Title Sequence Research

INSTITUTIONAL AIMS:

• To commend primary contributions made in the development process of a film production.
• To further endorse actors'/actresses' star power and help develop their filmographies - typically done through overlaying text edited in.
• To immediately make attempt at engaging/immersing audience (pre-equilibrium) before the pace of the narrative begins to pick up - commonly done through appealing aesthetics. 
• To instantly acquaint audiences with the genre(s) of a production - typically through strong regard of iconography and mise-en-scene.
• To establish the relevant key themes, messages and values of a production's narrative.

HISTORY:

Prior to the invention of the cinematograph - a motion picture film camera and projector - in the 1890s, simple title cards were used instead to both begin and conclude silent film presentations. Said presentations established to audiences films' titles and the institution(s) involved in the practices of producing and distributing them. In silent cinema, title cards/intertiles were utilised throughout films' narratives to convey dialogue and plot, and it is some of these early short films that we can see the first initial examples of title sequences beginning formation, being literally a sequential series of title cards shown at the start of a film. With arrival of sound, title sequences developed: they became accompanied with musical preludes or overtures. Contemporary title sequences have developed this technical convention and now typically employ leitmotif soundtracks within them.

Slowly, as time has progressed, title sequences have evolved and become more elaborate pieces of films within contemporary cinema. Title design saw a pivotal moment of development particularly during the 1950s consequential to the advent of television - which instigated a decline within the film industry - as it forced the 'big six' Hollywood conglomerates (Warner Bro Pictures, 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, Walt Disney Studios, Columbia Pictures and Universal Studios) to all invest in new methods of making cinema more appealing again in attempt to rejuvenate it and recover a diminishing/dwindling audience.