Semiotics and Title Sequences

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Type superimposed or composited over imagery is a commonplace part of graphic design and motion graphics. Other than simply filming a piece of reflective design, the placement of typography over a background image as an approach to combine type and image—whether animated or not, live action photography, or simply a static background—dominates the history of title sequences in film, television, and video games. The graphic organization of the screen, however, is not as monotonous as this singularity of technique might imply. How the audience understands the relationship between (foreground) typography and (background) image sets in motion a sequence of other, more grammatical dynamics of reading::seeing that produce the different interpretative ...