As a design nerd, some of the best parts of watching a movie for me are the opening credits, or titles. Often times they are a film’s afterthought, but sometimes they rise to become standalone art pieces, mini-films unto themselves. Here is a very brief look at some impressive movie titles.
I was happy to see a number of websites devoted solely to movie titles. Watch the Titles is a site with great depth and insight into title design.
Some excellent creepiness going on in the intro to Stanley Kubrick’s ‘The Shining’.
The intro credits to David Fincher’s breakout film Se7en are seen as more influential than maybe any other.
Via Watch the Titles
Main title designer Kyle Cooper has been credited as the man who single-handedly revitalized the main title sequence as an art form. His groundbreaking title sequence for Se7en (1995) changed the way we look and think about title design today and is arguably the most imitated main title ever made. The Se7en title sequence was hailed by New York Times Magazine as “One of the most important design innovations of the 1990s”.
“It seemed to me that when Saul Bass did The Man with the Golden Arm everybody said ‘Wow! Main titles can be more then just this utilitarian thing that we have to get out of the way. Somebody does something and it reminds people of what the potentialities are in a particular field. That’s what people have said to me about Se7en – they saw it and it made them want to be a title designer. A lot of that was about timing. Main title sequences were behind of what was happening in print in terms of typography and music videos and commercials. They felt a little bit dated. In the last fifteen years, myself and the designers that I’ve worked with have tried to be in touch with what else was happening creatively and to do main titles that were raising the bar.”
