Dan Perri
Daniel Richard Perri (born August 11, 1945) is an American film and television title sequence designer. He has worked in film title design since the 1970s, and has been responsible for the main titles of several notable films including The Exorcist (1973), Taxi Driver (1976), Star Wars (1977), Raging Bull (1980), Airplane! (1980), and Suspiria (2018). Perri made contact with the film graphics designer Saul Bass and began to pester him for work at his studio on Sunset Boulevard. Eventually, Perri found work with Bass through his illustrator, Art Goodman. During his service in the US Navy, Perri served on the USS Repose and designed an on-board newspaper, entitled The Repose Reprise. After serving in the Navy, Perri went to work with Cinefx alongside Phill Norman, Wayne Fitzgerald Don Record, and a former school friend, Steve Smith. After a year, both Perri and Smith quit and went on to form their independent design studio, Perri & Smith. The pair worked together from 1969 to 1973, mostly on small, low-budget television features, but their credits also included films such as Electra Glide in Blue and several of Gene Corman's blaxploitation films. The designers were often exploited and clients sometimes failed to pay, and eventually, the business folded. Perri's big break came in 1973 when he was commissioned by Billy Friedkin to produce the main titles for The Exorcist, his first solo project. With a blockbuster film in his portfolio, Perri was now able to attract more work and soon found himself working on high-profile titles. For Nashville (1975), Robert Altman commissioned a main title sequence and a logo to be used in marketing. Perri produced an unusual, kitschy sequence inspired by low-budget K-Tel Records television commercials, complete with a loud, brash voiceover by Johnny Grant. In 1976, Martin Scorsese brought Perri in to design the titles for Taxi Driver. Perri took second unit footage and color-treated the film through a process of film copying and slit-scan, resulting in a highly stylized graphic sequence that evoked the "underbelly" of New York City through lurid colors, glowing neon signs distorted nocturnal images and deep black levels, accompanied by Bernard Herrmann's jazz soundtrack. Possibly Perri's best-known title sequence project came about in 1976 when his friend James Nelson was working on post-production for a new space fantasy film, Star Wars. Nelson recommended Perri to director George Lucas, who invited Perri to Industrial Light & Magic, Lucasfilm's post-production operation at Van Nuys, California. Lucas briefed Perri to take inspiration from old 1930s cinema serials such as Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers that had inspired Lucas to write much of his Star Wars story. After struggling to come up with a concept that Lucas liked, Perri eventually developed a concept for presenting a textual introduction based on the opening credits of the 1939 Cecil B. DeMille film, Union Pacific, in which the credits are shown distorted by a sharp perspective and rolling along a railroad track towards a distant vanishing point. Lucas approved of the idea and Perri produced sketches and prototype mechanical artwork, supported by storyboard artwork drawn by the production artist Alex Tavoularis. This gave birth to the now-familiar opening crawl sequence that appears in the Star Wars films.
Girlfriends
(Main Title Designer)
She's All That
(Main Title Designer)
Circus
(Title Designer)
Pound of Flesh
(Title Designer)
Sam Morril: Same Time Tomorrow
(Makeup & Hair)
Dead for a Dollar
(Title Designer)
FM
(Title Designer)
Suspiria
(Title Designer)
California Split
(Title Designer)
Flesh Gordon
(Title Designer)
The Four Deuces
(Title Designer)
Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson
(Title Designer)
Welcome to L.A.
(Title Designer)
Monster by Moonlight! The Immortal Saga of 'The Wolf Man'
(Main Title Designer)
Time to Run
(Title Designer)
Lepke
(Title Designer)
Once Is Not Enough
(Title Designer)
House Calls
(Title Designer)
Rio Lobo
(Title Designer)
Fritz the Cat
(Title Designer)
The Day of the Locust
(Title Designer)
A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
(Second Unit Director)
F.I.S.T.
