. The only Bond films without it are Never Say Never Again and the 1967 spoof of Casino Royale — neither of them part of the official 007 franchise.
4. Dr. Strangelove, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964). Pablo Ferro’s sly opening for Stanley Kubrick’s jet-black nuclear satire is one of the most sublime in screen history; it features footage of B-52 bombers refueling/fornicating to the romantic strains of Try a Little Tenderness. Freudian symbolism has never been so funny.
5. The Pink Panther films (1964-2006). Perhaps the most famous of cartoon credits sequences. The cool cat of the title was created by the DePatie-Freleng studio for the first entry in this long-lasting series of slapstick comedies. The Pink One proved so popular that he ended up living a double life outside the franchise, as the star of his own animated series.
6. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966). I’ll take my spaghetti western with cheese. Iginio Lardani’s garish low-budget titles, which look like grainy wanted posters splattered with blood, are as deliciously lurid as Ennio Morricone’s famous wailing score.
7. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975). Be careful whom you hire to do your opening title sequence. In the Pythons’ comedy classic, moose-obsessed Swedes hijack the foreign subtitles, then infiltrate the English credits; they are finally ousted and replaced by llama-obsessed Latin Americans.
8. Reservoir Dogs (1992). An opening sequence doesn’t have to be complex to be effective. Quentin Tarantino’s slo-mo intro to his seminal crime drama not only ID’s the ensemble cast, it also serves as a long, slow breather before the chaos of blood and profanity to follow.
9. Se7en (1995). Kyle Cooper’s chilling (and much imitated) sequence for David Fincher’s thriller takes Frankfurt’s To Kill a Mockingbird opening and gives it a sickening twist: the paraphernalia here is that of a methodical serial killer. Cooper adds flickering images on scratched film stock and an abrasive score by Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor to suggest the disturbed mind of a maniac.
10. Down with Love (2003). Animation couple Maximilian Graenitz and Jane Poole put viewers in a retro mood with their exuberant, Saul Bass-style titles for this romantic comedy — a tongue-in-cheek homage to the Doris Day-Rock Hudson movies of the early 1960s.
1. Psycho (1960). One of the landmark Saul Bass designs: jumpy, fragmented titles married to Bernard Herrmann’s hysteric strings have you nervously gripping the arms of your chair long before Hitchcock’s slasher classic has spilled a drop of blood.
2. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962). An ancestor to Juno’s opening titles, this delicately haunting sequence by Stephen O. Frankfurt uses the paraphernalia of childhood — marbles, crayons, a whistle, jacks — to evoke the world of the film’s five-year-old narrator.
3. The James Bond films (1962-2006). It just wouldn’t be a Bond flick without Maurice Binder’s signature swirling gun barrel and curtain of blood, backed by Monty Norman’s rumbling theme. The only Bond films without it are Never Say Never Again and the 1967 spoof of Casino Royale — neither of them part of the official 007 franchise.
4. Dr. Strangelove, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964). Pablo Ferro’s sly opening for Stanley Kubrick’s jet-black nuclear satire is one of the most sublime in screen history; it features footage of B-52 bombers refueling/fornicating to the romantic strains of Try a Little Tenderness. Freudian symbolism has never been so funny.
5. The Pink Panther films (1964-2006). Perhaps the most famous of cartoon credits sequences. The cool cat of the title was created by the DePatie-Freleng studio for the first entry in this long-lasting series of slapstick comedies. The Pink One proved so popular that he ended up living a double life outside the franchise, as the star of his own animated series.
6. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966). I’ll take my spaghetti western with cheese. Iginio Lardani’s garish low-budget titles, which look like grainy wanted posters splattered with blood, are as deliciously lurid as Ennio Morricone’s famous wailing score.
7. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975). Be careful whom you hire to do your opening title sequence. In the Pythons’ comedy classic, moose-obsessed Swedes hijack the foreign subtitles, then infiltrate the English credits; they are finally ousted and replaced by llama-obsessed Latin Americans.
8. Reservoir Dogs (1992). An opening sequence doesn’t have to be complex to be effective. Quentin Tarantino’s slo-mo intro to his seminal crime drama not only ID’s the ensemble cast, it also serves as a long, slow breather before the chaos of blood and profanity to follow.
9. Se7en (1995). Kyle Cooper’s chilling (and much imitated) sequence for David Fincher’s thriller takes Frankfurt’s To Kill a Mockingbird opening and gives it a sickening twist: the paraphernalia here is that of a methodical serial killer. Cooper adds flickering images on scratched film stock and an abrasive score by Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor to suggest the disturbed mind of a maniac.
10. Down with Love (2003). Animation couple Maximilian Graenitz and Jane Poole put viewers in a retro mood with their exuberant, Saul Bass-style titles for this romantic comedy — a tongue-in-cheek homage to the Doris Day-Rock Hudson movies of the early 1960s.
