Comparing Title Sequences

 In this post i will be looking at two different opening title sequences of two different genres. I will be looking at Grease (1978) and American Horror story (2011).

Opening title sequences are the sequences at the beginning of the film which introduce the tone, setting and narrative of the film. They also include titles, which tell us the main people involved in the film, however the way they are styled can also tell us a lot about the narrative of the film. 

Grease (1978)

Studio: Paramount Pictures 

Director: Randal Kleiser

Main Cast: John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John, Stockard Channing

In this opening title sequence, the genre is set up through the use of comic cartoons, they are very fun and happy. This is the same with the font. The colours are very vibrant and bold, and the time period is set through the use of the font and colours as it is very 1950s style. The way the font is animated indicated that the film will be a comedy, it is very exaggerated which hints at a musical. 

Having the character names next to the actors names gives it a feel of a school yearbook which sets the tone and setting as a school in the 1950s. 

The drawings of the characters present stereotypes that are presented through the mise-en-scene, especially through the costume of the characters. The male group are shown as wearing leather jackets and gelling their hair back, driving round in a topless car. This supports the stereotype of the 'popular' boys
group in the 1950s. The girls are shown as wearing pink or wearing dresses which again supports the stereotype that girls care a lot about their appearance and are trying to impress the boys. The boy that we ar
e introduced to at the very start we can tell is going to be a protagonist, this is because the ma
in focus is on him for the whole of the first part of the scene. Another main character is the girl that we see getting out of bed and being dressed by animals, we can see her status by the fact she doesn't have to get dressed herself and her animals do it for her. 

The soundtrack is very animated and it is a USA singer singing, which presents the place this is set in. At the very beginning we hear the diegetic sound of a person saying it is the first day of school, this presents straight away what is happening and sets the narrative of the film as we know that it will take place in a school.

American Horror story - Season 1 (2011)

Studio: FXnetwork

Creators: Brad Falchuk, Ryan Murphy

Stars: Lady Gaga, Kathy Bates. Angela Bassett

In this opening title sequence, the titles are very bold and 'in your face', the font and layout is very gothic style. This hints at a gothic narrative. The transitions are very fast and jumpy, the editing makes it seem
glitchy and unpredictable. This works very well alongside the soundtrack which is also unpredictable and tense. In this scene we are not shown any specific narrative of the film, or introduced to any specific characters. This creates mystery which we expect to be carried forward into the rest of the film. We are only given hints and clues as to

what the narrative might be. The imager
y and parallel and synchronous soundtrack hints at a horror genre. We get no iconic imagery of time of location, therefore we have no idea where or when this is taking place and makes it more mysterious. We are shown iconic things associated with horror, such as skulls, photographs, white clothing, fire and smashed glass. We do not know who the protagonist or antagonist are yet as nobody specific has been introduced. 

Comparing the two scenes

I think that both of these scenes are very successful in conveying genre. However they do it in quite different ways. 

The editing of the text on both scenes portray the genre, in grease the animated text shows the over exaggerated and comic theme and in AHS the glitchy and unpredictable text. When we see the cast's names, in grease we see the character names next to them, whereas in AHS we only see the cast names and get no insight into who the characters are. 

I think that the way the story is told in grease and a linear narrative is used makes it a lot more easy to understand and less confusing. Whereas in American horror story, there is no clear plot and it is very jumpy between different images of things, and is just a sequence of lots of different clips which do not really have a narrative. This makes it more confusing and conceals the narrative.