Analysis of Credits

To help with our planning of our opening credits, I have decided to watch and analyse the opening sequence of Psycho, a 1960 American thriller/suspense film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Anthony Perkins, Vera Miles, John Gavin and Janet Leigh. By analysing this thriller, it will help give ideas as to how to present our thriller opening credits, for example how long a certain actor or the title of the film should be held on the screen for. Also by looking at a much older thriller, it will present different ideas in contrast to modern day films.
The film, Psycho depicts the encounter between a secretary, Marion Crane (Leigh), who goes to a secluded motel after embezzling money from her employer, and the motel's disturbed owner and manager, Norman Bates (Perkins), and the aftermath of their encounter.
In the opening credits of Psycho, names form on the screen from horizontal bars and then violently split. The splitting and the cutting of the image continue throughout the title sequence, which relies on the power of the line as a graphic element. The shape, direction, thickness, formation and length of a line can express a variety of moods. It is haunting to see the horizontal and vertical bars sweeping across the screen in a manic, a mirror motif at the beginning of the film.

When looking at the amount of time an important name is presented on the screen, the director, Alfred Hitchcock, is the first to be shown on screen after various lines appear beforehand turn the grey background into black, his name lasts on screen for only 3 seconds in which only after is the title of the film portrayed. By only showing Hitchcock's name at the beginning for 3 seconds suggests that he may be presented again later on in the sequence, in which he does. 'Psycho' is shown on the screen for roughly 6 seconds due to the importance of this presentation, however if when looking at The Silence of the Lambs, the title of the film in the opening credits is shown the longest after a few of the main actors, directors and producers are presented. This clarifies to Tsunami Studios that we can portray our opening credits in not a certain order however we still need to think about the length of appearance.

The use of sound is another element which is very conspicuous and effective in the sequence to Psycho. Bernard Herrmann's score for a string orchestra compliments the staccato nature of this title sequence and reflects Norman Bates' fractured psyche. The piercing sounds used throughout the opening credits are similar to the sound effects used in the famous shower scene later in the film. The lines cutting through the text is also reminiscent of the stabbing action. When focusing on those, it demonstrates that they give a clue to the audience what genre the film is what with the high pitch music and the presentation of lines linking to later on in the film.

From analysing Psycho, I depicted that in our opening credits we should focus highly on the amount of time shown of the actors, title of our film and directors/producers. We should aim to spend longer presenting the title of the film on screen and preferably after some other titles are shown as it is the most important part and adds suspense to the opening, perhaps showing '#Followed' for 6 seconds in contrast to the actors, directors etc. being showed for example, 3 seconds. When presenting our production company, we should aim to present out ident on the screen for more than 3 seconds, as the production company is an important aspect of the making of the film.