"The Look of Saul Bass: Title Designer"

Saul Bass is a major influence on the rise of title sequences for feature films. As a graphic designer and a filmmaker heis best known for his title sequences, film posters and corporate logos. He made title sequences for Alfred Hitchcock, Otto Preminger, Billy Wilder, Stanley Kubrick and Martin Scorsese. His sequences started a trend and moved title sequences in a new direction.

"He did something very simple very graphic very modern. And he did that with very economical means."

"To set up a context. To take you from the time when you're getting your popcorn to to bring you to the place where you need to be to follow this story to put you in that context."

"People kind of woke up and said, hey the main title sequence can be a vehicle by which he artist may express himself...he did something that was graphically innovative."

His simplicity, but very telling and purposeful titles re invented another aspect to the entire art of storytelling.

Less is More

I always used to think that CGI and special effects had to be big these big, in-your-face spectacles; explosions, giant transforming robots, things like that. After our last class of making (somewhat real-looking) birds, however, I realize that this is certainly not the case. Turns out, CGI is used for some incredibly subtle things, whether it be via a greenscreen or any other method.

One of the better movies that I watched over Winter break was Martin Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street. Apart from a scene where a gigantic yacht capsizes in a storm and some of the more ludicrous parties that the film showed, I figured that there wasn't many special effects used overall. It seemed pretty straightforward; lots of scenes in offices and fancy homes that I thought were perfectly plausible for a man like Scorsese to film. 

Well, I was wrong. Turns out that Scorsese used a pretty decent amount of CGI throughout the entire film. I'm always of the state of mind that it's better to film something for real (whether it's special effects or just getting the exact location that you're looking for) but I have to say that I'm extremely impressed with Marty's attention to detail. Whether it's a tiny detail (replacing a doorway to make a home look completely different) or something huge (completely recreating a prison by using a ton of greenscreen shots all at once), the CGI in Wolf of Wall Street was generally pretty seamless. 

The Wolf of Wall Street VFX Highlights from Brainstorm Digital on Vimeo.

One of the only scenes that I thought for sure was CGI'd was the "commercial" at the beginning of the film, where a lion walks between a row of desks in a brokerage firm. I thought the lion was done completely with special effects. Turns out it was one of the only real things in the scene. Pretty much sums up what I know about special effects.  

Martin Scorsese's New Animated Movie Hugo

This summer I had the privilege of getting two separate tours of EUE ScreenGem's Atlanta and New York movie studios. It was really a special time during these tours because I was shown real sets of shows like Unnecessary Roughness on USA. It was amazing seeing how detailed and perfect the sets were constructed, and according to the president of the Atlanta studio full sets are constructed in less than a week. I was amazed at the quality of the sets and the time that is spend making each one look fully realistic. Check out their website here and see what they have to offer.

As educational and enjoyable being on these different sets was, my favorite part of both tours was when I got to sit in Martin Scorsese's color correction and finishing room for his new animated movie Hugo. Click here to see the trailer.

This movie is animated and will be coming out on Thanksgiving this year in 3D. According to the CEO's assistant, who was giving us the tour, Scorsese's was coming in towards the end of September to put the finishing touches on animation and color correction. Looking at a gigantic white screen, I wondered how you could see enough detail through a projector. I was then told that they brought in a brand new 3D projector with an astonishing price tag. Lets just say it was considerably more than a years tuition at out school. The plan for the post-production crew was the spend a couple of weeks in this room to perfect this new film by the end of September. That way it could get to the theaters by Thanksgiving.

After watching the trailer for this movie, I became immediately intrigued in what was special effects and what was not. I hope you all watch the trailer and become immediately excited like I did about the being able to do this. I can only dream about being a fly on the wall of that room seeing one of the greatest directors of all time at work.