• Film opening sequences are argued to be the most

important part of a film, as it sets the exposition of a film

(i.e. give the back story of the film).

• Many of the various title sequences produced are known

as ‘mainstream’ as they stick to a similar structure and

style of sequence.

• There are numerous well- known and recognised film title

designers in this industry. The most famous of these is

Saul Bass.

Saul Bass

• Saul was born 8th May 1920 in

New York City, USA.

• He was a graphic designer and

filmmaker and during his 40 year

career, he worked alongside

Hollywood blockbusters, and

world-famous directors such as

Alfred Hitchcock.

• In particular, Bass had designed

the overall look of the opening

sequence for the Hitchcock’s

probably most famous film

‘Psycho’.

• In addition, Saul Bass has created

now famous American logos, such

as the original AT&T ‘bell’ logo.

• Overall, for any genre a modern

opening sequence that introduces

the mood/theme of a film is said to

be a legacy of Bass’s work.

Saul Bass was born in 1920, and died

April 25th 1996 in Los Angeles.

More

Images

• Most mainstream opening film title timelines stick to the

same ‘style’/ order within the sequence, as mentioned

before.

• This is the usual order of titles:1. Name of the Studio 7. Music

2. Production Company 8. Production designer

3. Producers/ Directors 9. Film Editors

4. Starring… 10. Director of Photography

5. Film Title 11. Producer

6. Casting Director 12. Director

13. Based on…true story/events, the novel by etc.

KES, produced by the independent film company

‘Woodfall Film Productions’ follow the life of a 15 year old

working class boy form Yorkshire and how he is bullied at

school, and ignored and abused at home by his

indifferent mother and older brother. The story then

follows the actions of the young boy and how he finds a

kestrel falcon that he can train and calls ‘KES’.

This is ‘KES’’s opening titles timeline:

0:00 Studio and Production Logos.

2:39 Production Companies’ title.

2:50 Title of Film.

3:00 Starring…

3:22 Based on the book…

4:17 Edited and Director of Photography.

4:22 Art Director and Music Director.

4:29 Production Supervisor, Assistant Director, Director

of sound, Continuity etc.

4:42 Produced and Directed by…

From the usual order

of titles on the

previous slide, we can

see the Social

Realism Film ‘KES’

(1969) follows this

mainstream trend in

terms of the order of

the titles. ‘KES’ had a

£157,000 budget.

The use of low-key lighting in the first shot (picture

shown opposite) connotes the dark setting of the film

i.e. the early morning and also connotes the

naturalistic atmosphere within the bedroom.

This is more or less the only shot that is used In the

first two minutes of the film which consequently makes

this opening scene more poignant and connotes the

persistence of the older brother as he urges his

younger brother to wake up and get ready.

Furthermore, the use of diegetic sound when the

alarm clock rings, accompanied by the movement of

the older brother as he turns the alarm clock off

connotes the desirable actions of man as we would

probably rather have a lie-in as oppose to going to

work(!) and consequently emphasises the organic

nature of the film.

Moreover, the use of dialogue connotes the

relationship between the two brothers and as they

share the bed, this may indicate a poor background

and the stereotypical financial position of working

class people. Furthermore this film due to the social

realism genre, creates a high level of verisimilitude as

the film appears to be showing real life.

A screenshot from ‘YouTube’

depicting the first few

second of the opening clip

(excluding the titles)

This opening sequence is

effective as it cleverly depicts

and captures the lives of the

family in the film and makes it

relevant and relatable to a

wider target audience, due to

the lack of non-diegetic sound

and natural location shooting

(some of the conventions of

social realism).

‘Psycho’, written and directed by the world famous Alfred

Hitchcock by the independent institution ‘Shamley Productions’

is about an office worker (Marion Crane) is tired of how she has

lived her life. After being asked to bank £40000 by her employer,

Marion sees this as a chance to start a new life. Tired, stressed

and caught in a fierce weather storm, Marion enters ‘The Bates

Hotel’, which is managed by a quiet young man that is

dominated by his mother…This is ‘Psycho’’s Timeline:

0:10 Director

0:14 Name of Film

0:22 Starring…

0:32 Co- starring

0:57 Screenplay/ based on…

1:06 Director of Photography, art direction, set decorator,

unit manager, titles designer.

