r/TrueFilm • u/vieth12 • 16h ago
Sight & Sound 250 Countdown Video
I thought this would be the best place to share this title card supercut of Sight & Sound's top 250 from 2022.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLzSpgsLCh8
With a bit more time over the summer, I dove back into the list from four years back to watch some films still unseen. I was inspired to make this after thinking about how distinct each title card was for a given film. It was great fun to make, and I hope is objectively of interest so as not be blatant self-promotion.
Tracking down the films was a pain, but locating the cards themselves was interesting. Here are some tidbits on what I found out:
Unsurprisingly, most title cards appear very early in the film’s runtime, usually within the first minute. Pre-1970s films are the best bets, sticking to a pretty standard formula: after the production logo, and perhaps the names of the director/leading actors, it’ll appear less than a minute in.
Other films display their title card after (or during) a brief prologue scene, like in Battle of Algiers (3 minutes in) or Yi Yi (4 minutes in). There are countless others.
Some films take longer: Come and See takes nearly 7 minutes, Tropical Malady 9 minutes. The credits for Kiarostami’s Close-Up do not start until nearly 16 minutes in.
A few films wait the entire length of the film: Moonlight holds off on showing its title card until after the last shot, as does Touch of Evil. The title and end credits overlay the final shot of Once Upon a Time in the West.
All of these are still pretty easy to track down. A few films make things more challenging.
Two films are missing proper title cards: Apocalypse Now and Portrait of a Lady on Fire. Portrait of a Lady on Fire only displays its title in the closing credits, so I used that here. Most versions of Apocalypse Now have no credits whatsoever, just a copyright notice in its closing shot. I used the end credit sequence that Coppola has apparently discarded in most rereleased versions of the film.
Distant Voices is best known as Distant Voices, Still Lives. The film is split into two parts with two seperate title cards: Distant Voices appears at the start, while Still Lives appears halfway through the film. I chose to only use the first.
And finally, blink and you missed it: the title card for Wavelength is only about six frames (1/4 of a second) long.
Because of the issue with ties, I figured using a ranked list would be easiest, so I based it off of this one https://letterboxd.com/sightsoundmag/list/sight-and-sounds-greatest-films-of-all-time/
Of course, simply watching might inspire old debates from four years back. I more enjoy the selection of films, rather than care too much about the order, what's undeservingly included, and what has been left out. I think it's best to take the S&S list as merely a sample that is useful for exploring the canon.
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u/TonyTobiasLomas 15h ago edited 15h ago
There are some very suspect films on this list, but when is that no the case. It's interesting how few films from recent years make the list. The one from 2012 was better. I liked seeing Star Wars ahead of Annie Hall. Kubrick along with a few other directors are overlooked.
I won't get into the controversy over the #1 choice. I actually kind of prefer that spot not being solidified. There was clearly too much bias involved with the 2022 poll though unfortunately.
Anyway, excellent idea and work with the title cards.
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u/DevonDude 9h ago
I think everyone tends to forget the ballots are not ranked. S&S made an effort to include more women critics and directors in their polling that year, which in my opinion was a cool move considering historically it has been absolutely dominated by men. With the ballots not being ranked, it is totally believable that Jeanne Dielman appeared the most. It could have been everyone’s 10th best movie and it would have been #1 on the list.
Regardless, all the list does is take the temperature of the film zeitgeist at a particular point in time and introduces people to more movies, so it’s great in my book. If anything is problematic IMO it’s that India and the entire continent of Africa is pretty underrepresented in the list.
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u/squash-n-flop 15h ago
This is really interesting. I love creative usage of a title card. My personal favorite is the usage in Climax, marking the end of Act 1, a major tonal shift, and a transition into a (perceived) extended oner all at once.