JS: Analysis of an Opening Title Sequence - Hannibal (Scott, 2001)

Titles

Order of Titles

• Hannibal - the title of the film 0-6 seconds

(The following are the A-listers involved)

• Anthony Hopkins - lead actor 7-10 seconds
• Julianne Moore -  lead supporting actress 11-14 seconds

(The following are all actors and actresses that aren't A-listers, their names all hold a duration of 3 seconds from the time 15 seconds - 39 seconds)

• Ray Liotta 
• Frankie R. Faison
• Giancarlo Giannini 
• Francesca Neri 
• Željko Ivanek
• Hazelle Goodman, David Andrews, Francis Guinan
• Enrico Lo Verso, Mark Margolis  
• Ivano Marescotti, Fabrizio Gifuni, Ennio Coltorti

(The following are all people vital to the production process - increasing in importance, roles are now also featured on screen)

 

• Louis Digiaimo - casting director 40-44 seconds
• Janty Yates - costume designer 45-49 seconds
• Hans Zimmer - produced the score/music 50-54 seconds
• Pietro Scalia - editor 55-58 seconds
• Norris Spencer - production designer  59 seconds - 1:02 minutes
• John Mathieson - director of photography 1:03-1:05 minutes
• Branko Lustig - executive producer 1:06-1:09 minutes
• Thomas Harris - writer of novel 1:10-1:14 minutes
• Ridley Scott, Dino De Laurentiis, Martha De Laurentiis - producers 1:15-1:18 minutes
• David Mamet, Steven Zaillian - screenplay 1:19-1:25 minutes
• Ridley Scott - Director 1:25 minutes onwards for the rest of the sequence

In Hannibal, there is an interesting point to take note of - whilst films on the whole go from least important to most important actors and general crew in a crescendo into the title, Hannibal does somewhat the opposite; the first seven seconds of footage is the title 'Hannibal'  placed on a blurred background of a mask that fades to black. After this Anthony Hopkins and Julianne Moore (the two lead actors) are the first two names displayed, after the title itself, each having a duration of 4 seconds. After this, the lesser actors are displayed, however all for an equal time of 3 seconds, but after several lesser actors the least key actors are displayed - with multiple names on the screen showing a lack of importance.  However the expected hierarchy of crew members leading up to the Director does follow this.

Typography

For the title 'Hannibal', a calligraphic font is used, perhaps to convey the antagonist's classical nature. The colour is red - the colour of blood, this reinforces the idea that this is a horror and murder(s) will take place.
The font of the other names is fairly neutral in terms of horror themes, however each is in block capitals and is the negative colour to the background - however I don't believe this is to add tension or such other reasons, I feel it is just to improve clarity. Although, they do appear in some sense very 'clean' - perhaps alluding towards Hannibal's OCD like tendencies

Relationship between text and visuals

This film is a Universal Pictures production, and so is fairly big budget, this is how the film gained A list actors and actresses - listed first as to show prevalence.
The titles don't interact with the action, it just overlays montage editing. However the content of this montage is seemingly footage from CCTV cameras, and so the names look almost like titles for the individual footage, which gives the audience a sense of unease and as if they are always being observed.

Link between research and production

 I feel that an idea that can be easily utilised in our opening sequence is that of the very clean cut and clear titles - this is because it improves visibility of the words, yet also implies OCD tendencies.