Compose two styles
Rather than blending two styles into a middle, this assigns them roles: one carries the structure, the other appears as an accent. Where the two fight, it says so before you start.
How to divide the work
- Composition
- Follow Silent Film Intertitle: Center the text and keep even space on all four sides
- Type
- Set in Silent Film Intertitle's manner (Different faces for speech and narration, trimmed to fit one card), and let Title Sequence's lettering (One face only, entrances and exits designed to the musical beat) appear only where you want the eye to catch.
- Material
- Ground in Silent Film Intertitle's material (White out of black, with a faint film weave and gate flicker); bring in exactly one thing from Title Sequence (Art built apart from the feature, few colors, one repeated motif).
- Colour
- Build on #e9e6dd, #67635d, #171615 and admit one accent from #e9e6dd, #67635d, #171615.
Where they fight
- Silent Film Intertitle and Title Sequence share no intent, so the contrast has to become the subject rather than something to smooth over.
Caution
- Silent Film Intertitle Cards that explain too much stop the flow every time they appear, and the film turns into something to be read rather than watched.
- Title Sequence Decoration unrelated to the feature is not the form, since only the structure that summarizes the theme survives, and when moving the names becomes the point there is no time to read them.
Image prompt
An original image that takes its structure from Silent Film Intertitle (Technique, 1900s–1920s) and its accent from Title Sequence (Style, 1955–). Structural cues: Text cards on black; Ornamental frames; Hand lettering; Alternating rhythm with the action. Accent cues, used sparingly: Cut-paper shapes; Type synced to music; The theme compressed; Art independent of the feature. Composition: Center the text and keep even space on all four sides. Type and lettering: Different faces for speech and narration, trimmed to fit one card. Let one material quality come from the second style: Art built apart from the feature, few colors, one repeated motif. Mood: Nostalgia, Intimacy, Exhilaration, Luxury, Play. Color: build on #e9e6dd, #67635d, #171615 with a single accent drawn from #e9e6dd, #67635d, #171615. Constraints: do not imitate, reference or name any specific artist, studio, brand, character or copyrighted work. Produce an original composition in the general period languages described above.
Related entries
- Silent Film Intertitle 1900s–1920s / Technique / Film Technology
Dialogue and description were cut into the film as separate cards of type. This is where cinema and typography first met.
- Title Sequence 1955– / Style / Broadcast Design
A film's opening minutes designed as a work in their own right, with shape, type and music synchronized to state the theme before the story does. Saul Bass redefined the title as a prologue rather than a preview.
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