Thursday, April 16, 2009

Awesome Movie Title Sequences

Many of the team here at FG HQ are movie fans. I myself am a loser for title sequences in movies and over the years there have been some epic intros to movies. An astounding title sequence will catch your breath from the first second and immediately put you in the right mood for what follows. Today I am listing my favourite movie intro titles. This list is by no means a list of the best movie title sequences, it’s MY list. Feel free to recommend more titles though. David Fincher Title Sequences David Fincher is a specialist and usually pulls all stops out when creating title sequences. Therefore he deserves no less than 3 mentions in our list. Fight Club The title sequence in Fight Club is not eternally heralded as his best title sequence but defines the spirit of the movie from the first second: fast, mind-screwing (psychedelic almost) and full of delightful visuals. The title sequence was budgetted separately from the movie and the budget was only granted after the first movie previews were shown to the studio. Panic Room The title sequence of Panic Room is rather simple but has a mysterious feel to it. The title sequence is composed of shots of Manhattan with the names of the actors. Simple but it works well and creates a perfect ambiente for what follows. Seven The title sequence of Seven is probably one of the best title sequences in history. As soon as the sequence starts you realize that this movie is something different, you are going to watch something special. Weird and practically gory. This thriller will rock your socks! Saul Bass Saul Bass is more than just a name when it comes to titles sequences. Bass was the first one to make an faculty out of title sequences, he’s a legend. It would be way too boring and make our list too long if we added all the intro sequences by Saul Bass, so I will limit myself to only two. Vertigo The Master, Alfred Hitchcock, himself has worked regularly with Saul Bass, this resulting in several formidable title sequences. Although most of times the intro sequence of Psycho mentioned is to illustrate this formidable collaboration, I in actuality do prefer the work Bass did for the Vertigo opening credits. North by Northwest I don’t think this title and intro sequence requires any more information as it is mentioned on every single list. 37Signals. Tomas Cobb: The Island of Dr. Moreau There probably is very little one has to know to this movie. The movie was utterly uninteresting and boring, some might call it amusing, but the intro to the movie is ace and contains some astounding type motion. Dominic Sena: Swordfish The intro sequence of Swordfish admittedly lacked in creativity but the content, John Travolta’s dialogue, was so much better for it: biting criticism on Hollywood’s quality… in a Hollywood blockbuster. Casino Royale Casino Royale was the 21st film of the James Bond franchise and the first one with Daniel Craig. The reboot of the franchise was not only a great movie in the real Bond spirit with an formidable Craig. For the title sequence Daniel Kleinman used the original design of Ian Fleming’s Casino Royale, using cards and hearts. In the intro credits the silhouettes of the actors were integrated in the shadows of several digitally lively sequences. Kyle Cooper: Mimic Mimic is a 1997 science fiction horror movie directed by Guillermo del Toro. The title sequence make subtle usage of typography, insects and repeated patters. Although Guillermo del Toro not happy was with the movie, this intro is definitely worthwhile. We could not find an embeddable version of the intro, click the image below to watch the title sequence at The Art of the Title. Image credits: The Art of the Title Trainspotting is an often forgotten title sequence, mainly because of the very strong toilet scene immediately after the title credits. The intro perfectly resumes the pace and ridiculousity/hilarity of the movie at times though. Catch Me If You Can As far as I’m concerned a rather forgettable movie by Spielberg if it weren’t for the catching Pink Panther-alike title sequence. The Fall The Fall is what you get when you combine some of the best directors of the last 2 decades: Spike Jonze, David Fincher and Tarsem Singh. Make everything in black and white and you’re sure not to be disappointed. Lord of War The intro sequence of Lord of War can be resumed in some words only: Life of a bullet. In these few minutes you get taken on the bullet cam and follow the complete manufacturing process of a bullet Dawn of The Dead: Remake Zack Snyder’s remake start with an epic title sequence. Natural Born Killers Oliver Stone’s rendition of Tarantino’s script was full of wicked imaginery and ardency, spiced up with lots of humour. The title scene to this thriller is no exception to this. The Naked Gun 33 1/3 Most hilarious title sequence ever.

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