The Opening Title Sequence

The opening title sequence of a film, television series or other types of media are pivotal tools in which the directors must include the starring actors/actresses, the studio behind the media, the director, the producers and of course, the title. The purpose of a title sequence (aside from being compulsory by law), is to suggest to the audience what they should expect coming into a new film. In this blog, I have decided to include and analyse the title sequences of three types of media, one film, one television show and one video game. This is useful in determining what type of opening sequence I will be creating.

At the start of the sequence bond is seen in a long shot surrounded by water clearly in peril. No titles are present at the start. 

Here the camera has zoomed in so that the audience can clearly establish facial characteristics. Bond seems unconscious and in danger.

Here, there is now a closeup on Bond's hand. Similarly to the previous shots, he is still surrounded by water, however in this shot, there is no detail or devotion to the rest of Bond's body.

The next shot is centred around the first titles which come up, "Albert R. Broccoli's Eon Productions LTD." It is also a closeup on Bond being dragged down into the depths of the sea. The shot is mostly blacked out with hints of light behind Bond like an eclipse.

This shot is the first shot of which an actor's name appears (Daniel Craig), the font being a minimalistic, modern and subtle style. This long shot features Bond being dragged into deep waters by a hand. The view is mostly darkened but with light shining in from the top left corner.

This is a high angle shot, showing Bond sinking rather than being dragged down, as shown by the use of a high angle shot of his legs. The effect of the shot is to give the audience the idea that Bond is falling endlessly rather than sinking.

This is the shot showcasing the film's title. It is centrally placed as well as it is now bold, placing heavier emphasis on the main title. As for the shot itself, it is a long shot featuring Bond being pulled into some sort of sink hole. It seems as though Bond is falling just as the title says.

This shot is strange as it blends two types of shots together, a closeup and a long shot, both of Bond still floating through endless seas. Sinking objects can be seen in the distance as well as another actor's name who's font has returned to the minimalistic style used before.

The next shot is a long shot of Bond appearing as a target with a bullet hole/wound in it's shoulder, bleeding. Many of the same target Bonds float around. The effect of this shot is to demonstrate the danger Bond is in and the stakes that are on the line for him. Another actor's name appears.

The next shot is a closeup of a woman who is mostly blacked out. Most of the background is also blacked out. The reason for this is to establish a tone of ambiguity and mystery (Who is the woman? etc)

The camera pans downward, revealing that the woman is naked. Again, the background is mostly blacked out and another actor's name appears.

This next shot shows a gun (presumably Bond's) falling and hitting the bottom, a puff of sand coming out. Most of the shot is blueish black and still darkish.

The shot immediately after shows various daggers falling point first into the sand, along with the gun that has also fallen.

The daggers slowly turn into gravestones as the camera zooms in more. The background is still dark blue and black, still maintaining the dark, thriller, high stakes tone of the movie. Another name appears in the same font used previously. The name is placed in the centre to hint to the audience that that name plays an important character in the film's story (M)

The next short is an extreme closeup of a character (presumably Bond) hiding behind some sort of wall. The camera zooms in further into his eye. The effect of this is to provide extra detail on the character's face/eye.

The next shots show Bond aiming his gun at his own shadows. He seems to be standing surrounded by various structures. The colours have have changed slightly in that there is more white.

The next shot is a zoom in some water with blood in it. As the camera zooms in, the audience will make out a skull made from the blood in the water. This symbolises the high stakes again just as some previous shots did. The combination of blood and a skull largely emphasises the stakes.

The next shot is a mid shot of a woman pointing a gun at the camera. The camera does zoom in until the camera is completely focused on the end of the gun. The colours have returned to it's dark tone.

The next shot changes the colour scheme of the sequence as it is now mostly black and orange as embers float around.

Next, numerous Chinese dragons begin to appear and fly around. The reason for this is to hint to the audience that perhaps the movie or parts of the movie, takes place in China. The colour scheme remains dark and orange in tone.

