History of opening titles and credit

 Friday 4th March 2022

History of title sequences

The first title sequence appeared in 1897 by Thomas Edison. Edison decided that to stop anyone copying his work he would use credits at the start of his film.  From then on titles were introduced in many films as a way of copyright and then became a way or branding and promoting the actors in the film.  Another famous opening title sequence that influenced others was the 1932 film of 'A Farewell to Arms'. His film 'A Farewell To Arms" is about a love affair between a Lieutenant and a nurse in World War 1.  The film focuses on masculinity and femininity whilst also showing the passion and love between a couple. At this time actors and actresses were just becoming a very famous career choice where globally their names would be known. So, using titles would also bring attention to their films if somebody famous's name was in the title. Also around this time jobs such as director's and producers were also getting quite high paid jobs so this also meant that they could get the proper recognition of their work. 

Examples of Titles in recent films and tv programs

No time to die

I really like the No Time to Die opening title as the titles represent what is going to happen in the sequence. As the genre of the film is action and advective I thought the font that they used was good as it isn't too big and bold. I also really liked how the titles went on and off the screen in time with the music. As our opening title sequence features a song with a repetitive beat I think that it would be cool is ours also come on and off in time with the music. I also would like to use a font like theirs but smaller as it doesn't block the action in the sequence. All of the James Bond opening title sequences link to what the film is going to be about. It has been used since the first one to have the song name of the title of the film as this is a good way of marketing. The no time to die song by Billie Eilish was released months before the film came out which meant that the profits were higher before the film even was released.

Catch me if you can

The way that the titles mould into the drawings is very effective. I really like how the sequence only contains blue and black colours as it makes it more rememberable. I don't think I would use the font that they used in our opening title sequence as its very big and obvious for the audience. I however liked the speed that the titles come up which I would consider using for our sequence. The pictures in the opening title sequence also represented what was going to happen in the rest of the film. Catch me if you can it's about a boy who wants to be a con artist and changes his identity and jobs to earn money and to escape the police. For instance, he becomes a pilot, then a doctor and also an FBI inspector. 

Euphoria

I think that the Euphoria titles are the closest to the ones that I would choose for our sequence. I think that the thin font and small size if perfect as it isn't too visible. I liked how in this title sequence the attention was on the names of the cast and the crew as it made the audience focus on it. This also worked with the background as it stayed the same meaning and was simplistic so that the audience wasn't drawn to it. For our sequence we want the opposite. We want the audience to mainly focus on the action rather than the titles. I think that we will probably achieve this through using thin white text and position it on the sides of the frame.

Production company logo's

All of the 'Big 5' conglomerate companies have changed their logos since they first were invented. This is mainly because the companies have been bought by other companies meaning that their logos get combined or updated. When Disney bought Pixar their logo was updated to be Disney-Pixar however it still included the original lamp shade. Warner Brothers changed quite a lot when A T&T bought it however it now seems to be staying the same. 

- The IndependentHere's how the major movie studios' logos have changed over time | The Independent | The Independent