I've always thought in motion.

I never knew there was a category of designing something in motion with specific elements,

these elements being letters, words, and titles.

When I learned of that little niche in the film business, I realized that I could belong there, and I could

then apply and execute my ideas in some proper form.

Welcome to the documentary from the BBC World Service. I'm Mark Berman and in this

retrospective edition of In the Studio, I'm talking to Dan Perry, title creator extraordinaire for

film and television. Titles are those very first words and images that usher you into the opening

of a screen story. Crucial scene

setters, often playful clues and hints to let you know what kind of world you're about

to spend the next two hours or more in. From typewriter keys explosively punching out the opening

of all the president's men, to the creation of Freddie Kruger's monstrous claws in Nightmare on

Elm Street,

to the legendary opening crawl receding into the galactic distance of Star Wars,

Dan Perry has been creating his own mini-movie magic since the early 1970s.

Creating the concept for me is a two-step thing.

The concept comes first.

But then the execution of that idea is it called the design. There's many examples of really great concepts that are just mediocre

in their execution. Then there are times that the idea is mediocre, but so well executed,

it becomes better than it would have been otherwise. But obviously,

the best of those worlds would be an amazing idea, so well executed that it's just a classic.

And that's what I always strive for. Don't always get there. Uncredited, Perry designed his first

...