Here’s a fun one for screenwriters to ponder…
Walking by the big screen TV in the lavish headquarters of STC! Industries the other day (right next to the solarium and the handball court), I saw that Austin Powers in Goldmember was on. The title sequence includes a faux Austin Powers movie featuring Tom Cruise, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Kevin Spacey, and is highlighted by a swinging backlot tour as Austin drops in on a variety of genres in the process of being filmed. (My favorite part was Steven Spielberg telling Austin that his pal, Oscar, liked the shot just the way it was.)
The title sequence was perfect for this movie… and while the screenwriter was Mike Myers himself and he has control over such things, the title sequence is mostly not the writer’s call.
And yet…
The opening titles can really add a delightful boost to start the proceedings. It’s a way for us in the audience to settle into our comfy, ju-ju-bee-ridden velvet chairs, and think…. This is gonna be good!
What is your favorite title sequence? This can include the grabber before the titles which the James Bond series is famous for (my fave is still the Pierce Brosnon-starring GoldenEye for sheer breathtaking whoa!! how’d they do that?)
It’s Thursday. It’s a crisp fall day here in lovely Beverly Hills (Hey, you lowly millionaires get away from my Bentley!), so it seemed like the perfect moment to think about Fading In…
Your thoughts would look great in the comments section, yes, right here…
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One of the most compelling opening sequences has to be from the movie “Trainspotting.” The opening chase scene with V.O. dialog that introduces the characters is a great hook, making it impossible (well almost) to look away!
The title sequence has to set the tone for the film. It’s almost like a little teaser that prepares us for what’s to come.
My favourite and one that changed title sequences forever: Seven.
I only have time for one but who could ever forget the opening to Monty Python and the Holy Grail?! Perfect!
Been watching alot of Rom Coms, lately, as I’m trying to write one, myself.
Woody Allen’s “Manhattan” has a cool title sequence: awesome b&w shots of Manhattan while Woody does voice overs. It’s great to look at and sets the tone for the film.
Hmm,
I might want to throw my first vote out to,
“The Player” 1992. but I may thinks of some other, but that will work for now.
JD
Pure pass-the-popcorn-this-is-going-to-be-a-hoot credit sequence: Naked Gun.
I’m with Matthys. SEVEN was the most terrifying title sequence I’ve ever seen and has been emulated repeatedly by horror films.
“Catch Me If You Can” has a great title sequence, sort of in the same vein as the Pink Panther animated title sequences of the past. Two other Spielberg flicks, “Minority Report” and “Indian Jones & The Last Crusade” (remember River Phoenix?) both have great opening sequences.
The one that pops to mind is “The Shawshank Redemption”, with Andy Dufresne’s trial broken into snippets intercut with elements of the opening credits.
~Kurt
Here are some movie titles from the
New York Film Festival – 14 October 2007.
They don’t grab me.
Maybe “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead†and “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”.
“The Darjeeling Limited” – Wes Anderson’s comedy
“No Country for Old Men†– Joel and Ethan Coen’s adaptation of Cormac McCarthy
“Margot at the Wedding” – Noah Baumbach
“Paranoid Park” – Gus Van Sant
“Redacted” – Brian De Palma
“I’m Not There” – Todd Haynes
“The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” – Julian Schnabel
“Go Go Tales” – Abel Ferrara
“Married Life” – Ira Sachs
“Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project” – John Landis
“The Axe in the Attic” – Ed Pincus and Lucia Small
“Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead†– Sidney Lumet
The 40-year-old Virgin had pretty classic image in the first few minutes. Can you say — stunt double?
A more classy opening… I love the series of auditions that open Tootsie.
PAYBACK: nifty little noir film by Brian Helgeland. Titles roll over Mel Gibson getting slugs taken out of his back by Dr. Kildare from hell. Also of note….
SPEED: inside an elevator shaft as titles roll over a dropping lift. Very effective!
The title sequence in Once Upon a Time in the West, directed by Sergio Leone, is magnificent. Leone’s director credit drops down like a railguard on the screen just as the train holding Harmonica comes to stop.
No one has mentioned Star Wars, but that’s probably because it’s a given and need not be mentioned.
Here are two of my favorites that have a very brief, riveting scene that grabs you and shows you what you’re in for:
War Games – It’s a vignette that doesn’t feature any characters we see again, but the tension between the two men that have to simultaneously turn keys to launch a nuclear missile sets the tone for the whole movie.
