For my next project I'd like to create an opening title sequence for ABC's Once Upon A Time. Currently the show's opening sequences are about 7 seconds in length, simply showcasing the title of the show and along with a mythical creature, person, or item that foreshadows what the current episode is going to be about. The following is a video including Once Upon A Time's episode openings through Season 2:
I'd obviously like to elaborate on this and create a sequence that tells a bit more of the story and includes appropriate credits. The following song is the perfect base to begin animating:
This song, entitles "Henry's Proposal," I think does a great job of communicating the confusion, tentativeness, realization, and excitement that Henry--one of the main characters--finds in unfolding the magical tale that surrounds his life.
To those who work in media production, it comes as no surprise that many aspects of a production may come from different production companies, especially things like the products' marketing videos and title sequences. Even now in our class we are making title sequences for some of our favorite shows and movies. One of the heavy hitters of the title sequence market in the industry today is the production company Imaginary Forces.
The creative heavy weights that work for Imaginary Forces have been responsible for some of the most iconic title sequences in the industry, perhaps most recognizably the sequences for the movie Se7en, and the AMC series Mad Men.
Imaginary Forces has also produced the title sequence for shows like Chuck, Boardwalk Empire, Person of Interest, the HBO series Band of Brothers and The Pacific, movies like Pacific Rim, 500 Days of Summer, and countless others. IF had also made trailers and promos many shows and movies, as well as a few video game series like Splinter Cell and God of War. To see all the really cool things that they have created, head on over to their website, http://www.imaginaryforces.com. For someone who aspires to make title sequences and trailers for the industry, these guys are an excellent source of inspiration.
There are many factors that go into making a good parody, and one of the most overlooked aspects is the title sequence. Now, it might not seem that important but a good title sequence can make or break any production. Take a look at the famous youtube channel, the Hillywood Show:
For quick introductions: the Hillywood show is a channel on youtube co-created by sisters Hannah and Hilly Hindi. They produce parodies of widely popular shows and movies, to the beat of re-mixed songs, dancing, singing, and acting as the original characters. Amazingly enough, they do it without a huge production crew and they've attracted the attention of many celebrities (like Lady Gaga and Psy).
And the parody aside (how fantastic it may be), we need to give some props to the people who created that opening sequence. For any non-Whovians, DoctorWho is a British sci-fi series produced by the BBC that follows the Doctor as he travels across time and space with his many companions. It's one of the longest-running shows, dating back to 1963, but it's become a cult classic in recent years.
Even if you only head of this show in passing, you've probably heard of the most iconic thing to this show: the Tardis. It's essentially the Doctor's "space ship" that he uses to propel himself where he needs to go (or where he happens to end up). Without getting too much into the logistics of the show, the important thing to take away is that the Tardis is iconic in more ways than one.
And you can't have a cult classic without an anthem, but this one is slightly more unique.:
As you can see, it has no lyrics but that doesn't take away from the feel of the show at all. If anything, it sets up an almost invigoration vibe. It's as if we too have joined the Doctor on his quest through time and space. And the animation of this sequence is legendary. Although it has changed throughout the years, the concept remains. Swirling stars and galaxies whiz by, as the Tardis comes spinning too and fro. It's a journey and it's one that should be appreciated. And getting back to the Hillywood show, they have people and users like Tom Dicker and Thomasjt017 to recreate their titles just like the original. It may not seem like much, but it really sets up the parody to be something great because it's familiar. For all those fans who passionately sing along to the BBC's version, they have something to look forward to in the Hillywood's one. As "the Hillywood Show" dances in-line where "Matt Smith's" name would be, viewers from both communities find something of equal purchase. And that's why opening sequences matter. Because animation means something. It's iconic in the most subtle of way, especially in live-action shows. It sets up the atmosphere and it pulls us along for the journey. Some may say it even grabs our hands and tells us to "run."
Steve Viola is a creative director, title designer and head of Method Design (formerly Rok!t Studio), located in Santa Monica, California. Viola has some elite title sequences working as both creative director and or title designer including The Avengers, Captain America: The First Avenger, Madea's Big Happy Family, and X-Men Origins: Wolverine. One of his latest title sequences Captain America: The First Avenger began when Rok!t's EP David Garber collaborated with the director of The Wolfman, Joe Johnston,to generate ideas and eventually pitch the idea to Marvel. The idea behind the title sequence is a spin on the black and white Nazi propaganda films. The really cool part about this sequence is how the production team of Rok!t Studio's took existing Nazi propaganda to create the stereoscopic effect. While this might be a little advanced for our class an animation with depth like this one should be something to strive for in the future. The team created the title sequence by using Adobe Photoshop, After effects, Illustrator, 3D was done in Autodesk Maya and all 2D /3D composting was done in Nuke. Viola stated, "As a team we took a lot from Joe himself. From a concept perspective we tried to take inspiration from the WWII period and abstract/environment-based titles like the Bond title sequences and Thank You for Smoking." Here is the Captain America: The First Avenger title sequence, Enjoy!
