The zoetrope invented in 1834 by
William George Horner, was an early form of motion picture projector, It depended
on the “persistence of vision”. they developed and combined it with the magic
lantern which allowed the images to be projected on a screen. Muybridge used
the principles of the Zoetrope only replacing the glass illustrations with
photographic images on glass. His stop-motion technique was an early form of
animation that helped pave the way for the motion-picture industry. Later in
the 1890s, film was developed fast enough to capture moving objects and people.

Cinématographe, a device that could project movies to several spectators at the
same time, which was the pre-cursor to the projector, was invented by Lumiere
brothers.  Then in 1895, the Lumiere
brothers showed their film in Paris, an eight-minute black and white silent
film. Around this area when silent films where being made, that’s when film
titles and letter cards made their appearance, they provide essential
information to the viewer. These were important form of graphic design in films
from the very earliest days, an example of this is in D.W. Griffith’s
“Intolerance” (1916) tittle screen. Fast forward to 1984, when the desktop
computers and Apple Mac came along, this opened a new door in film title design
giving many artists and designers access to experiment. Combining all different
types of techniques and special effects like typography, comic strips, montage,
effects, illustrations etc. A good early example of this is the film title to Flash
Gordon Directored by Mike Hodges in 1980. “The opening sequence for any film
seeks to set up a mood, an atmosphere that serves as a bridge from the outside
world into the film.” – Drake, Robbins & Salavetz in Motion by Design, Now film titles use many graphic techniques which helps sets up the
mood and story of the film.