As a titles designer with over three decades in the business, Richard Morrison has seen plenty of changes in the industry. Here he discusses how credits have become part of the filmgoing experience. Text: Chris Patmore
Although the majority of cinema-goers leave their seats as soon as the end credits start to roll, the opening titles have become an unmissable part of the film-viewing experience. One of the pioneers of integrated credits sequences is the highly-respected British designer Richard Morrison who, over more than 30 years, has created opening titles for more than 130 films; among them such memorable movies as Ghandi, Brazil, A Passage To India, Batman, High Fidelity and Sweeney Todd. It’s surprising to learn, then, that Morrison didn’t set out to be a titles designer.
“I was a graphic designer-painter-photographer, then a friend of my father, who was a film editor, said, ‘Do you fancy doing a stint at a trailer company near Pinewood?’” he recalls. “So I said I could do that, and I bumped into Maurice Binder [designer of the iconic Bond titles]. That was in the days of rostrum cameras, film opticals – an organic way of creating stuff. He showed me a few things and said I should have a go at it myself. The first one that I did was Quadrophenia.”