007

So as I was thinking about this upcoming title sequence project, and I was trying to think of the best title sequences or ones that I really like. While a bunch had come to my mind, I remembered the movie franchise that is title sequence royalty; James Bond.

The use of color, and music and adding the theme of the film in the title sequence makes for a memorable title sequence on its own, but because it is a part of the James Bond franchise, it becomes a staple of the Bond film to have amazing title sequences.

In the newer films, with the addition of artists like Adele in Skyfall providing the opening song, it makes each title, unique but still adds excitement to the staple of the Bond films. Each of the James Bond films, has the wild, and impressive title sequence, but they are each their own, and they are each unique. James Bond really is title sequence royalty

Real Special Effects

If you're like me, you've probably been fairly overwhelmed the past few months by the daunting piece of technology that is After Effects. Sure, it's capable of creating spaceships and monsters and making it look like you're in cool Martin Scorsese movies, but it also has the power to make you look like you have absolutely no idea what you're doing (like when your stupid birds flap their wings but don't actually fly anywhere). It can be frustrating, but also really rewarding.

However - as some posts have pointed out in the past - there are ways to work around the frustrations of After Effects: one of those ways being to perform real special effects instead of using a computer to generate them. I've written posts about how many films (some that you'd never expect) utilize CGI in their post-production process, but this post is about exactly the opposite. There are many films out there - looking at you, Christopher Nolan - that use far less CGI than has become the norm, and instead decide to stick to more "practical" (yes, I put that in quotations for a reason) special effects. Here's a list of a few movies that really surprised me.

1. Inception. I knew that the infamous 'rotating hallway' scene was done without the use of CGI, but I had no idea that two other key scenes in the film were made this way as well. There's one point where Leo Decaprio stands in a dream-world Japanese house, when all of a sudden, water comes crashing through the windows. Turns out, they had giant water cannons outside of the windows, and actually blasted Leo with 3,000 to 4,000 gallons of water. Likewise, the cafe explosion was done with practical effects: the filmmakers put air cannons around the actors and blew up the set surrounding Leo and Ellen Page.

2. Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. There's a scene in the movie where Tom Cruise's character climbs the Burj Khalifa - the highest man-made structure in the world. Obviously fake, right? Well, knowing Tom Cruise, maybe this one's actually somewhat believable. Instead of creating a fake tower, the filmmakers let a man with a net worth of 250 million dollars literally run down the side of building hundreds of feet off the ground. That's dedication, no matter how insane.

3. Skyfall. I don't know what it is with dudes playing spies/special agents, but they have a penchant for doing their own stunts. In the newest James Bond movie, Daniel Craig was actually on top of a speeding train, attached with nothing but a super thin wire. They also - this one really got me - actually crashed a subway train through a wall. Craig was added into the scene via greenscreen later (for obvious reasons, I think.) In fact, the only major special effects used in the movie were the blowing up of MI6 and the scene where Bond fights off a Komodo Dragon.

Unfortunately, if you're like me and overwhelmed with After Effects, you can't just say "screw CGI, let's go crash a real train through a wall." That's something that Hollywood can do, not a broke college student who steals cutlery from the dining hall. Practical effects are amazing: I think they'll always trump computer generated effects when it comes to looking realistic, because...they are. However, you have to take the good with the bad, and, like Daniel Craig, understand that you while you may be able to derail a subway train, you don't necessarily want to be there when it happens. That's where After Effects comes in.

To see these examples and more, visit check out the original posts from Cracked.com here and here.

After Effects Tributes

For my final project, I want to make a title sequence for my friend's documentary about hops production and micro breweries. I've been brainstorming ideas such as names been poured in glasses through particles, tractor's picking up hops, hops rolling and formulating into names, and many others. I've been looking at reproductions of title sequences to understand what aspects to capture and I've found some that are possible to remake and capture the true essence of the specific film. I think that simple titles, even 2D, can capture the true meaning of a film and the simplicity, like the Pee-Wee animation, can capture the cartoony feel and important parts of the film without giving too much away. The use of sound is necessary and syncing up effects and music will enhance my final project. The Pee-Wee intro utilizes Sure Target but the only flaw are the stationary clouds. As Pee-Wee moves, the clouds stay still and it's distracting and takes away from the passing buildings and overall title sequence. The 007 title sequence uses transparency filters and layers that sync with the music to create a seductive yet mysterious feel. I think it works well and the silhouettes of the female characters are reminiscent of a James Bond film.