After the dragon shots, the next shot changes the colour scheme drastically as it is now black and white. Several shapes begin to appear, showing the shapes of different themes that an audience should expect in a 007 film (women, guns, etc).

The next shot is another skull, except it's black and white and the teeth are revealed to be gravestones as the camera zooms in. This imagery symbolises death over and over again (skulls, gravestones, colour scheme etc).

The next few shots revolve around Bond aiming his gun and surrounded by brick structures, similar to the one mentioned before. One of these shots shows a mid shot of Bond with a focus on the gun and the bullet wound in his chest.

This next shot zooms into Bond's chest wound, once again, there is more use of gravestones, again symbolising death. The colour scheme is bright red, shouting "death and suspense" into the audience's ear.

The final shot is of Bond behind a wall again. An extreme closeup showing the detail on Bond's face as the camera zooms into his eye.

An interesting aspect of title sequences is that the title sequence in a work of media are all rather similar in that they all include the same conventions such as, starring actors, producers, studio names, music or various animations. The title sequences of other media such as television programs and even modern video games are beginning to adapt in way that is just like a movie. The examples below are title sequences from The Walking Dead (A popular TV show in the US) and Uncharted 4: A Thief's End (A critically acclaimed video game released in 2016)

One of the most important things a title sequence should do (as mentioned earlier) is that it is supposed to capture the genre and what the audience should expect from the media that they're about to experience. Viewers should see the title sequence and be able to identify bits of the plot, what kind of characters are involved and more.

The first shot of this sequence shows a dark room, a window with a wooden plank over it is present. The titles, "AMC presents" appears

The next shot is a closeup of a turning doorknob. The colour scheme mostly consists of black and dark shades of green, yellow and black.

The first actor's name appears in this shot. It is clear to viewers that the main character, Rick is played by Andrew Lincoln, as shown in the newspaper with his picture on it. The colour scheme remains similar throughout the entire sequence.

The next shot is a long shot of a dark empty room. Not much is visible here other than a door.

This is an empty supermarket, a shot that follows the shot of the dark room. This is an unnatural view of an everyday location, giving it a feeling of abandon, a common theme in the zombie sub-genre.

In this shot, another actor's name appears alongside a mid shot of a character. This character is played by Jon Bernthal, as it clearly suggests as his name is displayed next to him.

The next shot shows a mostly black closeup of a shattered photograph of another character/actress, played by Sarah Wayne Callies, as it clearly states. Something which the audience may have noticed (assuming that they have not seen the program) is that these actors are behind broken glass, indicating that there is some degree of danger these characters will face. This also applies to Rick, who's picture has blood on it.

The next four shots are quick shots which are all themed around abandon. The first two are long shots of abandoned places, a house and a camper van. The last two are more abstract, both are absent of any titles or actors.

The next two shots are themed around the streets of the city the program is set in. One name appears in each shot. The first shot of the streets show that it is empty, perhaps evacuated, while the second has zoomed out slightly, giving the audience a bigger picture of the situation.

As another name appears, The camera focusses on a hospital.

The next shot gives the audience a detailed look at the hospital's interior, a dark, empty hallway with papers scattered around it. There is only one light on in the entire hallway. This is another unnatural, twisted spin on an everyday location (like the supermarket)

The next shot shows a school. Most notably, there is an American flag next to it. This hints to the audience (again assuming that they have not seen the program), that the show takes place in the States or otherwise is an American show.

The next two shots show more abandoned streets and views of the city. The names of the executive producers appear.

These next two shots are more shots themed around abandon. The quick shot of the crows symbolise death.

This is the final shot before the main title appears. The most notable thing about it is that it is a zoomed out view of an abandoned motor way in front of a city. This reveals to the audience a much bigger idea of what is going to happen in the show, where it takes place etc.

The main titles come up at the end. The words "Walking Dead" are emphasised with bigger and bolder letters as well as a dirty, grungy looking font.

