The Film before the Film Analysis

The Film before the Film

THE FILM before THE FILM from ntsdpz on Vimeo.

I watched the short documentary The Film before the Film. As I watched the documentary I listened to the information and carefully answered the questions on the sheet.

In 1897, Thomas Edison began using a text board to show the company name and a copyright note. The development of sound in film led to the opening titles also changing. Actors started to make appearances at the beginning of films. The opening title became more of a gate keeping function to their folks. More and more people stayed at home instead of going to the cinema, which pushed film makers to reinvent the film medium as a result of the TV being invented. Film makers and title designers reinvented the film medium with better designed opening titles, which were more elaborately designed.

They hoped to grab the attention of the audience before the film even begins using title sequences. In the 1950s, these sequences became a miniature film in themselves. Saul Bass was known for his co-operation with producers, such as Otto Preminger and Alfred Hitchcock. He was renowned for his pioneering innovation in title sequences. In this period, Pablo Ferro and Maurice Binder also began their great careers as title designers. For many years they set the standard for film title designs. The introduction of computer technology led to a ‘new era’ of opening titles. Superman was the first digitally generated opening title sequence in 1978. It fascinated the audience by appearing to be multi-dimensional in moving ways that seemed to be physically impossible. Computers with graphic user interfaced became available for designers in the early 1980s. The user friendly software, ‘After Effects’ was used in the 1990s to develop opening title sequences.

This technology made it easier for designers and directors to visualise their opening titles on the screen. The digital revolution reinvigorated techniques and styles allowing for the fusion of old trends with new technology. They have combined old typography and space over recent years. This is at the expense of veritability. Some opening titles are designed to become a part of the cinematic space. Woody Allen completely reduced the opening titles. Kyle Copper’s Se7en (1995) and Mimic (1997) were similar because they had lower case credits appearing endlessly across the screen. Film make Noe attacks the spectator through visual and auditory on slots.

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