Looking for My Ideal Credit Sequence

     Though in my last blog I mentioned I'd wait to research stylistic and mise-en-scene choices regarding the period I want my opening to take place in, I now realize why waiting so long is a bad idea. Because of this, I will focus this post on the period drama aspect of my opening. My idea for my opening is to use the tragedy convention of psychological dramas, meaning that a tragic event took place before the movie commences and the film consists of the "aftermath" or breaking down of the main character's emotional state. I also liked the idea of an unreliable narrator, so perhaps the trauma can be the stem of their unreliability. Still, I want to keep the contrast aspect of perfect on the outside and odd on the inside. For this reason, I want the credits to develop a pristine, Regency Era type of setting and mood.

EMMA (1996)

    In the 1996 film EMMA, the opening credit sequence features the perfect extreme long shot to display the period they're portraying in the movie. The horse-driven carriage and the regal font for the title pair together flawlessly. The carriage moving somewhere as the title is being shown implies that there's more to come and doesn't make putting it at the end of the opening feel conclusional. Instead, it alludes to their next stop and adds a sense of continuation even though the opening itself is ending. The font difference between the original author's name and the title is subtle but makes such a difference. The smaller cursive font makes the all-caps bold title have an even bigger impact by comparison. I like how it develops a familiarity with the protagonist from the beginning.

Bridgerton (2020)

    Bridgerton is one of the most popular period dramas currently, so I couldn't NOT mention it. One thing I noticed while watching the credits is the placement of the names. Placement and speed are important factors when displaying credits because all the people who put hard work into films should be properly recognized for it; it would be pretty distasteful for them not to be. For this reason, it should be easy to spot names even when more things are going on in the background. This opening does an astounding job at this since they always focus the names around whatever is going on the screen. For example, when the vines are climbing up the tree, the name of an actor is right there next to them. Though the font in this opening doesn't seem to belong to the Regency Era as much as my last example, it illustrates the more modern approach this show has.

Little Women (1994)

    The beautiful graphics in the title sequence of the 1994 adaptation of Little Women are a perfect instance of the graceful design of women in the 1860s. The sharp lettering of the words contrasts heavily with the flowy swirls. I believe this has a deeper meaning than it might seem. The sharp versus the soft illustrates the range of women and how broad the range of women's persona in this specific film will be developed. I'm quite interested in illustrations and art like this that can be interpreted in many different ways and possibly something I'll want to include in my title.