Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes-

Sherlock Holmes (2009) is a film directed by Guy Ritchie and based on the classic novels of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The animated titles were designed and produced by Danny Yount and Prologue Films.

The film is about an social misfit, Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey Junior) who has abnormal intellectual abilities which enhance both his physical and mental strength and speed. Renowned for his unorthodox methods, Holmes and his loyal friend Watson (Jude Law) are suddenly cast in to another one of their famous adventures full of deviance and misunderstandings. Pipe smoking Holmes struggles to show little more than curiosity on his face whilst Watson attempts to refrain from going mad. Throughout the film we are introduced to several important characters which have some sort of relevance to the plot. Themes of black magic and science-magic are thrown about during the movie though in the end Holmes, of course, finds a complex explanation for the whole shenanigans while at the same time banishing life from his victims and 'taking down the bad guys'.

The initial ideas for the sequence were a similar design although the titles are shown in a different way than previously planned - fading in and out of cobblestones rather than using puddles and rain to introduce the cast, crew and production teams.

The effect used in the opening titles is quite clever and witty as it introduces each character in the handwritten form of Mr Holmes. Alongside this is a hand drawn sketch of the character with a trademark trait of Holmes himself left on the paper. These include bullet shells, tobacco and alcohol. This could tell us when the film is set and who it is about.

The titles fit extremely well with the genre of movie it is - old fashioned and fast paced. Some of the titles have a paranormal them to them which explains a lot about the film's summary.

C.W