Inter-titles

Kath Bowden
Media Room
Friday 7th of June
Brainstorming Session


At the moment I have been researching some changes in my script for my Film Noir Film
I would really like to cut out as much dialogue as possible to avoid boredom and use inter titles. I first came across this in the start of the film Thoroughly Modern Millie.

Wikipedia says >>

Intertitle

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Intertitle in The Birth of a Nation (1915)

In motion pictures, an intertitle (also known as a title card) is a piece of filmed, printed text edited into the midst of (i.e. inter-) the photographed action at various points, generally to convey character dialogue ("dialogue intertitles"), or descriptive narrative material related to, but not necessarily covered by, the material photographed ("expository intertitles").^[1]

Intertitles, then known simply as "titles", were a mainstay of silent films once the films became of sufficient length and detail to necessitate dialogue and/or narration to make sense of the enacted or documented events. The earliest known use of intertitles was in the 1901 British film Scrooge, or, Marley's Ghost.^[2] The first Academy Award presentation in 1929 included an award for "Best Title Writing," but the award was never given again, as intertitles went out of common use due to the introduction of "talkies".^[3]

In modern film, intertitles are used to supply an epigraph, such as a poem, or to distinguish various "acts" of a film or multimedia production by use as a title card. However, they are most commonly used as part of a historical drama's epilogue to explain what happened to the depicted characters and events after the conclusion of the story proper.

The development of the soundtrack slowly eliminated their utility as a narrative device (they were common for providing narration, but not dialogue, well into the 1930s), but they are occasionally still used as an artistic device. For instance, intertitles were used as a gimmick in Frasier. The BBC's drama Threads uses them to give location, date and information on distant events beyond Sheffield. Law & Order use them to give only the location of the upcoming scene. Guy Maddin is a modern filmmaker known for recreating the style of older films, and uses intertitles appropriately. Some locally produced shows, such as quiz bowl game shows, use animated variations of intertitles to introduce the next round.

"Intertitle" is an academic term invented long after the advent of sound film (see also subtitle (captioning) and supertitle).^{[citation needed]} These "titles" should not be confused with the modern-day definition of subtitle or main title.

Example of an Inter-title Silde

Modern/ Contemporary Uses Include - The Artist (2011) a black and white silent comedy drama, the writer of the screen play struggled to make the story comprehensible, without using to many inter titles, apparently research was very important.

My thoughts - I think that I will change around with the dialogue on my script and see if making it a silent film with inter-titles or just with minamalist dialogue and a combination of inter titles or not.


Update: Discussion with teacher - I have decided not to plan my inter titles and I must be careful as they are often associated with comedy, and also I must adhere to a certain amount of conventions to create a 100% stereotypical Film Noir film.