Art of the Title: Elementary

Elementary

• The title sequence starts with the camera tracking a clear marble through a contraption. The show is about a modern-day Sherlock Holmes who is a character known for his unconventional ways of thinking and solving his mysteries. The ball could represent his brain because it is clear and follows a different path to get to the destination.
• The marble also helps to hint at Sherlock's personality in the TV show because at the end of the titles when the marble reaches the end and is zoomed in to, the title 'Elementary' appears which means basic or easy. The audience can guess that the round-about way of thinking is something that Sherlock would consider simple, portraying him as a complex and intelligent individual.
• The Actors/Actresses' names emerge in pieces that become a whole. This can illustrate pieces being put together to finish a puzzle, or maybe clues put together to solve a crime. The font is a mix between Courier, a type-writer font and Times New Roman, a commonly used word processor font. This could represent old and new, i.e. the old well known Sherlock character vs. new modern relatable environment.
• There are a lot of connotations for Crime and Justice in the opening. The gun, which presents an image of murder, the cage dropping on the figurine, which shows the criminal being caught (justice) and the numbered card on the ground beside the mess that was made is a convention used for detectives when gathering evidence.

Because Elementary is a TV show it doesn't start the titles with the production company although there are some that do (e.g. Détectives). It follows the conventions for TV which is the main actors and creators before the name of the show (but it isn't always in that order).

The length used for the titles is short which is what we want in our film but maybe slightly shorter. We will also have to include production companies and directors in our titles which is something this show doesn't have. What we can take from this is the symbolism they use in the titles. We can use mise-en-scene to represent our genre and story well.

The order of titles are:

Main Actor #1

Main Actress #2

Main Actor #3

Main Actor #4

Created by...

Title of the Programme

Art of the Title: Skyfall

Skyfall

• The credits start with the infamous James Bond hitting the surface of the water and falling deeper. This would immediately catch the viewer's eye because James Bond is virtually invincible and he is now drowning. They would have to keep watching to see what will happen to him and if he will survive.
• A hand reaches out and grabs his and the audience thinks he is saved, but instead of pulling him up towards the surface and to safety, he is pulled down further into the dark ocean. The close up shot becomes a wide shot and a giant hand pulls him deeper by his leg. The audience might be interested in this part because reality is distorted and they want to watch more to see where this is leading to.
• The first title, 'ALBERT R. BROCCOLI'S EON PRODUCTIONS LTD. Presents' appears in a Verdana font in white which is seen very well against the falling dark-suited body of 007. They also fade in which fits with the dream-like state of the opening sequence.
• Throughout the rest of the titles the audience realises that we are watching an abstract version of James Bond's life; the falling guns and knives among the gravestones, the dancing silhouettes of women, the shadows of assassins aiming for him and also the wound in his chest that is present in all of these scenarios. These all represent the action packed thrilling missions that he's completed in his life.The audience might be thinking that his life is flashing before his eyes- a very common belief about the moment before you die. 
• The opening sequence for Skyfall is nearly 4 minutes long, which unconventionally long for any movie, let alone a fast paced action movie. However Skyfall is the 23rd James Bond Movie ever made and because it was expected to be the last one, the producers and directors might have known that so many people were going to be watching they needed to make the movie special and different to all of the others. Or the case might have been that because the movie was going to be watched by so many people they could afford to take risks.

Eon productions Ltd. shows up first which I've noticed is similar in every opening sequence that the production company goes first followed by the director and the main character(s) before the name of the film appears. This is useful because they have put the most important people first before the audience stops paying attention to the words and focuses on the excitement behind it. Something that Skyfall does differently to other films is that the titles are shown around 5-10 minutes into the movie. Including the titles during this part was a good idea because if it had been during the fight scene before, it would have taken away from the intensity of the moment.

The opening sequence for Skyfall is intriguing but something we cant use many ideas from because it is almost 4 minutes long and we are aiming to make ours 2 and a half at most. It also doesn't tell the audience anything about the movie e.g. storyline, characters or themes. We want to try and get across the plot of our story or at least the part of it that we're showing so we wont have time to do any abstract art tricks. James Bond is a well-known and loved movie so most people would be able to guess what the plot might involve anyway (Dangeerous missions, evil villains, beautiful women blah blah) but we can leave it up to the audience to guess because our movie is new and unknown.

The order of titles are:

... Productions presents

Main Actor

as .... in

Title of the Film

starring (less crucial actor)

Less crucial actor

"           "        "

Less crucial actors (on screen at the same time)

with ...

and ... as ...

Co-producers ...

Script supervisor, Sound recordist, Electrical supervisor, Second unit assistant director,

Makeup Designer, Hair Designer, ...'s Wardrobe, Wardrobe supervisor, Publicity and Marketing, Promotions,

Supervising art director, Set decorator, Property Master, Construction Manager, Skills photographer, Visual effects producer,

.

.

.

.

Art of the Title: Se7en

Se7en

• Starts with focused pages in the foreground and a hand turning pages in background. This draws the audience’s attention because it makes them consider who this person is and if they are significant in the film.
• ”New Line Cinema Presents” appears in a Courier New font and almost vibrates on the screen. This emphasises the idea of instability and gives the audience ideas of mental disturbance. The font looks like words written on a typewriter which is quite an outdated way of writing. Someone who used a typewriter would be deviating social norms because of the technology available nowadays implying that this character or one of the characters demonstrates abnormal behaviour.
• The next words appear on a black screen and are first shown backwards but then quickly turn the right way while vibrating. It looks like the words were put on screen frantically and without care. This further implies that an element of the film is an unbalanced character.
• The titles stay in the same state, vibrating through the whole of the opening sequence. However the obscure scenes behind them become more disturbing as they continue.  There are pictures of hands with fingers bent at unnatural angles, someone scraping skin off their fingers with a razor… grotesque things to make the audience physically cringe. The audience by this point has been verified that the person in all of these scenes is crazy.
• The writing is mainly white on black, which makes the words easier to read but also could hint at a theme of light and dark, or good and bad. 

The titles appear with its production companies and studios (i.e. New Line Cinema-which is a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Studios) at the beginning, followed by the Director (David Fincher- Golden Globe winning Director of The Social Network) and the cast and then the name of the film. The cast list carries on after the name of the film but the people (Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman) and companies listed before it are given more importance.The credits appear for about 1 and half seconds with 2 or 3 second intervals. This gives the audience time to watch the introduction shots and figure out what kind of atmosphere the movie is trying to present.

We can take ideas of colour from this opening. The black, white and red shades link closely with the dark and disturbing theme of the intro. Our introduction is supposed to have themes of crime and shadiness. We can use lots of shadow and obscure colours to signify the burglars being covered by the darkness. We can also use music to give our opening the right atmosphere like Se7en does with this opening.

The order of titles are:

Production Company
A ... Production
A film by ....
Main Actor #1
Main Actor #2
Title of the Film
(Less crucial) Actress
"                "   Actor
"                "   Actor
"                "   Actor
"                "   Actors (appear at the same time on screen)
Music by....
Costumes Designed by...
Edited by...
Production Designed by...
Director of Photography...
Co-producers...
Co-executive producers...
Executive producers...
Written by...
Produced by...
Directed by...