The Incredible Hulk/Watchmen (prologue)
The Incredible Hulk
The title sequence for Marvel's Incredible Hulk is very much an example of a prologue sequence. It relays the origin story behind how the Hulk got his powers through a series of montages and flashbacks. This helps to give the audience information about the back story to the film and also allows them an understanding of how the film will flow. The sequence becomes very disjointed and irregular as the main character becomes Hulk for the first time. This perhaps gives the audience an insight onto what its like for the Hulk himself.
The titles themselves come at a fast pace which suits the pace of the sequence overall. The titles give us information about the cast and crew behind the film itself which the audience may find interesting.
The theme of the film is alluded to several times throughout the title sequence.
Firstly, the costumes that are worn such as the army costumes tell us how it is an action film. Secondly, the various newspaper cuttings give the audience information about what is happening during the prologue and gives them more of an insight into the mood towards the Hulk itself.
The colours used on the text was green so it stood out and represented the Hulk. This becomes an iconic colour which the audience will easily be able to associate with the Hulk. The text was also entered in the middle of the screen in order for the audience to know to concentrate on it. It used quick cuts to quicken the pace as mentioned earlier.
Watchmen
Much like The Incredible Hulk, the title sequence for Watchmen is also a prologue. It shows the audience key dates in history, perhaps giving them an insight into the achievements or history of the characters in the film. From this, the audience get an understanding of the backstory to this film and possibly what the main characters have done to become one of the main characters.
It could be argued that the soundtrack in the background is contrapuntal which is sound which doesn't match what is going on in the film. The effect this has is it creates a slightly humorous tone to perhaps lighten the mood over what is happening on screen. As the sequence goes on, this music could very much be described as contrapuntal as it becomes quite violent. This is where it can be clearly seen why this soundtrack is used.
Se7en
Kyle Cooper's title sequence for the 1995 film Se7en reinvented the way title sequences were made. It uses a series of images and close ups all put together with very quick and close cuts, making it much more fast paced. These images and close ups are constantly appearing making it unclear and uncertain what is actually happening.
The text that shows up usually occurs on a black background. The text itself looks scratchy and almost handwritten, giving the sequence a slightly more sinister and uncomfortable look to it. It could perhaps be type writer text, suggesting that the character in this sequence has isolated themselves from society which could suggest they are some sort of psychopath. This view is almost backed up when you see the images of what the character is doing. Their grimy hands and unusual actions with needles and razor blades reinforce this view. Throughout the whole sequence we never actually see the character in full. The close ups are mainly of their hands and this builds up an enigma from the audience as to who the character actually is.
The sinister atmosphere that is created is only backed up by the edgy soundtrack and low-key lighting alongside shadows. The lightning in particular creates a dark mood almost literally. The frequent jump cuts also help to create an uneasy atmosphere for the audience and considerably quickens the pace of the sequence.
Vertigo
The Vertigo title sequence relies heavily on constructed images and animations. It also relies on text to give the audience the important cast and crew information. The soundtrack used is suitable as it creates a dramatic atmosphere, perhaps allowing the audience to create an enigma over the theme of the film itself. This is a very early example of how title sequences are recreated using slightly similar styles with the text and how it appears on the screen being very familiar to that of a modern day title sequence.
This sequence is a very typical example of how Saul Bass developed his style for title sequence design. The text is very simple yet bold and eye catching. The use of colour is interesting, with the colour scheme seemingly changing several times throughout the sequence. The sequence also focuses heavily on this colour and the text itself as it appears on the screen. This again is very typical of Saul Bass as he was famous for his use of simple text and shapes which managed to still convey a message or genre.
Dark Knight Rises
The Dark Knight Rises title sequence created on Vimeo combines the necessary cast and crew information with allusive images and close ups. The sequence starts with the production company of the film and then shortly gets into the main characters names. The sequence uses lots of frequent and quick cuts to increase the pace of the scene.
The soundtrack is very dramatic which suits the pace set by the cuts and close ups. Predominantly, the start of the sequence consists of someone putting the production company and cast member's names in a pool of water surrounded by ice.
When introducing the main characters, all of them are portrayed in the same way, photographs of them being placed into the water. This not only allows the audience to know the main character's names, but also what they look like within the film. Once the main characters are introduced, the focus turns to newspaper clippings and pictures which a character (we haven't met yet) circles and underlines. This creates questions from the audiences point of view which are about who the character is and why they are looking at newspaper clippings of events from within the film or about characters within the film.
The soundtrack steadily builds up as the sequence progresses which builds up the audiences anticipation and excitement over what could happen next. The sequence finishes with an image of Batman's helmet stuck into the ice. This again creates yet more anticipation from the audience and is very effective at doing just this.
