Title Sequence Clips Review

 

Title Sequence Clips

     Every person who enjoys watching a good movie during a Sunday night appreciates a good opening, as it essentially begins to flood the viewer's mind with anticipation, suspense, curiosity, and much more for what they're about to watch, and this feeling is just enough to hook the interest of the viewers, and maybe even convince them to watching more movies (if any) from the same series. Evidently enough, one can't talk about movie openings without giving examples, so here are five good examples

    To begin with, one of the best examples would be James Bond, from a series of classics that any loyal movie lover would love, the iconic opening sequence of this movie starts with what appears to be the pointer of a gun aiming at James Bond, then he turns around and shoots in the camera's direction, with blood leaking from above, this not only is a really good and original opening, but it also both lets the viewer expect with anticipation lots of action, good scenes, and tons of fun, and also lets the viewer know that this is one of those happy ending movies, so much for one example. Into a more simplistic example, however, there is What About Bob? Which starts more smoothly and calmly with a fish in a fish tank, until the title of the movie is revealed, and so, it is also revealed that the fish is the protagonist's pet, this opening scene is much more complicated to decipher and use ton get a good idea of what the movie could be about, but with enough attention, you can notice that it hints that the protagonist has some issues, like being over-hygienic, really anxious, anything of the sort, given the chance that the viewer understands this, the movie gives a feel that it is going to touch into more serious subjects revolving personal problems and overcoming oneself.

    To add onto, another good example of a movie opening would be Pulp Fiction, which kicks on with a rather simple title scene, but the opening scene blows the viewers away, beginning with a couple, a rude man and his sweet girl friend both having breakfast at a restaurant, the opening distracts you and makes you think that nothing bad would happen, by using things such as the sweet girlfriend being very kind, and then throws it all off the window by revealing that they're actually criminals and they are about to rob the very restaurant they're having breakfast on, it's amazing because this opening scene not only screws with your expectations, but also opens room in your mind for new expectations for what's to come, it's incredible. Yet again another example is Dazed and Confused, the title screen makes you think it's probably something relating to emotions, but as the opening scene kicks in and slowly hints the movie, you begin to realize that it isn't only the last day of school for the students in the movie, but that they're also very careless, to the point that some of them are even doing drugs, which gives a whole new meaning to the title screen, and new expectations.

    To end with, a final good example would be Saturday Night Fever, which starts with a spicy neon red title scene, and over the top happy music hitting in the background, all while the so careless and joyful protagonist begins to appear on screen, well dressed up, very confident, and outstanding in a rather mediocre looking area of a city, which already points out that this movie is about a person (fun fact, name is actually given away during the opening, but it is very subtle) who thinks of himself much higher than he actually really is, and leaves expectations about the movie being revolved around this subject, and further proves this by showing that he actually works in a job where he looks like he doesn't belong to.

    On the other side, there are good examples from other authors, one being from Gale Academy, in the First Frames Titles in The Dig document (John M. Gibson), who gives numerous examples of good title openings and the scenes too. An example being, "...The Well (Samantha Lang, 1997). Battaglia says that his company Box Communications tries to get involved as early as possible on the film." Which essentially means, getting straight to the point on the opening, It is a risky move, however, to give away exactly what the movie is about right away, but when done right, it can leave a really good mark (One good example could be Finding Nemo). And because it doesn't hurt, one final example would be Idiot where the titles were hand drawn with grungy animations scanned in, with typography added in. Nothing out of the ordinary, but it is still an original title screen, which is always appreciated by the viewers.

    To finalize, on a more personal side, personally I love the idea of making a movie opening scene & title scene, however, because I am still unsure on which side do I find more comfortable, I am planning on taking my time and researching more, before making a decision and choosing a side, as I need to learn what goes into each side between a movie or a magazine, and what do I need to know in order to make it happen. That being said, it is still a remarkable experience to work with these movie title scenes and opening, as they were all really good and enjoyable as proven above.