FILM OPENINGS

Title Sequence in Thrillers

Saul Bass 

Saul Bass was an American graphic designer and Oscar-winning filmmaker. Saul Bass is best-known for his motion-picture title sequences, film posters and corporate logos. He is known as the man who changed graphic design and opening sequences. As mentioned in video below he was well-know for his logos in adverts, it was only until the mid 1950s he started doing the opening titles for films, he was working on the logos for the man with the golden arm when he realised he waned to focus on the titles.  He has created so many famous opening sequences such as Hitchcock's Psycho and Vertigo. Bass went on to create dozens of iconic film posters and title credits. His final projects before his death in 1996 were credits for four Martin Scorsese films: Goodfellas (1990), Cape Fear (1991), The Age of Innocence and Casino. During Bass's 40 year career, he worked with/for some of the best directors in Hollywood including Hitchcock, Kubrick. Preminger, Wilder and Scorsese.  When he worked with Alfred Hitchcock, Bass designed effective and memorable title sequences, inventing a new type of kinetic typography, for north by northwest, Vertigo (working with John Whitney), and Psycho. All of the modern day opening sequences for movies are based off of Bass' work or inspired by his work. He is a legacy because of the way he changed graphic design and opening sequences. The video below shows the timeline of Saul Bass and how his career started and how him and his wife worked together to help change the stereotype of opening titles. 

Saul Bass - The Name Behind Titles

Glass opening sequence- 

Glass is a Drama Thriller. The title design was produced by a studio called Filmograph. Filmograph is featured in many films such as The Conjuring, Insidious, Glass and Underwater. The film director for Glass is M. Night Shyamalan and creative director is Arron Becker who is also a partner in Filmograph. In the opening sequence in Glass we see loads of titles such as the main characters and director. Each name that pops up only is on screen for 5 seconds that is long. When the names are shown, they are shown to make them look like broken glass, the names are shattered, this relates to the title Glass which is also shown as shattered. The total sequence last for 3 minutes and 51 seconds, this is between 3-4 minutes which is the average length anything longer is too much. The way that main character is introduced is by entering a dark room with four people's hands tied together at a pole. He has given off the ideology that he is wise man and violent, we can gather this because of his entrance and the scenery of the room, which is dark and eerie. We also get a glimpse of a teenage boy who is obsessed with filming people and his home life. From the opening titles the audience now that there is a psychotic man who has tied up 4 cheerleader and that danger is starting loom over the teenage boy. As you can see below the names/titles of people are shattered like glass, this gives us the impression that just like these titles the boys life will also be shattered as he gets involved in the man's life. Within the opening credits of Glass we see, the two main production companies, in this can Universal Pictures and Blumhouse (which is one of the most-well known Horror Thriller company). After the two production companies we see the name of the film director in this case M. Night Shyamalan. After these names have appeared the name of the film is shown in a way that represents with the title (shattered). The actors names appear between 1.07 to 1.59 - these are the key/supporting characters we see. There is music in the background of the opening which is music with the effect of a ticking clock behind, which gives off the idea that the protagonist is on a clock to help beat the antagonist. After this we seeing the casting director, music director,  music supervisor, costume designer, who the main editors are in the film, production designer, photography director, executive producer and producers (and many more). These are the most important towards the film this is why they are mentioned in the opening credits. Glass's opening scene gives off that there is a psychotic man who is going to kill/harm those 4 cheerleaders we see at the beginning this makes it a Thriller because it has built up suspense and make the audience wonder what will happen, this will lead to a climax - this matches what a thriller is. 

