Remember when your heart sank just a little when you realized the Pink Panther movie wasn’t a cartoon? (Art of the Title) Remember when you began to longing for more when you realized it was just an opening credit you had watched? Not only can garner public attention, an excellent title also play the role as a prelude to the film, even be considered to be miniature films in themselves. It is especially became elevated to an art form after the birth of sound film.
Film titles can be traced back to the silent film era. As Sarah Boxer outlines, “the credit sequences were display on title cards containing text”. In the early stage of title sequence, people using a piece of black background overlaid with hand-drawn white lettering which gave the information about the production team and cast. It is worth mentioning that the decorations of the letters, which appeared in the title sequences accorded with the style of different films. For instance, large, distorted block letters indicate horror, whereas a smooth, elegant font represent romance. Another purpose of the credits at that time was to highlight the celebrated persons who participated in the film. The opening credit sequence was more like a label rather than an introduction for the movie.
As the movie industry evolved, title sequences had no longer stick to a simple form. In the 1950s, title began to evolve into more complex and take on the responsibility of establishing the mood and visual character of the film. During the same period, Saul Bass, the movie industry’s leading film title innovator created several evocative opening credit sequences for directors such as Alfred Hitchcock, Martin Scorsese, Stanley Kubrick, and Otto Preminger (Krasner, 2008). He viewed the part of the title sequence as a logical extension of the film and as a chance to describe the story. In the beginning, Bass started from working as a designer that designed print for movie advertisements and poster in Hollywood. In 1954, he created his first title sequence for the film Carmen Jones (1954) that indicated his success in film title design. However, his subsequent animated opening for Otto Preminger’s The Man With the Golden Arm became a groundbreaking work in the field. Director Martin Scorsese spoke highly of him: Bass fashioned title sequences into an art, creating in some cases, like Vertigo, a mini-film within a film.
While many other films used simple, static text for their credits, Bass was good at using appropriate typography in different way of film. For instance, Bass used a typeface that looked like some kind of graffiti to present the credits in West Side Story (1961), and in The Age of Innocence (1993), as epistolary script. In Around the World in 80 Days Bass treated the credits as fireworks, the dazzling characters scattered on the screen and illuminate the scene. Sometimes Bass used non-traditional techniques to get the effect he wanted. In the opening to Cape Fear (1991), Saul and Elaine Bass maked a sign “CAPE FEAR” bigger and soaked it in a box filled with water. For making it more reflective, they put ink in the water and created ripples with a hair dryer. And then the cast became legible slowly. Bass’ a series of work lead title sequences into a new era where it became more complete and complex narratives that are able to stand on their own. Bass’ creative works promoted this field as a revolution, and affected many title sequences designer in the future.
Today, with technological improvements (especially the digital technology), special effects became more wonderful. Motion graphics studios continue to produce award-winning titles for feature films. Imaginary Forces was one of the most famous opening credit companies.
In The Number 23(2007), Imaginary Forces set the tone and context of the film, namely, the hidden power and prevalence of the number 23 by the main titles they created for this film. Because blood is an important element in the film as the novel read by Jim Carrey's character is a chilling murder mystery, the sequence uses erratic typewriter movements, seeping blood and ink blotches to suggest a haunting and dark narrative. This main title garnered audience’s attention successfully when the lights went down, and were honored with a Design Distinction in the Graphic Design Category in I.D. Magazine’s 54th Annual Design Review (Imaginary Forces).
While more and more filmmakers began to realize the value of a outstanding title, some controversial issues started to emerge. The most common problem is some opening sequences often interfered with the story when they were used in an inappropriate way. Barman Begins (2005) and The Mummy Return (2001) are two such examples that have eliminated the opening sequence in favor of starting the action immediately and continuing it without any interruptions(Inceer, M, 2007).
Even so, title sequences have played a increasingly important role in the film industry. With further developments in technology and pace of evolution in the film industry, different trends will keep shaping the future of film title design.
Keywords:
Motion graphics, Film, Title sequence, Opening credits, Typography.
Referencing:
Krasner, J. S. (2008). Motion graphic design: applied history and aesthetics. Oxford, Focal.
Imaginary Forces, 1996-2003. 7 Dec. 2006. available from http://imaginaryforces.com/if.html
Inceer, M. (2007). An Analysis of the Opening Credit Sequence in Film.
Art of the Title, available from http://www.artofthetitle.com/
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