TASK 9: Favourite Films titles

My favourite films include Jurassic Park and Alien. Both have fairly interesting opening title sequences which I will now analyse.

JURASSIC PARK:


These credits are not particularly flashy or long. Though they are not very special, it does get the feeling of the film across in less than a minute, with no dialogue.
The Universal Pictures Ident doesn't have it's usual fanfare, but instead has ambience, sounds of crickets and insects. It gives the audience a 'primal' jungle feel. Since the film is about a park for dinosaurs, this is very fitting. Only 3 credits appear on screen;

"UNIVERSAL PICTURES PRESENTS"

"AN AMBLIN ENTERTAINMENT PRODUCTION"

"JURASSIC PARK"

This film keeps it's credits short and simple, and does not reveal anything about the film. The credits are in an unusual font on a black screen. When the text fades out, the inner red text remains on screen for a short time, turning darker, almost into a blood red type of colour, possibly foreshadowing the violence of the film. The music also helps give the film a dark, foreboding feel. When each credit appears, a "DUN" (?) sound is heard, with a quiet choir humming/singing (?) when the text begins to fade. This sounds fairly creepy and leaves an impact on the audience, similar to how other John Williams scores such as Jaws have fairly quiet, yet creepy music during the start of the title sequence (though unlike Jaws, this theme doesn't build up to something more creepy and memorable). When the title of the film appears, rather than a choir, a fairly quiet flute (???) plays, also adding to the "creepy and primal" feeling of the film. Though a lot of the earlier scenes portray the film to be more lighthearted, we anticipate the film taking a darker turn at some point.

ALIEN:


These credits are quite long, interesting, and still not particularly flashy. The opening pans across an image of space and an unnamed planet, while the credits and title appear. After the 20th Century Fox Ident, the credits appear in the order:

"a Brandywine-Ronald Shusett production"
"a Ridley Scott film"
"Tom Skeritt"
"Sigourney Weaver"
"Veronica Cartwright"
"Harry Dean Stanton"
"John Hurt"
"Ian Holm"
"and Yaphet Kotto as Parker"
"music by Jerry Goldmith
conducted by Lionel Newman
(copyright information on the bottom of the screen)"
"executive producer Ronald Shusett"
"screenplay by Dan O'Bannon
story by Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett"
"produced by Gordon Carroll
                       David Glier
                       and
                       Walter Hill"
"directed by Ridley Scott"

This credits structure is similar to the structure of the Gone Girl credits and most other films, though the title doesn't appear between credits but is gradually forming above slowly (which I will later get back into). Like Gone Girl, it shows the 'big companies' behind the film first and who the film is 'by' (the director). The cast then appears afterwards, and it shows a fairly bizarre sequence. Out of the actors shown, the biggest ones at the time probably would've been Tom Skeritt, Veronica Cartwright and Yaphet Kotto. Tom Skeritt shows up first, as expected, but Sigourney Weaver appears second, before Veronica. It seems the credits also show the cast in order of plot importance as well as the bigger stars. At this point in time, Sigourney Weaver was not well known and this was her first big movie, as well as the film that put her 'on the map'. She most likely appears second because she plays the protagonist of the film; Ellen Ripley. Cartwright appears afterwards, despite her role in the film not being too big, so the film probably goes back into 'popularity order'. Yaphet Kotto appears last, despite being a fairly big star at this point already, such as starring as the main villain in the Bond film Live and Let Die. Kotto is also the only actor to have his character's name appear. Maybe Kotto was displayed last with his character name visible, maybe due to being the biggest star out of the cast, and he gets a 'special mention' of sorts. Similar to Gone Girl, the artist behind the films soundtrack appears not too long after the cast, and then prominent figures of the films development appear afterwards, ending in the most important role of director.

The title is the most interesting part of the title sequence. It is the same type of title appearance that appeared in the incredibly popular trailer for Alien:


The individual letters form with each individual piece of the letter, one at a time. The letters on the edges (A and N) would form first, then I (which is only one piece so remains there unchanged after first appearing), then the middle pieces (L and E) form, and then the steps repeat until the words form.

• /                         \
• /            I            \
• /     |      I     |       \
• /\    |      I     |       \|
• /\    L    I     [       \| (The unfinished E doesn't look too good)
• /\    L    I     [      N
• A   L    I     E     N

This is an incredibly creative use of letters and makes for a brilliant title sequence, it was so iconic that almost every Alien film in the series has tried to use its logo in a creative manner. Another thing that assists the logo is the music. The logo forming itself is quite strange and fascinating, but the music is incredibly creepy and mysterious. The music really helps make space feel empty, cold, desolate and frightening. Space is a place of mystery, and the music perfectly captures this feeling. While the logo forms, there is a strange sound effect that plays over the music whenever part of a letter appears on screen, and when the Alien logo fully forms, the music suddenly builds up, gets louder and then there is sudden wind (?). This almost helps with the mystery, as the logo makes the fairly quiet music gets suddenly louder. It makes us fear the alien that have yet to see, as it creates such bizarre and creepy reactions without it even being seen yet. The music also has bookends, as it starts with the mysterious wind, immediately giving the audience a creepy feeling when the film has literally just started, and the wind comes back when the logo forms. From the opening alone, we expect a mysterious, creepy and terrifying experience throughout the movie, and the film certainly delivers on every aspect.