AS useful links F.P
Useful Resources:
Opening Title Sequence Sites:
This is a fantastic site dedicated to showcasing the art of title sequences. Each image
captures the essence on the sequence and when clicked provides access to the streamed
sequence. Each title is accompanied by an short analytical commentary
http://www.artofthetitle.com/about/
http://mmbase.submarinechannel.com/titlesequences/
‘Thank you for Smoking’ and ‘Juno’ title sequence site:
http://www.shadowplaystudio.com/smoking.html
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/12/19/30-unforgettable-movie-title-sequences/
Opening Title Sequence Sites:
This is a fantastic site dedicated to showcasing the art of title sequences. Each image
captures the essence on the sequence and when clicked provides access to the streamed
sequence. Each title is accompanied by an short analytical commentary
http://www.artofthetitle.com/about/
http://mmbase.submarinechannel.com/titlesequences/
‘Thank you for Smoking’ and ‘Juno’ title sequence site:
http://www.shadowplaystudio.com/smoking.html
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/12/19/30-unforgettable-movie-title-sequences/
A2 Research and Planning
A2 Media Coursework – Research and Planning
Short film, poster and double page review spread
When researching similar products to the ones you’ll be producing:
• Short films, all genres and your genre
• Posters (advertising films)
• Film magazines review pages
• Film magazine double page spreads
You will need to:
a) conduct a textual analysis of the products’ images and text and layout
then:
b) consider the contexts of consumption for each product, in other words the ways in which audiences consume the products (when, where and who with?).
To help you do this you should type up bullet point notes on the following questions:
1. How many possible consumption contexts do your researched products (and by extension your own products) have?
2. What does this mean in terms of the potential target consumer?
3. Are there specific conventions that you have identified in your researched products?
4. How will you use these conventions within the production of your own product?
5. Is the product you have chosen to create original within the marketplace or is it placed within a tradition of such products?
All of the notes that you produce regarding the context of your products will provide essential reference material when you come to writing up your critical evaluation.
When you have done this you need to move onto:
• Storyboard /animatic for film
• Drafting mock-ups of the poster, magazine page
• Take / find sample photos (remember always original images)
• Draft the wording for the poster and review
Short film, poster and double page review spread
When researching similar products to the ones you’ll be producing:
• Short films, all genres and your genre
• Posters (advertising films)
• Film magazines review pages
• Film magazine double page spreads
You will need to:
a) conduct a textual analysis of the products’ images and text and layout
then:
b) consider the contexts of consumption for each product, in other words the ways in which audiences consume the products (when, where and who with?).
To help you do this you should type up bullet point notes on the following questions:
1. How many possible consumption contexts do your researched products (and by extension your own products) have?
2. What does this mean in terms of the potential target consumer?
3. Are there specific conventions that you have identified in your researched products?
4. How will you use these conventions within the production of your own product?
5. Is the product you have chosen to create original within the marketplace or is it placed within a tradition of such products?
All of the notes that you produce regarding the context of your products will provide essential reference material when you come to writing up your critical evaluation.
When you have done this you need to move onto:
• Storyboard /animatic for film
• Drafting mock-ups of the poster, magazine page
• Take / find sample photos (remember always original images)
• Draft the wording for the poster and review
Animatic
1. draw storyboard frames- nice and bold, black pen if possible
2. take individual photos of each frame
3. upload the photos to the computer
4. import the photos into the edit programme
5. drop each image onto the timeline and cut to the required length
6. put music or other sound on the audio timeline
7. add titles or effects/transitions as required
8. export to quicktime and upload to youtube or vimeo
9. embed the video onto the blog or save it to a Cd
2. take individual photos of each frame
3. upload the photos to the computer
4. import the photos into the edit programme
5. drop each image onto the timeline and cut to the required length
6. put music or other sound on the audio timeline
7. add titles or effects/transitions as required
8. export to quicktime and upload to youtube or vimeo
9. embed the video onto the blog or save it to a Cd
A2 Shorts
The OCR brief asks you to produce:
SHORT FILM and:
• Poster
• Film magazine review page
Existing media starting points
The UK Film council’s Digital Shorts project (www.ukfilmcouncil.org.uk/shortfilms)
Shane Meadows’ collection of short films (www.channel4.com/film/makingmovies/microsites/S/shaneworld_main.jsp)
Productions tips from OCR
Short films are often a ‘laboratory for experimentation and innovation’ (Quy 2008:39) rather than just a shorter version of conventional film making
This means you should not be afraid to take risks with your concept and the filming techniques that you use
Short films are now a booming medium because of digital technology which means you can find audience through web streaming (you-tube etc)
Go to www.depict.org to see a project challenging the public to create super shorts
Short films go very well with converging technologies see the arts council funded www.onedotzero.com for examples of computer generated short films
Here is Simon Quy (a teacher trainer specialised in media) summary of the importance of the medium
If the feature film has parallels with the novel, then the short film might be considered as the literary equivalent of the poem or short story. The best short films are crystalline creations of precise, prismatic intensity, offering the careful ‘refinement’ of the director’s idea, the distilled essences of his/her imagination
SHORT FILM and:
• Poster
• Film magazine review page
Existing media starting points
The UK Film council’s Digital Shorts project (www.ukfilmcouncil.org.uk/shortfilms)
Shane Meadows’ collection of short films (www.channel4.com/film/makingmovies/microsites/S/shaneworld_main.jsp)
Productions tips from OCR
Short films are often a ‘laboratory for experimentation and innovation’ (Quy 2008:39) rather than just a shorter version of conventional film making
This means you should not be afraid to take risks with your concept and the filming techniques that you use
Short films are now a booming medium because of digital technology which means you can find audience through web streaming (you-tube etc)
Go to www.depict.org to see a project challenging the public to create super shorts
Short films go very well with converging technologies see the arts council funded www.onedotzero.com for examples of computer generated short films
Here is Simon Quy (a teacher trainer specialised in media) summary of the importance of the medium
If the feature film has parallels with the novel, then the short film might be considered as the literary equivalent of the poem or short story. The best short films are crystalline creations of precise, prismatic intensity, offering the careful ‘refinement’ of the director’s idea, the distilled essences of his/her imagination
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