Batman or Gotham Titles?

Ok so for the next project (the title sequence project), the theme that I am thinking of is based on the Batman franchise, but I'm torn between 2 ideas.

The first idea is basically to recreate the Title sequence from Batman vs. Robin (aka the worst of the Batman movies). Now why would I want to recreate this? I grew up watching these movies and, while it is a bad movie, the title sequence was pretty good. Although not great. When I watched it back recently I was commenting on how static the camera movement was until the bat and robin symbols fly in. But otherwise, there isnt too much in terms of the motion. And I was thinking, may using sure target and some clever ideas, I can make a a much more dynamic title sequence. Also maybe change some of the color and style to make it feel less sci fi and more gritty like Batman should be (Schumachers Batman movies I always found looked too futuristic and sci-fi-ish for Batman). I'd also make this one a parody, using references to what fans hate about this movie, like Bat credit cards and the infamous batsuit nips. So thats one option.

But I had another idea. It still pertains to Batman, but its for a TV show: Gotham. Gotham just started its second season, and is actually a pretty good show that serves as a prequel to long before Batman started roaming the streets of Gotham, following the character of Jim Gordon and most of the popular villains before the Dark Knight showed up. Anyway, it is a good show, but there was one thing that always bothered me, and that was the opening graphic title. Its because its WAY TOO Simple, its literally text moving pass the camera in Z space on a background of dark clouds. Its actually really sad in my opinion. I was expecting much more from it. So I want to try to challenge myself with this option. I would want to make my own title sequence for this show, something thats much more dynamic, something that reflects the show very well.

So either way, Im thinking Batman, but I'm not sure which way to go. Right now I'm leaning more towards the Gotham option mainly because I can be as creative as I want. But I could also do the other one and have a little bit of fun with it. I could really go either way. What do you guys think? Leave a comment and let me know which bat idea you like better.

Title Sequence- The Great Gatsby

Since we are moving into our next project, I wanted to make this week's blog post about another title sequence.  Particularly, I wanted to pick a title sequence that had simpler shapes, but great animations.  The title sequence I am choosing to recreate is from Monster's Inc-- which I talked about before on this blog.  It is very creative, using shapes to form pictures to help create an idea for the audience of what the film is going to be about.  (Here's a reminder of what the title sequence looks like).

This sequence, as I mentioned, takes different colored shapes and animates them in accordance to the music.  It is very childlike, simple, and eye-catching.  Another title sequence that I am using for inspiration for our project is a "fake" title sequence from The Great Gatsby.   This isn't the real sequence they used in the movie.  But similar to Monster's Inc., they match up the animation to jazzy music.  The shapes are simple but they play with animations.  There is a great deal of scaling, rotating, and changing the position of the graphics to create an easy-to-watch yet entertaining piece.

Retro NBC NBA Finals intro

With my last post I found some retro graphical intros for various production companies, and with my latest post, I'm continuing with that trend. This video is the 1998 NBA finals intro for NBC but what I really like is how such a short simple graphic can become so iconic. What might have taken ages to render in 1998 can easily be done on any Macbook Pro now with programs like after effects. The entire sequence was made of simple titles and shapes in order to make the logo, and graphics. There were even simple particle effects when the basketball enters the scene, I enjoy watching video's like this as they are much easier to break down when compared to modern graphics. Anyway I hope you watch this video and enjoy the simple sequence that draws so many memories for many people who were watching this iconic game.

Spirited Away Trailer High Quality

Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away is easily one of the best animated films of all time.  Within the first five minutes you wouldn't exactly understand why its dubbed as such, the graphics are simple and the characters are average looking but as the story goes on the simplicity is what makes the movie so pure and beautiful. Miyazaki purposefully made this artistic choice claiming that he didn't want the animation to "steal the show"and although they had a very vast knowledge of the software necessary to create elaborate animations the animators mostly animated the characters by hand ( the good ole fashion way).  I personally can't imagine the movie any other way. There is something so raw and unadulterated about Miyazaki's style that perfectly fits the theme of the movie: the journey from childhood to adulthood.

This trailer does not do the movie justice in the least bit, but I recommend you watch it if you haven't already. It is an absolutely beautiful story.

After Effects Expressions Simplified

I came across this really interesting article on Creative Cow called AFter Effects Expressions Simplified. It explains how to write and use expressions in a way that's easy to follow. It's especially good for our class because the author builds on things we've already learned.  He explains wiggle and also how you can make it even more powerful than it already is. One thing he describes is how to write expressions that are dependent on each other, so you only have to change one to change all of them.

The article says: "Imagine linking multiple layers to one control layer so that you could globally make adjustments to entire compositions with variables and various expression controllers." When we get into more advanced work, this could really come in handy.

He goes through the process step by step so even if you don't know exactly what you're doing, by following his instructions you could still apply it to your animation. Probably the best way to use this information is to follow this article's tips until you understand how to use them by yourself.