It's all about the titling

In our last few lessons, we have been looking at titling and how it can create a real atmosphere for what the film is about. A viewer can gather an idea of the plot, genre and sometimes the characters just by the titling. In class we looked at David Fincher's 'Se7en', Stanley Kubrick's 'The Shining' and Martin Scorsese's 'Taxi Driver'. We looked at not only how the style of the titling defines certain things about the film but also the timing of how each individual or group of individuals were introduced (e.g. the director, the producers etc.).

We were then given the task of watching a few title sequences and noting the timing of when people are introduced. I looked at Steven Spielberg's 'Catch Me If You Can', Guy Ritchie's 'Sherlock Holmes', Tim Burton's 'Edward Scissorhands' and Jay Roach's 'Austin Powers in Goldmember'.

CATCH ME IF YOU CAN
The titling of 'Catch me if you can' is totally animated. It gives the reader an idea to the plot as they see an animated character being chased and changing into different forms. The director is mentioned both at the beginning and end of the title sequence. Below is the timing for when people were introduced in minutes and seconds.

(times according to artofthetitle.com)

00.01 – Music starts
00.05 – Dreamworks Pictures Presents
00.10 – A Kemp Company and Splendid Pictures production
00.15 – A Parkes/MacDonald production
00.21 – A Steven Spielberg film
00.26 – Leonardo DiCaprio
00.30 – Tom Hanks
00.47 – Catch me if you can (Film Title)
00.52 – Christopher Walken
00.56 – Martin Sheen
01.01 – Nathalie Baye
01.07 – Amy Adams
01.19 – James Brolin, Brian Howe, Frank John Hughes
01.24 – Steve Eastin, Chris Ellis, John Finn
01.35 – Casting by Debra Zane, CSA & Casting Associate: Terri Taylor
01.38 – Co-Producer: Devorah Moos-Hankin
01.41 – Based upon the book by Frank W. Abagnale & With Stan Redding
01.45 – Titles by Kuntzel Deygas
01.51 – Music by John Williams
01.56 – Costume Designer: Mary Zophres
02.00 – Film Editor: Michael Kahn, A.C.E
02.04 – Production Designer: Jeannine Oppewall
02.09 – Director of Photography: Janusz Kaminski, ASC
02.13 – Co-executive Producer: Daniel Lupi
02.20 – Executive Producers: Barry Kemp and Laurie MacDonald
02.23 – Executive Producers: Michel Shane and Tony Romano
02.28 – Produced by: Steven Spielberg and Walter F. Parkes
02.32 – Screenplay by Jeff Nathanson
02.36 – Directed by Steven Spielberg

 

SHERLOCK HOLMES

I really love the titles of 'Sherlock Holmes', even though they are ending credits and not opening credits, they are so creative and aesthetically pleasing to look at. Screenshots from the film are taken and created into a graphic image before your eyes. The image looks authentic to the period in which the film in set. Below is the timing.

(times according to youtube.com/watch?v=RkbaVneANrU)

 

00.00 – Music starts

00.06 – Directed by Guy Ritchie

00.11 – Screenplay by Michael Robert Johnson, Anthony Peckham and Simon Kinberg

00.16 – Screen story by Lionel Wigram and Michael Robert Johnson

00.21 – Produced by Joel Silver, Lionel Wigram, Susan Downey & Dan Lin

00.27 – Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson were created by the late Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and appear in stories and novels by him.

00.33 – Executive producers: Michael Tadross and Bruce Berman

00.38 – Co-producer: Steve Clark-Hall

00.43 – Director of Photography: Philippe Rousselot, AFC/ASC

00.49 – Production designer: Sarah Greenwood

00.53 – Editor: James Herbert

01.00 – Robert Downey Jr.

