Before all of the fancy styled titles that appear at the beginning of motion pictures nowadays, film titles used to be just a motionless piece of artwork originally called Title Art. Here is a good example of a simplistic film title from The wizard Of Oz.
At the beginning of the 1930's, title art began to develop from just a company logo, main characters with the actors names and consisted of similar art work to all other films. early 30's saw higher quality designs and main title designers were hired and so main titles designing became more of an art than just something that is put at the beginning of a motion picture to introduce the film.
What is Typography?
This is the art and technique of arranging type in a style that the film is based upon. For example, if you were to create a western, the text would be in a traditional or similar text style for a western. Same for a Thriller film. The title text will be in the style of the film, dark and mysterious.
At the beginning of the 1930's, title art began to develop from just a company logo, main characters with the actors names and consisted of similar art work to all other films. early 30's saw higher quality designs and main title designers were hired and so main titles designing became more of an art than just something that is put at the beginning of a motion picture to introduce the film.
What is Typography?
This is the art and technique of arranging type in a style that the film is based upon. For example, if you were to create a western, the text would be in a traditional or similar text style for a western. Same for a Thriller film. The title text will be in the style of the film, dark and mysterious.
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| Here is an example of typography in the style of a gang based thriller. Opening Thriller Title Design Today
Now you find that title sequences are like miniature films themselves with their artistic take on the typography and the original ideas created. Here is an example of a thriller opening titles. These titles are for the film The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo:
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Evaluation
There is much use of original typography. The text is in the style of all the patterns and curves on the tattoo in the film which is a significant part of the films story line.
Also the animation and the sequence of events occurring in the background follow the story line of the film and is cleverly created to fit the film and give the audience viewing the film a subtle insight into the films story line.
The music used is quite intense which again fits with the title of the film and the sequence going on in the background which adds to the tension and anticipation the film titles are creating for the audience.
This title opening is clever and does the film much justice though the way it hooks in the audience it is aimed through the choice of sequence, typography and the over all atmosphere it sets.
And here's another good film title that shows intricate work on the design of the title to suit the film style:
So this film title design really uses the theme of the film to produce this opening. The typography of the film is designed and used to show the technology side of this film and how digital some of the scenes are. Also the style matches that slim style in which a spider web is so like the previous one it matches the context of the film. Also the colour of the text this white almost silver style reflects this idea of a spiders web which again is related to the film theme.
The background of the film fits in well with the film theme as its all about spider man hence the spiders in the background. But the way these titles have been created so that it looks like the titles and the names are tangled in the web they are spinning is a good way to hook in the audience.
The music used is quite modern but still sticking with this superhero theme and gives the audience the image of spider man swinging through the city. The idea that the swooping and swishing is spider man adds to the context of the film as well as setting the atmosphere for the audience.
If you wish to see more examples of good opening sequences, here is a good website that was useful to look at when analysing the conventions of a typical thriller film's opening title design.
