History of opening credits

 Throughout film, it has been a common aspect to include credits at the beginning of an opening to present the most notable members of the production team such as the director, main actors, etc. In 1897 Thomas Edison used to use a blackboard to present who the rights belonged to as well as and the company name. This inspired other film creators to begin films with their names being presented. In the 20th century, they decided to make the opening title credits handwritten on boards to introduce the film name as well as the producers. After many uses of this method, they started to personalize the boards to make their credits stand out against other competitors, however, opening credits were only predominantly used to make sure no contracts got violated or broken. 

When sound was introduced opening credits changed to match the sound to make it become more dramatic. In the late 30s actor's names began to be introduced in the opening credits. In the 40s more names became a part of the opening credits as more people and agents wanted the publicity. As TV became more utilized rather than cinema production companies needed to compete more with each other to create a more visually pleasing and engaging opening sequence with credits so that people would watch their production, adding more colours and effects were the most common ways to do this. 

In the late1970s more and more computer technology was being introduced and in 1978, the first digitally generated title got introduced in the movie 'superman' this raised audience views highly, this was highly impressive as audience members previously didn't believe this to be possible. During the 80s technology such as computers became more widely available for designers which created a rise in digitally created opening credits. This created competition in the 90s as more and more people were trying to shock and amaze audiences. By the 90s it became quite easy for directors to work with designers to create opening credits in different styles that resembled the genre of their film and also allowed for new technologies to be introduced. In modern-day opening title sequence, we are fortunate enough to have 3D animation as an option in cinema which means we are able to create visually stunning opening credits that engage the audience.