'The Sopranos' Title Sequence Analysis - William Haines

Using the website ‘Art OF THE TITLE’, I studied the opening title sequence of the crime show ‘The Sopranos’ (Released 1999). The episode opens with a mob boss, Tony Soprano, driving around New York. We see the world around our character from the view of Tony, we see what he sees. The camera moves around rapidly, constantly changing scenes to things such as statues, signs and bridges. Most, if not all the shots are taken from the passenger seat, some of the shots are looking at Tony, such as his hands on the wheel. While all this happens, text appears on the bottom, displaying the key actors, directors, producers and the other important people who worked on the episode. Some films and shows keep their sequences short, often only showing a few key people at the start, often the Director and the Producer. This show starts with a long title sequence, we see a lot of Tony’s journey, thus there is time and space for most of the people who worked on the show. Unlike many modern films, the title sequence contains video footage. Films and shows today, tend to favour creative illustrations. ‘Spectre’, ‘Quantum of Solace’ and ‘The Crown’ are prime examples of creative and artistic opening title sequences.

Until the title is displayed at the end of the title sequence, we can not really guess the exact genre of the show, that is because many film and shows genres are set in cities. The title is the name of the show with a gun replacing one of the letters, the letter ‘R’. The whole sequence sets the tone for the episode, especially as the colour grading is mostly grey.

The music of the show is quite upbeat, which really contrasts with the gloom appearance of the city. The impression that I get from the music is that the show is set in a friendly environment, which heavily contrasts with what the scenery tells me.