For the Walking Dead, the first thoughts that come mind is thriller. It can also be identified as being a dark, intense show based on the use of muddy colours combined with the various shots used, abandoned streets, dark corridors and "creepy" imagery such as a teddy bear lying on the floor and a dirty newspaper (the main protagonist on the front). These are several hints to viewers that this is a television series about a zombie apocalypse (assuming they haven't seen or heard of the show)

The next opening credit sequence is from Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, a video game that has borrowed from movies in terms of making an opening sequence. This is actually one of my main sources of inspiration as I will have mentioned in my post about my film's plot and various ideas. In terms of inspiration, the general idea for my title sequence will have a similar style of that of Uncharted 4, where the camera focuses on various objects sprawled all over a surface. Objects include maps, compasses, drawings, photographs of actors and locations. There will also be moments where shots of exotic locations flash on the screen for several seconds each.

At first, the screen is completely black, no titles are present. The only audible sound is light music.

The first shot fades onto the screen, the title's read "Sony Compute Entertainment presents" Ink drawings of a coin and part of are map and compass are present in the shot. Judging by the colour, the objects present and the "paper", viewers will identify the genres action and adventure.

The camera pans to another part of this journal/page, revealing the titles "A Naughty Dog Game". More ink spreads around the page.

The main titles come up next, the font for "Uncharted" is bold and white while contrasting this, the subtitle, "A Thief's End" is in black cursive. The number 4 is hugely bold and is in red, emphasising the fact that this is the fourth instalment of the series.

The shot after the titles show the main protagonist (Nathan Drake) digging up what appears to be a box of some kind (It is actually a coffin). There is no view of his face. Players of the previous games will know that this exact thing happened at the prologue of the first Uncharted game. New players will presume that this would've been in an older game as the title clearly states that it is the fourth game in the series, as this title sequence is essentially a recap of the events played out in Uncharted 1, 2 and 3.

After the coffin shot, a crashing plane is present as several executive producer's names come up. There is clear danger involved in Drake's adventures.

The next shot shows an old submarine. The added blue colours could signify water, though it is unclear whether or not it is a waterfall or anything else.

The next shot shows a mid shot of the two main characters in the game series (Elena on the left and Drake on the right). Drake once again has his back turned to the camera, while there is more detail on Elena's face. Both characters are participating in a dangerous shootout.

The next shot is a shot summarising the previous images. The words, "El Dorado" appear at the bottom (Drake's first discovery) This shows the viewer/player that up to this point, the images shown were events and things associated with Drake's first adventure (The first Uncharted game). The actual shot consists of Drake leaping to a rope carrying a golden statue (the one on the right).

The next shot shows a long shot of another character standing next to a pile of treasure. His facial features are unclear as most of the shot (just like the others) is in the style of a drawing.

The next shot consists of another compass at the top, some kind of statue on the bottom and an enemy character on the right. He is heavily armoured and carries a minigun, giving the viewer an idea of the types of enemies Drake has been facing in the past and possibly in the future too.

The next three shots centre around a new adventure. The use of dark and light blues suggest that the terrain is snowy. There is also a train which appears normal on the top shot, but then seems to have derailed on the third shot. The second shot shots Drake leaping towards some ledge, once again, his face does not show.

Next, there is a long shot of sort of village. Based on the familiar coloured banners, this village is located in Nepal or Tibet.

The next shot shows a strange looking tree labelled "tree of life" next to another drawing of a large gateway labelled "Shambhala". This shows that since the "El Dorado" shot, the drawings shown represent the events of Drake's second adventure.

The next two shots are closely linked to each other, both use shades of yellow and brown, indicating a desert terrain. The first shot shows a cargo plane with vehicles hanging out of it, Drake can be seen hanging onto it. The second shot shows the plane has crashed in the middle of the desert. A structure can be seen to the left, labelled Ubar, Drake's third discovery.

Drake's face is finally revealed in this mid shot of him and Elena (his companion) smiling at one another. Clearly their stories have ended happily

The next shot shows characters riding horses in the desert. There is a ring buried in the sand. Based on how closeup the ring is, that means that it holds a significance.

