Opening TitlesWe will explore the creative, artistic possibilities of opening titles and describe the application of genre

conventions within a range.

Task 1Visit the website www.artofthetitle.com

Watch some of the title sequences that were analysed by the previous cohort.

Discuss whether you agree with their views and decide what you would have added to improve those pieces of research. Try to match what they have written to what you can see.

Task 2On the website, look up Saul Bass, the creator of the titles for North By Northwest (along with most of Hitchcock’s work), and produce a summary of his style.

Do some wider research on him – what influence has he had on thriller titles? What other title sequences were inspired by him?

Task 3 – North By Northwest openingWatch the opening titles 4 times. In small groups, make notes on the following areas:

Semantic codes (technical and symbolic)Syntactic codes (suggested by the semantic)Sound codesThe size, colour and timing of the title cards

Nb – I did this and wrote just over 3 sides of notes!

Did you notice? The lines running downwards are red in the blu-ray edition –

what does that suggest?

Did you notice?

As the names slide up or down, a white block slides in the opposite

direction – why?

Did you notice?

Notice how the use of iconography gives us

our location.

Did you notice? The sign says ‘NO TURNS’ – is this an

accident? What does it suggest?

Did you notice?

The positioning and size of the director’s name is important. What’s the

effect here?

Task 4On your blogs, create your first opening title analysis based on your notes.

200-300 words.

Cover all areas, and don’t forget to:• Apply genre and narrative theory (stretch – cover representation)• Use terminology• Compare to one of the other title sequences (maybe another Saul Bass one)