A producer or director of a film approaches us to discuss the Opening Titles design. We ask them to tell us about the project—its story, time period, setting, and mood. If available, we also inquire about the creative team’s preferences, references, and previews of completed episodes. We offer references from our side as well. We discuss the format of the future credits.
For example, the following options:
• Title of the film on a black background for 5-15 seconds
• Title of the film and actor or group credits on a transparent background (alpha channel) for overlaying in the client’s editing
• Actor credits and the title of the film for 30-60 seconds on an artistic background made from processed film material or our own footage or graphics
• Actor and group credits with the title of the film for 50-90 seconds on an artistic background
We sign a contract and receive a deposit.
Next, we develop the design concept for the main title sequence. We create 5-10 realistic frames that provide an idea of the proposed visual style, create a logo/title for the film in one or several variations, select the font for the credits, write explanations, and compile everything into a presentation that we send to the client for approval. Sometimes the concept is accepted immediately; if it doesn’t meet their expectations, we make adjustments or create a new one until it satisfies the client.
If we agree that film material will be used in the credits, we review and select the necessary shots from the preview, or the client does this at the director’s discretion, after which they send us the selected material in its original quality. If we decide to use all our own material, we arrange filming and choose some of our existing content.
We receive the approved text for the subtitles and the music from the client. Often, by the time we start working, there is only a rough draft of the text, and there is no music at all. In such cases, we use the text we have with the intention of refining it later (preferably without changing the number of title cards), and we choose the music ourselves, which will be replaced with the client’s choice later. This situation is always detrimental to the outcome because composers rarely sync perfectly with the visuals. They have stricter rhythmic rules. We can highlight any sound accent with a flare at any point and place a hit on a strong beat. Composers cannot move their accents freely.
Then comes the most interesting part: we assemble the edit, place the credits text and title, perform color correction, animation, add effects, process the video material, add some magic, and refine it until we are satisfied.
Finally, we present the first version. After this, the client usually requests a couple of shots or names to be replaced. For some reason, they check the text of the credits on screen rather than in the agreed-upon document provided for our work. We copy and paste the text as is, changing only its appearance. Therefore, we bear the cost of correcting any editorial mistakes. Sometimes text revisions come months or even years after project completion.
After accepting the final credits, we sign an acceptance act and receive the remaining payment. We store projects for as long as our disks last to be able to make revisions if necessary.
Next, we await the film’s premiere, get permission from the producer, and upload the credits to promote our services online across multiple platforms. This is very important for us since new clients want to see what we do and how we do it. Often, clients cannot grant us permission to publish because rights are sold to a TV channel for the entire film, including the title sequence. But after the premiere, our portfolio no longer bothers anyone 🙂
Sometimes we are approached to produce final credits. We also do those, although it’s not as creative a task as our beloved opening titles.
We are always happy to take on new interesting projects! 🙂
