Magic Trip Title Sequence

             So earlier in the semester I posted about the documentary Magic Trip in my fiction field class with Arturo. Recently while I was checking out the link to the forget the film website I stumbled upon the opening title sequence to this documentary. As it is one of my favorite documentary films of all time I thought it would only be right to do a breakdown of this sequence. The title sequence was created by Karin Fong, a creative director and designer based in New York City. Alex Gibney an academy-award nominated director/ filmmaker asked Fong in 2009 to design the main and special title sequences for the  epic American road trip which ultimately inspired the peace and social movements of the 1960's.

                      

Fong stated that the paint on film aesthetics were inspired from experimental filmmakers such as Stan Brakhage and Len Lye. This is an example of frames from a Stan Brakhage film with the paint on film technique.

The author of the article asked Fong if she had ever tried LSD, she described herself as being a "straight arrow." Although not having a personal experience with the powerful psychedelic substance Fong was able to visualize and understand more of its effects by researching Ken Kesey. Ken Kesey is an American author known for authorship of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest as well as his major role in the road trip and the acid trials done by the U.S Governement in the late 1950's and early 1960's. Here is a video of the recording and movie insights involved with Ken Kesey and his experiences with the LSD trials. Fong studied this and many other examples of the effects and insights about LSD in order to create an accurate feel of the drug for her title sequences. 

                   

Here is a little more about Karin Fong (creative director on Magic Trip)...