Movie Intro Inspiration:

SAUL BASS:
North by Northwest--
     The text works in an environment here, becoming part of its surrounding space by taking on the perspective of the high-rise building behind it. When we see the busy streets with people walking past, the text moves onto and off of the screen in the same hurried manner. His exciting and upbeat choice of music also reflects this hectic, bustling city.

Psycho--
     The music very much sets the eerie sort of scary tone for this movie, before any image or text even appears. The text comes onto the screen in a disjointed manner, coming apart again as it exits the screen. This disconnected typography gives us the idea of it being cut apart, fitting in with the horror/thriller tone.

Oceans Eleven--
     I have not seen this film, so I don't already know exactly what the mood or tone is like with the other two films. However, the big, bright numbers and text made up of smaller dots immediately gave me the impression of Hollywood because they look like lightbulbs. However, gathering from the cards and dice, I think it may be Las Vegas. Saul Bass does an amazing job of integrating image and text. In terms of similarities between all three, he seems to incorporate a lot of simple shape, particularly rectangles.

MARLENE McCARTHY:
I Shot Andy Warhol--
     The music immediately starts out very tense, and the text echoes this as it seems to oscillate and vibrate. The typewriter font used seems purposefully messy.

Safe--
     Once again, dramatic and tense opening music sets the tone. I like how the type and image play off of each other, as the text reflects the light from the car's headlights.

American Psycho--
     I think this opening is really clever. The dripping red liquid immediately resembles blood, and the music starts out a little slower and a bit creepy, but it flows into something a little more upbeat and classy as it becomes clear what the red liquid actually is. Also, the music and image are really cohesive, as the music starts each drip appears at the same time as the staccato note. The type itself is sort of simple and understated but elegant and clean.

I think the intro to the movie 300 (designed and animated by yU + Co.) is an inspiring opening sequence because it is so extremely dynamic. The font has a sort of graphic novel comic book vibe. I particularly like how as the view changes and the camera moves, the text stays where it was and you can see the dimentionality. It makes the text become very much an integral and cohesive part of the sequence. I like that the text is not just static and stationary, but becomes part of the imagery in the way it moves into and out of view, like the blood that spatters over each scene.