Saul Bass's "Anatomy of a murder" opening title sequence (1959)

There is nothing left in that sequence. We know the main theme - murder, we can see a graphic  black image of a man's body laying, each part of his body appears separately. This image connate us about a murder or a death. The background is plain and grey. Titles are printed white and big, show up on ECU of different part of the body. Typical features of Saul Bass are not big amount of colors, lines and graphic. Music is mystic and a bit makes us feel exciting, but within it doesn't strain us. Nothing left in here, simple work, has a meaning that is easy to find out.

"Mr.Magorium's Wonder Emporium" opening title sequence

http://www.artofthetitle.com/2008/01/30/mr-magoriums-wonder-emporium/

That's my favorite opening title sequence. Editors definitely were influenced by Saul Bass's works(e.g. lots of curve lines, a hand that is putting out titles,graphics). You can follow a main theme, loads of toys, unusual games; everything is flying, jumping going round. Plenty of colors. Everything you can see in it is concerned to a story: Unusual toys - story goes around them, Notes & Keys of a piano - woman character is playing a piano and writing songs; Shoes - main character had a specific "relationship" with them etc. There are 2  main subjects in it that appears in every shot: a red ball that is jumping and conveys us a happy mood, and playfulness atmosphere , he is sort of  leading us through all the titles and characters ; and a house so-called Magorium's emporium also appears all around as it the main prop of the film.

Titles are different every time they jump out of some place, you never know where they are going to be. They have different colors and sizes each time, they might be put by a graphic painted hand or just pour out of the box. The background changes absolutely as the name of an actor starring changes, every background  portrays the character it shows, so you can find out something that is strongly related just to him.

So, this sequence has a meaning and a humor that make it brilliant. Music fits perfectly, we have an atmosphere of a holiday or a carnival that "Magorium's emporium is giving us", orchestrated music changes all the time from loud and quick to quiet and calming and back.

Danny Kleinman's "Casino Royale" opening title sequence

http://www.artofthetitle.com/2008/01/14/casino-royale/

The sequence starts with a piece of a film, as Danial Craig is picking up his gun , then a cross cut to a man across him shooting and then we have a focus frame, with the main character inside, made of silver that is going narrower and concentrate on him(so we understand who is a main character). There are streams of blood coming down from th up of the frame, so we find out there is going to be blood, murders, death people, fights etc. Red effect is also a way how editors change the theme, they change the color of the background with it and give us first white printed titles. Red may also mean love. Then we can see Saul Bass's influence :ornaments, graphics, a lot of lines, figures that have a shape of different suits( e.g. diamonds, spades) Editors have chosen a graphic to convey to us who is a man character. We see Kings, Queens etc all the time with suits, unconsciously we understand that film is going to consist gambling. There are fighting grapshic men all around the sequence. The ornament lines tear up and loads of hearts are faaling out of them - love line existence. The targets flying around , one go to a Queen figure and when passing her face it changes to a real (Eva Green's face) , that's how we see she is going to be main woman in the film. Men are falling and blow up into small figures, or sand. We have a ECU of a playing card(7 grub)with a target on it which is making two holes and gives us "007" , the number of a well-known spy and agent. We have a man in a black suit going to us, through the cards that change to a money, from graphic appearence to a natural. His ECU - we see he is strong, selfconfident and serious man.

The music is hard, quick and loud. Gives us a feeling that a lot of actions are going to happen. A man is singing.

Kyle Cooper's "Seven" opening title sequence

                                 

The video consists of a lot of shots that show us what a man is doing weird and unusual things. He is cutting off the skin from his finger tips, writing something in the book, then sewing these sheets together. We see photos of death people, he is crossing out words in the books, then stick photos and slides to his album. Editors wanted us to see that he is plotting something bad, he is strange, we unconsciously start to dislike him as we cannot understand him. (We are afraid of unknown things) He is exploring data and plotting something. All the shots are ECU , so we can admire in details his stuff.

The music is creepy, with strange sounds of metal and printing press, different creeks, noises and bits. It becomes more awesome, loud and quick with the shots go quicker. We feel scary , nervous , it may even  distract us somehow.

The titles are handwritten, they shine and blink. Don't have any strict location, each time appear in different place with different space and size.  Sometimes go back to front, or like in a mirror reflection. 

I think it's a real masterpiece of opening title sequences, it involves us in a story , and we are interested and intrigued by what is going to happen. 

Kyle Cooper

Kyle Cooper is a modern designer of motion picture title sequences. Early in his career he worked in advertising agency as a creative director in New York. During this period he made a famous title sequence for  David Fincher's film "Seven", that's when he became famous and inspired a lot of young designers. According to Cooper, at the time he made "Seven"'s sequence , main title sequence were behind of what was happening in the print, music, video and commercial, but he changed everything and create a titles that received a critical acclaim. He also designed a lot of advertising and games sequences.  His works are often compared with Saul Bass, as Saul's works made a great influence on Cooper's. Here are the demo reel of majority of his works.

Opening title sequences. Saul Bass "Ocean's eleven"

This week we started exploring opening title sequences. Opening title sequence is the method by which films and television programs present their titles, key productions and cast members. Don't confuse with opening credits! Two of the most genius and famous title sequences designers are Saul Bass and Kyle Cooper. Saul Bass influenced the 1960s television sequences production, here you can see an example of his work "Ocean's eleven"movie:

It's a typical Bass's work, he uses lots of different lines, here they are consist of dots which look like small lamps, that we can see in casino, or cabaret, they remind us of the show or gambling, so we know the main theme of the film. He chose 11 numbers as the central images, each of which gives us a name of an actor starring. The music he used represents us an atmosphere of those times luxury parties, live bands that performed there. Then the rest production titles goes with an images of cards, we must feel excited about that. There are cards with the image of men , so we can find out that men are main characters and also from time to time of women or a heart and love, so we unconsciously think of a love line existence.