Movie Title Sequences: Do they deserve recognition?

By Sarah Sluis

This past weekend, an "op-art" in The New York Times implored the Academy to consider giving out awards for title sequences. While I can't think of anything more antithetical to classical Hollywood cinema than valuing style over narrative, the pre-story over the story, it's true that the abstracted, moody,

elliptical qualities of title sequences are frequently overlooked. You rarely see a "top ten" for title sequences, and being "known" for a title sequence can carry the implication that the credits were the most exciting part of the film.

With so many approaches to creating an effective title sequence, it's no wonder there's a blog devoted to chronicling the best opening and end titles. Art of the Title focuses exclusively on the sublime art of title sequences, capturing them with screenshots. Looking at all these memorable sequences, especially those mentioned in the article, made me realize they have genres and variations all their own. Here's a list of the top ten most used title sequences.

1. The song and dance number (Mamma Mia!, Slumdog Millionaire),

2. Outtakes and/or improv-y humor (many, many comedies)

3. Artistic, moody font (Psycho, Panic Room)

4. Driving Somewhere (The Shining)

5. Panning over significant objects (Delicatessen, To Kill a Mockingbird)

6. Animated title sequence, preferably abstract and flash animation-looking (Juno, Catch Me if You Can)

7.Bottom credits that run during the first few minutes and distract you

8. Partially revealed objects, and/or hands performing some kind of action (Amelie, Lolita)

9. Still shots of the location

10. The "delivery"--shows a character navigating through a scene and introducing you to the location. This can be considered a variation of the "driving somewhere" open

Title sequences have come a long way since the early days, when some snazzy music and title cards were pretty much all the effort that went into them, causing me to pay an inordinate amount of attention to credits like "Gowns by Adrian," which was a kind of secret version of "padiddle" I would play against myself. Since the famed MGM costume designer has 264 IMDB credits to his name, "look for Adrian" is a game with a pretty high rate of return. While creating an Oscar for a title sequence seems unlikely, maybe there's room for them among the Scientific & Technical Awards?