Chapter 16

Titles or Opening Credits

In some scripts you read, you'll see this notation:

BEGIN TITLES or BEGIN OPENING TITLES followed by END TITLES or OVER OPENING CREDITS followed by END OPENING CREDITS. An example:

FADE IN:

EXT. KEY WEST MARINA - DAWN - ESTABLISHING

Sailboats, yachts, and cabin cruisers all bob up and down in the warm blue
water.

EXT. BEACH - DAY

BEGIN TITLES

as hundreds of young, perfect bodies of college age kids frolic during spring
break.

Writing Tip:
Don't bother putting in Beginning and Ending titles. It is not usually done in a spec script, and you can't predict where the producer and director will want to insert the titles, the sequence of footage shot with the opening credits rolling over it. Don't give yourself the extra work.

Superimpose or Title

When the notation SUPERIMPOSE or TITLE OVER is used, text or an image is placed on top of the film footage. Most of the time, it contains information the director thinks the audience needs to know... like the place or time of the next scene.

EXT. BEACH - DAY

Hundreds of young, perfect bodies of college age kids frolic on the sand and in
the warm water.

SUPERIMPOSE: Daytona Beach, Spring Break, 1966

Only the text, "Daytona Beach, Spring Break, 1966" would appear toward the bottom of the screen.

Any text, like subtitles or translations of foreign signs, etc., fall into this category.

Do not use SUPERIMPOSE: unless there is a definite need for it. It has been so overused, it is some times spoofed, the way director Ron Howard did in Splash.