AS MEDIALESSON 3 – OPENING TITLES

TASK 1•VISIT THE WEBSITE WWW.ARTOFTHETITLE.COM AND CHOOSE

AN OPENING TITLE SEQUENCE.•ON THE WEBSITE, LOOK UP SAUL BASS, THE CREATOR OF THE

TITLES FOR NORTH BY NORTHWEST (ALONG WITH MOST OF HITCHCOCK’S WORK), AND PRODUCE A SUMMARY OF HIS STYLE.•DO SOME WIDER RESEARCH ON HIM – WHAT INFLUENCE HAS HE

HAD ON THRILLER TITLES? WHAT OTHER TITLE SEQUENCES WERE INSPIRED BY HIM?

TASK 2 – NORTH BY NORTHWEST OPENINGWATCH THE OPENING TITLES 4 TIMES. IN SMALL GROUPS, MAKE NOTES ON THE FOLLOWING AREAS:•SEMANTIC CODES (TECHNICAL AND SYMBOLIC)•SYNTACTIC CODES (SUGGESTED BY THE SEMANTIC)•SOUND CODES• THE SIZE, COLOUR AND TIMING OF THE TITLE CARDS

DID YOU NOTICE? The lines running downwards – what does that suggest?

DID YOU NOTICE?As the names slide

up or down, a white block slides

in the opposite direction – why?

DID YOU NOTICE?

Notice how the use of iconography

gives us our location.

DID YOU NOTICE? The sign says ‘NO TURNS’ – is this an

accident? What does it suggest?

DID YOU NOTICE?

The positioning and size of the

director’s name is important. What’s the effect here?

TASK 3FIND AN OPENING TITLE SEQUENCE USING THE ART OF THE TITLE OR CHOOSE FROM KEY THRILLER TEXTS YOU IDENTIFIED IN PREVIOUS RESEARCH. BEGIN TO COMPOSE AN ANALYSIS OF THE TITLE SEQUENCE – FROM FILM LOGO AT THE START TO THE SHOT FOLLOWING THE ‘DIRECTED BY’ CREDIT. ANY CONVENTIONAL THRILLER SHOULD HAVE VISUALS WITH TITLES OVER THEM, NOT JUST TITLES ON A BLANK SCREEN.COVER ALL AREAS, AND DON’T FORGET TO:• APPLY GENRE AND NARRATIVE THEORY (STRETCH – COVER REPRESENTATION)• USE TERMINOLOGY• COMPARE TO ONE OF THE OTHER TITLE SEQUENCES (MAYBE ANOTHER SAUL BASS

ONE)

SCHEDULE FOR THE 3 OPENING SCENE ANALYSIS PIECES• AS WITH THE POSTER ANALYSIS, I AM NOT EXPECTING MORE THAN 200-

300 WORDS OR 60-90 MINUTES WORK ON EACH ONE. BE REALISTIC ABOUT YOUR WORKLOAD AND WHAT THE MARK WEIGHTING FOR EACH ONE WILL BE (NOT MUCH)• ALL THREE NEED TO BE COMPLETED BY MONDAY 17TH OCTOBER• THAT WILL BE 2/3 OF THE INDIVIDUAL PART OF THE RESEARCH DONE

ALREADY• USE THIS TASK TO REALLY START TO DEVELOP YOUR IDEAS• START EXPERIMENTING WITH DIFFERENT WAYS OF DISPLAYING THEM ON

YOUR BLOG – POWERPOINT, PREZI, ANNOTATED POSTERS• YOU COULD EVEN PRESENT ONE AS A TIMELINE ANALYSIS (SEE EXAMPLE).