History of opening sequences #22

History of opening sequences

Blog Post #22

What are opening sequences?

Opening sequences are shown at the very beginning of a film to give the viewers a brief introduction of the film itself, an opening sequence states the names of people associated with the film for example, the director, the producer and the main characters starring in the film as well as the movie title. Opening sequence usually have music in the background to accompany the shots.

History of opening sequences

Since the intervention of cinematograph (an apparatus for showing motion-picture films) simple title cards were used to help identify and show to the audience the name of the movie and the name of the production company, it was also a type of act to signal the start and the end of a movie. Many films have used unusual and fairly elaborate title sequences since the 1930's. For example, in multiple films the opening credits have appeared against a background of clouds such as; The Wizard of Oz, King of Kings, Clouds Roll By and Oliver Twist (1948).

Shortly afterwards, opening sequences began to intrigue the audience more and came much more interesting for example in 'Sinbad the Sailor' - 1947 the letters of the opening sequence seem to form from coloured water gushing from a fountain. From then they began to develop furthermore, in a trend increasingly common towards the end of the 1950's, opening sequences have been a showcase for contemporary design and illustration 

In the 21st century, opening sequences show a lot more than the standard movie title, they show a lot of action for example the film 'Zombieland' has a 4 minute opening sequence which is narrated by a male voice, it has motion tracking text to make the 'steps' in the opening sequence more unique and 3D. This engages the audience to the screen more and gives them a good impression before the movie even fully starts.