I
have recently watched the opening credits for the following films: Shallow
Grave, Casino and Twelve
Monkeys. These are descriptions
of what happens and the differences between them.
Shallow
Grave
This
film doesn't have many titles during it's credits. The probable
reason behind this is that the film isn't a major blockbuster and the
director isn't a well known person (yet). Therefore the film doesn't
need to waste time showing you the director's name when it is likely
you have never heard of him before. These are the credits:
“Film
four international in association with the [continued]”. This is
scrolling right to left as white text on a red background. A
voice over begins whilst a scene is being shown.
Next
you are shown the actor's names “Kerry Fox”, “Christopher
Eccleston”, “Ewen McGregor”. At the time of release Kerry Fox
was the most famous star so she was listed first in the titles. These
names are also in white text however this time it appears over the
film rather than a solid colour background.
The
final piece of text you see in these opening credits is “Shallow
Grave”. This text is in red on top of the film.
'Smaller'
films generally include a low amount of titles in their credits as
they don't want to risk losing the audience and want to get straight
into the film. Having some of the titles appear on top of the movie
also suggests that the film-makers just wanted to start showing the
film. It seems silly for a not very well known group of film-makers
to be blasting the names of various production staff. From this
opening you understand that the credits are not an important part of
the film in Danny Boyle's opinion.
Casino
Martin
Scorsese is one of the most respected directors out there, this means
that many people will at some point in their lives be watching this
film. With that in mind it would seem crazy to guess that the opening
credits will be quite long and feature many names. In this opening a
certain font is used that gives you a casino-like vibe, it is a very
classy font.
This
is what the credits show:
“Universal
Pictures and Sylalis D.D. & Legende Enterprises Present”. This
appears as white text on a black background.
“A
De Fina/Cappa Production”. Also as white text on the same
black background.
“Adapted
from a true story”. White text. Black background.
“1983”.
White text. Black background.
(A
few seconds later after a voice over)
“A
Martin Scorsese Picture”. White text but this time on film. From
here we see a quite shocking first scene.
“Robert
De Niro”. White text on top of the same scene.
“Sharon
Stone”. White text. Same scene.
“Joe
Pesci”. White text. Same scene.
“Casino”
(drifiting). White text. On film.
“James
Woods”, “Don Rickels”, “Alan King”. There are fade-outs and
fade-ins for each name. The names are now on top of a different type
of background. What is on top of the background is hard to recognise
however you still get the sense of the 'casino' theme.
“Kevin
Pollak”.
“L.Q.
Jones”.
“Dick
Smothers Frank Vincent John Bloom”.
“Casting
by Ellen Lewis”.
“Costume
Designers Rita Ryack and John Dunn”.
“Title
Sequence by Elaine & Saul Bass”.
“Editor
Thelma Schoohmaker”.
“Production
Designed by Dante Ferretti”.
“Director
of Photography Robert Richardson A.S.C.”.
“Based
on the book by Nicholas Pleggi”.
“Screenplay
by Nicholas Pileggi & Martin Scorsese”.
“Produced
by Barbara De Fina”.
“Directed
by Martin Scorsese”.
Now
that is a very long opening sequence. You could say it has been
created like this to create tension, especially after what happens
part way through the credits. You can definitely see the differences
in opening credits when you compare Shallow Grave with Casino.
Casino has a much flashier and more elegant opening whilst
Shallow Grave has a simple, extremely short one. But then
again there is one similarity. Both opening credits feature a voice over at some point.
Twelve
Monkeys
“Universal
Pictures and Atlas-Classico Present” White text on a black
background.
“An
Atlas Entertainment Production”
“...5
billion people will die from a deadly virus in 1997...[continued]”
This appears in a green font, the text is displayed like it is being
typed up whilst you are watching. You also hear the 'typewriter'
sound effect. These credits give you a sense of what this film is
likely to be about. You instantly are able to deduce what kind of
movie you are likely to witness.
“excerpts
from interview [continued]” White font on the same background as
above. However when this segment is then added on you are given a
sense of confusion.
“A
Terry Gilliam film” Scrolling from right to left. This appears on a
very different background displaying images of monkeys in a 3D spiral
effect.
“Bruce
Willis” Also scrolling from right to left. The rest of the credits
follow on from one another each scrolling from right to left.
“Madeleine
Stone”
“Brad
Pitt”
“Twelve
Monkeys” This title appears at the 'back' of the screen in very
small font in slowly gets bigger to reveal to the audience what it
says.
One
of the similarities between all three films is each film displayed
their actors in the order of most famous to least. However Casino
also showed many more members of the production whereas Twelve
Monkeys and Shallow Grave only gave us the actors' names.
Something Twelve Monkeys and Shallow Grave did
differently to Casino was end with the title.
Reservoir
dogs
This
film begins with a scene in a diner that introduces the characters
whilst showing you part of their personalities. Then you are shown
the credits. A voice over is playing when the credits start.
“A
Film by Quentin Tarantino”. This is in orange font on a black
background.
It
then cuts back to the film, the characters are walking down a street.
“Harvey
Keitel”. This again is in orange font but now on top of the film.
Each actor title from now is shown beside the character on the film.
“Michael
Madsen”. Orange font. Black Background.
“Chris
Penn”.
“Steve
Buscemi”.
“Lawrence
Tierney”.
“Eddie
Bunker”.
“Quentin
Tarantino”.
“and
Tim Roth”.
“are”.
“Reservoir
Dogs”. This title scrolls up from 'underneath' the screen.
Then
it goes back to the black background.
“Randy
Books”, “Kirk Baltz”, “Rich Turner”, “and the voice of”,
“Steven Wright”. All appear one after the other scrolling up on
the left hand side of the screen.
“Casting”
“Ronnie Yeskel, C.S.A.”.
“Music
Supervisor” “Karyn Rachtman”.
“Costume
Designer” “Betsy Heimann”.
“Editor”
“Sally Menke”.
“Prodcution
Designer” “David Wasco”.
“Director
of Photography” “Andrzej Sekula”.
“Co-Producer”
“Harvey Keitel”.
“Executive
Producers” “Richard N. Gladstein” “Ronna B. Wallace” “and”
“Monte Hellman”.
“Produced
by” “Lawrence Bender”.
Considering
that this is Quentin Tarantino's first feature film it is quite
surprising how large the opening credits. His name is also shown
twice in the credits, some may find this ballsy and arrogant as he
isn't as famous. Back then he wouldn't have been as well known and loved as
he is now. However ultimately it seems it does pay off as this film
ends up being brilliant. It still is worth remembering though that
not all rookie's first films will end up as great as this one has, so
it is safer to not go through a credit scene as long as this. He does
make it work very well by creating a unique sequence. Having the actor's name pops up next to the character is a great touch.
