Concept and creative process
The brief to create a generic opening title for a drama strand of thirty minute plays was a gift in visual terms. Geoffrey Martin, perhaps influenced by the 1963 film 'Nine Hours to Rama' with titles by Saul Bass, used the idea of a time piece ticking down the seconds to the start of the drama. Filmed in monochrome live action, close-ups of a pocket watch intercut with its working spring, cogs, wheels and hands in perfect sync with the specially created sound track, all skillfully contrived to create an opening title with dramatic tension.