The final shot shows Drake and Elena walking off into the distance carrying bags. The screen fades into black as the game's directors name's appear in the black area.

A brief list of Thrillers are considered “the best of all time”?

• Silence of the Lambs
• North by Northwest
• Rear Window
• Vertigo
• Shawshank Redemption
• The Sixth Sense
• Memento
• Seven
• The Usual Suspects
• Dirty Harry
• Jaws
• Die Hard
• Heat
• Planet of The Apes
• Taxi Driver
• Pulp Fiction
• Jurassic Park
• Dog Day Afternoon
• Kill Bill vol 1
• Reservoir Dogs
• Fargo
• The Shining
• The Birds
• The Matrix
• Blade Runner
• The Terminator
• Fight Club

The films listed below will the films that are considered "the best of all time" and I have seen, although that does not necessarily mean that I personally rank them the "best of all time". The thriller films which I consider my favourites are on a separate post.

Silence of The Lambs - This film was released in1991 and was directed by Jonathan Demme, Starring Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins. The film's plot follows federal agent Clarice Starling who is assigned to investigate a series of Murders done by a serial killer known as Buffalo Bill but decides to interrogate a cannibalistic killer, Hannibal Lecter as his help may be of use to the case.

Shawshank Redemption - This film was released in 1994 and was directed by Darabont, his other works include the Green Mile (1999), The Majestic (2001) and Stephen King's The Mist (2007). The film stars Tim Robbins as Andy Dufresne who is convicted for the murder of his wife and sent to Shawshank State Penitentiary.

The Shining - A 1980 psychological horror film directed by Stanley Kubrick, his other famous works include,  2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), A Clockwork Orange (1971) and Full Metal Jacket (1987). The film follows Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) who has recently taken the job of winter caretaker of the Overlook hotel. He is warned that the previous caretaker suffered from cabin fever and ended up murdering his family before taking his own life. This is actually one of my personal favourite films as well as it was dubbed by critics to be one of the greatest horror films ever made.

Pulp Fiction - A 1994 American crime film, written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. The film stars Samuel L. Jackson, John Travolta, Uma Thurman and Bruce Willis. The film's style of story telling is in a non chronological timeline, following the main characters, Vincent, Jules and Butch (Travolta, Jackson and Willis), in their own stories which intertwine throughout the film. The seven main story sequences in the film are all connected in one.

This is the order in which they occur:
1. "Prologue-The Diner" (i)
2. Prelude to "Vincent Vega and Marsellus Wallace's Wife"
3. "Vincent Vega and Marsellus Wallace's Wife"
4. Prelude to "The Gold Watch" (a-flashback, b-present)
5. "The Gold Watch"
6. "The Bonnie Situation"
7. "Epilogue-The Diner"(ii)




The Birds - A 1963 horror/thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, the "king of suspense", also one of the most praised and recognised directors in all film,not just thriller. Many of his works are considered some of the "best of all time". But this film in particular is unique n that it was summarised by critics as being Hitchcock's "last unflawed film". The film stars Tippi Hedren as Malanie Daniels who visits the town of Bodega Bay, a town which soon gets attacked by hordes of various species of birds, mostly crows. I may just have an underdeveloped taste or I'am simply crazy because in my opinion, I found the film to be rather dull. I now dislike the film even less since discovering a B-movie with strikingly similar ideas and plot points called "Birdemic" as in the word 'epidemic' mixed with 'bird'.




Planet of The Apes (1968) - Is a sci-fi thriller film directed by Franklin J. Schaffner starring Charlton Heston, Roddy McDowall and Kim Hunter. The film's premise is based on a number of humans which have crash landed their ship on an alien planet where apes are the dominant species while humans are subservient. This is the film that has the famous shot of the remains of the statue of liberty, revealing that the supposed new planet was actually a desolate Earth. The movie had spawned numerous followups in the form of sequels and tie-ins, such as the infamous Tim Burton adaptation and the recent prequels, Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. In my opinion though, the recent prequels are excellent films, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes being great and Rise of The Planet of Apes being phenomenal.



