Title plates are an interesting candidate for a tutorial as, in my opinion, there aren't really any hard and fast rules for their creation. They can be anything from a simple black frame with the title of the film to carefully crafted CG scenes.
If there were any rules to follow they would be predominantly influenced by the purpose of a title plate. To inform the viewer as to what they are about to watch and ideally express some theme or character to the film/ video. From this the only real necessity is that it is easy to read and ideally is present long enough to read.
Having very few rules to follow can be a blessing and a curse when you are tasked with the job of actually creating title plates. It's a bit like being asked a question with no wrong answer, whilst it can't be wrong it can be be bad (not work, not look good, not feel right etc). When this happens, you're on your own. I'll briefly describe the thinking behind the three title plates below.
This video was a part of a larger festival of light that was held in federation square in the winter of 2013. The festival had a huge them of light and our part in it was looking into the point when you become aware of racism (or when the light turned on for you). Thematically using simulated light to reveal the title at the start of the video just seemed right. Visually the effect felt nice and felt right, also keeping a largely black background with a high contrast worked well the withe overall look of the piece.
Don't be that guy was an advert that we produced with the youth community of Leeton Shire, hoping to talk to some of the problems of binge drinking. This plate actually featured at the end of the piece, after the message had been delivered. Since it was for an advert that had been co-funded we has to include not only the title but also logo plate.
The background in this plate is actually just the end of the advert, after one of our characters get vomited on we wanted the audience to sit with the awkwardness. Since time is so expensive for television ads (we only had 45 seconds), we chose to incorporate it into the plate at the end to save time.
One of the best ways to create a title plate that sits nicely with your film is to incorporate something that has been used in the film itself. Be it footage that places the audience in the location of the film or holds objects that are relevant to the film.
For the Kumuwuki doco we used a black frame as a prop throughout the entire piece, during our last day of shooting we set fire to it on the beach and filmed it in slow motion. This was meant as a metaphore for the piece, i won't go into detail since you can watch the film in our 'projects' section.
From the moment I saw this beautiful footage I knew it was what we needed for the title. It posed questions and would act to draw the audience in.