(Title Designer)
Promises in the Dark
(Title Designer)
The Grissom Gang
(Title Designer)
Heavy Traffic
(Title Designer)
Nashville
(Title Designer)
Mr. Sycamore
(Title Designer)
Sorcerer
(Title Designer)
The Warriors
(Title Designer)
Norma Rae
(Title Designer)
Dreamer
(Title Designer)
Raging Bull
(Title Designer)
Cutter's Way
(Title Designer)
FTA
(Title Designer)
The Exorcist
(Title Designer)
The Legend of Bigfoot
(Title Designer)
The Betsy
(Title Designer)
Blue Collar
(Title Designer)
Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit
(Second Unit Director)
The Road to 'Dracula'
(Main Title Designer)
The Out-of-Towners
(Title Designer)
Freebie and the Bean
(Title Designer)
Paco
(Title Designer)
New York, New York
(Title Designer)
White Nights
(Title Designer)
Fresh Horses
(Title Designer)
Electra Glide in Blue
(Title Designer)
Russian Roulette
(Title Designer)
Players
(Title Designer)
The Long Riders
(Title Designer)
The King of Comedy
(Title Designer)
Curtains
(Title Designer)
Wise Guys
(Title Designer)
The Beat
(Title Designer)
She's Alive! Creating 'The Bride of Frankenstein'
(Main Title Designer)
The Concert for Bangladesh
(Title Designer)
I Wanna Hold Your Hand
(Title Designer)
My Bodyguard
(Title Designer)
If You Could See What I Hear
(Title Designer)
Against All Odds
(Title Designer)
Compromising Positions
(Title Designer)
Nine 1/2 Weeks
(Title Designer)
The Color of Money
(Title Designer)
Chuck Berry: Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll
(Title Designer)
Lord of the Flies
(Title Designer)
Cool Breeze
(Title Designer)
I Escaped from Devil's Island
(Title Designer)
Las Vegas Lady
(Title Designer)
A Night In Heaven
(Title Designer)
A Nightmare on Elm Street
(Title Designer)
Key Exchange
(Title Designer)
After Hours
(Title Designer)
Where the River Runs Black
(Title Designer)
Raising Arizona
(Title Designer)
A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master
(Title Designer)
Mystic Pizza
(Title Designer)
The Double McGuffin
(Title Designer)
The Swinging Cheerleaders
(Title Designer)
All the President's Men
(Title Designer)
Capricorn One
(Title Designer)
Hanover Street
(Title Designer)
Blood Beach
(Title Designer)
The Fan
(Title Designer)
Spring Break
(Title Designer)
Willy/Milly
(Title Designer)
Revenge of the Nerds II: Nerds in Paradise
(Title Designer)
The Seventh Sign
(Title Designer)
Everybody's All-American
(Title Designer)
Night and the City
(Title Designer)
Taxi Driver
(Title Designer)
The Late Show
(Title Designer)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
(Title Designer)
Hit Man
(Title Designer)
Lucky Lady
(Title Designer)
The River Niger
(Title Designer)
The White Buffalo
(Title Designer)
Airplane!
(Title Designer)
Times Square
(Title Designer)
Beer
(Title Designer)
Quicksilver
(Title Designer)
Talk Radio
(Title Designer)
The Player
(Title Designer)
Men Don't Leave
(Title Designer)
Original Intent
(Title Designer)
Iron Monkey
(Title Designer)
Picture Bride
(Title Designer)
An American Christmas Carol
(Title Designer)
The Stunt Man
(Title Designer)
The Idolmaker
(Title Designer)
Honky Tonk Freeway
(Title Designer)
An Officer and a Gentleman
(Title Designer)
Tough Guys
(Title Designer)
Guilty by Suspicion
(Title Designer)
King Arthur, the Young Warlord
(Title Designer)
3 Women
(Title Designer)
Coming Home
(Title Designer)
Quiet Cool
(Title Designer)
Streets of Gold
(Title Designer)
Platoon
(Title Designer)
1969
(Title Designer)
Grace Quigley
(Title Designer)
Blood Simple
(Title Designer)
The Last Dragon
(Title Designer)
Dream Lover
(Title Designer)
Leonard Part 6
(Title Designer)
Miracle Mile
(Title Designer)
The Last Waltz
(Title Designer)
Girlfriends
(Title Designer)
Stony Island
(Title Designer)
First Family
(Title Designer)
White Dog
(Title Designer)
Star 80
(Title Designer)
Streamers
(Title Designer)
A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
(Title Designer)
In the Mood
(Title Designer)
Wall Street
(Title Designer)
Tequila Sunrise
(Title Designer)
RoboCop 2
(Title Designer)
Deep Cover
(Title Designer)
The Hiding Place
(Title Designer)
Griffin and Phoenix
(Title Designer)
Marathon Man
(Title Designer)
Exorcist II: The Heretic
(Title Designer)
Days of Heaven
(Title Designer)
Bloodline
(Title Designer)
American Gigolo
(Title Designer)
Caddyshack
(Title Designer)
Deadly Friend
(Title Designer)
Pacific Heights
(Title Designer)
The Distinguished Gentleman
(Title Designer)
The Hand
(Title Designer)
Beat Street
(Title Designer)
The Goodbye People
(Title Designer)
The Allnighter
(Title Designer)
Midnight Run
(Title Designer)
Field of Dreams
(Title Designer)
Internal Affairs
(Title Designer)
Prison Stories: Women on the Inside
(Title Designer)
The Taking of Beverly Hills
(Title Designer)
Traces of Red
(Title Designer)
Americathon
(Title Designer)
Going in Style
(Title Designer)
Why Would I Lie?
