Art of the Title

STRANGER THINGS
Stranger Things, directed by Steven Spielberg, is Netflix's hit drama
and thriller TV show. Netflixs Stranger Things is a series loaded
with subtle nods and not-so-subtle homages to some of the most
beloved films of the 1980s. The shows main titles function as a
tribute to some of the eras most iconic book covers and title
sequences. Paired with a synthy title track straight out of a
Carpenter flick, the Stranger Things sequence echoes the openings
of genre classics like Altered States and The Dead Zone both in form
and tone. Large, hollow type drifts through a void, slowly
assembling, its glowing red edges cutting through the darkness as
smaller credits fade in and out. The primary typeface is Benguiat,
carefully chosen for its deep associations with early 80s Stephen
King paperbacks, the Choose Your Own Adventure series, and other
dusty, musty touchstones.

Se7en
Se7en, directed by David Fincher, is a thriller mixed with horror. The
film doesnt open directly with the sequence. It first introduces us to
retiring Detective Somerset (Morgan Freeman) and rookie
replacement Detective Mills (Brad Pitt) as they also meet for the
first time, establishing their combative on-screen chemistry and
investing the audience in the evolution of their partnership. This
prelude also introduces many of the key themes found in Se7en:
hopelessness, apathy, desperation and lest we wonder why
plenty of violence. By the end, we welcome Somersets nighttime
zen ritual of drowning out the chaos with a metronome on his
nightstand, its hypnotic rhythm also asking for our trust and
attention. It also delivers us into an even darker world, which
unlike the random city violence beneath Somersets window is
obsessive, methodic, and purposeful.

North By Northwest
Perhaps the best way to frame Hitchcocks 1959 thriller North by Northwest is to
examine the least conspicuous word in its title: by. In the context of the film, by
represents a crossroads a point of intersection between two paths that would
otherwise never meet. Intersections are further explored in the transient
locations Hitchcock chose to shoot: downtown cross streets, trains, airports
even the infamous crop-dusting scene, which takes place quite literally at a
crossroads. The sequence is split into three distinct tiers the first being entirely
graphic, with the titles superimposed over the gridded background. In the second,
the graphics dissolve into the reflective faade of the C.I.T. Building in Manhattan
the location of Thornhills agency perfectly mimicking its window framework.
The third tier brings us down to ground level, observing the anonymous masses
navigating the Big Apple. This progression is to perceive the reality of living in
New York symbolically reflected in the buildings faade. North by Northwest is
likely his first truly modernist title sequence, adopting a clean, minimal style
previously unseen in his title work or elsewhere in mainstream film.

For my thriller opening, I plan to the use similar sound to Se7en and
I plan to use similar editing styles as Stranger Things.