Task 6 - Analysing Title Sequences (Artofthetitle.com)

In this post, I am going to be analysing two different title sequences from the website Artofthetitle.com

My first chosen title sequence is from the classic film, Saturday Night Fever, starring the handsome hearthrob, John Travolta. So, the film starts with a wide angle shot of the famous New York City behind the name of the production studio, Paramount Pictures, that slowly fades in eight seconds later.  This type of title sequence is form the category; titles on moving images as the images behind seem to be moving like the cars and the trains which are shown after. This continues throughout the opening film sequence. Shortly after the San Fransico bridge shown, the name of the production company, Robert Stigwood, is shown. The titles seem to be in bold Arial font style with a bright red colour which at first, seemed to indicate blood and maybe violence. However, this is contradicted as the song "Staying Alive" starts to play, which is usually played in discos and parties. This hints at the theme of the film which could be a musical. 

(A snapshot of the name of the production studio, "Paramount Pictures")

(Below is another snapshot of the director's name, "Robert Stigwood")

After the director's name is shown to inform the audience of who's film it is, we can hear the sounds of trains moving and as we see the different camera angles circuling a train, we later see the first cast member's name being introduced, John Travolta. This informs the audience that he is the main charater of the film.

Shortly after his name is introduced, the scene changes from a train station to what seems to be the character's shoes shown walking, almost dancing as if the character can hear the non-diegetic music.  Also, shortly after the shoes are shown, the title, "Saturday Night Fever" then pops up in a brighter red colour, almost neon-like. The word "Fever" keeps on popping in and out, which looks like a club sign in a disco. This indicates that the plot of the film will be about discotheques and dancing. Whats interesting about the title is that its font style and structure different from the titles at the start of the film. The font appears to be stylized in an italic manner to match the theme of the film, dance. As for the structure, the word "Saturday" seems to be kneeling down, as if it is falling. This playful method makes it look as if the word is dancing. The main character is later shown wearing disco-styled clothing. This adds more rhythm to the film and also highlights the main theme which is dance.

 

(Here is the main character shown wearing disco clothing. The colour red seems to be appearing a lot in the film since the shirt is also red)

(Below is the title of the film shown, "Saturday Night Fever")

After the title appears, the second cast member's name is shown. This also indicates that this is another main characeter as it is seperate from the other cast members' names that are shown later, just like John Travolta's name at the start. 

 (The picture on the left shows the second main character's name, "Karen Lynn Gorney")

(Below is the rest of the cast members' names) 

(As the cast members are introduced, the main character is shown looking at this woman in an arousing manner which suggests that there will be a hint of romance in the film)

After the cast members are introduced, the rest of the crew such as the musical numbers and choreographers, the executive photographers, the editor,  the screenplay and the executive producers. The last name introoduced is the director's name, John Badham. This is significant as the audience are informed of who directed the film. Also, the crew that took longer to introduce were the musical editors. This is because the theme of the movie is dance, so it there must have been many effort put into the music and as a result, extra credit are given to the  musical crew members. 

To the right is the name of the director of the photography. Below is the crew for the musical numbers and choreographers, the names of the songs used in the film and the additional music editors. The fifth picture down is name of the producer. Below that is the name of the editor, the screen play and the exexcutive producer. The director's name, John Badham is the last title that is shown. This is so that the audience know and remember who directed the film.

Below is the second title sequence of the film, "Magnum P.I" that I will be analysing.

For this film, the type of sequence used is the titles on moving images as it begins with a helicopter flying as the title, "Magnum P.I" is introduced.

 

Unlike most title sequence that introduce crew members, production crew, studio name,producers, director,etc. This film seems to only introduce the title and the cast members' names. It does not seem like a movie but like a tv series that does not require a lot of credits being given. However, even though theere seems to be little title sequences shown, the plot and genre is clear through the moving images shown. For example, the first thing we see is the helicopter flying above the surface of the sea which indicates action.   

 

 On the left and below are the cast members being introduced. The first character indicates that he is the main persona in the film. This is because he appears the most in the opening. In addition to this, the fim opening begins and ends with the first character that is introduced, highlighting his imoprtance.

 In this screenshot, there appears to be a gun which symbolises violence and murder. This gives clues to the audience that the genre of the film is action.