Title Sequences

This week, we started looking at title sequences are formatted. We looked at films from a range of genres, such as teen angst, horror and comedy. We then watched the title sequence for Juno and had an assistive timeline, such as the one above. We had to note the amount of names that are credited in the opening sequence, and we noticed that generally this is around 20 names. Then, we had to create a timeline for a film title sequence of my own.

The timeline above is my timeline of the Forrest Gump titles. The sequence involves a feather drifting naturally through the sky and city, before landing on the feet of the main character. He is the only character introduced in the sequence which is unnatural, but other characters are better introduced in the following scene. Directors of the film say that the feather was chosen to represent fate and opportunity, as it could land anywhere at all and it lands at his feet. The captions in the sequence are in a sans serif font, and they appear every 5 seconds in the same white font each time.

I also studied the opening sequences of films such as Mean Girls, Easy A and Clueless to see how teen angst films usually are started. I found that some of the features of typical teen angst title sequences are:

• Voiceover
• Female main character
• Introduction of main characters, themes and settings
• Titles edited to fit camera movements and settings
• Layered sound
• Upbeat music 

From doing this, I have started to understand what goes into making a title sequence, and how to plan one. I also know how to tailor a title sequence to fit the typical features of teen angst films, and therefore how to make my own film seem more appealing to my target audience.