PEE WEE"S BIG ADVENTURE TITLE SEQUENCE

Ben Radatz making the king of cool cool again

Who is the coolest smooth operator of all film history well in my opinion it's james bond. But even though the emotional nostalgia that keeps me re watching Dr. No will have me eternally faithful to Sean Connery. Bond was reborn and he had to be cool again. One of the things i expect to see in every bond movie is an Awesome opening sequence. Designer Ben Radatz co founder of  MK12 a motion graphics and design collective produce my favorite bond sequence to date. Its a modern twist on the classic bond imagery silhouettes of  the secret agent poised ready to shoot. of course it has tons of sex appeal and is fluent with the background track  by alicia keys and jack white titled another way to die.


I love how the camera transitions to different scenes so seamlessly nd the combination of live action images and cgi is fabulous.

Cool Behind the Scenes look at Skyfall

For my scene insertion I am doing the final poker scene from Casino Royale. While I was on the internet looking for the clip I came across this clip of a behind the scenes look at some of the effects from Skyfall:

The video starts out by showing the scene where Daniel Craig and Javier Bardem are running through London underground, followed by the scene where the train comes crashing through the ceiling. While they did film the actual crash, quite a lot had to be removed in post to make it look realistic. They also added in a driver in post, along with signing on the front of the train. Pretty cool stuff. 

James Bond Opening Credits

So I was thinking about all of the cool opening sequences that I have watched recently and one really stood out.  The opening to the new James Bond movie Skyfall was incredible.  I remember watching it in the movie theatre with one of my friends and we were just amazed.


007 Skyfall - Opening Credits (Best Quality Yet) from Gunnar Lien on Vimeo.

(Sorry the Italian version was the best quality one I could find)

The very beginning of the sequence is underwater and while it looks really awesome also seems like it could be easy to make.  After that, Bond is in a 3-d environment and this looks really complicated to do.  After that  it goes back underwater this times with dragons and fire.  Then all craziness ensues with picture in picture in picture giving it a fast paced dangerous theme.  After that it is back to the 3-d environment. Then another part that goes into his heart and then ends with a close up on his eye.  Adele also does a great job with the music, and the intro enhances the sound to get a very sad but energetic feeling.

I looked up who designed this intro and it was a man called Daniel Kleinman.  I looked into more of other Kleinmans works and he has done the intros for Golden Eye, Tomorrow Never Dies, The World is Not Enough, Die Another Day, and Casino Royale.  These intros are all very similar but also very well done.  Apparently the key to success for a James Bond opening sequence is an erie but fast paced song, graphics, guns, girls, and blood.  Now they don't all follow this formula, (ex: no girls in Casino Royale's) but pretty much thats the winning recipe.  I love James Bond movies and I am looking forward to more movies and title sequences in the future.

Casino Royale

      My favorite movie franchise of all time is Albert Broccoli and Eon Production's depiction of James Bond.  Strangely enough, both Mr. Broccoli and I share the nickname "Cubby!"  Back on topic though, I find it impressive that the Bond series stays fresh and enjoyable despite having more than twenty movies.  Sure it may be the same spy premise every time, but if it's not broken, why change it?  Aside from how entertaining the films are, I also love the title sequences.
      Everyone knows the gun barrel sequence, which may be perhaps the most recognizable aspect of the series aside from the theme music.  What I like more than the famous gun barrel sequence is the intro credits.  They all follow some sort of theme from the movie.  Of all the intros, I like Casino Royale's the best.  The theme it follows is playing cards, which constitutes the latter half of the film.

      There are so many subtle aspects of this intro that get often overlooked.  For example, at about 1:36 when the crosshair passes over the queen's face, it reveals the face of the lead actress.  At the end of the sequence, there are cards flying around but over time they change into British pounds if you look closely.  What I would like to replicate or learn how it was done would be at 2:16 when the gun fires and streaks fly out in different directions.  It makes me wonder if it was done with an expression or perhaps when they assembled it they set it to random and it just happened to create that design.  A better question might be how many people did it take to put this together!

James Bond Openings Maurice Binder

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.