Research Into A Title Sequence

In order to expand my knowledge in the art of title sequencing, I have conducted an analysis of the title sequence from the infamous 1960's thriller, Psycho, by Alfred Hitchcock.

I chose to develop research into this particular title sequence merely as a result of the films evident success and Hitchcock's intricate detail when producing the film; in addition to the films 'thriller' genre being a sub-genre of our 'horror' film, therefore the conventions and semiotics used by Hitchcock would ideally help us to draw inspiration when producing our own title sequence.

Please view the Youtube clip below before reading my analysis as this is the product I am referring to.

Firstly, the clip begins with a silent image of the distributor of the film; "Universal", an American film production company which was founded in 1912. As well as producing infamous films such as Psycho during the 1960's, it has then gone on to release other successful films throughout the years including Jaws (1975) and Jurassic Park (1993), both produced by well known director Steven Spielberg, and both scoring box office records at the time of their initial release. Due to their rocketing success, Universal have become a prestige film distribution company in present day; currently scheduled to release long awaited trilogies this year such as Furious 7 (a trilogy of the 'Fast and Furious' franchise), Pitch Perfect 2, and Jurassic World (a trilogy of the 'Jurassic Park' Franchise). 

We will also introduce our film with our film distribution company as we feel this will entice people into our film based on the success rate of the company alone. This will set peoples expectation very high of our film, meaning the majority will leave the cinema feeling satisfied after consuming our film, as oppose to not.

    

You will also notice the monochrome colour scheme; not just in the title sequence, but also throughout the entirety of the film. Despite not being as popular as in modern day, colour television and film was in fact invented in the 1960's, however it was possible that Hitchcock felt the black and white scheme adhered more to the artistic flare of which he illustrates in the film- as well as being as obvious convention of the thriller/ horror genre, creating an overall sinister tone for his production.

The silence of the film distribution company scene is quickly disturbed by the menacing sound of the films theme tune as the clip gradually sinks into black; possibly foreshadowing the gruesome death of protagonist Marion Crane, or on the other hand, a signal to inform the audience that sinister events are lurking ahead as they are metaphorically sinking into a story line compounded with murder, deceit and decay. The sharp music presents a sense that there is no turning back for the audience, they are already enraptured by the dark tone of the film. This also evokes anticipation and adrenaline in the audience, as the effect of the black fade presents the sense that their vision is distorted, therefore they are unable to see what will happen next. 

  

Following on from this, we then view several sharp lines, quickly darting across the frame, of whats relevance is unassumingly to accumulate and eventually introduce the directors name on the screen: Alfred Hitchcock, of course. I cannot help but feel threatened by these fast pacing objects we as an audience are suddenly left exposed to on the screen in front of us; after being familiar with the story line of the film beforehand, it hardly strikes me as a coincidence that Hitchcock edited his title sequence using such a motion that reflects the same 'stabbing' motions we see performed by the antagonist in the infamous shower scene later on in the film. Since Hitchcock was renowned for his artistic flare, I believe this editing purposefully relates the the darting, fast-paced strikes of the knife used on Marion Crane.  

  

The title sequence also features the typical conventions, such as the usual crediting for the various roles in the production process of the film. We will also incorporate this into our title sequence due to the fact that we only have a limited time frame of five minutes, therefore leaving room to create an extra scene to include all of the credits at the end of our film would not only limit the scenes we could include in the actual film, but would create the sense that we have 'crammed' all of the various roles included in our film into one short scene. Nevertheless, gradually leaking the names of the production team roles in the first few shots of our film- as used in Psycho- adds more dimension to the scenes considering it will captivate 100% of the audiences attention, as well as saving more time to include a successful, climactic story line.