What's in a Title?

I always knew that I wanted to do something fun with the opening credits for "Pills."  When I wrote the opening lines of the script, I always imagined that it would begin with some sort of montage about the main character's daily routine.  And so it does:

FADE IN: 1    INT. APARTMENT - EARLY MORNING A sparse studio apartment. Everything has a place and is immaculate. MARCO, early 30s, sets his jaw as he straightens the sheets on his bed. He studies the sheets for a long moment: something isn’t right. He glances uneasily at the clock, and then tears the sheets off and starts over again.

We follow Marco for a little while as he goes about his daily routine.  In the script, he makes the bed, struggles with a bagel, and then gets on the bus to go to work.

I spent a few hours the other day discussing titles with a friend and fellow student, John Sabbath.  John did my credits for my two quarter: an origami crane being folded and flying along side the names as they rolled.  This year, John volunteered to tackle my opening credits as well. 

We spent a while watching opening sequences on an excellent sight that he recommended, the Art of the Title Sequence:  http://www.artofthetitle.com/

One particular sequence of note was from "Stranger Than Fiction," a comedy from a few years back.  The opening sequence shows the story's main character's morning routine as he breaks it down for optimum time saving. 

John & I decided it would be best to get as many "routine" shots as we can.  In addition to what the script covers, we'll also follow Marco as he takes a few pills, grabs a piece of fruit, washes his hands, and so on.  What we were trying to find in Marco's schedule are places that titles could be composite, as if they belonged there.  For instance, as Marco's legs are seen passing by a bookshelf, the name of the actor might appear on one of the spines. 

I have a whole day dedicated to this part of the film.  We're filming the three "scenes" that appear, but also as many additional shots as we can. 

Production is set to start on Friday, October 8th.  Equipment reservation is for 9AM with a crew call time of 10AM on location.  We have a ton of equipment, even though we're only shooting half a page.  Overall, though, I think it will be a pretty relaxing, but awesome shoot.