Understanding Opening Titles

Simple Black and White 

Sometimes the simplest titles are the ones that are superimposed on a blank screen. These are usually in white and over a black background. Since early films had no colour black and white was the only option. Using black and white is low cost and some film makers choose this type of title opening intentionnally it can give an old-fashioned authentic look to a film.

A good example of this is the Charlie Chaplin films, since title cards were the main method for creating a title sequence these consisted of hand drawn images.
Charlie Chaplin was considered to be one of the most pivotal stars of the early days of Hollywood, lived an interesting life both in his films and behind the camera. He is most recognized as an icon of the silent film era, often associated with his popular "Little Tramp" character; the man with the toothbrush mustache, bowler hat, bamboo cane, and a funny walk.


Titles accompanied by still images

Some of the earlier title cards in corporated hand drawn borders and other images. It was the start of adding more than text to a title sequence to make it more attractive to the audience.
The next stage was using still images as the background. This was the kind of title which was elaborated on from the white text black background combination. This effect cannot be ahcieved in camera, it requires combining different media. Usually a score accompanies these types of credit sequences. For example, Last tango in Paris, the title sequence combines the music with two paintings by Francis Bacon. These two images represent the two main characters in the film.





Titles accompanied by a series of moving images
Titles over a series of moving images can range from a simple view of moving clouds like the Wizard of Oz or it can be  a more intricate sequence of images that incorporate camera movement, like the opening of (To Kill a Mockingbird)  1962.  Most title sequences are accompanined by moving images and have music in the background. However, there is usually no dialogue and the maning of the images remains somewhat ambiguous until later on in the film. The images could contain a symbol or image which frequently appears throughout the rest of the film.



Title Built Around animation and motion graphics

In the late 1990's animating text started to become more popular. However animation has been used since the earlier days of cinema in films such as ( The Pink Panther 1968) the title sequence was designed by Friz Freleng was famous for Bugs Bunny. After the success of the film and its title sequence Pink Panther became a popular cultural icon and even landed its own television series.
The first film in the series had an animated opening sequence, created by DePatie-Freleng Enterprises and set to the theme music by Henry Mancini, which featured the Pink Panther character. This character, designed by Hawley Pratt, was the subject of its own series of animated cartoons which gained its greatest fame when aired on Saturday mornings as The Pink Panther Show. The character would be featured in the opening of every film in the movie series except A Shot in the Dark and Inspector Clouseau.