Looking through the many titles found at artofthetitle.com I was focused on ones that had a significant focus on playing with the typeface present in the title sequence. The first one that caught my eye was BBC’s “A History of Scotland.” What seems from the title to be something of little interest was actually very intriguing. In the title sequence the actual type of the history is interlaid on top of scenes of modern day Scotland. The typeface appears to be floating in the sky above landmarks as seen from a birds-eye or helicopter view. As the type appears it is also made to look as if it is blowing away in the breeze. The end of the title pulls together all of the floating typeface matter and slowly reveals their make up of the title itself. I think this title sequence does a great job of mixing the old world and the new world, incorporates great landscape shots (the toy-like quality of the shots) and keeps the viewer extremely interested with the movement of the typeface (you want to stay around to see where they go/what they make). I also think it is so captivating because it is a technique I have never seen used before.
The second title I choose to look at was “Napoleon Dynamite.” I watched this movie many times back in high school and when I saw it listed I honestly could not remember ever noticing the title sequence so I decided to take a look and now I’m not sure how it ever went unnoticed. The approach here to the typeface is in the complete opposite direction of “The History of Scotland” in that instead of using technology the sequence uses objects, food mainly, and condiments to display the type. It approach perfectly matches that of the film itself and is certainly kitschy. I think part of its success comes not only from the seeming creativity of the display, but also in the fantastic contrast created by the different carpet/floor backgrounds and dish patterns/types. The movie was so successful because of its weird timeframe limbo between the 1970s and 2000s and these combinations perfectly match that mix of time periods and styles. This along with the choices in food definitely set the stage for the film itself, as many of the dishes are either reminiscent of times past or of school lunches past and present.
Overall it is clear that once the film is over the title itself may not be remembered, but they are important to “hook” the viewer and to set the stage for the film itself. It is apparent that there is indeed an “art” to the title.