Analysis of 9 Shots from a Thriller Piece (artofthetitle.com)

The Shining - Title Sequence Analysis.

After watching a few beginnings of thriller movies, i partically liked the opening of the Shining as i thought it was differnet from the rest that we saw.

The title sequence appears to be very simple and easy to understand, but it is not until you look at it in a differnet way, that you see it looks very effective for a 1980's film. The title sequence doesn't start with the titles straight away, which is a nice touch i think. I like the way that the first two frames, lasting for a while of time each, both add to the beginning.

However, i am not sure that the colour of the text, does the best of work to make the film llook interesting. I think that it could be a lot better done, with the choice of colours that reflect the background.

The titles tell us, from what i can gather, that the film is produced by "Stanley Kubrick" which you can see from the forth frame of the picture. The Fifth frame tells us the name of "John Nicholson" but does not tell us who, in relation to the film he is. The sixth frame on the title sequence tells us the name of the film "THE SHINING" which relates to us that the film is starting. The seventh frame shows us another name of "Barry Nelson" but again doesn't tell us who or what he had to do with the film. The second but last part of the title sequence tels us finally what a name has to do with some part of the film. "Based upon the novel by STEPHEN KING" gives us some idea that this film has been made from the story outline from a book, instead of just giving us a name, which can be confusing on some parts of the title sequence. The name "STANLEY KUBRICK" is repeated at the end, but this time actually tells us that they are he is the producer and director.

I think to be honest, that the title sequence isn't perfect and could do with some work to make it fit nicely into the film. All of the titles are placed over the images, which show us the action that is happening in the background, instead of some way film makers choose to do it of putting the text over a black screen. However, i do think that in some parts that the writing does work, for example "THE SHINING" but i feel that for the last title sequence, it could do with something a bit better to contrast with the snow on the hillside.