Title Sequence - Grease (1977)

Although a famous musical, Grease is also famous for telling the love story between T-Bird Danny Zuko and Good Girl Sandy.

The beginning of the film is the image of the media insitution - Paramount Pictures

 

It then has a bit of the film. This is important as it conveys the romance genre with the romantic sunset and the appearance of the two leads; Danny and Sandy. This introduces the fact that it was supposed to be a 'summer romance' but had resulted in a relationship. (This is done through speech) 

Romance is built up because the song 'Love is a Splendid thing' plays in the background as waves crash against the beach. This introduces the idea of the summer romance and then we see a sunset image with two silhouettes. 

The real title sequence falls more into the 1st bullet point I stated below. It is in the format of a cartoon/drawing that depicts each character and their personalities. The male lead is introduced first.

The picture on the left shows the stereotypical teenage boys room, a mess. He has 'bed hair' and there is a flag with the school name on at his bed which suggests he supports the school. To the right we get a cartoon image of the character. We're given only his first name, perhaps so we can build a relationship with the character. John Travolta at this time was just becoming famous, having been in TV Series and a couple of movies so he was known enough.

The second character introduced is the female lead. I'm slightly surprised because Olivia Newton-John was more famous than John at this point and maybe she should've gone first however she had had a few 'flops' just previous to this film. There is a big contrast between Danny's images and Sandy's images which could show an obstacle to their relationship. 

Sandy is portrayed as very graceful, kind. They use an image similarly seen in 'Snow White' where the animals flock around her, showing her 'friendly aura'.

The title sequence also gives the audience a reference to the time in which it was set. It is set in the 50's, twenty years prior to the film and this reference was needed. For example there were neo-Nazis and Martin Luther King Jnr/Civil Rights

 

The film is set slightly around a car (Grease Lightning) so a lot of the credits are given on billboards as cars drive passed. The Main supporting actors are given grouped credits (excluding Stockard Channing and Jeff Conaway who were quite famous at this time). 

 





The credits include : Music, Producers, The Title, Choreographer, Edited By,Director of Photography, Director, 'Based on', Screenplay, adapted by, Production design.

Music, Choreographer, 'based on' and Adapted by are vital here because it's a musical. Since mine is not a musical, they will not be heavily depended on.