Title Sequence Clip Review

 

I had never realized the great importance and art behind the construction of the title sequences in films. Something so seamless, and usually taken for granted, has a wide scope of creativity and an industry dedicated to the craft. It shocked me, I’m assuming as it would for most, the complexity when looking behind the scenes of these projects. It starts off with the suspenseful movies like Scream and Jaws that lure the audience in with the calm settings that gradually becomes more frantic; The bold and daring font that almost jumps out at you before the movies starts. Most importantly setting the mood for the rest of the movie with an antagonist that creeps upon the normal. As I feel that horror movies are going to have an obvious introduction, other movies like Apocalypse and Raging Bull presents title sequences that make the audience think more about what the movie might potentially be about and it’s up to the individual’s interpretation. They do this with subtle details in a broad or somewhat general setting. On the other hand, there are title sequences like Goldfinger and train spotting where they start off with immediate action and introduction of the character. The film makers create a fast pace, high-action, attention seeker beginning to the films to grab the audience’s attention and keep them on the edge of their seat. This also demonstrates that the rest of the film is bound to have action spread throughout the movie revolving around the specific character. This approach is interesting because it gives the character in the film a further sense of development and the audience seems to know them better. All these title sequences in their uniqueness, give a first impression of what the movies are going to be like.  

The production, development and companies of the title sequences are also interesting in their own aspect. Title sequences are a broad topic that is not limited to just films. Some other things include; “DVD/video packaging, websites, magazines and all promotion and branding graphics” (Merril, 2004). They all present the same effect of gaining the interest of the audience to hopefully get them interested in watching their movie, reading their article, etc. However, there are in some cases where the film doesn’t fulfil the promise of the title sequence. “An example of a less successful opening title sequence, Giles cites Two Hands (Gregor Jordan, 1999), where the sequence features 'huge fireballs and explosions which are out of proportion to the film itself” (Merril, 2004). The article discusses the importance of the title sequences in films, but more importantly, the film will satisfy and match the quality of the title sequence.  

Personally, after reading the article and watching all of the movie clips, my decision towards doing the film project is slightly skewed in a sense that it seems difficult. Like I mentioned before, the complexity of the title sequences is a lot more thorough than I ever expected. Previous to this I was expecting an easy movie project; however, I’m starting to realize the difficulty in recreating a piece like the ones that I reviewed.