Some of you will dismiss our list because we didn’t include a sequence you love. Some of you will disagree with our picks. We picked six iconic movie title sequences to see what makes them work and how they keep standing the test of time. (The 8+ minute opening to Roger Altman’s 1992 film “The Player” famously praised long opening one takes by having one of its characters make a meta comment on the brilliance of Orson Welles’ opening to “Touch of Evil”.) So what makes a title sequence truly unforgettable ? Or multiple combinations of the above or something else entirely. Even an abstract representation of the story or its themes. Or a prologue or the beginning of an epilogue. A condensed representation of the story or plot. A foreshadowing of the action or a counterpoint to it. From a single long take that lasts several minutes and introduces the setting, characters, and the storyline, to an introduction to the protagonist. And yet movie title sequences run the gamut. These often have fifty or more of them without explanation or analysis or even any kind of categorization. The web is full of “the best movie title sequences of all time” posts. Steven Spielberg was even cited in The Economist saying that audience surveys show that people prefer “films which start without any preamble, so he snips the opening credits off most of his movies (the snazzy cartoon at the beginning of Catch Me If You Can is a beloved outlier).” Some directors, such as Christopher Nolan for example, never use movie title sequences. Can you describe the feeling a good title sequence gives you and how it does that as you watch it? Not popular with everyone It may even be the only thing you remember about that movie. The chances are that you remember a movie title sequence that was better than the movie it preceded. If you love films, you’ll have seen dozens of great movie title sequences in your lifetime.
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