GRAND OPENINGS
Here's a little something that pleases me.
Something that seemed to be dying off looks like it's clawing its way back a bit. Opening titles.
When I'm writing a spec pilot, I frequently like to visualize what the opening titles might be like (I even like to fantasize that I could pull a J.J. Abrams and write and perform the music myself.)
Yeah, lots of new shows still opt for just the title card kind of thing (Reaper, for one and just as well, as I fear the theme song would simply be whatever was popular on Indie 103 last spring, just as so many pilots seemed to feature "Young Folks"). And most of those that do have openings keep it really short (Journeyman and Bionic Woman come to mind).
Then there's Maude-- I mean Chuck, flying in the face of crushing and condensing in the name of gaining more time (mostly for commercials) with a full on specially made sequence (not just clips strung together).
Another cool, recent opening, though not new in the fall season, is this one.
And I gotta say, my favorite new sequence, though, is for Journeyman.
Primarily for the music, rather than the time lapse and backward birds. I really dig the music.
I looked forward to the Bionic Woman's opening, but was let down by clips and a theme that, just as it starts to get bad-ass, comes to an abrupt end. I do hope that's not a sign.
This reminds me that Internet Jesus, Warren Ellis proclaimed that Hawaii 5-0 was the best opening titles ev-ar and invited challenges to that. I'm not entirely inclined to agree, but it's really hard to argue. He might be right. Go there to see many links to many awesome openings.
My personal favorite of all time? The perfect merging of music and images? Right here.
What's yours?
Something that seemed to be dying off looks like it's clawing its way back a bit. Opening titles.
When I'm writing a spec pilot, I frequently like to visualize what the opening titles might be like (I even like to fantasize that I could pull a J.J. Abrams and write and perform the music myself.)
Yeah, lots of new shows still opt for just the title card kind of thing (Reaper, for one and just as well, as I fear the theme song would simply be whatever was popular on Indie 103 last spring, just as so many pilots seemed to feature "Young Folks"). And most of those that do have openings keep it really short (Journeyman and Bionic Woman come to mind).
Then there's Maude-- I mean Chuck, flying in the face of crushing and condensing in the name of gaining more time (mostly for commercials) with a full on specially made sequence (not just clips strung together).
Another cool, recent opening, though not new in the fall season, is this one.
And I gotta say, my favorite new sequence, though, is for Journeyman.
Primarily for the music, rather than the time lapse and backward birds. I really dig the music.
I looked forward to the Bionic Woman's opening, but was let down by clips and a theme that, just as it starts to get bad-ass, comes to an abrupt end. I do hope that's not a sign.
This reminds me that Internet Jesus, Warren Ellis proclaimed that Hawaii 5-0 was the best opening titles ev-ar and invited challenges to that. I'm not entirely inclined to agree, but it's really hard to argue. He might be right. Go there to see many links to many awesome openings.
My personal favorite of all time? The perfect merging of music and images? Right here.