Credits

Usually, an OTS will contain around 24 titles. The main characters generally come first with the director last. It is important that titles are consistent and are all the same length of time.

In my OTS it is important to include about 24 credits, even if there are not this many people who are actually involved in the making of the sequence. This makes it look more professional.


  

Some actors such as Jennifer Aniston and Tom Cruise have contracts where their names in credits must be shown alone and on a card, to show the significance of their roles.

Opening credits usually last approximately 2-3 minutes.
 

Sound in OTS

Sound is a very important part to an opening title sequence. It comes before visual so it is vital that the sound is well suited to the filming. A useful piece of advice is that a good soundtrack can often hide cracks in your images. Sound and visuals go hand in hand when creating an OTS. Diegetic sound comes from things we can see on screen. Non Diegetic sound is created from an external source, e.g. voiceover/music. Getting a perfect sound is vital, when somebody is speaking it is important that they speak loudly and clear so that their voice is heard. Microphones or sound recorders should be used so that no distracting background noise such as traffic and wind are picked up. Foley is sound that is recorded over the top of a visual. This eliminates any background distracting noise if speech is recorded separately to the visual and then edited and layered over the top. In my OTS it is important that the music we use is copyright free, as this is one of the specifications set by the exam board.

Above is a SoundCloud link to a soundtrack that I think would be suitable for an OTS to a thriller film. Added to the visuals as a non-diegetic soundtrack would give it the suspense feel as the music gets louder and quieter at periods to make it feel intense for the viewer. 

Analysis of Type Faces/Positioning and Movement

Typography is the style and appearance of something that is printed, i.e. text. 


Typography is important in an opening title sequence because it provides a further visual to give the audience a hint to the genre and mood of the film. 

It is also important to use a suitable font type for the type of film because every visual needs to fit together to produce the type of mood that is intended to be created. 

If a font is not fitting to the genre, the opening title sequence will look disjointed. 

Below is a YouTube clip that has been very beneficial to my research. It explains how to use fonts and gives examples of which fonts are typical of specific film subgenres.

In the opening titles to 'Insidious' (2010), the typography is red which symbolises death, danger, which is typical of the film's horror genre. The credits become distorted and disappear, which connotes the idea of the film being quite jumpy to the audience. The text is placed left to the frame, using the rule of thirds which could further add to the jumpy effect of the film, because scary subjects in the film may not be central to the frame, so this could connote this. 

Order of Titles in OTS

In an OTS, there is a common order of who/what company appears in the credits. 

The common order is as follows:

Name of the Studio (who is distributing the film, e.g. Columbia, Lionsgate, Universal)

Name of the Production Company (who made the film or made a substantial investment)

Name of the Producer (e.g. "a film by...." or "a .... film."

Name of the Starring Actors/Actresses (only the main characters)

Name of the Film 

Name of any Featured Actors/Actresses

Name of who did the Casting of the Film (e.g. "casting..." or "casting by ...")

Name of who did the Music of the Film (e.g. "music composed by" or "original score by ...")

Name of who did the Production Design

Name of the Editor

Name of the Director of Photography

Name of the Producer/Executive Producer

Name of the Book/Play/Novel the Film was based on (if one)

Based on the Characters Created by... (if any)

Name of the person who wrote the Story (who wrote the story, that the script is based by)

Name of the Writers (who wrote the screenplay)

Name of the Director 

Sometimes these also may be credited in the OTS: 

Set Design, Costumes, Hairdresser(s), Make-Up Artist(s) and Visual Effects Director. 

Conventions of an OTS

Below is a SlideShare presentation I have created which explains the conventions of an opening title sequence (essentially, what is in it).

History of OTS'

Below is a Prezi presentation I have created about the history of opening title sequences. In the Prezi I have embedded relevant YouTube clips to explain the history further.

The OTS to 'Vertigo' is a typical example of older title sequences. It is simplistic and features basic typography against some simple visuals (such as an eye). There are no special effects or moving images which is more common in opening title sequences' in films in the 21st century. 

Making An OTS

Below is a Scribd document with tips for making an opening title sequence which was written by OCR examiner, Pete Fraser.
 

 
Pre-Production is a vital stage to creating the opening title sequence, it is just as important to research, plan and record evidence as it is shooting the actual sequence.

A useful thing to do is look at previous' students work to see what they did and the sort of grades they got.