Lately I've been into film paratext, i.e. opening credits. I already mentioned in a previous post about the amazing opening credits for Almodovar's latest, Bad Education ("worth the price of admission").
Then this past weekend I rented what I thought were fairly disparate DVDs. It turns out all of them had interesting opening credits.
First, there was Season 1 Disk 1 of Monk, the murder-mystery show on USA Network (and occasionally re-played on CBS), starring Tony Shaloub. Let me say quickly how much I enjoy this show, and particularly Shaloub's portrayal of an obsessive-compulsive savant detective, in which he reveals, under all the twitching, an intelligent, compassionate, and haunted man. (And I'm glad that some of the slapstick from the pilot has been toned down. As much as I enjoyed it, it disrupts the tone of the show).
But I'm supposed to be writing about paratext/opening credits. I really like the opening credits of this show, in which the text is slightly off-line, but then is "fixed" by, one assumes, the tetchy, particular title character.
Then I took a look at My Man Flint, a pre-Austin Powers, mid-60s, James Bond parody, starring James Coburn. A brief word: it's not that funny, and seems to pursue parody by down-grading production values, rather than by funny writing and imaginative direction. It's a cheesy, B-grade version of James Bond, but then who said that parodies actually had to be funny? Though the idea of a rather ugly, gangly, horse-faced Coburn as a lady-killer is kind of out there in an interesting way.
But, again, the opening credits. They're very interesting, as an example of early-psychedelia, with slightly-risque dancing women, turning film-stock into animation. Worth a look-see if you're into that sort of thing.
Finally, early-Robert Altman (1971: post-MASH, pre-Nashville) McCabe and Mrs. Miller, played by Warren Beatty at his hunkiest and Julie Cristie at her bawdiest (and loveliest). This is the first of three films these two would do together. It's a revisionist Western that succeeds where Michael Cimino's Heaven's Gate failed (and Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven also succeeds).
The opening credits are not quite as innovative as those already mentioned, but they are nonetheless engaging. The sequence is basically one tracking shot of the wooded landscape of the Pacific Northwest, panning right. As it pans, the credits emerge from right side, as if they were being discovered by the camera. Anyway, it's not anything I've seen before in an opening credit sequence.
And though this has gone on too long, I would just like to reflect a little bit on my fascination with opening credits. I think it's due to the fact that these sequences are in a realm of design apart from film-making per se, often using elements from the film (or setting the stage) and combining them with animation and graphic design. So, I engage with them as an example of visual design. I'm also interested in them as an example of text and image interacting in creative ways. This is something that's been important to me ever since I added web and graphic design skills to my writing skills (my interest in William Blake is due to the same confluence of skills).
I also think opening credit designers don't get enough credit. Maybe there should be an Oscar category for that? Not likely to happen but I nonetheless will continue to review such paratextual elements, particularly as they manifest in the digital realm.
Posted by jeb at March 30, 2005 1:49 PM | TrackBack