My Favorite Film Title/Credit Sequences Part 4

This is my final post in the blog series arc I started a short while ago featuring some my favorite film title or end credit sequences. Hopefully, we'll end it on a high note.

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3

Opening Sequence - Heat: Michael Mann's great 1995 crime saga opening is not very flashy, but it is elegant. The fade in/out titles (using what looks like an old-style label font) follows the entrance of Neil MacCauley from the L.A. Metro-Rail station (while the title song by Kronos Quartet plays in the background). It remains a cool and atmospheric start to this masterwork.

Opening Titles - Heat
by le0pard13

Closing Scene/Credits - Heat: Michael Mann's final scene with the lead actors on the outskirts of LAX (using Moby's God Moving Over the Face of the Waters track to great end and going through to the end credits) is a lasting image from this film. It remains a moving and poignant moment in the film. When I reach this point in the movie, it gets to me every time I watch it.

Closing Credits - Heat
by le0pard13

Main Titles - Star Trek First Contact: The best of The Next Generation movies includes a great visual opening sequence where the blurred titles are pulled back into clarity (with Jerry Goldsmith's grand score playing). It's a great lead-in that then blends into the long pull-back shot from Capt. Picard's iris to the hive of a Borg ship, and to his awakening.

Main Titles - High Plains Drifter: Clint Eastwood's second self-directed film from 1973 begins with the eerie, mirage-like appearance of the "Man With No Name" (with the fearful Dee Barton score played with the titles). The red letters foretell what's coming for the town of Lago, and the stranger's ride in serves to introduce the other principals of the story. For this unique and noirish  western, the titles are "dead on", so to speak. [no embedding allowed, so click the image to watch this on YouTube]




Main Titles - Halloween: John Carpenter's seminal 1978 horror film proves that a film doesn't require expensive design graphics to be effective. The simple, but foreboding, movie titles are enhanced by the director's own one-of-kind score. The camera slowly zooming into the sinister jack 'o lantern's eye is quite a nice touch, and a hallmark for Carpenter.

Michael Myers's first murder - Halloween
by Michael_Myers

Main Titles - Panic Room: David Fincher's film titles from his 2002 thriller are a beautifully realized design and look stunning on the screen. Layed out as though they were naturally built into the scenic New York City high-rise landscape, they are a great homage to North by Northwest main titles. [clicking on the image below will take you to The Art of the Title site's clip of this sequence]




Main Titles - Bullitt: this 1968 Peter Yates-directed crime film included the vanguard of movie car chase sequences, but it also had one of the most stylish opening titles, ever. Pablo Ferro's incredible and clever design sequence (accompanied by a brassy, jazzy Lalo Schifrin theme) incorporates the broad titles moving into/out of the frame, and coolly performing cutout reveals within the titles themselves to the very next scene. Like the star of the film, Steve McQueen, this was the epitome of 60's cool.

My Favorite Film Title/Credit Sequences Part 3

This is my continuation of a blog series arc I started a short while ago featuring my favorite film title or end credit sequences.

• Part 1
• Part 2

Main Title - The Birds: This is the opening titles for Alfred Hitchcock's 1963 suspense masterpiece. The fragmented movie titles play out against the grainy, blurred images and silhouettes of flying birds with only their synthesized sounds as a score. It is quite a unique and eerie start to this tension-filled classic.

Closing Scene - The Birds: This is the closing scene in the suspense classic. This has to be the director's most unexpected, head scratcher of an ending. With the principal players quietly trying to get out of the house and escape, and the birds laying passively in wait with only their eerie sounds heard, it remains a startling scene. And when the survivors drive away, there are no closing credits at all!

Opening Scene/Titles - Pulp Fiction: Quentin Tarantino's second film, released in 1994, had one of the most unexpected of intro's. The seemingly matter-of-fact discussion between a man and woman in a coffee shop that explodes into the profane "This is a robbery..." shouts definitely got your attention. The sudden movie titles and blaring score (Miserlou by Dick Dale) is just unexpectedly great.

Opening Scene - Contact: Robert Zemeckis' 1997 adaptation of Carl Sagan's sci-fi novel includes another extraordinary intro. The opening sequence is a thing of beauty - a long pull back from Earth to the edges of the Universe, to the wonder in a young girl's eye.

Main Titles - North by Northwest: Alfred Hitchcock's 1959 adventure thriller has a classic opening sequence done by the great Saul Bass. The titles hurl across the screen in linear fashion to Bernard Herrman's great score, and title sequence culminates with one of Hitchcock's better cameos. It is a great entertaining introduction to a classic film.

Closing Scene - North by Northwest: This is Hitchcock's fine and thrilling end sequence on Mount Rushmore. When the audience reaches the "The End" title overlay on the closing and very symbolic train and tunnel shot, it is clear that the British director is enjoying one of his classic innuendos.

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My Favorite Film Title/Credit Sequences Part 2

This is my continuation of a blog series arc I started in Part 1 featuring my favorite film title or end credit sequences.

Main Title - Catch Me If You Can: whoever did the titles for Steven Spielberg's 2002 true tale of Frank Abagnale Jr. sure had a playful sense. The mesmerizing 2-D titles and graphics summarize the story in the sequence, and all in perfect tune with a jazzy opening score by John Williams. It exudes a carefree and thoroughly 60's feel.

Closing Credits - Ferris Bueller's Day Off: John Hughes' unexpected end credits to his 1986 teen comedy are wonderfully funny and work well with the story that's been presented. The unpredicted scenes inter-cut with the closing credits made the staying worthwhile, and funny as hell.

