No CG (this is 1972, after all), or any other form of film processing was used to create the title sequence for The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe. It's just magic and a deck of cards. The illusionist's hands performing the card tricks are Gérard Majax's. Majax, who is like the French David Copperfield, was, and still is a TV star in his home country. In French Fridays – our program dedicated to French title design, we're showing his first and only title sequence.

We receive a lot of emails from young designers asking us what they have to do to become a title designer. I always tell them do what Jurjen Versteeg did, and just do it! In 2009, Versteeg created an unofficial title sequence for Into the Wild, and was subsequently asked to design the titles for a major US feature. In 2011, Versteeg returns with A History Of The Title Sequence - another standalone title sequence in which he cleverly re-imagines the work of eight influential designers that changed the course of title design history.

After many months of hard work! Submarine Channel proudly presents the first "Forget the Film, Watch the Titles" DVD-set. Two DVD's devoted entirely to title design. DVD 1 features 38 great contemporary title sequences. DVD 2 has 9 brand-new mini-documentaries about title designers. Read more and watch the trailer

Another rare nugget of French motion design from the seventies. This entertaining title sequence by Tito Topin and Jed Falby for Les Gaspards serves as a social-political commentary on the gigantic urban development projects in Paris, which transformed parts of the Parisian capital into a big contruction sites for several decades.

One of France's most well-known title designers Jean Fouchet created a highly innovative animated title sequence using strips of colored paper offset with dynamic typography for L'Homme de Rio (That Man From Rio) – Philippe De Broca's classic spy-adventure movie whose archeological theme was an important inspiration for George Lucas' and Steven Spielberg's Indiana Jones saga.

This made our week. A favorable review of the Watch the Titles DVD by renowned US film buff Leonard Maltin on IndieWire. "I’ve always loved ingenious title sequences."

French Fridays guest curator Laure Chapalain unearths another forgotten gem from the treasure chest of French title design history. For the comedy L'Aile ou la Cuisse, title designer Michel Saignes, who once stated that title designers are "prisoners of the medium’s stereotypes,” drew inspiration from the revolutionary work of Douglas Trumbull, the VFX pioneer who was responsible for the psychedelic sequences of 2001, A Space Odyssey.

Amazingly, the end credit sequence for Rango was done in just a few weeks, yet it's a very accomplished and unique project that is founded on old school analogue handiwork, including intricate illustrations, woodcut art, and handdrawn typography, with a bit of Hendrix thrown in for good measure. Prologue's creative director Henry Hobson reconstructs the process and shares the beautiful concept art that he and his team created.

French Fridays wouldn't be complete without the “grandmother of the French New Wave,” Agnès Varda. The smartly constructed title sequence for Varda's masterpiece Cleo from 5 to 7 serves just as much as a prologue to the film, and features immaculately composed close-shots of hands and tarot cards, punctuated by typography. “I wanted to make a very violent sequence that confronts the film with its contrast," Varda said.
Apologies for the lack of subtitles.

Kemistry Gallery in London devoted a show to the film posters and film titles of Saul Bass. The show also included several of Bass' storyboards, such the boards for the famous shower scene from Hitchcock's Psycho – one of the most bone-chilling moments in the history of cinema. We thought it'd be nice to give you an impression of the show and some of the works that were featured in it.