The Terminator/Terminator 2: Judgement Day - Both films are sci-fi thrillers. The Terminator released in 1984 and T2 Judgement Day released in 1991. Both are directed by James Cameron, both star Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton and both films were critically acclaimed. In the first film, Schwarzenegger (the Terminator) plays the antagonist who is programmed to terminate Sarah Connor as she was the mother of John Connor, the leader of the resistance fighting against the machines in the near future. The sequel is similar except Schwarzenegger is an ally to John Connor as a child, protecting him from a new, more powerful terminator, the T-1000 (Robert Patrick). My preference out of the two (since the rest of the sequels aren't anything special" would actually be T2 Judgement Day. My reasoning for this is that the action/chase scenes are executed in a different way from the first film, combined with the revolutionary special effects used for T-1000, make the film highly engaging (not that it's much better than the original).





Jurassic Park - An American Adventure thriller directed by Steven Spielberg. The film, starring Sam Neill and Laura Dern, features scientists who have opened a safari park for dinosaurs which were made using genetics and cloning. The rights for this film was being bided for, which Spielberg, alongside Universal Studios, obtained the rights for 1.5 million dollars. The film ended up breaking records, grossing over 900 million dollars worldwide, becoming the highest grossing film at that time, a record which was held for several years before being beaten by James Cameron's Titanic (1997), which was then beaten again by one of Cameron's own films, Avatar (2010).

What is it that these films have in common? Why is it that these films in particular are considered the “best of all time”? All the films listed include elements of suspense, action, scares, anything which a film utilises to simulate situations with high stakes and conflict.

By taking a look at the films listed as “best of all time”, we can tell why they’re on that list as many of them were directed by some of the most respected individuals of the thriller genre. Films such as The Birds, Psycho, Vertigo and Rear Window are all under Alfred Hitchcock, the Master of Suspense, while Reservoir dogs and Kill Bill were directed by Tarantino who also directed Pulp Fiction which is considered to be one of the best films in general of all time. Who directs a film has a major impact on how the film is made and how it turns out as most directors specialise in certain genres. For the case of Hitchcock and Tarantino, they specialise in their own areas of film, meaning that they are more likely to direct in their own specialised genre, and therefore are more likely to make a great film.

Another reason why a film may be considered one of the “best of all time” is that certain aspects of the film may have been revolutionary to the genre, a type of storytelling, the way it’s filmed and more. For example, in Pulp Fiction, the story is told in way way that there are three connected stories in an non chronological timeline. When the movie was released in 1994, it was praised by audiences and critics alike and went on to be rewarded with twenty six oscar nominations, winning six categories including the “Best Director” category for Quentin Tarantino.

Well known directors associated with the genre (No particular order):

• Alfred Hitchcock: (The Birds, Psycho, Vertigo and more)
• Stanley Kubrick (The Shining, Full Metal Jacket, Clockwork Orange, 2001 Space Odyssey and more)
• Quentin Tarantino (Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill, Inglorious Basterds, From Dusk Till Dawn and more)
• Christopher Nolan (Inception, Interstellar, The Dark Knight)
• M.Night Shyamalan (Sixth Sense, Signs and more)
• The Coen brothers (Fargo, The Big Lebowski)

Locations and characters:

The location of which a thriller film is set heavily depends on the genre, i.e, horror, action, adventure, fantasy, superhero, sci-fi etc. The setting of the film should match the genre or the subjects involved, for example, a superhero film like Spiderman or the Dark Knight are primarily set in a large cityscape whereas sci-fi films like 2001 Space Odyssey, The Martian or any of the Star Trek and Star Wars films are primarily set in Space or other planets.

Of course, there are exceptions to this rule in that not all sci-fi films are set in space as the actual definition of sci-fi states that it is based on speculative fiction, often dealing with futuristic science and technology. An example is in Terminator films which deal with robotics, technology/time travel.

