Hollywood's Most Iconic Designer Breaks Down His Favourite Title Cards

Dan Perri‘s work is the definition of iconic. We don’t use that word lightly – his designs are burned into the collective memory of American cinema. Since the 1970s, Perri has crafted the title cards for countless films, working with some of the most prolific and respected directors of all time.

Starting out as a protege to Saul Bass, Perri was drafted in by William Friedkin to create the title card for The Exorcist. After that Perri would contribute his unique lettering to films from the likes of Scorsese, Altman and Malick (to name just a few).

Perri has a new book, Hollywood Titles Designer: A Life In Film, outlining his approach to the craft and packed with stories from his decade-spanning career in the industry. 

Here are six of his favourite titles that he created.

Dan Perri: After Hours needed titles delivered so quickly that it made you read them at the speed of the editing so you could follow the rapid pace of the storytelling. Editor Thelma Schoonmaker shaped a rapid fire sequence that slammed home the frantic beginnings of the characters’ frenetic night in NYC. 

Simple, curvy, bold and quick reading yellow titles sliding and slamming in and out – in punctuated, staccato rhythms quickly demanding your attention. Bam, bam, bam – to the driving, classical violins – and it was over. 

Deeper Into Movies: Marty’s mid-eighties comedy has long been a personal favourite of ours. Following a New York (naturally), office worker on an ill-fated journey through the city, after agreeing to go on a late-night date with a woman he’s just met, After Hours’ sly comedic stylings are reflected in the opening credits and playful title design.

DP: The film needed a graceful and elegant movement up the screen of the stacked up yellow, orange and blue, vertical logo as the dancers twirled. 

Tracking the filmed movements of the dancing couple in their lyrical dance across the screen allowed me to reveal the simple titles statements of the stars and the main title card. 

DiM: Another phenomenal entry from Scorsese here, rightly recognised as one of the best concert films of all time. The Band’s 1976 Thanksgiving Day performance was billed as their “farewell”, featuring appearances from special guests including Bob Dylan, Neil Young and Muddy Waters. The film is captured with Scorsese’s unmistakable panache, including the interaction between Perri’s titles and the live-action footage in the opening credits.

DP: Martin Scorsese wanted me to design his titles for Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. When he requested that Warner Bros. Post Post production head, Rudy Fehr hire me, Rudy said, ‘who’s Dan Perri?” From that refusal Marty promised me that I’d do his next one. 

When Taxi Driver began I spent days viewing dreamy, atmospheric second unit footage shot all over the city. Editor Marsha Lucas and I began assembling a sequence of moody, gritty shots to become the backgrounds for the main titles. 

Simultaneously, I was visualising NYC street sign typography to represent the titles. It came together beautifully with the special optical effects and Bernard Herrmann’s jazzy, sexy music. And so a ten-film relationship began with Taxi Driver. 

DiM: Starting to think this Scorsese guy might be one to watch…

Perri’s involvement reinforces how one of the greatest films of all time required every contributor to be absolutely at the top of their game. Everyone from Scorsese, to De Niro, to Herrmann, to Perri went all in to create an honest-to-god masterpiece. It’s a testament to the collaborative nature of filmmaking. 

DP: After viewing dozens of old Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon films and serial TV shows, I came upon the 1939 feature film, Union Pacific, with its main titles traveling down the railroad tracks below and away from the camera. 

I visualised the opening crawl in deep space being pulled away under the camera by the bold, muscular Star Wars logo. But every letter of every word had to be planned and plotted to meet George Lucas’ specific imaginings. 

Typesetting styles, colour, speed, angle, shape, line breaks, line and letter spacing and vanishing horizon line all had to be considered. 

After months of consummate attention to details, me and my loyal cameramen, Mike Minkow finally made George happy. And it ultimately became Star Wars legend. 

DiM: Not just one of the most distinctive title-cards, but one of the most recognisable sequences to ever spring from cinema, Perri’s combination of the unmistakable Star Wars logo and that text-crawl has been parodied and copied so many times, it’s easy to forget what a bold, impressive choice it is. 

DP: The ultra simplicity of ‘less is more’ characterised the integrity and the power of the main titles sequence. 

The boldness, purity and sheer elegance with the classic beauty of the type style, emphasised the thin vertical strokes with the sharp edges in violent, blood red. 

It gave the critically arranged and proportioned words a method to clearly emphasise the proportional importance of each name in each title and their connection to the film. 

DiM: William Friedkin’s timeless shocker is another example of a film where every moment is so ingrained in pop-culture, you sometimes have to go back and remind yourself of the absolute mastery at play in every frame. Naturally, this includes Perri’s striking, minimalist title design.

DP: When Bob Altman asked me to design the main title sequence I offered a series of very sophisticated and elegant designs. He rejected them all, saying that Nashville was a grungy, noisy and messy place that needed chaotic images. 

With that I threw away all of the expensive design training I’d been given and thought like a carnival barker. Late night local television had endless junky, screamingly loud commercials hawking every form of cheap record album music. I felt this was the ideal way to ‘sell’ this story. Complete with a shouting announcer hammering it home. Out of it came the classic TV spot, spinning, scrolling, popping and hitting every beat in a one minute commercial that proudly screams out its message. 

DiM: Robert Altman’s assaultive masterpiece follows various interconnected stories in America’s country-music capital. With an extensive list of characters, overlapping dialogue and a soundscape formed of diegetic music and urban noise, “chaos” is the operative word. Effectively capturing bedlam requires careful calibration, perfectly demonstrated by Altman’s attentive approach working with Perri on the film’s titles.

@deepermovies

Dan Perri has released a beautiful coffee table book of his iconic designs which you can find here.