The History of Opening Sequences

The History of Opening Sequence’s

Opening sequences used to be made of titles showing the name of the film, the director, the cast and the production company, which were responsible for making the film. This was often seen in the time of silent films. The point of the opening sequence was to give a clue to the audience as to what the film is based around, its genre and what type of events might take place.

Here is an example of old fashion titles:

The Use of Titles:

Developed in 1917 for the silent film period, subtitling became very popular in filmmaking. Another form of titling known as surtitling was used in live performing arts since 1983. Typecasts were hired by film companies to make printed cards. With the development of technology animated styles of titling started to be used. This allowed for more creativity and detail in the titles.

Here is an example of an animated title sequence:

Present-day opening sequences:

Today, opening sequences tend to be longer in length, have much more detail, and are a lot more impressive. The development of technology has allowed for directors to have a wide range of flexibility. Modern day opening sequences tend to set the theme of the film and so are taken very seriously.

Here is an example of a modern opening sequence with amazing graphics and detail. It is from the newest James Bond film, Skyfall.