The title sequence for Marvel's Incredible Hulk is very much an example of a prologue sequence. It relays the origin story behind how the Hulk got his powers through a series of montages and flashbacks. This helps to give the audience information about the back story to the film and also allows them an understanding of how the film will flow. The sequence becomes very disjointed and irregular as the main character becomes Hulk for the first time. This perhaps gives the audience an insight onto what its like for the Hulk himself.
The titles themselves come at a fast pace which suits the pace of the sequence overall. The titles give us information about the cast and crew behind the film itself which the audience may find interesting.
The theme of the film is alluded to several times throughout the title sequence.
Firstly, the costumes that are worn such as the army costumes tell us how it is an action film. Secondly, the various newspaper cuttings give the audience information about what is happening during the prologue and gives them more of an insight into the mood towards the Hulk itself.
The colours used on the text was green so it stood out and represented the Hulk. This becomes an iconic colour which the audience will easily be able to associate with the Hulk. The text was also entered in the middle of the screen in order for the audience to know to concentrate on it. It used quick cuts to quicken the pace as mentioned earlier.
Watchmen
Much like The Incredible Hulk, the title sequence for Watchmen is also a prologue. It shows the audience key dates in history, perhaps giving them an insight into the achievements or history of the characters in the film. From this, the audience get an understanding of the backstory to this film and possibly what the main characters have done to become one of the main characters.
It could be argued that the soundtrack in the background is contrapuntal which is sound which doesn't match what is going on in the film. The effect this has is it creates a slightly humorous tone to perhaps lighten the mood over what is happening on screen. As the sequence goes on, this music could very much be described as contrapuntal as it becomes quite violent. This is where it can be clearly seen why this soundtrack is used.
Se7en
Kyle Cooper's title sequence for the 1995 film Se7en reinvented the way title sequences were made. It uses a series of images and close ups all put together with very quick and close cuts, making it much more fast paced. These images and close ups are constantly appearing making it unclear and uncertain what is actually happening.
The text that shows up usually occurs on a black background. The text itself looks scratchy and almost handwritten, giving the sequence a slightly more sinister and uncomfortable look to it. It could perhaps be type writer text, suggesting that the character in this sequence has isolated themselves from society which could suggest they are some sort of psychopath. This view is almost backed up when you see the images of what the character is doing. Their grimy hands and unusual actions with needles and razor blades reinforce this view. Throughout the whole sequence we never actually see the character in full. The close ups are mainly of their hands and this builds up an enigma from the audience as to who the character actually is.
The sinister atmosphere that is created is only backed up by the edgy soundtrack and low-key lighting alongside shadows. The lightning in particular creates a dark mood almost literally. The frequent jump cuts also help to create an uneasy atmosphere for the audience and considerably quickens the pace of the sequence.
Vertigo
The Vertigo title sequence relies heavily on constructed images and animations. It also relies on text to give the audience the important cast and crew information. The soundtrack used is suitable as it creates a dramatic atmosphere, perhaps allowing the audience to create an enigma over the theme of the film itself. This is a very early example of how title sequences are recreated using slightly similar styles with the text and how it appears on the screen being very familiar to that of a modern day title sequence.
This sequence is a very typical example of how Saul Bass developed his style for title sequence design. The text is very simple yet bold and eye catching. The use of colour is interesting, with the colour scheme seemingly changing several times throughout the sequence. The sequence also focuses heavily on this colour and the text itself as it appears on the screen. This again is very typical of Saul Bass as he was famous for his use of simple text and shapes which managed to still convey a message or genre.
Dark Knight Rises
The Dark Knight Rises title sequence created on Vimeo combines the necessary cast and crew information with allusive images and close ups. The sequence starts with the production company of the film and then shortly gets into the main characters names. The sequence uses lots of frequent and quick cuts to increase the pace of the scene.
The soundtrack is very dramatic which suits the pace set by the cuts and close ups. Predominantly, the start of the sequence consists of someone putting the production company and cast member's names in a pool of water surrounded by ice.
When introducing the main characters, all of them are portrayed in the same way, photographs of them being placed into the water. This not only allows the audience to know the main character's names, but also what they look like within the film. Once the main characters are introduced, the focus turns to newspaper clippings and pictures which a character (we haven't met yet) circles and underlines. This creates questions from the audiences point of view which are about who the character is and why they are looking at newspaper clippings of events from within the film or about characters within the film.
The soundtrack steadily builds up as the sequence progresses which builds up the audiences anticipation and excitement over what could happen next. The sequence finishes with an image of Batman's helmet stuck into the ice. This again creates yet more anticipation from the audience and is very effective at doing just this.
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