For our next project I am in between ideas. Earlier this week I was reeling through different movies like "Sherlock Holmes", "Fight Club", "Pan's Labyrinth"; all movies that have a certain aesthetic that would be relatively simple to convey in a title sequence, but decided against them because I didn't want to recreate already made titles or felt that I could make one that fit the movies tone.
My mind immediately went to this stained and drawing look from "Sherlock Holmes"
Now I am between two very different ideas. One would be Wes Anderson's "The Grand Budapest Hotel". His greatest strengths in his movies are the stylized vintage-pastel aesthetic, which I feel could easily translate to a simple title sequence.
My other idea would be for "Over the Garden Wall", a twisted cartoon that follows two brothers into the dangerous "Unknown" woods. I feel that a 2D animation of the brothers walking through different significant scenes would be a good start for the title project.
This week I was in desperate need of inspiration for our title sequence projects. I'm going to get a bit nostalgic on you because I immediately thought of my favorite title sequence I absolutely loved as a child growing up. It was the title sequence from 101 Dalmatians:
I love this sequence because it is absolutely fun and thrilling to watch. As a child, there were not very many interesting title sequences and more often than not, we would end up fast-forwarding through them. Yet, I ALWAYS watched this specific title sequence because I never knew what was going to come next. I vividly remember dancing to it even when I was little because even the music is fantastic.
Upon watching it again, I was shocked to realize that I recognized several techniques that we have already learned in class! For example, the spot revealing or erasing the words or even the spots pulsating to the music. I was thrilled to find out that my favorite sequence as a kid, I actually understood now as a college student!
I kept thinking of other sequences that I enjoyed. Here is another one from Tangled, though I believe it is the ending credits:
I think what is great about this title sequence is that we can see more of the story being told. Aspects of character development and fun story moments that weren't necessarily in the feature are seen. I think this is the hardest part for title sequences or ending credits: making them interesting and entertaining enough to hold peoples interest. I'm always happily surprised when I find I have sat through one and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Another one that I really, really enjoyed, that is not an animation, isfrom Sherlock Holmes.
I love the style and the feel of this sequence. It is not only interesting, but it fits with the period of the film with the images changing to what looks like drawings on old parchment. Here we see the story revealed, but in a increasingly interesting way. I came across this tutorial on how it was made by AgezMedia on youtube when I first looked for this video:
I didn't get through all of it yet, and it is very advanced, but it was incredibly fascinating to learn.
After looking into all of these, I think I'm ready to give my title sequence a try. It will be a challenge to make something intriguing, unique and entertaining, but if these examples can do it, I'm sure I can too.
Here are some student examples that I came across during my search on youtube. They are all for Pixar's film UP.
Here is the compositing project I just completed. The footage is a clip from the latest Sherlock Holmes film and myself in front of a green screen. I am pleased with it, but if I were to critique one aspect of it I would say that the lighting could have been matched more closely. I feel they don't quite follow the same patter and shape as the shadows falling on the other passengers.
On the other had, if I am most pleased with something, it is the timing of my movements in relation to the bustling atmosphere. This is definitely a fun little exercise as well as very easy to do as far as equipment, actors etc... All that's needed is a green screen, some lights and yourself! I think I'd like to repeat this exercise with some very different looking films.
In class on Wednesday Arturo mentioned how we would start seeing the write-on effect everyone now that we've learned it. While I was watching Motion Graphics videos this week I really did notice the effect.
One of the things I've seen it in is the end credits for the Sherlock Holmes movie that just came out. The animation in these credits is really similar to the exercise we did with creating a piece of paper and animating writing on it.
It's cool to see the things we're learning applied to a professional animation. Here's the full end credits. The effect is most noticeable when it says the title of the film 46 seconds into the video.
