Hey everyone. So Last week when we were showing our progress on our name designs Chris mentioned to me that my design reminded him of the title sequence from Se7en. I had never seen Se7en or its opening title, but I did know that my creative "idol" if you will, Kyle Cooper, designed that sequence as well as American Horror Story. AHS's title design has been one of my largest inspirations and really captures the style that I've always had and admired. So here is a breakdown of Kyle Cooper's Se7en title sequence and a link to the AHS titles.
An interesting thing about Kyle is that he enjoys doing things on film or in the camera by going out and shooting things and then compositing them on the computer as opposed to building every effect in CG.
Here are the first titles I had seen by him and continue to inspire me:
A unique insetion of design for a movie or television series can become a symbol for the story.
The below video is a series of interviews with successful motion graphic design artists.
Within the PBS interviews there is conversation of Kyle Cooper and his "game-changing" production of the Opening Sequence for Se7en. Cooper said that a good introduction is like a courtesy to the audience, for it means the creators are going to try as hard as they possibly can to entertain the viewer. Cooper's Se7en opening was a thought provoking intro that related deeply to the psychopath and his journal he keeps throughout the film.
Jim Helton and Charles Christopher Rubino’s story they tell at the ending of Blue Valentine is proof that there use to be love in the character's relationship. It is heart wrenching for you had just watched their dramatic break up, making the viewers follow the characters in their emotions.
Lastly, Zombieland motion graphic designer Ben Conrad, inserts text into the story, creating a light hearted feeling during this graphic scene. By using a simple font and creating a simple concept, the humorous mood is set for the rest of the movie.
"Forget the Film, Watch the Titles!" is a wonderful website to view a multitude of great title sequences and ending credits. The site is a great reference to each movies opening sequence providing the opening for viewing and also stills of the title sequence. Many of the films have very detailed storytelling of how something was conceptualized and interesting facts about the production process. This makes for an easy read and the ability to learn more knowledge about your film's title sequence. For example Rango's section provides some of the original sketches of characters and also information from an interview with the films prologue's creative director, Henry Hobson. An interesting bit of information I found was that Rango's end credit sequence and title sequence were created in just a few weeks. If I were to guess a length of time for a blockbusters opening and credits I would have thought it maybe would have taken months.
The website also had a link to an interview with Kyle Cooper which I embedded below. If you need inspiration for idea if you are creating your own title sequence I believe it is worth watching this interview. Kyle's idea to look at objects on a microscopic level and his drive to study things such as bones, skin, and various other objects allows him unlimited content to continually produce original looking title sequences. He proves that you can take any interest and use it to provide some kind of source material. His drive to find hand made objects to create more complex effects has challenged me to do the same. Over fall break I look forward to capturing different source material using smoke, that I may be able to use in future projects.
This week many of us blogged about animated title sequences, and as I was going to do the same I stumbled across something different. While looking into different animated title sequences, I found the name Kyle Cooper. Kyle Cooper has directed over 150 film title sequences and has been credited with "revitalizing the main-title sequence as an art form". Cooper earned an M.F.A. in graphic design from the Yale School of Art, where he studied independently with Paul Rand. In class and in some other posts we have already discussed what a huge influence Paul Rand has had in the animation world, so to see that Kyle Cooper has independently studied with him can really say something about Cooper's credibility and background.
Next to directing over 150 title sequences, Cooper founded two internationally known film design companies, Imaginary Forces and Prologue Films. Imaginary Forces is a creative studio and production company that creates and develops content for commercial advertising, digital and interactive platforms, feature films and film marketing, television, architectural spaces, and global brands. The following is a short reel of the many things Imaginary Forces has done.
