Cape Fear-Art of the Title

Cape Fear (1991) — Art of the Title

The opening title sequence for Cape Fear is about 3 minutes long but shows examples of several things you can incorporate into your own title sequence if you were to make one.

1. WATER-The entire opening credits are based on a background of water. Now at the same time, it is not always the same rippling pond, but it is significant nonetheless. In an article written on the same website, it was said how the title sequence used the themes of the film and represented them through metaphors. The water represented liquid as a moral quicksand. I could use this concept of visual metaphors in my own opening credits to provide the subtlest clue as to what my thriller would be about. Admittedly, it might not be understood at first since there won't be an actual film, but sub-consciously people will react and that's what films are for.

2. FALSE IMAGES-Near the beginning of the title sequence an eagle was seen soaring and dipping in the air but only its reflection was seen; the actual bird was not. I realize that mirror-images or false images are able to extract a decent amount of emotion from an audience. A false images (I would say) is a clever device that one could use to make your audience anxious, uneasy, anticipative, etc. It's not real, and yet, there it is proving you wrong. Now, the subject of your false image can either support or counter-act the subconscious emotional warfare so choose wisely.

3. TEXT-All of the text used in the opening credits of this film, including the title of the movie itself, was in a specific font. Now, I've never seen this type of font before but don't be fooled: movies make up their own font a lot of the time. The style of font used was a regular font, sans serif, all capitals but the main thing was that the words were cut in half horizontally and then moved to the right slightly so every word appeared broken. I don't know about you, but seeing something like that makes me think of someone using a great deal of force on something or someone in a violent manner. Note: type of font has great impact. I could use the idea to make my future font disoriented or distorted in order to get the desired feeling of fear from the viewer.

4. BACKGROUND IMAGES-Even though technically water was the background of the entire title sequence, every now and then, images were seen behind the ripples of the water. An eye, a face, a man from the shoulders up, the silhouette of a possibly different man's torso, etc. I would equate these images to subliminal messages in an audio track because they give some foresight into the film but you are still left with gaps that you are expected to fill in. An idea of using this technique but in a way so that the image is not truly clear until the shot has moved on comes to mind.

5. COLOUR PALETE-Throughout most of the title sequence, a dark colour palete is used with the water, the background images, and the reflections within the water. Colours affect a lot without doing much. Using darker colours can create a dark or sinister effect which adds to the connotation of the audience. However, a bit more than three-quarters into the title sequence, a red panel (if you will) comes into the screen from the top down colouring the water to be this deep, blood red colour. I thought this was pretty smart because it automatically makes the viewer think of everything that relates to the colour red. Blood, anger, rage, death, hell, etc.