ART OF THE TITLE: SPLIT

To begin my research for 'The Art of the Title', I used the website to explore film openings and title sequences to further my knowledge of the ways in which film companies successfully engage their viewers and excite them into watching. I decided to research about 'Split', a 2017 American psychological horror thriller film. It is the second installment in the Unbreakable trilogy written, directed, and produced by M. Night Shyamalan and starring James McAvoy, Anya Taylor-Joy, and Betty Buckley.

The opening to M. Night Shyamalan’s Split is successful in presenting the menacing, ominous feel of the film. The opening sequence initiates the theme and genre through the visual codes of the titles, intertwined between the footage of what appears to be a girl being taken accompanied by the foreboding music which sounds like scratches and low-level alarms or perhaps sirens in the distance which connote that danger and  threatening obstacles are to come in the narrative of this movie. The typography is the focal point of this opening sequence with only a black screen and white text in the font of Helvetica, which is a traditional way of presenting information. Not only is this sequence simple with its colour scheme, but the use of the colour black also signifies danger and darkness. The white writing could connote that hidden things are coming to light, and the text stands out against the blackness. The unpretentious, plain but effective opening focuses mainly on the cast list, directors, producers etc. In this sequence, the most prominent aspect is the text not the visual codes, but the visual codes do give an insight into the narrative which is important when attempting to captivate an audience.