What’s the most dispensable part of a movie other than the cheesy original theme song? The opening titles. Woody Allen in Stig Bjorkman’s book Woody Allen on Woody Allen (a must-read for fans of the media-shy filmmaker) decries the hundreds of thousands of dollars Hollywood spends on optical effects for a movie’s opening. Yeah, he’s right. The money could have been better spent on screenplays, like in the case of David Fincher’s The Panic Room – great credits (glassy 3-D effect over the Manhattan skyline), dreadful thriller.
Mr. Allen’s opening credits are brisk and consistently use the same typeface. The actors' names all appear in one frame. Googled it and it’s Windsor Elongated. It’s simple and elegant. You could also tell that what it prefaces would be substantial and brief. His films usually take only 80 minutes of narrative. Anything more than that would be superfluous, he says.
What I’m usually more interested is how a film opens, with or without credits. Woody Allen’s Manhattan (1979) tops my list. It signals the start of a gorgeously orchestrated symphony of love, hate, immaturity and neuroses in New York City.
I knew from the opening strains of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue that I was in for the most significant movie experience of my life.
I totally agree about opening titles and Manhattan.
ReplyDeleteStanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut also had a really simple opening with simple titles, but quite compelling. Nicole Kidman undressing, and then a minute later dressed in an evening gown, as she casually wipes after peeing while Tom Cruise fixes his tie in the bathroom mirror.
How about discussing movie posters in a future blog post?
thanks, ricky. will watch Eyes Wide Shut again. must admit it's a Kubrick film I find least accessible.
ReplyDeletei like the idea of movie posters. will try. but you're knowledgeable about this forgotten art form. :)