Title sequences

There are 5 different ways to which you can structure your title sequence. We looked at all of these to see which one would work for our Thriller.

Film begins right away and titles are positioned on top of action

 

http://www.artofthetitle.com/2011/10/31/the-shining/

 

I like this idea of making the action start straight off because right from the off the audience know they are in for a ride. It creates suspense immediately, and the audience establish what kind of film they are going to see very early on.

 

Discreet title sequences -  the titles are seperate from the rest of the film - usually a edited as a montage.

 

http://www.artofthetitle.com/2008/03/26/se7en/

 

This is one of the best opening titles I have ever seen because of the detail in every shot. There is an inpecable amount of precision. Although it is not telling the story as such it is an interesting and suspenseful start as people don't quite know what to expect, and because of the closeness of all of the shots and the texts being flickering on and off it creates an eery and jumpy edge.

 

Old school - titles over a black screen then the film starts. (this may make the soundtrack have more importance)

 

http://www.artofthetitle.com/2008/12/05/the-usual-suspects/

 

It doesn't give anything away about the film. Although it is simple, it is effective because firstly you really read who is in it, and you hear the soundtrack. But also because its only the titles on a black screen it makes the audience anticipate and want the action to start in the film.

 

Stylised editing - film starts but during the title sequence the titles are intertwined to the action and this really emphasises how good the editing is.

 

http://www.artofthetitle.com/2008/06/10/stranger-than-fiction/

 

I really like this way of starting a film. I think it is clever as you do focus on the editing and how well down it is. However I thought because our thriller is done in a submersible it would be very tricky for us to do this successfully. Also I think there is something quite lighthearted about it because it makes the titles part of the action therefore almost says to the audience 'this is an edited film', instead of this is a real story be transfixed.

 

Animated

 

http://www.artofthetitle.com/2008/01/14/casino-royale/

 

I find that these titles really work for casino royale as it is almost like saying that James Bond is playing a game as its making it almost like a cartoon book. However because our thriller is about submersibles we wanted to create suspense straight from the off, whereas I don't think animated titles have that impact.