Synchronization and Title Sequences ─ Audio-Visual Semiosis in Motion Graphics

Synchronization and Title Sequences proposes a semiotic analysis of the synchronization of image and sound in motion pictures using title sequences. Through detailed historical close readings of title designs that use either voice-over, an instrumental opening, or title song to organize their visuals—from Vertigo (1958) to The Player (1990) and X-Men: First Class (2011)—author Michael Betancourt develops a foundational framework for the critique and discussion of motion graphics’ use of synchronization and sound, as well as a theoretical description of how sound-image relationships develop on-screen.

Michael Betancourt is an artist/theorist concerned with digital technology and capitalist ideology. His writing has been translated into Chinese, French, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Persian, Portuguese, and Spanish, and been published in magazines such as The Atlantic, Make Magazine, Millennium Film Journal, Leonardo, Semiotica, and CTheory. He wrote The ____________ Manifesto, and other books such as The Critique of Digital Capitalism, The History of Motion Graphics, Glitch Art in Theory and Practice, and Beyond Spatial Montage: Windowing. These publications complement his movies, which have screened internationally at the Black Maria Film Festival, Art Basel Miami Beach, Contemporary Art Ruhr, Athens Video Art Festival, Festival des Cinemas Differents de Paris, Anthology Film Archives, Millennium Film Workshop, the San Francisco Cinematheque’s Crossroads, and Experiments in Cinema, among many others.