You're in the theater and the lights are completely dimmed. You've got your popcorn on your lap, drink in its holder. The last trailer just finished up...another Saw movie? Really? Some jackass in the corner triumphantly whisper-celebrates "Yessssss." *RING* What-the-fu-...you better turn that cell pho-yeah that's right. The distributor and production house logos flash and then finally...it's time.

The theater experience is generally the same, of course depending on your excitement to see your film of choice you might be a bit more anxious or a bit more angry with the cell phone douchebag.

But one thing that's always different is the feeling you have with that first shot, that first glimpse into the world you'll be following for an average of 90 minutes. Some movies just throw you into the mix, others like to ease you in with a not-so-distracting credit sequence running through the opening scene. But then, there are some movies who craft entire sequences to introduce you to their film. To make sure you know the people who worked on it, and that you are ready to pay full attention. And herein lies the Art of the Title Sequence.

With developing animation and special effects technologies, opening credit sequences have become more exciting than ever, and if they do their job right, they really get you pumped and primed for the movie.

Most of my favorite opening title sequences are from the past decade or so, but there are some truly great sequences of decades past as well. And they are being covered daily by a couple guys over at a blog known as The Art of the Title Sequence. For some interesting commentary, and videos of all the featured title sequences (including DVD commentary from many) they've really nailed some of the greats.

One of my absolute favorite opening credit sequences (accompanied by a beautiful score by John Williams) comes from Steven Spielberg's 2002 film Catch Me If You Can. The sequence itself is simple in its design. The credits themselves interact with the minimally styled characters and provide the environments and obstacles that the characters we are about to meet will inhabit for the rest of the film. The credit sequence in itself is a short and sweet animated silent film version of the entire movie, and you enjoy it much more upon a second viewing.

One of the more recent title sequences I enjoyed came from last year's The Kingdom. The entire sequence itself is a carefully crafted brief lecture to set the stage and history for the conflicts and plot that are about to unfold. The credits run over archival news footage and constantly moving and transforming timelines, graphs and maps and environments. The most powerful and striking use of this effect comes when a 3-D bar graph in the shapes of the countries identified as top oil consumers swivels around to show the United States towering #1 bar split into the Twin Towers as a plane flies into one of them. The imagery is powerful and sudden, and really sets the tone for the rest of the film

Some of my other recent favorite opening credit sequences that they've covered include (with links to videos): Kung Fu Panda, High Fidelity, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, and Thank You for Smoking