Film Title Design: Research

Before the 1950's film titles were not very often, or if they were, low quality. But this all changed when sound in films was introduced and titles began to get more elaborate. And then since the 1960's it became an art form in itself, with many critics claiming "Forget the film and watch the titles." There are even a number of blogs/websites that just talk about film titles alone now. One of these is Art Of The Title: http://www.artofthetitle.com/ that gives a history on the titles, reviews and interviews with the people who made them. Well worth having a look at.

Here is a clever video that shows some of the most iconic titles in film making.

Most all film titles have some form of stylised, written words that flow with the film. Typography word coming from the greeks with typos-form and graphe-writing. The end products for alot of typography can be beautiful and this is also considered art now too, with alot of modern artists basing their work around words.

Here is the opening credits to a thriller: The Purge

Overall it really does the film justices and is very visually pleasing. The music is un-conventional giving a sort of comedy element to the opening. However if I have one thing to pick at, it would be the placement of the typography. It would have been clever to have the names appear as part of the already visual text 'security cam' bars. The shots used in this all give the audience a sense of what they are about to see and to some it may be off putting but other may have gotten more interested in it.

So to be quite honest, when I look at titles everything just sort of has to fit together for me. No edging your way round something and also needs to draw me in as a viewer.