Mission: Impossible 3 – It’s a flash forward. Tom Cruise is tied and gagged and Philip Seymour Hoffman counting down to shooting his girlfriend right in front of him becomes the countdown to the start of the film. The only movie that ever caused me to dig nail marks into the armrests in the first 30 seconds.
Though I’m not a fan of the movie, I think the opening credits of “Farenheit 451” was brilliant – there is a narrator who reads all of the credits (since written words are outlawed in this futuristic society). I hear they’re remaking this movie – this is the one element I hope they keep the same.
I’m with Shane with “Catch Me If You Can”. I also liked the short but effective title sequence to “The Talented Mr. Ripley”, where the word “talented” was replaced with a quick sequence of other words like troubled, lonely, mysterious, confused, sensitive, etc. It really set the stage for Matt Damon’s complex character. I also love the Wes Anderson movie opening titles. They always set the stage for his movies perfectly, in my opinion.
Napoleon Dynamite also had a great title sequence, with the plates of food coming in and out of frame with the credits arranged on them.
“Spiderman 2” was pretty good, summarizing as it did all the salient points of “Spiderman 1”. Plus it honored the Marvel comic franchise to boot with that great artwork.
Loved “Catch me if you can” with that great artwork and catch-me-will-he-won’t-he signature theme. Excellent! Ditto “Inside Man”.
But I liked all those because they were beautiful to behold & set the mood well.
We just got back from seeing “The Kingdom” and I gotta say that too was a great opening – the challenge? To summarize the entire Middle East relationship. Very good!
I’m working on horror right now – studying my “Monster House” selections. I really liked how “Hostel” opens up. Just very simply – cleaning up. Washing the nasty-looking instruments. Hosing out the stall. Sterilizing. Washing up – Blood down the drain. It sets the mood perfectly, and then the movie switches gears and is not scary for the next 20 minutes, but you know without a doubt what lies ahead.
On the flip side – I have a two year-old daughter who loves “Monsters, Inc.” – needless to say that sucker is cued up in the DVD player quite often. That opening sequence just bugs the heck out of me, and I can’t quite put my finger on it, but every time I hear it, I immediately fast fwd to the 1st scene. I’m not put off by any of her other movies. Go figure.
Jeers – Monsters, Inc.
Cheers – Madagascar!! – Zebra running through the vivid jungle, turning out to be running on a treadmill, staring at a jungle mural on the side of his cage.
As a confessed Disneyphile and Pixar junkie, I’ve gotta lob out a couple of their best.
TOY STORY: Though not strictly speaking a “musical” number, “You’ve Got A Friend in Me” very clearly establishes the tone and theme of the whole story. We see all the major characters and get a sense of the relationships. Then, when the toys begin to move on their own after Andy is gone, we’re ready for a whole second set of relationships and complications. It makes for a very rich world that is quite often lacking in entertainment for kids.
TARZAN: I know someone’s gonna jeer me for this one because there seem to be a plethora of Phil Collins haters, but go back and look at this underrated gem. “Two Worlds, One Family”. This was the last of Disney’s second Golden Age of great films. The first song gives us everything. Tarzan’s whole backstory. Kala’s whole backstory. The two families that will inevitably come into conflict. By the time it’s over, we’re wholly in the world. Also, based on the courage and creativity of Tarzan’s parents, we have a sense of the kind of child to expect. Also gets us right in the front seat to hate the villain (the Leopard.)
As to the MONSTERS INC. question, I propose that the first scene is slow because it’s a MASSIVE infodump. Many Science Fiction and Fantasy works suffer from this dilemma: the world is like ours, but not like ours, and there’s a fear that we won’t get it unless they TELL us everything. It’s a cute sequence, but I wonder if it couldn’t be SHOWN better.
Disney did this too in BEAUTY AND THE BEAST with the story of the Beast’s curse, as told in windows of stained glass. But as that was a pure fairytale – and the visuals were so spectacular – it was easier to forgive it as a necessary prologue. Moreover, it ends with the question, “… for who could ever learn to love a Beast?” Next thing we see? BAM! It’s Belle, and from the first moment you see her you go OOH!!! OOOH!!! HER!!! SHE COULD LOVE A BEAST!!!
And that was far more than two cents.
I’ll give a shout-out to Sneakers. The MacGuffin in the movie is an amazing computer device that can break through any encryption, anywhere on earth. To hint at the code-breaking theme, all the opening credits appear first as anagrams — some startling, some hilarious — and then each one unscrambles itself to show the text “in the clear” and reveal the name of a castmember. It sets the right tone of amusing cleverness that the rest of the movie embodies.