Typography - the Art of the Intro

Opening credits for movies can be time consuming and laborious when you want the movie to "just get to the monkey". A boring intro credit will usually compel me to forward the introduction altogether; but once in while I'll dreadfully sit through the monotony from fears that I might miss some crucial information sprinkled within these uneventful images. Successful title sequences will usually layout a definable purpose or meaning of a particular movie.  It will succinctly compose a visual understanding of what we the audience are about to experience.

In David Fincher's "Panic Room," the title itself embodies the sheer brevity and magnitude of what the film tries to accomplish.  It opens with a magnificent shot of Manhattan and eventually works its way up to the Upper West Side.What makes these shots so stunning is how The Picture Mill (the title sequence designers) decided to incorporate the fonts into the shots.

They deliberately chose a modified version of the copperplate font which naturally and architecturally fits the visual motif of New York City perfectly.  The copperplate font with its sharp protruding serifs, powerfully erected stems, claustrophobic apertures, and stabilizing crossbars innately captures the architectural definition of New York City. Instead of using these fonts as a formulaic set piece to mechanically introduce the credits, they intentionally fused the copperplate font directly into the shot as an extension of the city itself. Attaching them to various monumental and iconic buildings throughout the city, the font itself becomes a part of the city; panning, zooming, and moving along with it--almost like a billboard or neon sign, but much more elegant and imposing.

Although the Panic Room's opening title sequence seems to be inspired and borrowing heavily from Alfred Hitchcock's "North by Northwest," it certainly takes it to the next level by utilizing current cutting edge technology. The obvious observation is that they both open in New York City and the font is laid according to the convergence of the horizon -- it is never just laid flat on the screen. Where they differ are in the use of the font selection and how they interact with the shot. In North by Northwest, the font is animated, credits falling down from the top (North) and sliding out from the right (West) of the screen; whereas, in the Panic Room, the font is fixed firmly to a specific location. Another difference is that the font is two dimensional in North by Northwest but it is three dimensional in the Panic Room, occasionally shifting it's perspective.

I can't express enough about how much I appreciate the opening title sequence. Although I didn't enjoy the overall narrative structure of the film itself, David Fincher never ceases to entertain me with his shot compositions and the brilliant use of his opening credits. The Panic Room's opening title sequence immediately pulls you in and elaborately explains to the viewer with precise craftsmanship the kind of brick-and-mortar setting and concrete atmosphere that is about to be experienced.