Art Of The Title Opening Sequences

Murder By Death (1976)

In the opening sequence for this film, there is a soundbridge followed by the opening credits on screen. The credits are written in a font that makes it look like an old film and the background picture is of a ancient looking treasure chest which emphasizes this. The music playing is quite eerie and spooky. Then a gloved hand appears, unlocks the chest and then opens it displaying a long line of drawn characters and then the title of the film appears on screen. The music suddenly changes from eerie to upbeat and fast paced. The camera then zooms in on the characters; first to a person who has been stabbed many times in the back, reflecting the title of the film. The camera then shows each of these drawn characters on screen as well as the cast. As each of the faces are shown an actor's name is also on screen, presumably the character the actor is depicting. Some of the characters are made out to be almost comical, as there eyes are shown to be moving. After every drawn character is shown, the shot moves to a drawn picture of the establishing shot, which is quickly cut into the actual, real life shot.

An Education (2009)

In the opening sequence for this film, there are a few young children's games depicted on screen, such as hopscotch, skipping and marbles; as well as the sort of things you learn at school, such as science and music. This is done perhaps to show the youthfulness of the character. The music playing is quite light and fun. The writing isn't particularly fancy, just straight to the point. After the title of the film is shown it cuts to a shot of young girls in uniform walking with books on their head, showing this to be a posh private school. The next shot is of young girls ballroom dancing, while a middle aged teacher stands in the middle observing and instructing and then a shot of a cooking class. The shot then cuts to a young girl, the main character, walking in the snow, looking as if she is dreading going into school. The next few shots are just general shots of girls at this stereotypical boarding school.