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.

Analysis of Credit Sequence

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwmCXWiq_mE - Link of the Credit Sequence for The Talented Mr. Ripley

In order to gain my knowledge of what creates an effective and great credit sequence I decided to analyse the opening to Anthony Minghella's film - The Talented Mr. Ripley. 'The Talented Mr. Ripley is a Thriller and Crime film which was release in 1999. I am initially interested in this particular films credit sequence as I feel it sets the mood out perfectly for the remainder of the film as well as, at the same time, creating a sense of an edginess and troubled nature for the main character and portraying it to the audience which makes them uneasy and in doubt of what is going to happen. I thought it would be helpful to look at what this Thriller film sequence contained because it would assist us when doing our own opening sequence by adding elements into the credit sequence to portray a deeper more disturbing Thriller genre. 

The credits also give an insight to what the film might possibly contain as the picture below, taken from the opening scene suggest:                                            

The Opening Credit sequence involves, as shown, black strips falling down onto the screen and the identity of the main character being revealed. These edited in black strips shows the real identity of this character is hidden, therefore the character may be isolated as they don't want to show their true character, which is a popular attribute of a credit sequence as a lot of Thriller Openings are based on the isolation of the character. Additionally the techniques such as arousing peoples superstitions was commonly used by Alfred Hitchcock.

However as the credit sequence carries on, the revelation of the character become clearer but only as the black strips are becoming more frequent, therefore giving an indication that his true  personality will be identified throughout the film. As the black strips reveal that character the camera revolves around him giving the impression that he is not free and feels isolated in himself.


Throughout the Opening Sequence the credits appear until the black strip that exposes the identity of the character catches up with them. The order of the credits are as followed: The production company, The distribution company, The director, The main actors and actresses, The Title and then the additional actors and actresses. The credits are presented on a black screen and the font in a white colour which stands out and is also in an old typewriters font, which I think is a classic and effective font to use.. However, the font, is not implying great threat because it allows the main focus to then be appointed onto 'Mr.Ripley'. The additional characters therefore are shown less important as they are superimposed on the first scene, when we see the character playing the piano and the credit music 'Destined to the Dark' being sung by a women.  All these credits last on the screen for 3 seconds, whereas the main title lasts double that time.

The Main Title of the film is superimposed onto the clip of him behind and is done effectively to show the different personalities and traits of the character by just showing how to present him. 'The, Mr. and Ripley' is all written in a bold white font whereas 'Talented' is written in an orange after a series of words to describe him are all being suggested to fit into the title.

This example of editing could possibly be useful in our opening. I believe that the font and the way it was presented on a black screen was effective and that of a revelation was a creative way to start a Thriller.