The overall point of location is for the audience to pinpoint with ease, what the genre is and what conventions are expected and part of it is using the correct character archetypes depending on the genre and the location.

Characters that belong in their genre:

Sci-fi: The Terminator, Kirk/Spock, Alien/Predator

Horror: Freddy Krueger, Jason Vorhees, Chucky, Ghostface

Action/Adventure: Indiana Jones, Rambo, James Bond, Ethan Hunt (Mission Impossible)

Superhero: Spiderman, Batman, The Avengers, etc

Fantasy: Harry Potter, Gandalf, Frodo Baggins, etc

In many thrillers, and films in general, have a main set of characters who are important to the story. They are usually heroes of some sort, a western would typically have a cowboy as the hero, an action thriller may have a James Bond type character. The heroes are called "heroes" for a reason, as they are the characters who the audience believes is the one to "save the day". The hero is essential in a thriller film. I would argue that the characters, especially the main protagonist, or hero is the one to make the decisions, and therefore effects the way the story goes.





This is why I think character development is key, even more so than the plot as the characters are what shapes it. A film could be made with the most original story ever shown in cinema, but if that film has bland, generic, one-dimensional characters, that amazing story will feel much weaker and wasted as the characters aren't developed enough to effect the story.

Plot:

In most thriller films, the plot is centralised to a certain conflict with intense situations, grave consequences and emotional involvement. Several genres have these all of these characteristics, such as horror, action, adventure, fantasy and more. Sub-genres include gangster films, war films, crime films and zombie films. The main meat of a thriller film is often introduced in the first five to ten running minutes as the point of a thriller film is to be “thrilling” and to captivate the audience’s attention by introducing the film in an exciting opening sequence.

When thinking about the title sequence, good films will try to avoid giving too much of the plot away in the title sequence as it may spoil the viewer's experience as the movie will have become predictable since the movie failed to keep some plot points under wraps. Many would counter argue that the opening title sequence of the film should be used to give some sense of narrative to the audience as it may engage with them more. This is often the case for films based on someone's life or a true story, as exemplified by films such as Eddie The Eagle. This film's title sequences shows parts of the life of the main character, thus mirroring the developments the character needs to go through throughout the rest of the movie.

In recent years, film makers have come to realise how much money a film can make for them and their company and will churn out film after film. These films will contain overly recycled stories and clichéd characters who the audience doesn't care about. An example of this strategy in film making is the series of young adult films based on novels. These are film series such as the Hunger Games films, the Divergent films and the Maze Runner films. What these films have in common is that they abide by several overused conventions in young adult films, such as there may be a love triangle or other romantic subplot involved, a rebellion against an evil government, a teenage cast, female protagonists who's names end with "iss" (Katniss, Hunger Games) (Triss, Divergent), the list goes on. There is a reason they reuse these plots and other elements, and that is that they sell big and they work, especially with the case of the Hunger Games. The sequel, Hunger Games: Catching Fire, grossed $865,011,746 at the box office worldwide, a significant improvement over the original film which grossed $694,394,724 worldwide. Even though Mockingjay part 1 and 2 had their box office grosses decrease since Catching Fire and the reviews for the last two films have only been slightly above average, they were still massively profitable, both grossed around the $650,000,000 to $750,000,000 range. 

However, despite these impressive box office scores, personally, I feel that how a film does at the box office does not determine how good a movie is for me and that the best films are typically the ones that don't have a primary focus on making profit, resulting in great films with different ideas, new ways of doing things are more enjoyable to watch and is clear that their goal with making a film is ultimately to MAKE A GOOD FILM. After watching the Hunger Games films are severely lacking in creativity, having the first sequel (Catching Fire) be very much the same as the original film except with a heavier emphasis on the theme of rebellion. As for the last two films, the fact that it's split unnecessarily into two parts, suggests that they're drawn to make films for extra money.