Art Of The Title

 

 For this task we had to look at a film's opening title sequence on Art Of The Title and analyse the length of the title and the presentation of the cast and production teams names in the opening sequence. I then had to summarise the opening scene at the end (at bottom of page).

Captain America: Civil War - Main Titles from Michael Burke on Vimeo.



For the first three seconds (00:00-00:03) the directors names are on the screen in bold silver writing against a darker background, there is also a shadow around the writing which makes it clearer to see as it stands out.

 

Between 00:03-00:07 the Screenplay writers names were on screen with the same font and style of writing.

The producers name was on screen for three seconds (00:07-00:10)

 

The executive producers are on screen for 8 seconds but are split between three different cuts/shots (00:010-00:18)

 

The Comic Book writers are then on screen for three seconds (00:18-00:21).

 

The Co-Producers name is then on screen, followed by the associate producer, the director of photography, the production designer, the editors, the costume designer, the Visual Effects supervisor, the Visual Effects Producer, the Musician, the Music Supervisor, the casting director, all of which appear on screen for three seconds each, totalling to 33 seconds (00:21-00:54).

 

The Actors names then appear on screen on their own for three seconds each also, each actor has the shot to themselves (00:54-01:41).

 

Finally, the Production Companies name appears on screen for three seconds (01:41-01:44).

Before the screen fades to black before the Main Title appears for 5 seconds (01:44-01:49).

 

The film opening begins quite suddenly with a swift fade in transition straight into the title screen. The action music/superhero theme starts straight away from this point. The background used in the opening scene is presumably computer generated or partly due to the style of it, the background seems to be broken concrete, as if it is the result of a battle through a city or urban area, there is also a lot of rubble and rocks on the ground too, also implying this. The Opening Scene certainly has elements of CGI as there are shadows being formed and moving around to create certain shapes from the light being shined onto the rubble. The general key colour throughout the opening scene is a concrete grey colour with low light which allows the bright, shiny text to stand out on top of it.

The font used looks like a custom or private licensed font, but is very bold and stands out in front of the darker background as it is a light silver/grey and reflects the light shining onto it. The font is a impactful bold font which clearly shows that it is a serious action film as opposed to a comedy film or a narrative font where a lighter or more comedic font might be used (i.e. a curly font or thin font).
The font only changes at the end of the opening scene where the main title of the film is on screen. The font changes style and colour to a bold dark red saying "Captain America" which stands out against the background which is still the grey cracked concrete, however the second part of the title is indented into the floor saying "Civil War".

The only sound used throughout the opening scene is an action/adventure style of music that suits the theme of a superhero movie and has a generic sound/tune to it that is generally associated with this style of movie. The tune slowly builds up until the end of the opening scene then ends when the screen goes black after the main title is presented on screen. This use of music instantly tells us the kind of film this is going to be and what the target audience is.

From this opening scene I have learnt that in order to have a successful opening scene you do not need to use live action footage, this opening scene successfully builds up suspense but not a large amount of it as opposed to a live action opening scene. I have also learnt that the text needs to be bold and stand out against the background so that anyone can read the credits for the film. As well as this I have learnt that the music used in the opening scene (if any) needs to suit the style of the film and needs to build up the opening scene well for the actual film.