01.02 – Sherlock Holmes (Film title)

01.06 – Jude Law

01.10 – Rachel McAdams

01.14 – Mark Strong

01.18 – Eddie Marsan

01.22 – Kelly Reilly

01.26 – James Fox, Hans Matheson & Geraldine James

01.30 – Casting by Reg Poerscout-Edgerton

01.34 – Music by Hans Zimmer & Music produced by Hans Zimmer and Lorne Balfe

01.40 – Costumes designer: Jenny Beavan

01.43 – Visual Effects Supervisor: Chas Jarrett

01.49 – A Warner Bros. Pictures production

01.52 – In association with Village Roadshow Pictures

01.56 – A Silver Pictures production

02.00 – A Wigram production

02.05 – A Guy Ritchie film



Sherlock Holmes End Credits on Youtube

Unfortunately the video I wanted to link to my blog showing the end credits of 'Sherlock Holmes' would show up so I have had to use a hyperlink instead.

EDWARD SCISSORHANDS

Again, the titling for Edward Scissorhands is pretty much all animated. It creates quite an eerie feel to the film yet the music makes the viewer feel as if there is some innocence to it, just like the character of Edward. Below is the timing.

(times according to artofthetitle.com)

00.01 – Music starts

00.02 – 20^th Century Fox logo

00.20 – Twentieth Century Fox presents

00.25 – A Tim Burton film

00.33 – Edward Scissorhands (Film title)

00.52 – Johnny Depp

00.56 – Winona Ryder

01.01 – Dianne Wiest

01.06 – Anthony Michael Hall

01.12 – Kathy Baker

01.16 – Robert Oliveri

01.21 – Conchata Ferrell & Caroline Aaron

01.26 – Dick Anthony Williams & O-Lan Jones

01.32 – Vincent Price as the inventor

01.37 – and Alan Arkin

01.42 – Music by Danny Elfman

01.47 – Casting by Victoria Thomas

01.52 – Costume designer: Colleen Atwood

01.58 – Special makeup and Scissorhands effects produced by Stan Winston

02.03 – Edited by Richard Halsey, A.C.E

02.12 – Production designer: Bo Welch

02.17 – Director of Photography: Stefan Czapsky

02.22 – Executive producer: Richard Hashimoto

02.27 – Story by Tim Burton & Caroline Thompson

02.32 – Screenplay by Caroline Thompson

02.38 – Produced by Denise Di Novi & Tim Burton

02.43 – Directed by Tim Burton

AUSTIN POWERS IN GOLDMEMBER

The opening credits of 'Austin Powers in Goldmember' take place within a musical montage. The whole scene is hilarious and the credits stand out in bright colours and a very hippie-esque font. Below is the timing.

(times according to youtube.com/watch?v=FhPkkHuovFY)

 

00.00 – Music starts

00.04 – Mike Myers

00.14 – Austin Powers in Goldmember (film title)

00.24 – Beyoncé Knowles

00.26 – Seth Green

00.32 – Michael York

00.37 – Robert Wagner

00.43 – Mindy Sterling

00.45 – Verne Troyer

00.51 – And Michael Caine as Nigel Powers

00.56 – Casting by Juel Bestrop, CSA & Jeanne McCarthy, CSA

01.05 – Austin introduces Quincy Jones who is conducting an orchestra who are playing the title music

01.22 – Choreography by Marguerite Derricks

01.27 – Visual Effects Supervisor: David D. Johnson

01.30 – Music Supervisor: John Houlihan

01.41 – Executive Music producer: Danny Bramson

01.45 – Music by George S. Clinton

01.54 – Costumes designed by Deena Appel

02.08 – Edited by Jon Poll & Greg Hayden

02.31 – Production designer: Rusty Smith

02.34 – Director of Photography: Peter Deming, ASC

02.37 – Co-producer: Gregg Taylor

02.41 – Executive producers: Toby Emmerich and Richard Brener

02.45 – Produced by Suzanne Todd, Jennifer Todd, Demi Moore and Eric McLeod

02.55 – Produced by John Lyons and Mike Myers

02.58 – Written by Mike Myers and Michael McCullers

03.02 – Directed by Jay Roach

Note: this video below is not the same video I used to work out the timing as when I searched for it, Blogger could not find the video I originally used.