Here is The Wolfman intro title sequence created in Adobe After Effects by Joe Johnston and his team, Johnston again was the director of the title sequence for Captain America: The First Avenger.
I am very excited (and terrified) to be in MG&A this semester. I've always been interested in Science Fiction films ever since I was really young and I've always wanted to have animation and VFX in my movies. In fact, my mom took me to see The Matrix at a theatre when I was 8 (even though it was rated R, she went and saw it first, just to make sure it wasn't too scary......thanks Mom!) and after I walked out, I pretty much knew I wanted to make movies, somehow, someday. It might seem a little old and cliche at this point since it became such a cultural landmark like 15 years ago........but right from the very first frame, they start off with my all time favorite credit sequence. I used to dream in the same shade of green. So iconic, so good....
The main reason I'm in MG&A this semester is because I was fortunate enough to help my friends Blake Horn, Zeke Spector, and Ally Cunningham make their thesis film last semester called ASH. Unfortunately, I can't post a link as it's being sent to film festivals, but if you haven't seen it, I highly recommend you snag a copy of this year's Best of Park DVD and give it a watch. It's a fantastic beautiful film.
Anyways, on ASH I worked as a grip on the set and saw the process of building the sets for the interior of a spaceship and then helped film all the miniature versions of the spaceships in front of green screens in Park. It was interesting because we would have to light each shot in relation to where the sun was and where the planets and spaceships were in relation to another. We also did lots of cool camera moves so the ship would move along the Z-axis with the miniatures hanging from C Stands, suspended by fishing line against an evenly lit green screen. Blake then composited all of this footage with matte paintings of Earth and space that Ethan Burnette made in Cinema 4D. And then I bugged Blake to let me watch him make holograms and zero gravity effects in AE and asked him what I should do to learn all of this stuff so I could make a Sci-Fi film for my Senior Thesis. He told me about Arturo's class, said he walked into MG&A terrified of motion graphics but worked hard and set aside time everyday to practice and eventually enabled himself to make ASH. I really hope to do something similar for a film I'm making called Nirvana.
Another big inspiration of late that I saw was a film called True Skin, very very VFX heavy short film....heavily inspired by Total Recall, Enter The Void, Blade Runner, District 9 (the type of films I'm obsessed with.) Check it out. I really hope I can do stuff like this in the near future. 10,000 hours right?
Ok, just one more link. The title sequence for Enter the Void. Genius. Another example of something I'd love to make.
I was watching Around the Horn on ESPN earlier today and they were doing some stuff to spoof Mad Men with the show coming back for its 6th season on Sunday. To open the show, they created their own version of the Mad Men open that was more tailored towards their panelists and sponsors, and it was actually pretty well done. Here's a link to the video.
In addition, the show did something extremely similar when Game of Thrones premiered. They also created a spoof of the title sequence tailored towards their show, and that video can be seen here.
I was thinking about different titles to do my recreation of for the opening scene when I came across the movie “The fly”. This movie has been remade several times by many different people. In fact there are over four different recreations of the movie. Though they are working off the same or very similar material, each movie is creatively different. Which I found very similar to our assignment ‘Use the same idea, just present it differently” This video portrayed each movie well, and just how the director changed the portrayal while keeping the theme the same.
Maurice Binder is a film title designer from New York City. He is know for his work on 14 different James Bond movies. He is responsible for creating the gun barrel sequence that the new films continue to incorporate. Maurice Binder often films women completing various activities and utilizes these by turning them into silhouettes figures. Binder used a pinhole camera to shoot down the barrel of a gun to create the feel of an assassin following bond. Bond than turns fires and red blood travels down the screen signifying the kill shot. Binder had this comment about the story board process.
"That was something I did in a hurry, because I had to get to a meeting with the producers in twenty minutes. I just happened to have little white, price tag stickers and I thought I'd use them as gun shots across the screen. We'd have James Bond walk through and fire, at which point blood comes down onscreen. That was about a twenty-minute storyboard I did, and they said, "This looks great!"
This came as a shock to me because this title sequences has lasted for over 50 years with very few changes. This title sequences defines the Bond franchise and immediately comes to mind whenever the films are mentioned. It seems this is the way Binder operates often turning in work minutes before the deadline. I can not think of any other franchise that has such a well known opening.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
After seeing Ally's post about the opening of Entourage I did a search of the best title sequences that have been used on television. In a list titled "26 Awe-Inspiring Television Show Opens and Title Sequences" one of the opening credits that caught my eye was that of the HBO miniseries 'The Pacific.' I only watched a few episodes but I remember really loving the opening and the way it combines charcoal drawn images with moving images.
The company behind this Emmy nominated title sequence was Imaginary Forces. In order to create this opener the company utilized the history of battlefield sketchers as inspiration, and hand drew the likeness of the actors in the film. This company also designed and animated the maps seen within the miniseries. This company is also behind the title sequences for Mad Men and Chuck.
