Iside’s Foundation Blog : History of opening title sequences

Title sequences

Film titles are the bond between the art of filming making and graphic design - and perhaps visual culture as a whole. They serve a greater purpose to the film. A long time ago film titles - the graphic image or sequence at the opening of a movie were simply hand illustrated cards photographed and inserted into a film. Nowadays, they are much like a mini movie showcasing the art of graphic design with filmmaking. Although film titles are short they also serve a lot of purposes, besides introducing the title of the film and the main players that brought it to screen.

Who invented title sequences?

Title sequences were initially first invented by, vaudeville theatres, where main titles were originally produced by the first projector which was invented in the 1650s by a Dutch scientist, Christin Huygens. Thomas Edison was the first person to put credits at the start of his film in 1897. Then in the 1908 film Bronco Billy G. M. Anderson became the first actor to be credited on screen. After this this started the tradition to give credits of film starts. Most opening titles looked fairly similar up until the 1950s. they were all under a minute long and the general format was the same. They were meant to be boring and ignored up until 1954 when Otto premigner brought on graphic designer Saul Bass to design the opening title sequence for his film, “carmen Jones.”

https://youtube.com/watch?v=I0OkcWIeg40&feature=share

After Bass collaborated again for the film “the man with the golden arm.” They sent a letter to theatre owners that required them to raise the curtain in front of the screen before the titles. This is when they became an essential part of the film industry. bass believed that opening credits could tell the overarching theme of the film or reveal the tone before an actor walked onto the screen. throughout the 50s until the 70s a variety of styles took over and established them as cinematic art forms. This is when realism and naturalism came nto style, so cinema intended to elaborate opening credits away from the public’s view.

now, opening titles are like a film’s hype man, they establish the tone and the elements of films to come. they are purely an art form that celebrates the films and those who made the film. Some of the biggest blockbuster films such as “No time to die and many more films have amassing opening title sequences that have costs millions to make in the process this is due to the intensity and importance of the film titles nowadays.

Examples of movies with the best opening title sequences:

No time to die - opening title sequence created by: Daniel Kleinamn