Line #37 Main/InSceneTitleText


1	[[quoteright:302:[[Series/{{Heroes}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Heroes-S01E09-Special-cropped_7981.png]]]]
2	[[caption-width-right:302:Not really painted on the ground, but it sure looks like it.]]
3
4	In the early days of TV, the best way to display text to your viewers was to put a physical card in front of the camera with that text on it, hence the name EpisodeTitleCard. Advances in production meant that text could later be edited directly into the film rather than having a physical card, and further advances meant that you could even display the text on-screen over of a normal scene (an "overlay"). The overlay text will act like it's stuck to the screen, though; it won't move on the screen, even if the camera angle changes.
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6	Nowadays the latest technology can let you make it seem like overlay text is physically in the scene again. It can look like it's written on a highway overpass, or floating on the surface of the water. It is perspective-corrected to seem as if it's in the scene, will move when the camera (or the object it's written on) moves, and might even be lit as if it were in the scene. However, characters do not notice or acknowledge it, and the audience is expected to understand that the text doesn't actually exist in the scene and that it's just a novel way of displaying it. This can also be done with a TitleIn or any other text presented to the audience.
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8	Compare PopUpTexting for text messages and other text otherwise unseen by the audience.
9	----
10	!!Examples:
11	[[foldercontrol]]
12
13	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
14	* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'': The first episode of each StoryArc has the main title appearing after the introduction.
15	* ''Anime/LittleWitchAcademia2017'': The title appears following Akko's flashback in the prologue.
16	* ''Anime/SSSSGridman'' and ''Anime/SSSSDynazenon'' both have their titles after the first episode introductions.
17	[[/folder]]
18
19	[[folder:Comic Books]]
20	%% Needs Context * ''ComicBook/TheSpirit'' was famous for this.
21	* In the seventies and eighties this was very common on the splash pages of DC and Marvel titles.
22	* All of DC's books cover-dated February 2002 had this trope, including ''Impulse'' where the book's title was painted on the road (with two mis-spelt attempts as well) and ''Supergirl'', with a story set in a school for deaf children who spelt out the title in American Sign Language.
23	[[/folder]]
24
25	[[folder:Film]]
26	* ''Film/DocSavageTheManOfBronze'': After Doc wrestles his gun off him, Seas wordlessly challenges him to hand-to-hand combat using various fighting styles, each introduced with In-Scene Title Text.
27	* The ''Film/{{Watchmen}}'' movie plays with this in the title credits, including having characters appear to react to the text as it flies over their heads (only for it to reveal [[FourthWallPsych they were reacting to fighter jets flying just behind the text]]) as well as having the text reflect off an astronaut's visor.
28	* The rules in ''Film/{{Zombieland}}'' appear in this fashion.
29	%% Needs context * The opening credits of ''Film/{{Moon}}''.
30	* Used often in ''Film/StrangerThanFiction'' to represent the protagonist's OCD.
31	%% Needs context * The opening credits of ''WesternAnimation/CatsDontDance''.
32	* Played with in ''Film/JohnnyDangerously''. The opening scene has a subtitle reading "1935"... which is then run over by a car.
33	* The opening credits to ''Franchise/StarWars'' could be considered an example of this, since they're perspective-corrected and disappear into space.
34	* ''Film/TheSuicideSquad'': The film is essentially divided into chapters like a comic book. Each new chapter is introduced with a unique title card that usually appears somewhere in the environment (for example, one chapter title, "Dirty Little Secrets", appears as text on an elevator button).
35	* Used for the opening credits of Creator/DavidFincher's ''Film/PanicRoom''. Explicitly said to be the inspiration for ''Series/{{Fringe}}'''s 3-D titles, as per WordOfGod.
36	* In the opening credits of ''WesternAnimation/TurningRed'':
37	** Mei looks at, gestures at and pretends to eat the text "Disney presents".
38	** The text "a Pixar Animation Studios film" is revealed as Mei twirls across the screen.
39	[[/folder]]
40
41	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
42	* The EpisodeTitleCard for ''Series/{{Heroes}}'' is very frequently done this way.
