The Art Of Film Title Design Throughout Cinema History

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/10/04/the-art-of-the-film-title-throughout-cinema-history/


Titles in silent film:
Words and lettering played an enormous role in films of the silent era. Film titles made their appearance in the earliest silent films, along with letter cards (or inter-titles), which provided context.

I found this interesting as it shows the importance of titles in silent films as the titles are one of the only ways to communicate with the audience as the film is silent, andf the only way to communicate would be through titles and actions.

Animation effects:
Animation effects like the ones you see in rotoscopes actually pre-date film. But the power of filmmaking was enormous, and it tempted thousands, including many artists, to try their hand at this new medium. One of the earliest known title animations is seen in the work of J. Stuart Blackton.
“Humorous Phases of Funny Faces” (1906) was directed by J. Stuart Blackton, who many consider to be the father of American animation. Not only is it one of the first animated films, it is among the first to feature an animated opening title, making it a precursor of the modern title sequence

Watching this video was quite interesting. As it shows a very early video of animation. In this video it shows some drawings that move. Also this video  shiws one of the first ever animated films, this style then became very popular in title sequences.

It was also interesting to see that some title sequences were created in this way.

The silence is broken:

 Movie producers invested considerable sums in film production and sometimes resorted to fixing a dog of a film by rewriting the inter-titles.

It seems that here, the importance of titles fonts' became more apparent as mmore money was being spent to create them.

As much as possible, they liked to convey the tone of a movie through the “dressage” of its main title. Thus, blackletter fonts in the opening credits were used to evoke horror, ribbons and flowery lettering suggested love, and typography that would have been used on “Wanted” posters connoted a western flick.

I find this interesting as i can can relate to this and i understand the importance of the font being 'right' to fit the genre of the film. And the font types that are mentioned in the paragraph above make complete sense as more flowy letters do convey romance/ love.

The concept of score visualization first conceived by Oskar Fischinger in his film “Studies” anticipates the effects created by Saul Bass in “The Man With the Golden Arm” (1955) and later by Susan Bradley in “Monsters, Inc” (2001):

I found this interesting as it shows how music can also be an important thing in title sequences as well as the font that is being used. It is also interesting to watch the title sequence for monsters inc, and realise the connection between the music and visuals.



The (True) Birth Of The Title Sequence

Breakthrough ideas in titling, such as timing the typography to interact with metaphorical imagery or to create its own world, were largely innovations that came from outsiders to the Hollywood studio system...
A great draftsman and visual storyteller, Saul Bass ran the gamut of techniques for his title sequences: montage, live action, cut-out paper animation, typography in motion, to name a few. Whatever technique he used, Bass summarized the film as a metaphor that often shone with creativity. 
This was interesting to read as holloywood are usually seen using title sequences like this but it is interesting toknow that this idea did not come from hollywood. Also, this makes you realise how much thought and time goes into title sequences.


The Digital Era, And Modern Trends In Film Title Design
Every sphere of contemporary life — and especially the film business — has been affected by computers.
'Especially the film buisness' This shows how heavily the industry would rely on computer images to create title sequences.



After reading this article, it has made me realise how much the creation of title sequences has developed. From simple lettering to computer generated title sequences. Also i realise how much of an impact Saul Bass has made on the creation of title sequences as he is responsible for many of the different techniques that are still used today in some sequences, although the use of computers has effected the way the titles are created.
This article also shows that Hollywood were not actually the first people to come up with some concepts although some people may think they did as they are such a large company.