K.H - Analysis of Title Sequence: Nosferatu the Vampyre (Herzog,1979)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxE4yITfRLo

Order of titles

0:58-1:01 - Michael Gruskoff/presents/a/Werner Herzog/Filmproduktion

1:04-1:09 - Klaus Kinski/Isabelle Adjani/in

1:10-1:14 - NOSFERATU THE VAMPYRE

1:16-1:18 - with/Bruno Ganz

1:19-1:25 - Roland Topor/Walter Ladengast/Dan van Husen/Jan Groth/Carsten Bodinus/Martje Grohmann

1:26-1:33 - Ryk de Gooyer/Clemens Scheitz/Lo van Hensbergen/John Leddy/Margiet van Hartingsveld/Tim Beekman

1:34-1:38 - and/Jacques Dufilho

Typography

• The titles are written in a fairly bold font, with the key part of each letter being thick, and the other parts of the letter being much thinner.
• It is fairly uniform and formal, each letter being evenly spread apart.
• The most important titles such as names have capitalised first letters, and the less important titles such as linking words being written in entirely lower case. It's noteworthy that the title of the film is capitalised in its entirety to give it additional significance.
• The white colour, font style and sans font all connote the Gothic atmosphere that the film strives for.
• In terms of positioning, the text is located in the centre of the screen and is vertically spaced apart enough that the images behind the text is still visible.
• The visuals primarily serve as background detail during the title sequence, and they are animated with a simple fade in and out.

What I learnt from this

• If text is going to be used over the top of visuals relevant to the film, the font should be unobtrusive and fairly subtle, so that the viewer can appreciate what's going on, or read the text well if they wish.
• Some basic colour work is necessary as well, white text being placed over a fairly low key and dark background.
• The titles tie in very well with the Gothic and bleak tone of the film, and the imagery of the corpses accompanying the text underneath reinforce it.
• The formal style of the text also helps the production feel neat and organised in its presentation which is less typical of independent art house productions.
• The fixed and central position of the font was a wise decision with the use of some of the reasonably fast panning camera movement that means the text would not tie well into the background if it was integrated into the composition of the frame.

How can I utilise these ideas into my production?

• The short duration of the text is close to what we want to use in our opening, We will not have as many titles but the condensed format is something to aim for.
• The Gothic style of the font also evokes a similar atmosphere to our concept and the overall typeface is something we could consider replicating.
• Additionally the positioning would be ideal if we're going to place our titles separately to the main footage, such as on a black screen.