Opening credits

Opening credits are a functional as well as creative part of movies. Telling the audience who is in the movie, as well as other known talent such as writers, directors and composers, sets the stage for what’s to come. Check out an example here.

Many great movies had no opening credits, such as The Godfather and Apocalypse Now. Citizen Kaneopens with only the title of the movie, saving all the credits for the end.

With the introduction of computer technology a new era of film openings began. In 1978, the first digitally generated title appeared in the movie “Superman” fascinated audience and boosted its viewings substantially as it was the first of its kind as before this it was seen as physically impossible to interact in a movie in this way. During the early 80’s these computer based technologies become widely available for designers which stimulated a surge in computer generated credits. This progressed through the 90’s as there was constant competition to shock the audience digitally. By the late 90’s it was extremely easy for designers and directors to visually portray their opening titles on the screen. This digital revolution enabled a flow of new techniques and stiles combined with a few classic ones. Most recently opening sequences have combined typography and space to create visually astounding pieces of films. This is especially importantly as today with the aid of 3D animation in cinema the aim is to create the most interesting and visually pleasing opening sequence to get the audience excited for the film.