43	* ''Series/{{Fringe}}'' also does this frequently, often when placing a location identifier on screen.
44	* The intro theme for ''Series/TheChicagoCode'' uses this for the main title card, but not the intro credits.
45	* There's an Creator/{{HBO}} advertisement that they put at the beginning of their [=DVDs=] that edits show titles into clips from the show in this fashion. Used to great effect, as characters will seem to interact with the letters, even though the original scene featured no in-scene text/titles.
46	* ''Series/GreenAcres'' often played with how the opening credits were shown. Sometimes the credits were printed on objects like newspapers or eggs, and sometimes characters were aware of their presence, commenting on those names that seem to appear out of nowhere.
47	* Played for laughs in ''Creator/MiltonJones' House of Rooms''. The title appears at the bottom of the screen before being carried away by a garbageman. After the break, the gag is repeated - [[{{Subversion}} but this time the title is not part of the scene, and his hand passes through it.]]
48	* ''Series/DoctorWho'' does this with a "scene-setting" title card in the 2012 episode "The Snowmen".
49	** It also shows up in "The Bells of Saint John" and "The Crimson Horror."
50	* In an episode of ''Series/{{Marple}}'', the episode title floats over the staircase and is revealed as the camera pans around a pillar.
51	[[/folder]]
52
53	[[folder:Sports]]
54	* Used real-time in sports broadcasts to intuitively display information such as distances, world records, etc. while not cluttering up the screen.
55	[[/folder]]
56
57	[[folder:Video Games]]
58	* ''VideoGame/ANNOMutationem'' has the title appearing as Ann is viewing [[NeonCity Noctis City]] from afar.
59	* ''Asphalt 8'' shows the race location, countdown, and some other text as 3D objects in the environment.
60	* The introductory cutscene to each ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands}}'' installment has this.
61	* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV'' presents its opening credits in this fashion.
62	* Done at the beginning of each episode of ''VideoGame/MinecraftStoryMode''.
63	* ''VideoGame/MirrorsEdge'' has this in its opening scene as well.
64	* The opening titles of the 2012 ''VideoGame/NeedForSpeedMostWanted'' utilize this with giant text sticking out and in front of the buildings before it cuts to your car.
65	* Each ''VideoGame/PaperMario'' game has its title appearing prior to the prologue chapter.
66	* The letters that make up ''VideoGame/{{Pararena}}'' lose formation and skate around the dish until you start a game.
67	* Once a mission is properly investigated and confirmed, and a time limit established, the words "Mission Start" show up in ''VideoGame/Persona5'', though they appear on some part of the environment: usually it'll show on the blackboard in the classroom, or on the floor of your loft bedroom.
68	* The opening for ''VideoGame/Prey2017'' involves getting on a helicopter and riding to the office, while you pass by various landmarks with the names of the publisher and the developer, before finally landing on the roof, which contains the title "Prey". As soon as you look away to open the helicopter door, the title vanishes.
69	* In ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsX Back Cover'' (a short film telling AnotherSideAnotherStory for ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsX''), each chapter is titled "Case of ''X''", where ''X'' is one of the Foretellers' names. The title appears on an object near the beginning of each case.
70	[[/folder]]
71
72	[[folder:Western Animation]]
73	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'' does this for the final two episodes by having the title appear at the start of both.
74	* Certain episodes of ''WesternAnimation/TheAngryBeavers'' did this, including "Zooing Time" and "Dag's List".
75	* ''WesternAnimation/BigCityGreens'' has its title cards appear against something in the background in-universe.
76	* ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooAndTheGhoulSchool'' plays with this trope. At the beginning of the telefilm, after the title appears over a stormy night sky, Scooby points upward and says, "Look, Shaggy … writing!" Naturally, Shaggy thinks Scooby said "lightning".
77	* Many ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' shorts, such as "WesternAnimation/WabbitTwouble", have the opening credits as part of the scene.
78	* ''WesternAnimation/XavierRenegadeAngel'' frequently integrates the title of the show into the scene, such as having characters tripping over it or pointing at it.
79	[[/folder]]

Context Main / InSceneTitleText