In the 1950s, the movie and broadcast design industries incorporated traditional graphic design with the dynamic visual language of cinema. Today, the creation of film titles and television graphics are mainly created by motion graphic designers.
The first pictures that the viewer experiences is a film’s opening titles. Opening titles have grown as a style of experimental filmmaking in motion pictures, since the 1950’s. In films, the opening credits make the context of a film and establish assumptions about its tone and atmosphere.
One of the first designers to use the storytelling power of the opening and closing credits of a film, is Saul Bass. He used a variety of styles to design credits for films as distinct as Casino (1995) and It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963), including animation, live action and type treatments. Saul Bass created opening credit sequences that did not just simply show the credits and open the film, but the sequences were considered short films in themselves that prepared the viewer, for what was to happen.
“We love doing titles. We do them in a nice, obsessive way—we futz with them until we’re happy and do things that nobody else will notice but us . . . There’s a Yiddish word for it, ‘meshugas,’ which is ‘craziness.’ I admire obsessiveness in others.”- Saul Bass (Krasner, 2013: 20)
One of the iconic film sequences created by Bass is Psycho (1960). Even though this title sequence looks vividly simple, the coordination of image and sound is very strong and impressive. On a solid grey background, flat black lines enter the screen from the right hand side, which created a structured pattern and bringing with them uniform sections of cut up type. With a delicate play on foreground/background visual...
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...es way to the mountainside fading into a sunrise.
Figure 3. The classic James Bond Barrel Sequence
To conclude, title sequences to any film is extremely important as it gives you the first glimpse of what is to come and sets the tone and atmosphere of the film, Many elements are included in title sequences which help show the narrative and genre of the film like text, sound and animation. The 3 examples I have used within this essay all have strong title sequences that have made them rememberable, but have also became iconic to other film sequences.
Works Cited
Krasner, Jon. Motion Graphic Design, Taylor and Francis, 2013
Byrne, Bill; Braha, Yael, Creative Motion Graphic Titling : Titling with Motion Graphics for Film, Video, and the Web, Taylor and Francis, 2012
Rebello, Stephen, Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho; New York: St Martin's Griffin, 1998
Through the use of irony, mis en scene and recurring symbols, Hitchcock has reinforced the fundamental idea of duality throughout his film, Psycho. Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960’s American psychological horror thriller, was one of the most awarded films of its time, proposing contrasting connections between characters, Anthony Perkins and Janet Leigh, and cinematic/film techniques to develop this idea. Irony identifies contrasts between the dual personalities of Marion Crane and Norman Bates, often foreshadowing the future events of the film. Mis en scene is particularly influential to enforcing the idea of duality, evidently shown through the music and diegetic sounds used. The recurring symbols including the mirrors and specifically the birds, underpin a representation of the character’s dual personalities. Hitchcock’s use of devices reinforces the dual personalities of characters Anthony Perkins and Janet Leigh.
Film Analysis of Psycho When ‘Psycho’ was first screened in New York on 16th June 1960, it was
Before speaking in full detail of the personal fondness that was acquired and progressed thought the series and the graphic details of it, it is important to address the technology that has made the motion picture possible. Computer Generated Imagery is defined as the “application of computer graphics to create or contribute to images in art, printed media, video games, films, television programs, commercials, and simulators”. In simpler terms computer generated imagery is used in different works of art to create another world through the click of a mouse. Computer generated Imagery is commonly referred to as CGI when using three dimensional computer graphics to create special effects in films and television. Anyone from a professio...
The film’s story does not simply shines forth, but is also the foundation of the plot. The film’s plot makes the traditional guidelines applicable...
Analysis of The Cinematic Techniques That Are Used To Capture The Audience's Interest In The Opening Sequence Of The Film Of Mice And Men
Bordwell David and Thompson, Kristen. Film Art: An Introduction. 8th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2008.