Split opening sequence- 

Split is a Horror Thriller. The opening credits are quick as each on-screen credit title shows up then disappears as the title of the film has split into 24 different segmented grid which is layered. After we see the main title of the film. There, starts to be quick camera shots to the scene and back to opening credits. The opening credits scene is "split" into the film and opening titles. The opening titles are very minimal, they are very basic — just black and white. Every name that comes up is only on the screen for 4 seconds each. The sequence has a sort of sinister feel to it as we get a little introduction to the twisted character. Split uses Filmograph with creative director Arron Becker for the title sequence. The introduction has two main things a plain black background and plain white simple text which is Helvetica which is a very common type of font in opening scene. The opening titles are paired with the loud struggle from one the characters who is unconscious. During the opening title sequence we can can head a lot of non-diegetic sound with a loud bass sound. Each time we flip onto the actual scene the sound gets louder which builds up suspense for what has happened to the girls we see before the opening credits start. We flip to a half unconscious girl at a medium camera shot, so we can see the man behind here leaning over her. Once the credits end the music ends abruptly. From this we can gather that the antagonist is the man that has kidnapped the (protagonists) girls. We know that something will happen to the girls but not sure what. This opening title sequence has created a lot of tension and suspense. The location in Spilt during the opening titles is in an eerie hallway. The opening credits of the film are similar to Glass due to them both having the same production companies Blumhouse Productions and Universal Pictures. They both also have the same director M. Night Shyamalan so they both will have similar opening credits for roughly the same amount of time. This opening credits sequence gives off a lot of suspense as we do not know what will happen to the unconscious girl. The credits for the actors lasts from 0.18 seconds and 0.40 seconds, this means that there are not many key actors in this film. James McAvory starts in both Split and Glass this is because he gives off a creepy feeling towards the audience. The whole sequence last for 

Split Opening Credits

  

Psycho Opening Sequence

Psycho is a Horror Thriller. This title sequence is created by Saul Bass, who is well-known for creating opening sequences, in the videos below you can see both the original title sequence and the title sequence that was edited by Saul Bass, most people have seen the Saul Bass sequence. Saul Bass makes creates a series of simple white bars to bring in each title which is in sans-serif fonts and takes them back out again. The lines come from different areas of the screen but never once cross over or break, Bass has created these lines to have a dramatic effect. The sound behind the sequence is high pitch violins which is associated with this film. The music was created by Bernard Herrmann who is known for his work in Psycho. The violins are used throughout the whole film to show when tension is building up. The titles last up to 3 second each and the whole sequence is around 2 minutes. The music in the opening goes up and down, fast then slow than fast this gives the audience the idea of how the film will go, fast pace then, slow moving then a climax at the end/middle. The names that come up are Hitchcock's as he is the director than the title of the film this is because they are the most important two things of the title sequence. The first thing we see in the opening credits is Alfred Hitchcock's name. After this we see the directors name the name of the film come on the screen for 7 seconds which is 3 seconds longer than the rest of the names on the screen. From 0.26 to 1.00, from here we see the screenplay director (who based the film off of a novel) and loads of other important member of the production. We do not get any narrative of how the story will play out from the opening credits as there is no dialogue or sound from the movie involved.

Psycho - Opening Credits

 Get Out Opening Sequence 

Get Out is a Horror Thriller. The opening titles are created by an title design studio called Filmograph. Filmograph also designed the titles for Split. In the opening sequence we see more than just the titles of the important people we also see a person being kidnapped, this helps set the tone for the rest of the film. We see the kidnapping from a far angle, sort of like someone is watching it happen. During the opening scene we see the production companies Universal Pictures and Blumhouse and QC Entertainment Productions and then we see that the film is associated with Monkeypaw productions. Then Jordan Peele appears this is the director of the film. From the first 35 seconds the audience have gathered that someone has been kidnapped and who the main producers are in the film. 40 seconds into the sequence the title appears in a bold blue title, Get Out, the title is in all capitals spaced. In the background it has no switched from a dark street at night to a forest in daylight, giving the idea that someone is driving through the woods as the trees are moving. From 0.47 to 1.40 we see the names of the actors and supporting actors. While this is happening we still see the trees moving in the background from the point of view of someone driving through the woods. For the rest of the opening titles we see the titles of the casting director, music supervisor, who the music is by, costume designer, the editor, the production designer, director of photography, co-producers and many more. During the titles appearing we see a man and women who are giving off the idea that they are the protagonists, this means that either one of these two people will be in every scenes normally when there are two "protagonists" one of them turns out to be against the other, so the viewers are on edge to see who will betray who, The forest at the beginning gives a sense that something bad will happen in the woods, and in this case it does as the house is in the middle of nowhere. In the background of the sequence we hear a soft piece of non-diegetic music this can give off more tension and suspense than scary music as the audience are wondering if this. music will be played when there is a climax happening. the music gives off a good tone to the movie as it can confuse the audience into what is happening and why it is soft music and not loud music. The whole sequence last 3 minutes and 26 seconds.

Opening credits of Get Out

Resources:

https://www.artofthetitle.com/title/psycho/

 https://www.artofthetitle.com/title/get-out/

 https://www.artofthetitle.com/title/split/

 https://www.artofthetitle.com/title/glass/