intertitles

Intertitles, also called title cards, are text screens inserted between shots in silent films to convey dialogue, narration, or exposition. They substitute for spoken dialogue and sound effects, helping to advance the plot and clarify setting or mood.

There are several kinds of intertitles. Expository intertitles provide background information and transitions; dialogue intertitles present characters’ spoken lines; opening and closing titles introduce the film and list credits. They could be plain text or feature illustrations, decorative borders, or distinctive typography to match a film’s style. Foreign-language intertitles facilitated international releases.

Historically, intertitles became standard in the early silent era, with studios employing title-card designers and typographers. They let filmmakers control pacing and narration without sound. Notable silent films used intertitles to structure plots and convey rapid dialogue; examples include The Great Train Robbery (1903) and works by D. W. Griffith.

With synchronized sound arriving in the late 1920s, the use of intertitles declined, though some directors retained them for stylistic effect or multilingual versions.

In modern cinema, intertitles persist as historical features or intentional nods to silent-film aesthetics. They remain of interest to scholars of typography, graphic design, and film history for illustrating text’s role in moving-image storytelling.