Above is a link in which
is an article, which discusses the relevance of opening title sequences, and
how they apply familiarity of a film and the key attributes that make the
sequence significant to the film. The task was to read the whole article from
top to bottom and discover five points of interest to us and how they might be
of relevance when making our opening title sequence.
I find the statement
''the bond between the art of filmmaking and graphic design - and perhaps
visual culture as a whole'' very concise and outlines the role in which they fulfill
in the films and how they link the opening sequence to film, keeping it
cohesive as a whole without running off at a tangent. The statement will advise
me with my opening sequence and how I will hope to keep the planned opening
sequence of my film continuous and portray the narrative.
It can be noted, that
this article also outlines the significance of film typography. This is portrayed
through the contextual background of silent films and how they assisted to give
historical context of the film. The relevance of the typography in this era was
key to portray what the film was going to outlay. The font also helps
''narrative continuity'' therefore, is chosen specifically because of the
narrative. D.W.Griffins ''Intolerance'' was considered one of the ''greatest
films of the silent era’ ‘this was key to outline essential information for the
film and favored a certain font of mono-stroke to portray that the film was set
in that era.
The article furthers that
films use to hire ''lettering artists'' specifically to get the right typesetters.
This is significant as; this was shown in the film ''The Cabinet of Dr. Calligari''.
Within the first screenshot of what the film looked like it portrays
sophistication and in the second it seems rather scientific and monstrous.
Furthermore, indicating that the typesetting’s also is a key aspect into what
type of audience should watch the film and primarily whom the director and
editor aimed it at.
Another interesting fact
has to be that with in the increase in popularity of films more’ ‘considerable
sums'' got invested in the films as the revenue would be sourced when hitting
the box office. Ralph Spence was one of the highest paid title writers earning
$10,000 dollars for just one title. The sum in which Spence was paid is so very
drastic for the years 1890-1949, which suggests that the first title in which
the audience sees has to be precise and cohesive to the film and that is why it
is such a key element of the opening title sequence.
Later, within the 1920's
and 30's modernization occurred and countries started to use new ideas such as black
letter fonts as an indicator to the audience of what genre the film is. The
typography on ''wanted posters connoted a western flick''. This indicates that
films heavily relied on they typography as a catalyst of what genre the film
would portray and this would moreover, portray what the audience primarily was.
For example, in a western film it would draw in more of a heavily based male
audience because of iconography such as guns and hore-houses.
Hollywood studio
systems had breakthrough ideas such as the timing of typography to interact
with imagery - this where innovations of popularity which were starting to be
endorsed within the 1950's.The use of this innovation created a sense of
consistency and continuity in the opening title sequence and aspired more
smooth transitions from shots.
Within the article it
question whether the significance of the typography is now what it use to be as
the behind credits received more recognition then the font itself. Typography
then, began to have another innovation it started to become three dimensional
and use effects such as, embroidery. This is a key point for me in making my
opening title sequence along with everyone else, as, it needs to stand out
without withdrawing any significance of the actual film.
Overall, I found
that in my own specific option that this article was a great help and insight
in to the way in which we should choose our typography as, it cannot be a
needless thought, it has to be planned specifically in terms of editing etc.
No comments:
Post a Comment