Title Sequence Analysis - Serenity

Order of the titles:

• The universal logo and music

Then there is about 10 minutes of film before:

• Title of movie
• Cast
• Casting by
• Costume designer
• Music by
• Editor
• Production designer
• Director of photography
• Executive producers
• Produced by
• Written and directed by

This genre of this movie is sic-fi/action/adventure and the titles of the film reflect this.  Firstly the font of the title 'Serenity' looks like it is old and has been written on an old, a bit torn, piece of paper and with the picture/logo behind it, it looks like a sort of martial arts logo, with the Japanese looking writing behind the title.  That's what it reminds me of.  So that may reflect the action/adventure side a bit.  As the shot zooms out, the title is the name of the ship, which gives it, its sic-fi element.

The titles begin once the camera is in the ship.  The font of the tiles is very straight, with no curves, giving it a kind of futuristic look.  Also the way that the titles appear is like an electric blue wave and this forms the words.  Sparks are also formed on top of some of the letters.  The colour of the titles are white as the background colour is quite dark throughout the sequence and this makes it stand out more.

After the first 4 or 5 cast names are shown, the time gap between them grows, maybe meaning that they aren't quite as important or that they want you to concentrate on what is happening in the shot.  However, they do name a lot of the cast, so the ones named must have a decent part in the film.  

Once in the ship, they use one shot for the whole part until the ship lands.  It is here that the titles are shown.  Once this long shot has finished, you know its the end of titles.  By doing it this way, there is a clear start and end to the titles.

View sequence here >>> Serenity (2005) — Art of the Title <<<