A title sequence is the method by which films/television

programs present their title, production and cast

members, using visual images and sounds. It usually

follows but should not be confused with the opening

credits.

The function of a title sequence is to give an indication to

the audience of what the film will be about. It uses text

and picture to reveal the genre.

1. The Pink Panther

2. Catch me if you can

3. Singing in the Rain

A film that was shown in the ‘Brief History of the Art of the Title Sequence’ I am going to

use is ‘The Pink Panther’. This film uses typography very intelligently as the Pink Panther,

during the opening tiles, is always doing something with the text. It has been known that

opening titles have become a stigma in the movie industry as the audience tends to lose

interest and not focus on the opening titles. However, when the pink panther, for

example, is pulling letters out of a basket to spell ‘Blake Edwards’, he deliberately

misspells the directors name, this makes the audience think about what he has spelt thus

getting the audiences’ attention to work out what the name should be before the pink

panther comes back to change it. They have kept the pink panther involved with the text

so that they keep the audiences attention on the opening titles, this is because the text is

important as the people who have created the movie deserve some appreciation.

The visual elements create a crime genre as there is always a detective following the

pink panther with his magnifying glass looking for clues. The sound elements create that

enigma as it is a well-known piece of music that fits perfectly for a crime genre which

keeps the audience intrigued.

The use of Typography, Visual Imagery and Sound in the

Pink Panther opening titles clarifies the genre to the

audience which is crime-comedy. The use of colour is

clearly shown to be a comedy, whilst the sound used is

very well known for its crime.

The opening title of ‘Catch me if you can’ shown in the ‘brief history

of the art of the title sequence’ uses stickmen, with no representation

of their faces (they are just fully black), whom emphasise the real

mystery behind the film which can lead to the viewers interpretation

that it is an action film. During the opening sequence there is a

police chase which could link the film to the genre of crime. The

colours used in the opening title were blue, red, yellow etc. They are

all colours which associate the genre to comedy. The mood created

by the music is a sense of enigma which entices the audience to

watch the film as it similar to the pink panther music, which is very

well-known.

During the opening title of ‘Catch me if you can’ the visual imagery came from the stickmen’s hidden identity as it doesn’t show you their faces so as an audience you are already biting at the nail as you want them to be revealed. This therefore meant you could not make assumptions of what they might be like during the film as you have no idea of who they actually are. Also as the stickmen change uniforms as they enter a new setting it could also suggest that they are changing their personality during the film. The stickmen give the impression that the genre of the film is action. The text used is to let the audience know who is in the film. When the stickman and woman were in the lift the text became the cable that was lifting the lift. The same can be said for when the text is part of the bookcase. Using text in this way makes sure that the audience will read it as it is part of the image being presented.

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Batman

In opening title of ‘Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of

Fleet Street’ the visual element of the rain initially makes

the film dark. When we begin to see blood in the rain we

then feel that there will be murders/death during the film.

As the opening title progresses we see a drop of blood

turn into a river of blood meaning there has been a lot of

blood shed and how the blood shed has occurred within

a short space of time. It has escalated quickly! The

music matches what I said about the visual elements, it

starts off very slow but then progressively gets quicker

(from something small to something big) and throughout

it uses high pitched sounds as if we were watching a

horror movie.

In the opening title of ‘Batman’ the visual element we see as an

audience is that it is very dark and gloomy, as the setting is in a

cave, which represents the genre of a horror. The colours are black

and dark blue which is expected from that particular setting. The font

is yellow so it lightens up the setting so it leads the audiences

interpretation from the genre being horror to the genre being action.

However, the music isn’t eerie and does not give us the same

feeling as watching a horror. The music used is very presentable as

it uses a violin and drum bass to build the enigma which represents

the genre of action. These instruments wouldn’t be used in a horror

as they are too bold.

This industry is very specific and if you do a good job then you tend to be remembered by directors and producers. What I enjoyed most was coming up with the whole idea. I did not have to pitch to Tim but I turned this project into an internal pitch at th1ng. And so, a few days later, I had a room full of some truly outstanding creative work. I took it all to Tim and he just spread the pieces all over the floor and spent around a day or two looking through them. And then he just said: I really like this narrative piece (mine) and those coloured frames (Shay Hamias, director).

Animating blood and its movement became the most crucial and challenging element of the sequence. We had to build special platforms within which we imitated blood movement and filmed it. And we had to give it this comical feel, which worked really well. That was a dream project. We would love to work on something similar.

The Batman 1989 environment was not that homogenized. In fact, there

weren’t many people on the same platform and we were all very individual.

I did not know Tim before so I had to pitch for the project. We just had to

make sure what we were about. I sat with him for a few minutes, and then

just walked around the set of Gotham city. And that was it, really. I clearly

remember I sat back in the car and all of a sudden, I knew it. I knew it had

to be something about the classic Batman comic logo. I thought, ‘What if we

think of that in a 360º move? How about if it’s in landscape? How about I

make it something you can move around, so you don’t quite know what it

is?’ So that was the idea and then I just invented the world around it.

Nobody did anything like it before so that’s why it probably retained its

timeless feel.

Richard Morrison believed that ‘Sweeney Todd: Demon

Barber of Fleet Street’ was successful as the animating

of the blood and its movement became the most crucial

and challenging element of the sequence as it was a

new style to opening a film. We had to build special

platforms within which we imitated blood movement and

filmed it. Having something challenging, like animating

blood, gave Richard Morrison that extra push to make it

as best as possible. It was a challenge which he endured

and made successful.

Richard Morrison believed that “Batman” was successful

as nobody had done anything like it before so said that

was what gave it its timeless feel. As his ideas hit him in

the back of a car, sort of a light bulb moment, it made

him sure that if he did create them ideas the film would

be successful.