Title sequence analysisSIGNS

Signs is a film made in 2002 and is directed by M. Night Shyamalan. It comes into a few genres including; drama, mystery, sci-fi, and thriller.

TITLES – DESIGN BY WILLIAM LEBEDA

COLOURS The main colours used in the titles are black and blue. The

darkness of the black already highlights to the audience that this film will contain a dark theme and we also know it will not be a happy and joyful kids film. Black is a very typical colour in thriller films as it sets up the mood for the beginning of the film. The contrast of the lighter blue light shining links in with the light that we stereotypically link with aliens and ufo’s – so it is already foreshadowing the plot (although the title designer says that it was originally meant to be white but had to be changed due to an issue with the release prints). Both the colours, black and blue, increase the tension before anything suspenseful has even happened.

Font - Requiem from Hoefler

FONT At the time of release in 2002 there

was a lot of films being released with small and distressed fonts. As a result Lebeda deicide to use a distressed font but have the size as large as possible whilst still being able to fit multiple names on. The thin font is a classic style which fits the classic thriller/alien film that it is perfectly. The font also comes across as slightly gothic and horror with its razor cut edges which is what Lebeda wanted.

Throughout the length of the title sequence the similar transitions have been used to bring in and out each title. They all fade away at the end, but bought in differently. Sometimes they will flash in quickly while other times they will appear more slowly. It was done like this to match closely the music and the titles.

TRANSITIONS

All of the name-cards are centered in the middle. This is most likely done as it draws our attention to them. They are laid out onto a plain background with an increasing and decreasing blue light in the middle which allows the audience to read the names as the font is also black like the surrounding. The only moving items are the blue light and the font coming in and out – there are no images or pictures used as this eliminated the suspense.

LAYOUT

We are first introduced to the distributers and production companies for the film. This is common for films to put this in first of all. It then moves on to show the main actors – they would have put these before other titles as they are the more famous and more important figures in the film; a lot of the audience would have chosen to see the film due to them being in it and therefore they are put early on in the order. The title ‘Signs’ flashes before us and we can tell that this is the name of the film because due to the abruptness and dramatic change in music. It is then followed by many other actors who are less important then the first two. We then come across, the casting, music producer, visual effects supervisors, costume designer, editor, production designer, director of photography, executive producer, and producers. Finally we see the title – ‘written produced and directed by M. Night Shyamalan’. He is most likely put at the end due to the fact that he was a fairly unknown director at the time as he only had directed 4 films previously.

ORDER

The music heard whilst the titles are being played is by James Newton Howard. His score very much influenced Lebeda as he was initially bought in to create a new title sequence as they did not feel that the old one matched the film or the score. As a result Lebeda created the titles to perfectly match the music – so they both are dramatic, impulsive and dark.

MUSIC

The titles are effective at setting up the film and creating tension, suspense and fear before any of the action or plot has happened. It is a classic title so could be used for a variety of different films and genres. This title sequence could work for our film, however we feel that using an interesting background that links in with our film will help give across information as well as setting the right tone and mood.

OVERALL