Portfolio Project: Title Sequence Research

WE'RE BACK TO RESEARCHING!

This time, I'm looking at some of my favorite title sequences in films that'll help fuel my creativity for the portfolio project. Some of the main things I will be studying will include how the openings work to establish the feel of each project through the motion, fonts, visuals and audio, and how the opening is structured (when specific names or titles appear on screen, when different visuals appear with said names, etc.) 

The first example I'll be looking into is.....

JAMES BOND: SKYFALL (2012)

Source: MGM Pictures

The intro to Skyfall is one of, if not, the most iconic James Bond openings from the Daniel Craig era. The visuals are all striking and at some times even psychedelic. The sequence includes imagery of a woman holding a gun or dragging Bond down into the water and from this we get an idea that some female character will be an antagonist stopping Bond from completing his mission. There's also an amazing graphic shot where a skeleton grows on screen and the teeth are unveiled to be a row of tombstones scattered across a valley. I could go on all day about the amazing things this almost 4-minute opener does, but I only have 2 minutes to show my entire filmed sequence AND my production company graphics AND my title graphics. So I'll focus on what I can actually take from it. The music is something essential to this opening. Adele's Skyfall sets a great tone for the rest of the film, including a descending chord progression which alludes to the name of the film and the song includes plenty of Bond vibes that are present through the rest of the soundtrack. I'm going to take the same principle of representation in the music that I compose, but I'm going to make it a lot less dark as we are going for the Spy/Comedy genre (similar to Naked Gun). While I can't do the same level of graphics and visuals as this intro, due to the runtime for the project, I can try to implement some similar eye catching effects with how the title comes in.

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY: VOL. 2

Source: Walt Disney Pictures

Guardians 2 is one of my favorite films for its equal parts comedy, drama, and action and is definitely a vibe which I want to take inspiration from for our project. This is also one of my favorite openings as it focuses on a silly Baby Groot (the character in the screen grab above) having a fun time listening to the diegetic, Mr. Blue Sky by the Electric Light Orchestra. While he is in his own world, dancing and running around the platform, the rest of the Guardians are fighting an extraterrestrial threat and are having a hard time holding up. The juxtaposition is what makes the comedy work so well. Most of the titles and names show up as graphics that are overlayed against the "filmed" footage, but the main title graphic, as seen in the screen grab, pops up as though it is "real", staying locked on the ground as the camera moves away and having the light from the "VOL. 2" reflect on the ground and on Baby Groot. This may be an interesting idea to incorporate to some of the graphics I will end up putting into the film.

SEVERANCE

Source: Apple TV

Severance's opening is phenomenal. It is a masterpiece of symbolism filled with trippy 3D visuals of the main character going through scenes that represent the locations and themes that will be explored in this show. Now, this intro is used for a show and, often times, show title sequences vary from film sequences because of the difference in mediums. Severance's opening is about 1 minute and 23 seconds while the other examples I've used were 3 and a half minutes or more. A TV show title sequence is going to be repeated every single episode and audiences will see it numerous times, so having a long intro can be boring and unnecessary. For short episode shows, intros can range from 30-45 seconds but for longer episodes, I have found that intros often last about 60-90 seconds. However, this doesn't necessarily change the content. The Severance title sequence is such a visually striking sequence that it can be compared with many title sequences and stand as a strong competitor. As for what we can take from this for our intro...? I think the most we can use is the symbolism that the intro has. We could potentially put some kind of symbolism relating to the fate of each character into their name graphics and into the title drop.