Very few title cards have excited me. The 1957 film, Mayabazar‘s title card being one that has and still does. S.V. Rangarao’s Ghatotgajudu throws down his gadha (mace) towards ANR’s Abhimanyu and he shoots an arrow towards the incoming gadha in haste. Now there’s the drama. Both weapons clash to have the title splash on screen with the now iconic music. Soon as you watch this, you know you are in for a treat. I knew I was.
Other recent titles that got me as excited when I watched them for the first time include Baahubali: The Beginning (2015). The epic-ness contained in Baahubali: The Beginning‘s title card is unparalleled. A silhouette of cavalry, infantry and war elephants raise metal pieces from the ground by rope with great effort, that are revealed to be the word “Baahubali.” Combined with M.M. Keeravani’s somber music over the title sequence, even if you know nothing about the film going it, the title sets you up perfectly as to what you are in for, for the next 3 hours.
It is an art to know when, where and how to have the titles appear on screen. Filmmakers do not give more importance to them unfortunately. Not just the title card but all titles including credits.
When you can work that into a continuation of the story instead of treating them as something you have to get through, you’ll have a much more cohesive story in the end.
The Mayalu Mantralu title animation is inspired very much from Mayabazar’s title card. You could also say it is a ditto shot for shot remake and you wouldn’t be wrong. The logo is created by a friend, Sharan Adka.
The logo has a green box which signifies what the blog is about visually and also if it is used in the title sequence, the green box will have before and afters of the topic of the video. Like it does in the intro of the Surpreeze RRR chat w/ Daniel French.