All directors of major motion pictures have specific styles or signatures that they add in their work. Alfred Hitchcock, one of the greatest directors of all time, has a particularly unique style in the way he creates his films. Film analyzers classify his distinctive style as the “Alfred Hitchcock signature”. Hitchcock’s signatures vary from his cameo appearances to his portrayal of a specific character. Two perfect examples of how Hitchcock implements his infamous “signatures” are in the movies, A Shadow of a Doubt and Vertigo. In these movies, numerous examples show how Hitchcock exclusively develops his imagination in his films.
Norman Bates is arguably the most unforgettable character in the horror genre. His movements, voice and aura at first radiate a shy young man but transform into something more sinister as the movie Psycho (Hitchcock, USA, 1960) progresses. How has the director, Alfred Hitchcock, achieved this? Norman Bates was a careful construct: the casting, body language, lighting and even the subtle use of sound and mise-en-scène created the character.
In the world of cinema, there’s almost always a discussion regarding what scenes would be suitable for the grasping imagination of any audience, young or old. Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 film, Psycho, sparked a plug for the movie industry as it was the first movie of its kind to display such graphic scenes of sex and violence to a worldwide audience.
The iconic opening scene of Indiana jones Raider of the Lost Ark is a great example of what the movie is about. The director named Steven Spielberg made this creative choice as the opening scene because it tells us the whole movie is about a character with a fedora running around looking for lost treasures. The main character Indiana Jones face isn't shown until later on in the opening sequence, creating a sense of mystery over who the character really is. The cameras are position away from the characters, like someone is watching them. Also, Indiana is shown as the leader of the group as he is in front of the others, trying to find out where they need to go.
The two films Psycho and The Birds, both directed by Alfred Hitchcock, share similar themes and elements. These recurring themes and elements are often prevalent in many of Hitchcock’s works. In Psycho and The Birds, Hitchcock uses thematic elements like the ideal blonde woman, “the motherly figure”, birds, and unusual factors that often leave the viewer thinking. Hitchcock’s works consist of melodramatic films, while also using pure cinema to help convey messages throughout the film.
With many different genres and types of filmmaking, it can result in a large variety of stories and conflicts. Nevertheless, film has always brought people together as a society. If there is one thing everyone can notice about films is the achievement in style and directing. The three directors talked about in this paper are the most successful at delivering a breathtaking style and direction to their films. Baz Luhrmann, Wes Anderson, and Martin Scorsese have produced and directed films over decades and each film as impacted not only the United States but worldwide. With the unmistakable trademarks that each director has, it is very easy to feel sucked into the world in which they are shaping around you and the story. Because of these three directors, the film world and industry has been revolutionized for many centuries to come.
Psycho was a film unique to its era and had a lasting impression on cinematography. Psycho is considered the first “slasher” film and inspired the entire sub genre of horror. This film portrayed a level violence that
Offering the unique ability to visually and audibly convey a story, films remain a cornerstone in modern society. Combined with a viewer’s desire to escape the everyday parameters of life, and the excitement of enthralling themselves deep into another world, many people enjoy what films stand to offer. With the rising popularity of films across the world, the amount of film makers increases every day. Many technological innovations mark the advancement of film making, but the essential process remains the same. Pre-production accounts for everything taken place before any shooting occurs, followed by the actual production of the film, post-production will then consist of piecing the film together, and finally the film must reach an audience. Each step of this process contributes to the final product, and does so in a unique right. The process of film making will now start chronologically, stemming from the idea of the story, producing that story into a film, editing that footage together, and finally delivering that story to its viewers.
The Role of Computer Generated Imagery in the Film Industry Computer Generated Imagery is the special effects used in motion pictures to create a visual depiction of an illusion that can not be easily created in real life. Directors of major motion pictures have been using these technologies since the early days of the personal computer. Early on, when and special effects were in their beginning stages, it was difficult to make efficient and effective effects that are well accepted by the movie critics and the general public. An evolution of special effects and the introduction of computerized animation brought the standards for movie effects to a higher level. The development of new methods of Computer Generated Imagery for less money and more effective than in the past has allowed even fairly low budget movies to incorporate such technology.