(Title Designer)
La Bamba
(Title Designer)
Bull Durham
(Title Designer)
The Rescuers Down Under
(Title Designer)
Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit
(Title Designer)
A Time of Destiny
(Title Designer)
Vibes
(Title Designer)
Stella
(Title Designer)
The First Power
(Title Designer)
Palomino
(Title Designer)
Alive
(Title Designer)
Mr. Wonderful
(Title Designer)
Out Cold
(Title Designer)
Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story
(Title Designer)
Mallrats
(Title Designer)
Congo
(Title Designer)
Color of Night
(Title Designer)
Dazzle
(Title Designer)
Separate Lives
(Title Designer)
Safe Passage
(Title Designer)
Species
(Title Designer)
Insomnia
(Title Designer)
The Battle of Shaker Heights
(Title Designer)
Tropix
(Title Designer)
Curdled
(Title Designer)
A Night at the Roxbury
(Title Designer)
Gangs of New York
(Title Designer)
Freeway
(Title Designer)
The Very Thought of You
(Title Designer)
Varsity Blues
(Title Designer)
East Is East
(Title Designer)
American Gun
(Title Designer)
A Price Above Rubies
(Title Designer)
54
(Title Designer)
Thick as Thieves
(Title Designer)
Traveller
(Title Designer)
Speaking of Sex
(Title Designer)
Mojave
(Title Designer)
The Aviator
(Title Designer)
Rainbow
(Title Designer)
In Too Deep
(Title Designer)
Sorority Boys
(Title Designer)
Mulholland Falls
(Title Designer)
Vendetta
(Title Designer)
Bartleby
(Title Designer)
15 Minutes
(Title Designer)
Tinseltown
(Title Designer)
Sinbad: The Battle of the Dark Knights
(Title Designer)
Since You've Been Gone
(Title Designer)
Freak City
(Title Designer)
Harvey
(Title Designer)
The 'Frankenstein' Files: How Hollywood Made a Monster
(Title Designer)
James Dean
(Title Designer)
Gridlock'd
(Title Designer)
Soul Food
(Main Title Designer)
Love Jones
(Title Designer)
Cold Around the Heart
(Title Designer)
Luckytown
(Title Designer)
House Arrest
(Title Designer)
This World, Then the Fireworks
(Title Designer)
Playing God
(Title Designer)
I Woke Up Early the Day I Died
(Title Designer)
First House on the Hill
(Title Designer)
Eight Below
(Title Designer)
Pizza
(Title Designer)
Hoot
(Title Designer)
The House of Usher
(Title Designer)
In the Valley of Elah
(Title Designer)
Spread
(Title Designer)
Sharkskin
(Screenplay)
Sharkskin
(Title Designer)
Even Money
(Title Designer)
Have Dreams, Will Travel
(Title Designer)
The Public
(Title Designer)
Sharkskin
(Producer)
Internet Famous
(Title Designer)
Sharkskin
(Director)
All Saints
(Title Designer)
Santa's Slay
(Main Title Designer)
The Beaver
(Title Designer)
Spinning Into Butter
(Title Designer)
The Warm-Up Guy
(Title Designer)
Threshold
(Title Designer)
Love Among the Ruins
(Title Designer)
Star Wars
(Title Designer)
Plaza Suite
(Title Designer)
Mosquito State
(Title Designer)
Lake of Death
(Title Designer)
The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial
(Title Designer)
I'm Your Woman
(Title Designer)
There Will Be Blood
(Main Title Designer)
Another 9 1/2 Weeks
(Title Designer)
Airplane II: The Sequel
(Title Designer)
Movie Movie
(Title Designer)
Saturday Night Live
(Director)