Juno (2007) – Title sequence

The opening title sequence is a piece of wonderful eye candy that is a refreshing change from the cold serious ones that seem to plague the cinema these days. It set the pace and feeling for the film right off the bat with a striking old style cutout animation. What makes it even more special is that it is created using traditional stop motion techniques (LINK). As the sequence starts, the lovely Ellen Page strolls down the street swigging from a Sunny D bottle. She saunters into the animation world. The hand-drawn background gives it a charming indie feel witch is backed up by the childish handicraft typography. With the animation itself it is photocopied cutouts roughly colored in, again by hand. Meanwhile the title sequence doubles as the opening scene of the main storyline making it feel entwined into the film. Furthermore the transition between the animated title sequence and the live-action film is seamless. All things considered the work that has been put into this sequence is admirable and the result is a highly rememberable opening for a great film.