History of opening sequences

History of an Opening title sequences

An opening title sequence is how films or television programmes to show what sort of film/TV programme they will be watching. within this the name of the producer and other cast member's will be shown. Early title sequences often created by lettering artists often employed by major studio-typically presented white type on a black background as the colours were contrasting thus producing a clearer picture. Soon after, they included some minor decorations such as lines, outlines, or small drawings.

One of the first branded title cards was by pioneer director D.W.Griffth, because the first films were silent this meant that the opening title sequence need something special so they used dialogue to comprehend the story. Since the invention of the cinematograph, simple title cards were used in silent film presentations in order to identify both the film and the production company involved, and to act as a signal that the film had started and then finished

As cinema's title sequences grew longer we begin to see the involvement of graphic design such as Saul Bass, which directly influenced the 1960s television predilection for creating strong graphics-led sequences for many shows.





---->  Skyfall opening title sequence

Preliminary Task

Preliminary Task

in groups in no more than 4 - continuity task involving filming + editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character with whom he or she exchanged a couple of lines of dialogue. this task must demonstrate match on action, shot reverse shot and the 180 degrees rule.

This picture was part of our preliminary task we decided to do a scene in which two police men would be returning to the station. We choose this as it would allow us to do match on action and all the other parts of preliminary task that are needed.

As trip to the BFI

The first thing he did was talk about 5 aspects which included genre, narrative(enigma) creates a reaction from the audience and questions the audiences mind so that they want to see the rest of the film. Structure and atmosphere. Some of the films included, Dawn of the dead, Napoleon dynamite and catch me if you can. It was decided that atmosphere potentially one of the key factors in epically films such as Dawn of the dead which genre was clearly thriller. We then analysed student films and talked about showing too much of the plot there by demonising any enigma. We were told to add as many as 22 credits into the film in order to express all the different area productions to make the film fit with conventions.

 Structure and atmosphere. Some of the films included, Dawn of the dead, Napoleon dynamite and catch me if you can. It was decided that atmosphere potentially one of the key factors in epically films such as Dawn of the dead which genre was clearly thriller. We then analysed student films and talked about showing too much of the plot there by demonising any enigma. We were told to add as many as 22 credits into the film in order to express all the different area productions to make the film fit with conventions.

another thing that we talked about as folly this was a type of sound which yourself could create which means that it will improve your blog. This means that you will need good quality sound effects as the sound takes up a high percentage of the opening title sequence as well as this we need to make sure that the music we will use will match the theme of the opening sequence to make sure that it sounds and also looks right. Another thing that was pointed out that there should be a verity of age as the opening sequences that we saw all had the same age range, however we could use siblings or teacher to improve our blog. We also need to keep in mind that the credits used should be merged in with what is happening within the scene.

In addition we also learnt that if our opening sequence is to long then it might effect the grade as it means that it could lose quality also it would require a lot more work for something that will be downgraded.

this is Pete's blog-http://petesmediablog.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/more-interesting-stuff.html

Log line ideas for my opening sequence

Log Line ideas for my opening sequence


Some examples of Log lines:


1. A father who has recently come from war in Afghanistan is left distraught
with what he has seen and done. He then finds out that people are after him and his family for what he has done.

2. family take a trip to an exotic island to then find out its hidden secrets

3. Young Adults are low on money so they borrow from a loan shark who then catches up with them, they then decide to rob a bank