Opening titles are something that are often overlooked by a general movie going audience. However they can be extremely effective and evocative of the film to follow. When special attention is put into producing them, for instance using a suitable design of fonts and graphics, opening title sequences can be a highlight.
As we can identity from these examples of title sequences, as well as many others, the standard order of credits are as follows:
- [Distributor/s] presents
- A [Production Company/ies] production
- A [Director/s] film
- [Leading actors in order of importance]
- [Title of film]
- [Supporting cast]
Which are then followed by a number of leading technical crew-members, for example:
- Music by [Composer/s]
- Director of photography [D.P.]
- Screenplay by [Writer/s]
- Produced by [Producer/s]
And typically the opening credits end with:
- Directed by [Director]
However for our opening sequence of "Sins Of The Martyr", we discussed and came to the conclusion that the title would be more effective if it was the final credit in the sequence, somewhat subverting the conventions, and reducing over-exposure of myself and Nicholas Ashurst's names, which are featured on almost every credit prior due to our rather large role in the production.
Both opening sequences, "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" and "Quantum Of Solace" feature striking imagery and visuals, and the fonts and lettering are an integral part of that. While the former uses a more stylized font which is in keeping with its themes, the latter has a thicker more contemporary look, which we ended up going for. I selected a font that I felt was rather appropriate.
The font 'Revolution' was suitable as it is quite bold and clean, and evocative of the modern thriller feel. I used size and spacing of the letters to create emphasis of names. The cast and crew credits are all written in this particular font, while the font of the title is a variation that looks eroded. There are similarities between our logo and the logo for 2012 film "Skyfall", from which we drew inspiration from in a number of aspects.
The website Art of the Title was also an in-depth and useful tool in exploring the often extensive process behind creating the title sequences for popular films.