The Art of the Title sequence

In the beginning title sequences looked like the above: The title of the movies plus a presentation of the legal and copyright information. It gradually evolved into static slates presenting cast and crew. Popular trends of the 1950s were using three dimensional lettering and embedding type onto embroidery and signage. One of the pioneers in the art of title sequence was Saul Bass. A graphic designer creating symbols for movie add campaigns such as The Man with the Golden Arm and Carmen Jones. He was a brilliant visual storyteller who was able to summarise the film as a metaphor in this title sequence. He had breakthrough ideas in titling, timing the typography to interact with metaphorical imagery. The aim was to let the movie take shape from the very first frame of the film. He succeeded through the use of creative animation to establish a mood, tone and texture for the opening sequence. The title sequence became its very own world and created the climate for the story.

Saul Bass: The Seven Year Itch (1955) Title sequence

Saul Bass: Anatomy of a Murder (1959) title sequence

Saul Bass: Carmen Jones (1954) title sequence

Saul Bass: It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963) title sequence

Stills I was sent from the poetry film the artist Amani Saeed wanted me to work for her poem Split. She wanted me to come up with a title sequence to summarise the mood of the film. The poem deals with finding love after abuse and is part of a poetry anthology dealing with growing up in America with South Asian ancestry. The film was never completed due to the pandemic. But I was able to complete the title sequence and hopefully it will be used when the film is completed after lockdown.

    

The overall mood for the film was quite dark and seductive. A lot of shots of Henna’d hands in Bollywood dance moves. Highly textured shots of flowers and shiny surfaces. I began collecting visual material that I felt resonated with the images I’d been sent.

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Highly decorative style for the title sequence. Referencing old Bollywood movies. Looking at jewellery again.

Initial ideas

       

Experimenting with charcoal and ink to see what kind of textures I could use to make imagery with. Thinking about how I could convey movement. I need to think of ways of making this highly textured and rich but simple.

             

    

Experimenting with different motifs to develop the mood for the title sequence. I only had the shots to go on as she had sent me a very rough edit.

  

Hands tell a story. Hands are featured a lot in the short. Thinking of ways to incorporate this into the title sequence?

Cut outs of hands using the graphic mark making. I like this block shape and the nails.

 

Shots of development sequence – my first attempt at animating a full sequence in after effects. Steep learning curve but I am slowly getting better. I sent these to Amani – she loved the concept but felt it needed to be simplified with less decorative features.

D.O.P – director of photography – I really wanted to make jewellery as part of the title sequence – to incorporate the pearl brushes I had created in photoshop.

Simplified version of the first edit.

 

Idea for promotion? Experimenting with footage she sent me in after effects. That hijab fuck you attitude apparent in her work. I wanted to create a strong image for her. Fire is symbolical of personal power and burning down old ways of seeing. There are so many misconceptions when it comes to muslim women and wearing veils.

Promotional Video Idea

Final Outcome: Title Sequence. The motion could be smoother but I have learnt a lot of key skills in after effects which I will be able to use for the rest of the project.