20th Anniversary of Se7en

After watching the title sequence of Se7en in class, I was very interested to learn more about the movie and what happens so I looked it up. As I was looking it up, I came across some articles mentioning that the 20th anniversary of the film is coming up. As I was reading one of the articles, there was a YouTube video explaining the pre-production of the film, how it all came about, and then how it was filmed. The YouTuber spends most of the video focusing on the last scene in the film, the "Box Scene" explaining how the editing, sound, and the cinematography all create this fantastic mood which helps with the revealing shot, aka what's in the box. If you want to find out more about the film and how the end scene was created, watch the video! I promise it's worth watching the whole 14 minutes of it. But there are a lot of spoilers in the video so if you haven't seen it yet, or don't want to know what's in the box, then don't watch it!

Title Sequence Professionals

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.

Kyle Cooper- Title designer

Hey everyone. So Last week when we were showing our progress on our name designs Chris mentioned to me that my design reminded him of the title sequence from Se7en. I had never seen Se7en or its opening title,  but I did know that my creative "idol" if you will, Kyle Cooper, designed that sequence as well as American Horror Story. AHS's title design has been one of my largest inspirations and really captures the style that I've always had and admired. So here is a breakdown of Kyle Cooper's Se7en title sequence and a link to the AHS titles.

http://www.empireonline.com/features/david-fincher-fight-club-opening-credits/p1

An interesting thing about Kyle is that he enjoys doing things on film or in the camera by going out and shooting things and then compositing them on the computer as opposed to building every effect in CG.

Here are the first titles I had seen by him and continue to inspire me:

MAKING the MOVIE BETTER!

A unique insetion of design for a movie or television series can become a symbol for the story.

The below video is a series of interviews with successful motion graphic design artists. 

 

Within the PBS interviews there is conversation of Kyle Cooper and his "game-changing" production of the Opening Sequence for Se7en. Cooper said that a good introduction is like a courtesy to the audience, for it means the creators are going to try as hard as they possibly can to entertain the viewer. Cooper's Se7en opening was a thought provoking intro that related deeply to the psychopath and his journal he keeps throughout the film. 

 

 

Jim Helton and Charles Christopher Rubino’s story they tell at the ending of Blue Valentine is proof that there use to be love in the character's relationship. It is heart wrenching for you had just watched their dramatic break up, making the viewers follow the characters in their emotions.

 

 

Lastly, Zombieland motion graphic designer Ben Conrad, inserts text into the story, creating a light hearted feeling during this graphic scene. By using a simple font and creating a simple concept, the humorous mood is set for the rest of the movie.

 

 

 

 

Extreme Detail Used in Movies

So a few of my friends were sending around this article that Cracked.com just put out. It's called "7 Movies That Put Insane Work Into Details You Didn't Notice"and it shows some rather nice work.

The first one they list is a movie that we talked about in class and actually had a chance to view the process of the title sequence: Se7en. We got to see a little more than what Cracked talks about, but the article does talk about how the creators wrote the journal entries, found and attached pictures, and actually bound the pages together.

Continuing on, Cracked.com talks about a beautiful animation that I have never even heard of. The Thief and the Cobbler, which inspired Disney's Aladdin, was written and directed by Richard Williams. It was about 30 years into the making, but was never finished. Animation World Network Magazine even had an article on it in 1997 talking about the work and background of the story.

Now even if you don't read the article, you should definitely watch this animation because the detail is really quite amazing.

Cracked.com continues on the examine Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, Stanley Kubrick's Filmography, The Matrix, Ghostbusters, and finally Akira Kurosawa's Entire Filmography. 

The article is a bit short and not as detailed as I would like it to be, but it definitely opened up my eyes a bit more to the detail that goes into these movies. I've watched Ghostbusters since I was a kid and while I knew that the terms they were using were real, reading the article really emphasized how each director, writer, designer, creator, and producer should really look into even the simplest details in order to make a production that much better. When creating something, no matter what your job is, the project will always come out better with a little more research. Not only will it make it more realistic, but sometimes it will even inspire you to create something else. Detail may seem futile or unnecessary, even out of the budget, but creating something with such depth can really pay off in the reception of the final product.