DESIGN FETISH: Single Take Titles

The Art of The Title highlights the opening credits for two films (The Player and Touch of Evil,) both of which were done in a single take. Touch Of Evil is one of those films that requires regular revisitation, and the titles are a prime example of why: Welles really was unafraid to move the camera and really involve the audience in the action, but he never made it feel forced. The Player isn’t my favorite Altman film (that’d be The Long Goodbye or M*A*S*H,) but these credits do an effective job of setting up multiple characters and managing to work in a nod to Touch Of Evil even as it establishes the tone of the film. It’s interesting to compare how these sort of title sequences work as part of the story, immediately immersing the audience versus the more traditional “title card / title card / title card / ACTION” openers that wear the artifice of cinema on their sleeve.