Title Research: The Invisible Man

The first opening sequence being analyzed is from The Invisible Man. I found it on the website artofthetitle.com. 

The titles are displayed in this order:

• Universal a Comcast Company
• BH Productions
• Universal Pictures Presents
• A BH / Goalpost Production
• In association with Nervous Tick Productions
• The Invisible Man

In the opening sequence, an image of a spinning globe with the title UNIVERSAL is the first image shown. The second image is a room, with a chair mid-air, a demonic girl, then a yellow dirt-stained wall, where the title BH Productions appears. Furthermore, a live scenery of waves crashing against rocks on a coast is shown, at night. Lastly, a cliff with a house on top of it in the distance is shown, with the lights on inside. 

Each of these images shown, do not carry any resemblance of happiness or joy, but rather, feelings of eeriness and suspense. The dark scenery of the waves makes the audience feel spooked even before the movie starts.

In the very beginning a few seconds after we see the globe spin and the title Universal appear. A quiet, but noticeable form of non-diegetic sound appears, that sounds uncanny. When the audience hears this, they will know to eventually expect a frightening moment in the film. The second way the film establishes itself as a thriller, is when the sequence transitions to the live scenery of the waves crashing. This scenery could hint to the audience, that possibly the movie will take place, in whole or part in the water or the beach. 

During the last part of the sequence, the camera tilts up from the waves crashing, to a cliff with a house on top of it. When all of this happens, another form of non-diegetic music comes in, starting off soft, but then quickly intensifying, which makes the scene mysterious. It gives a mood of uncertainty, and one may wonder what would happen in the next scene. 

Technology was effectively used, starting in the very introduction, the camera slightly zooms out of the globe and Universal title for a few seconds. When the scene transitions, we see a slow pan, then a fast pan, from a low angle, and a medium long shot, of the room, the floating chair, the girl, then eventually towards the center where the title is shown. Throughout the scene where the waves crash against the water, the camera is still, but during the last 7 seconds, the camera tilts up slightly, then the music intensifies, with the camera pointing to the top of a house in the distance on the top of a cliff.