1:16 editing, costume, make-up, hair stylist, special FX,

sound recordings

1:19 copyright

1:31 Assistant director, picture consultant

1:37 Music

1:43 Director

The film ‘Psycho’ begins with an establishing shot of the

city which immediately sets the scene for both the film and

the audience which consequently connotes the equilibrium

and the initial urban environment that the film is set.

Furthermore, there is the use of pan and zoom, which then

dissolve into each other between each zoomed in shot.

This may connote and foreshadow the disorientation,

confusion and sheer panic seen on Marion's face as she is

in grave peril in the famous shower scene. Then, the

camera zooms in on a specific apartment in a building with

the text on screen ‘TWO FORTY-THREE pm’. This

emphasises the showing of a significant character(s) and

how, for the moment, live an ordinary lifestyle. Next, the

shot then fades into the actual room of Marion and her

husband which consequently connotes the regime of the

characters to be displayed completely. This overall

connotes the organic relationship between the two

characters which is then re-iterated by Marion’s provocative

clothing. Moreover, the use of dialogue connotes their close

relationship and the use of ambient sound throughout

connotes to the undertone of the malicious intent of the

The picture above is a

screenshot from

‘YouTube’ of the

establishing shot in the

film.

This film’s opening

sequence is effective as

the frequent use of

camera movement

reflects the ominous

nature of the film and

also is relevant to the

genre.

FORM RESEARCH (Secondary)

We also want our

film to have an

impact on the

audience and also

memorable.

We may follow suit with

this idea and have our

titles displayed in a

relevant and

appropriate way.

We may

want to

keep

editing to a

minimal for

our media

production

(as this is

one of the

genre

convention

s).

We may want

to include

certain

ideologies,

such as the

importance of

community,

within our

narrative in

order to

convey our

intentions

with our

product and

emphasise

associations

with the

‘working

class’

‘Artofthetitlesequence’: ‘This

is England’ (1986)

We possibly intend to use close ups in

our production in order to convey our

narrative fully, especially of the face,

as this will show the extent of living at

places like a council estate. In

addition, it will create a human

experience behind the stereotypes so

the use of close ups connotes the real

pressures faced by young actors.

We initially want to have our actors

emotionally engrossed in their roles

and therefore their face(s) will be a

significant part of our characters’

appearance.‘Artofthetitlesequence:

‘Seconds’

We want our media

production to convey certain

ideologies and stereotypes

that allow our secondary

audience to actively think

about how true our

representations are. We also

want our target audience to

be entertained.

We would preferably want to use a variety of

camera shots to keep the audience

entertained. In addition, we may want to use

more hand-held camera shots in order to

conform to our genre conventions.

We would

like our

location

shots to be

quite

naturalistic.

‘Creativebloq’: ‘Batman’ Again, like what was said before, our media product must

be memorable and make a particular impact on the

audience. This impact may be hegemonic on the younger

audience and they may be subconsciously controlled with

their behaviour and the negative representations in the

film. However, the older sophisticated audience would

most likely question our representations.Our title

sequence

and overall

branding of

the film

should reflect

a relevant

representatio

n to the target

audience of a

young

person’s

experience,

especially for

our target

audience.

Like on the

previous

slide, we

want to

include

different

paces of

camera

movement in

order to

connote to

different

aspects of

our narrative,

like for

example the

tension

created

during crime

related

scenes

contrasted

with the

boredom of

everyday life.

‘Creativebloq’:

‘Se7en’

In order to make our

media product

successful as a

product, and for our

target audience’s

needs too, we

require every detail

to be thought through

thoroughly.

The details

explained

in the

opposite

box include

the use of

props (that

are

relevant to

our genre,

i.e. small

weapons,

police

uniforms

as this will

probably

be a

significant

aspect of

our social

Kyle Cooper, like

Saul Bass is a

famous opening title

sequence director

and producer.

Due to the

nature of the

genre, as a

group we

realise that

genres such

as social

realism

require

precision and

great attention

to detail to

create a high

level of

verisimilitude.