Titles/ Credits In Opening Title Sequences

The opening titles and credits can say just as much about the film as the mise-en-scene and action shots within the sequence. Consequently, it is important to have researched similar films and the way they have gone about adding titles and credits that is cohesive with the rest of the sequence and film. It is important that it matches the style, atmosphere and genre and doesn't mislead the audience.

Looking at the United States, as they were (and still are) viewed as the hub for film and TV, the concept title sequences was put forward around the 1910s. However, they grew increasingly popular in the 1930s and have become more and more elaborate as time moves on and technologies develop. Notably, the first spoken titles (rather than in written form) in American cinema was 'The Terror' in 1928. It is clear that the titles and artists from the early 1900s work is still relevant as the title sequences from 'The Twighlight Zone" took inspiration from various surrealist sources. For example: Salvador Dalí's 'Persistence of Memory', Marcel Duchamp's film 'Anémic cinéma' from the post-modernism era and René Margritte's 'Victory'. 

As time has developed, the style of sequences have changed. Different styles of sequences become more or less popular dependent on the time period. For example, I previously researched Saul Bass and Kyle Cooper, while they were both popular; Saul Bass' height of his career was in the mid 20th century when graphic design was on the upswing. Kyle Cooper's popularity hit in the late 20th century and 21st century for his motion picture sequences. Both were successful, popular and have iconic sequences but were popular for the time they were in, a comparison perhaps being clothes trends going in and out of fashion. 

Production company logos often change over time due to the introduction of new technologies, making them able update the colours, graphics or entire design. Examples of logos that have remained similar despite a change in colour and graphics includes: 20th Century Fox, Dreamworks and MGM.

Other companies have used CGI to make their logos appear like real life images and, in the case of Universal or Pixar, is unrecognizable from their initial logo. However, Colombia Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros and Disney have kept their recognizable yet, arguably, far more epic and iconic.

After searching through sports/drama opening sequences, more often than not they do not feature the opening credits. Instead they begin in-media-res where titles aren't featured or it is footage that is key to understand for the rest of the film. Throughout all of the sequences they either feature intense music (in the football films it is often British rock) or crowd reactions. Some of the openings I watched include: Bend it like Beckham, Goal 2, Football Factory, The Firm, Rush (German F1 racing film), Rocky (boxing) and Looking for Eric. For the few titles included in Goal 2 and Bend it like Beckham, I noticed that both credits were orange/ yellow and had fonts with long, close together letters. Additionally, they were not uniform and clean but looked 'rough-around-the-edges' which is
cohesive with our concept for the sequence. The only traditional title sequence I found with full credits was in 'The Firm'. However, it contradicts the others as they titles were neon pink and blue and were reminiscent of neon light-up signs. Also, they were always positioned in one of the corners of the screen fading in and out. A reason for this may be because it is a drama rather than a sports film, but I still thought it would be useful to look into as it revolves around the same subject matter - football. 

For our sequence, I think it would be good to consider orange for the colour of our credits as it has connotations of determination and encouragement. This would be useful for our sequence as it is all about not giving up and remaining the underdogs, slowly succeeding the competition - it would be a subtle way of introducing this through written form. I also think a font similar to the one in the top right screenshot from 'Goal 2' would be good as it has a 'rough-around-the-edges' look and feel to it that I feel would suit our sequence really well.