Main Title - Charade:  The 1963 mystery comedy with Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn is a favorite of my friend from across the pond, Livius, and mine. As he puts it, "I also love the beginning of Stanley Donen's Charade, as the body is tossed from the train before that superb score and credit sequence kicks in." Those vortex-like graphics, with the accompanying rhythmic Henry Mancini track, is one of the great old-time title sequences in film history.

Main Title - Total Recall: The 1990 Paul Verhoeven film featured some of the best in cascading graphics. The translucent movie titles are driven to the pulsing beat of Jerry Goldsmith's larger-than-life score. It is a rousing opening for this sci-fi actioner.

Total Recall (Opening Titles)
by NakedBrotha2007

Main Title - Blade Runner: Ridley Scott's 1982 film may have relatively simple titles on the screen in its opening sequence, but the look of it (along with the eerie and distinctive Vangelis score) make it unforgettable. What comes after the LOS ANGELES NOVEMBER, 2019 title has to be one of the all-time best cityscape eyeopeners ever for audiences.




Main Title - The Thing From Another World and John Carpenter's The Thing: I was going to look-up the iconic title sequence from each of these film classics (since they are such favorites of mine), but I discovered it was already done, recently (and a whole lot better than I ever could have) by the fine folks over at The Art of the Title Sequence. Who are they?

A compendium and leading web resource of film and television title design from around the world. We honor the artists who design excellent title sequences. We discuss and display their work with a desire to foster more of it, via stills and video links, interviews, creator notes, and user comments.

Featuring opening title design for film and television from Croatia, New Zealand, Serbia, Russia, the United States, Brazil, England, France, India, Japan, Italy, Chile, Mexico, Yugoslavia and Egypt.

Their Feb. 22nd post covers both films (including clips of the "Two fine fire melt title reveals"), and an interview with a young title designer, Krystian Morgan, who created a new experimental sequence of the film based on Carpenter's vision. If you enjoy watching or analyzing the special graphic and motion art of title sequences, this is the web site you must visit.

My Favorite Film Title/Credit Sequences Part 1

Image via Wikipedia

When I was a kid growing up watching movies at a local theater, I couldn't wait until the main titles were through and off of the screen. I thought they held up the movie, especially if it was one I really wanted to see. Yes, I had no patience, then. [wife: "You have it, now?"] I think it was during my college days that I began to appreciate the creativity behind those titles, or end credits. The playful use of graphics, music and motion (or fonts) that were on display in the really great ones, lent to the story that was on-hand. Or sometimes, the main titles gave a brooding foreshadowing of what was to come via whatever method the skilled designers behind them employed. Whether it was subtle, or blatant, those sequences could and did mesmerize me. It would be years later that I'd learn about some of the masters of this special art, like Saul Bass and Maurice Bender (and if you've ever seen any of the older James Bond movies, you've seen this man's excellent work). In other words (and especially when they're great), I've come to genuinely enjoy, and look forward to, the main title sequences and/or the closing end credits of the movies I take in. Here are some of my favorites, in no order or ranking:

Main Title - The Wild Bunch: this is the now famous (and fabulous) entrance of the "Wild Bunch" into a quiet southwestern border town. Peckinpah's use of the black & white titles, via intercuts and freeze frames, are just so elegantly done. It is a truly effective sequence with the clear message that these are very serious, violent people encased on the screen. Any illusion to the contrary is surely ended when the director's title credit comes across on Pike Bishop's (William Holden) order:

"If they move, kill'em!"

The Wild Bunch: Opening Titles
by le0pard13

Main Title - Superman (The Movie): This is the great translucent graphic main titles director Richard Donner used for his now classic 1978 comic book adaptation. Those swooshing title images (a clear reference to the main character) cutting across the screen is augmented by John Williams' heroic score leading the way. It is as good as it gets for a superhero movie introduction, then or now.

Superman: The Movie (Opening Titles)
by NakedBrotha2007

Closing Credits - Angel Heart: This is the closing credits from Alan Parker's 1987 film, Angel Heart. It is the movie adaptation of the novel Falling Angel by William Hjortsberg. The dark, contrasty images of Harry Angel's "elevator ride to Hell" are intercut with the closing credits, along with creaking sounds and sinister musical score. All of it, make this closing sequence well worth staying to the end for.

Angel Heart: Closing Credits
by le0pard13

Main Titles - Alien: This is the famous slow fade-in of the film title sequence in director Ridley Scott's 1979 sci-fi/horror classic, Alien. The title appearance is played across the top of the screen (with the interstellar expanse as a backdrop), moving from out to in (hint, hint). Jerry Goldstein's eerie score lets everyone know what they're in for, too.

Alien Opening Titles
by le0pard13

Opening Title - Duel at Diablo: Ralph Nelson's 1966 western, with its bloody Apache knives cutting across the opening black screen is one of the best (and most grim) western preludes ever. It sets up what's to come in a most effective and direct manner possible.



Main Titles - The Outlaw Josey Wales: This is the main title sequence from Clint Eastwood's early masterpiece from 1976, The Outlaw Josey Wales. After the pillage of the Wales homestead, the simple titles are overlaid on the scenes of the avenging Missouri guerrillas on horseback. All of it done to the marching score by Jerry Fielding. It's a great introductory sequence and it provides the backstory of the main character. As well, it uses some of the best of Bruce Surtee's beautiful cinematography.

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