Structure of Title sequences

The Italian Job

We studied the 'Italian Job' title sequence to research how the openings of films were structured. The title sequence for this film was 2 mins 21 seconds. The structure was as follows: -

• Production company logo: - Paramount, well-known and popular production company.
• Main Actors names appear with keyhole images of iconography. These images included maps, a plan of some sort, magnifying glass and establishes the city - Venice.
• Introduces Characters

Se7en

We studied the title sequence of se7en from second to second to see how it is structured and how long the clips or images are shown for.

Seconds               Image

2 seconds           - Extreme close-up of an open book.
3 seconds           - "New line cinema presents" over previous image.
7 seconds           - Intertitle - Black screen & "an Arnold Kopelson production" in white font.
8 seconds           - Close up on distorted hands - black and white.
13 seconds         - Intertitle - "Brad Pitt" in a hand written type of font
16 seconds         - Close up on fingers holding a blade
18 seconds         - Intertitle - "Morgan Freeman"
23 seconds         - Title of film "se7en" with streaky white lines on left side.
24 seconds         - Title flashes bigger.
29 seconds         - "Gwyneth Paltrow" over image of book opening
34 seconds         - "Richard Roundtree" over close-up image of pen writing on paper
36 seconds         - Red Filter
39 seconds         - Extreme close up of scissors cutting negative film.
43 seconds         - Black and white photographs
52 seconds         - Open book turning pages with a shadow of hand.
54 seconds         - Actors names
61 seconds         - Point of view shot - black marker pen crossing out words in book.
71 seconds         - Black background with boys face having eyes crossed out and names in
                             foreground.
74 seconds         - Boys face scribbled out with red filter
76 seconds         - Photo with red filter at top and pen on paper at bottom with no filter.
79 seconds         - Negative film and book
85 seconds         - Close up on thumbs and hookswith titles.
88 seconds         - Close-up on thumbs placing binding hooks.
90 seconds         - Photographs stuck on paper.
96 seconds         - Close up on dirty thumbs playing with a needle.
102 seconds       - Close-up of threading needle
107 seconds       - Binding pages together - threading
118 seconds       - Close up on a range of photographs
121 seconds       - Close up of the word "God" being cut out
127 seconds       - End of Title sequence

The title sequence shows close-ups of books, photos and blades. This gives us a clue as to what to expect in the film which is danger. These are all iconography of this film as it is a crime drama.

1408

Seconds               Image

14 seconds - Black screen with white font saying "Dimension Films Presents"
29 seconds - White font saying "John Cusack" on an Extreme Long shot of Road at night with car headlights in distance. Pathetic Fallcy is used. Weather sets tone (Raining) and Low key lighting
35 seconds - Camera pans across screen revealing more of the road. White font appears "Samuel L. Jackson.

42 seconds - Title '1408' blend around the title appears in time with music and fades in with the cars 

headlights.

45 seconds - Camera tracks the Car reversing - suggests he is lost?

53 seconds - Close-up on Bloke flashing torch.

59 seconds - Close up of bloke looking at a map.
75 seconds - Car pulling up outside house in woods. Isolated therefore connoting horror.
77 seconds - Same as previous shot but with white font "Len Cariou" and "Isiah Whitlock" on back
window.

84 seconds - Long shot of man running across bridge in terrential rain.
87 seconds - More zoomed out Long shot of man running across bridge. Isolated - surrounded by trees and river seems almost moat like. Connoting Horror.
91 seconds - White font "Jasmine Jessica Anthony" on shot of Large house/hotel through arch of trees
almost although someone is hiding and watching the house.
94 seconds - P.O.V shot but not from man, feeling of a mystery presence.
97 seconds - Switches to shot of inside the hotel. Very old-fashioned decor, obvious change in lighting
as it becomes high key and almost comforting.
106 seconds - Dialogue of Mike checking into hotel reception.
119 seconds - Shot reverse shot between old couple and man. Dialogue exchanged "I think you'll probably wanna hear about our haunted history".