Title sequence

Title sequences

A title sequence is the method by which cinematic films or television programs present their title, key production and cast members, or both, utilizing conceptual visuals and sound.

The film that we make will need a title sequence in order to tell the audience the title and key cast and production members. In order to make a title sequence we will need some ideas and inspiration from existing title sequences.

James Bond:Casino Royale

http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/casino-royale/

In this title sequence you see a black and white silhouette of a man in a suit (Bond) That is fighting enemies with guns and fists. These enemies are red and yellow and black silhouettes and when they are defeated they dissolve into the suits of playing cards. Throughout the title sequence, in the background we see lots of graphics of the suits of the cards, the pictures on the cards eg. a queen, on a green and sometimes red patterned background. These colours would be associated with casinos, which would explain the name Casino Royale. Also in the sequence we see roulette wheels which again stresses the link to casinos and The Black silhouette loading a gun with ‘Spades’.

From this sequence it is obvious that the film is an action/espionage film. The fighting between the cgi characters shows that. It could also be said that all the silhouettes are ‘teaming’ up on the one Black silhouette (Bond) which could suggest that he is a secret agent or dangerous man that need to be stopped, but cannot be. The presence of ‘suits’ of card and roulette wheels as well as the name of the film shows that there is going to be gambling and casinos involved.

The music (rock) along with the footage get the audience ready for lots of hard hitting action. It helps to set a more serious mood among the audience, which helps add to the emphasis of the story of the film. This film is slightly similar to ours and I like the full title sequence and would like to do something similar with the titles coming on top of CGI’d silhouettes fighting, however it is unlikely we will have the technology to be able to do so. 

21 Jump Street

http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/21-jump-street/

I personally think that this is a very good title sequence. This sets the mood for the the film it gives a glimpse as to what the film is about and it sets the pace of the film.

Firstly this sequence has a lot of images flashing on and of. This along with the the music that fast paced and catchy give the title sequence a fast pace. This to me suggests that we are going to see a film that has lots of fast paced action. The footage and music was edited together rhythmically which is somthing i would like to do in our title sequence as it helps to set the pace.

The footage is shown is very helpful, in a way that it tells the audience what to expect. The title sequence includes lots of footage of money in piles and being counted and also drugs and them being used. This along with the footage of guns being loaded made me think that somehow in the film gangs are going to be involved. This was backed up by the footage of offices and typewriters in offices, guns being fired at targets and police in cars. These things made me think of police and if you think of police you think of criminals and gangs. This helped me realise that the film would be an action crime film based on police and gangs like many other films of this kind.

The american flag that is shown allows you to know that the film is based in america. The sequence is very helpful in telling you what is going to happen. Throughout we see lots of cars, driving fast and reckless which shows that there will be car chases. It also show lots of footage of explosions and weapons being used, like the axe on the tree and guns being fired. This shows the audience that there is going to be explosions and weapons used in the film which in turn show the audience the film is going to be full of action like shootouts and also and action film.

I really enjoyed the sequence and would like to use some aspects of it when making ours. The aspects i especially liked was how the footage was fast paced and the music was fast paced which helped to set a mood in the audience for the film. I also liked the fact that that footage that was shown was relevant to the film and helped to give the audience a glimpse into what is going to happen in the film. To do this for our film we would need to take lots of short shots of weapons and money and put them together with some fast paced music. As our film is a fast paced action film about a debt collector for a loan shark.