Genre; codes and conventions and how it relates to my title sequence

Research into title sequences of the genre you are making. Look for codes & conventions and any stylistic elements that you may want to employ in your own sequence?



For my title sequence I have decided to have an element of James Bond as my title sequence is called Cold Fusion and is devised as a mysterious assassin sequence that follows the journey of a micro chip. I think that having the essense of animation and playing cards would be a good idea as it will allow the title sequence give the audience an understanding of the particular genre of the film alongside not giving too much of the narrative and story away to viewers.

In addition I am extremely inspired by the idea of viewing the title sequence from a sniper rifle scope prospective and therefore solidifies the genre and entails there will be elements of action.




As one of my favourite triologies of films the Oceans series has been one of the main inspirations to create a action/spy title sequence as this specific title sequence displays the on-screen names extremely suttley as they appear in objects like slot machines and bank vaults. I think that using elements of the James Bond title sequence alongside the the Oceans eleven sequence will be extremely effective as I will have the suttleness of the names appearing with an interesting voyage of a micro chip which is of the main significance.

Importance and Purpose of a title sequence

This is the title sequence of Catch me if you can and has been designed and created by Saul Bass. This particular title sequences is extremely keen on using lines and animation to represent on-screen names and in frame story of the different professions and journey's that may occur during the film.

This title sequence firstly presents the production company that have funded and created this film and in this particular case "Dream Works pictures".
In a title sequences this is the order in which the on-screen names appear;

• Production company
• Director 
• Highest grossing Star and then other actors/actresses
• The name of the Film and in this case its "Catch me if you can"
• Producers and Co-producers
• Music then Costume designers 
• Ending with the directors name before the film begins.

The second title sequence that I watch was Se7en which was designed by the renowned Kyle Cooper. This particular title sequence is extremely dark and etchy as the on-screen production and cast names appear blurred and quivering. The title sequence also has rapid cuts to weird images and this doesn't give particularly much of the story away as the images only imply that the film will have elements of a thriller or crime, this is due to it seems similar to a detective enquiry case and evidence is being revisited.

This title sequence also presents the on-screen names in the same chronological order as Catch me if you can as this sequence appears in this particular order as the production company is the most important and in the middle more inadequate names appear.

Codes & conventions and purpose of title sequence

Codes and conventions play a key role in establishing a particular aspect of a film and help the audience to thorth-willingly understand what genre a film is. The most common types of codes and conventions are mostly recognisable in horror type films as they mostly portray the traditional traits such as;

The rule of 3- whereby there are usually 3 incidents and most of the time 3 main characters that last longer than the other people.
The virginal character usually survives amongst all odds, this displays purity and genuine characteristics.
All blond woman are usually the first to be victimised and therefore is an obvious code of horror movies.

Codes and Conventions of Horror

The reason that title sequences are used is to display who will staring in the film and to credit the production team actually created the film. The other aspect of having a title sequence is that it can give a brief synopsis in some cases teasing the audience in-drawing them into the film alongside giving minimal detail about the narrative and story away as possible.

Zombieland Title sequence

I reconnoitred the scene of Zombieland that enabled me to establish unequivocally identify items of genre and codes and conventions. The main element that I found created the genre was the typography used as it symbolised elements of gore with the transition of the fast editing of on-screen names.


The introduction title sequence begins with a snippet of the public cowering in fear from a pandemic invasion of clench thirsty; blood sucking zombies which establishes the narrative and setting that the film with be situated in. This integrates with the music used as this assembles an upbeat and "in your face" audio making the on-screen imagery more impact-ful preparing the audience for the film. (Gives a brief synopsis of films narrative.)

Lastly the film uses a numerous amount of different camera shots and transitions to enable a more vigerous impact on the audience. By using the different camera shot it can enhance the message of " Theres no escaping Zombie-land". This can relate to the subliminal enigmas of "How did the infection happen?" and even ask if it is even a virus. 

Words and lettering played an enormous role in films of the silent era. Film titles made their appearance in the earliest silent films, along with letter cards (or inter-titles), which provided context. These cards were the responsibility of the lettering artist, who collaborated with the scriptwriter and director to create narrative continuity so that audiences could follow what they were seeing. Distinct from these inter-titles was the film’s main title, a vehicle of particular concern to film producers because of the legal, copyright and marketing information this footage had to bear.

Here is the main title from D.W. Griffith’s “Intolerance” (1916), which many reviewers and historians consider the greatest film of the silent era. Note that variations of the director’s name are featured in five ways:

Film titles and letter cards had to provide essential information to the viewer. For reasons such as ease of production and clarity, artists favored mono-stroke letterforms or characters with small serifs. White lettering on a black background is another characteristic of this era, because titles simply looked better this way when projected with live-action B&W film.

Silent filming is one of the great early inventions which was effective in captivating audience with the sheer knowledge of showing audience what the film is about through typography and imagery. I found this extremely interesting as in today's modern films sound is one of the most obvious types of film enhancers and therefore this information surprised me that in the early and mid 1900s films where displayed with no audio out-put.

Animation and Title sequences

Hollywood animation studios, including Warner Brothers and MGM, did give some license to their artists to indulge in title antics. But one can also see that life for the titling crew at Disney was strained by the weight of its foreign-language versions and that film exports rarely encouraged innovation in titling.

The first Mickey Mouse cartoon, circa 1929, features both Mickey and Minnie, but its main title, “Plane Crazy,” is lackluster:

Another great area of interest for me is the invention of animation title sequencing as this clearly displays the genre and type of film that will be displayed. I am largely interested in animation title sequences as some of the most iconic on-screen displays appear from historical shows such as "Looney tunes; Tom and Jerry and my favorite Pink Panther."