Analysis of Melissa's 'Art of The Title Sequence'...

Our group have been discussing the importance of the opening titles themselves; one must create an opening titles sequence that is engaging, intruiging the audience yet still giving out little information, luring the viewer in. With this in mind, member of our group Melissa Kerrison has been analysing titles sequences, in particular the political thriller Vantage Point, relevant given that our opening is to follow a similar sub-genre of thriller. Here is what she studied:-

 *Following paragraph is work of Melissa Kerrison http://melissakerrison.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/the-art-of-title-sequences.html*



Poduction Company Logo



''I've been researching the art of title sequences. One of the title sequences I looked at is called 'Vantage Point.'  I chose this as it's a political thriller and I noticed that the first credit's transition lasted 5 seconds and when it was completely on screen, it stayed for around 4 seconds. The second one was a faster transition but stayed for the same amount of time as the last one- 4 seconds. The font is white and silver over a black background, making the credits stand out. A transparent red circle moves across the second title, looking as if it's a laser from a gun. The font for the first picture is big and bold making it clear to the viewer, whereas the second font has two different fonts- 'columbia pictures' in block capitals, and 'presents' in a smaller font, making the name of the company seem more important. The credits are spread out in the opening, and come up seperately. The name of the film is completely different to the other credits, below you can see the transition is made up of different lines and blocks of black shapes, and they all come together to form 'vantage point' the font colour is black and it has a yellow/gold background. The transition takes about 8 seconds and once it's completely shown, it's on screen for about 3/4 seconds.''

 

Intense, Bold Titles

 



 

You have payed to see 'Vantage Point'. Hint: the title of your film is kinda important



 

''Looking at this has helped me understand that the credits actually take up quite alot of time, and realise the lack of time we have to include our opening on top of the credits. It's also given me an insight into how long the credits are usually displayed for and the time the transitions take etc.''

What Can I Learn From This? :-

-Length of Titles/Transitions: Two minutes is a relatively short ime and the length the titles were up on the screen for (eg. four seconds) emphasised the importance of our groups new-found mantra: 'Less definitely is more...' The opening doesn't need to be plot heavy, it simply needs to entice the audience. Thats it, really.

- Gimmicks: The circle of red (which is presumably a laser on the top of a gun) reinforces to the audience that they have payed to watch a thriller. Also, it links into the title of the film as well as perhaps foreshadowing an event that is to happen later in the film. Clever stuff.

-The difference between colour/font of the actors/directors names as opposed to that of the films title: The title of your film is pretty important; it's significance in this case is shown through the titles centralised position, the length of time on screen as well as it's font and bold colours. 

Finally, Meilissa found a piece on the title designer's inspiration for the opening. It's interesting to find out the thought process for it. Flashing up names can seem tedious, but it's the various ideas he has (eg the red motif) that make it such a brilliant opening sequence:-

Lets hope our group can emulate his success by making a thrilling opening to our film...