Title Sequence Clip Review

     I thought that the opening sequences to these films were very engaging and left me wanting more out of these films. I have only seen and heard about half of the films shown and did not know what to expect, but I am sure glad that I got to experience these openings. What makes them so engaging is the vagueness inside the execution of these openings and makes you wonder about the different possibilities or directions the characters and stories of these films could take, with some examples being Goldfinger and Saturday Night Fever; on the other hand, some openings are just their titles in unique fonts presenting the people who star in these films with a song from the score accompanied with pictures or shots of people in the background, with one example being Raging Bull. "The best film typography isn't superfluous or incongruous, but fundamentally helps to tell the story" (Merril, 2004). The openings make much more of an impact when you actually see the films so that you can really appreciate the artistry behind some of these openings.

     One of the openings that really caught my eye was the opening to the slasher horror film, Scream. The opening told you right off the bat that it was going to be a horror movie by showing the title of the film with a gritty and big title, accompanied by a woman screaming, hence the title, but that is not the most important detail about the opening. In fact, the most important detail was introducing the most important aspect of a slasher film: the killer. The opening already characterizes the character of the "Ghostface" killer as a big fan of horror movies and as a psychopath through his conversation with the teenage girl. There could be foreshadowing that the girl is going to get killed by him because of the remarks the killer gives to her about horror movie clichés and that she was committing a mistake that a horror movie character would do, which also hints that the movie is has bits of comedy in order to make fun of other horror movies. 

     Another movie opening that captivated my attention was the opening to the nineties crime film, Pulp Fiction. The opening is simple enough when seen at first glance: two characters having a conversation at a coffee shop, but you later find out that the two characters are robbers discussing other robberies and criticizing them. Hints of irony are shown throughout their conversation; for example, when the male robber tells the female robber that there are too many foreigners doing what they do when he himself is Australian. Also, the male robber uses the word “garcon,” which is foreign to him, in order to sound more sophisticated and above other people, but he does not know the meaning of it. Almost at the end of the opening, the robbers are shown starting a robbery at the restaurant that they were eating and just at the moment of the action, it cuts to the opening credits to the movie in the letters having an intense red and yellow font, with the song, Misirlou, playing in the background. According to Miles Merril the author of the article, First frames: titles in the digital realm, states that “titles seem to be the one place where computer graphics can be experimented with and showcased, regardless of whether we're watching science fiction, melodrama, or a comic book action flick.” The last moments of the opening sequence felt like a showcase of what the movie has in store and I am hoping to do that with my project.