Due to my fascination with the 'Dexter' opening credits and the tribute to Saul Bass by artist Ty Mattson, I decided to look at Saul Bass inspired opening sequences which is where 'Catch Me if you Can' caught my attention. It uses simple shapes and animation to depict the theme of the film. I really like the choice of colours, which is quite surprising as the colour palette chosen is quite limited. The blue for the airport represents the sky, the yellow in the next scene for the warm exotic landscape, reds for the intense business conditions of the factories etc; it's simple but still well thought out and it works.What I also particularly like about this opening sequence is how the text becomes part of the overall animation for example the words are stretched and become part of the doors that stop the characters from progressing forward. The way they are animated also can be seen as representing the overall plot the way they slyly move in and out of shots, similar to what the main character does in the film. I really find this opening sequence to be highly successful and something I definitely want to look into. I'm interested in the basic elements and shapes and want to explore the possibility of creating my own drawings to use later on in animation.
'CATCH ME IF YOU CAN'
'Catch me if you can' is distributed by the film company 'Dreamworks Studio', and produced by three smaller studios which are Amblin Entertainment, Splendid Pictures and Kemp company. Olivier Kuntzel and Florence Deygas were the designers of this particular trailer.
Below are some sketches I made just to get a feel for the shapes and positions of the main character animation. I also played around with some of the silhouettes within the opening sequence, such as the aeroplanes, stars and long elongated letters.
Below is a basic storyboard of how the 'Catch me if you can' title enters. As the plane moves underneath the words, the 'me' appears to be a cloud which then disappears almost as the plane passes underneath it. This may represent the actual plot of the film as one second you see it, the next it has gone.
'KISS KISS BANG BANG'
Whilst looking on the Art of the Title website, I came across a different opening sequence for the film 'Kiss Kiss Bang Bang' (http://www.artofthetitle.com/2008/04/03/kiss-kiss-bang-bang/). It is quite similar to the 'Catch me if you Can' opening in terms of the simplified shapes and figures and the basic use of colours. However I would say that this opening title has a lot more depth to it in terms of the camera movements moving in out and rather than just panning left to right.
My favourite part in particular of this trailer is between 1:12 and 1:20 seconds. I like how something enters every second. It is quite static and not smooth movements between the different elements that are added. I particularly like the use of text and feel that this looks extremely effective.
The production company are Prologue Films.
'BORED TO DEATH'
I found the opening credits for this film extremely interesting. It focuses solely on text, similar to the scene in 'Kiss Kiss Bang Bang' that I very much liked above. It explores the way the words move around the screen, focusing the audience's attention on certain words that reflect the story of the film. Although there is clearly a use of technology to create this opening, they look very much like hand drawn animations, similar to very basic cartoons. It must have been quite difficult with the amount of text used in the opening to highlight the cast's names, which is why they are only presented when there is limited text on the screen; something the designers had to take into account.
'Curious Pictures' is the design studio who produced this opening sequence, and Tom Barham was the director of the project.
'SUPERBAD'
I found this opening sequence while broadly researching successful opening title sequences. I thought even though it uses simple shapes and silhouettes, it is still visually interesting to watch. When the animation is this basic, the music becomes a key feature to the feeling of it; something I need to take into account. I feel that the credits when listed are not particularly a key feature of it, especially as the character dancing sometimes overlaps it. However, I like how that when a character does blend in with the word, it changes colour within that shape so that the credits are still readable. The colours used in the opening are extremely bright and contrasting which has quite a dramatic effect.
I found out that the distributor for the film are 'Columbian Pictures', however I found it extremely hard to find a designer or motion graphics studio who actually produced these titles specifically.
'ANY HUMAN HEART'
The opening titles for 'Any Human Heart' were created by a production studio called Huge Designs. What I like about this opening sequence is the basic colour scheme and how the use of silhouettes is extremely effective. The music suits the piece and purveys a mysterious atmosphere. I also like how the camera is constantly moving keeping the viewer's attention. The title sequence can be viewed here: http://www.artofthetitle.com/2011/02/07/any-human-heart/ . However, it wasn't until I did more research that I found out that 'Any Human Heart' is actually for a Channel 4 Television programme and not a film.
'ANY HUMAN HEART'
The opening titles for 'Any Human Heart' were created by a production studio called Huge Designs. What I like about this opening sequence is the basic colour scheme and how the use of silhouettes is extremely effective. The music suits the piece and purveys a mysterious atmosphere. I also like how the camera is constantly moving keeping the viewer's attention. The title sequence can be viewed here: http://www.artofthetitle.com/2011/02/07/any-human-heart/ . However, it wasn't until I did more research that I found out that 'Any Human Heart' is actually for a Channel 4 Television programme and not a film.
I still decided to research Huge Designs' work to see if they have created any opening title sequences for films. Unfortunately they work only with television opening titles but I particularly liked the one they created for the programme 'The Book Club', which is the last one on this page http://www.hugedesigns.co.uk/work/. The use of typography really fascinates me and something that I hope I can look into later on.
'MAD MEN'
The Mad Men opening credits I feel are quite interesting in a sense they use a silhouette of a man but juxtaposed with a colourful 3D background. The text used for the names is a sans serif font and uses only two colours, red and black, which makes it look quite sophisticated. Within the opening title sequence, there are different 1950s posters on the sides of the buildings. I personally really like the style of these images, as the photographs look very much like painted illustrations. By having them in the sequence, it sort of brings history and modern day CGI together and is very effective I feel.
The opening title can be see here, created by the studio Imaginary Forces:
http://www.artofthetitle.com/2011/09/19/mad-men/
'HUMAN TARGET'
I actually came across the opening titles for 'Human Target' whilst researching the design studio Imaginary Forces in more detail after looking at the 'Mad Men' sequence. I was drawn to the ink effect used within the scene. Unlike other title sequences where the ink looks as if it is splattered on top, this sequence makes it look as if it has much more depth; you can feel the ink moving around the screen. I would be really interested in learning how to create this effect.
'THE NUMBER 23'
I really enjoyed this film starring Jim Carrey. Imaginary Forces were also responsible for the opening titles and you can see the similarity in camera movements between this sequence and 'Human Target'. The movements are quick and sharp and create an uneasy atmosphere. I very much like the use of typography within the scene, as this is something I am interested in generally. The text looks as if it has been created by an old fashioned typewriter, and the amount of ink used for each letter makes it look as if the buttons of the typewriter have been pressed down harshly by a character who is deeply frustrated.
'MAD MEN'
The Mad Men opening credits I feel are quite interesting in a sense they use a silhouette of a man but juxtaposed with a colourful 3D background. The text used for the names is a sans serif font and uses only two colours, red and black, which makes it look quite sophisticated. Within the opening title sequence, there are different 1950s posters on the sides of the buildings. I personally really like the style of these images, as the photographs look very much like painted illustrations. By having them in the sequence, it sort of brings history and modern day CGI together and is very effective I feel.
The opening title can be see here, created by the studio Imaginary Forces:
http://www.artofthetitle.com/2011/09/19/mad-men/
'HUMAN TARGET'
I actually came across the opening titles for 'Human Target' whilst researching the design studio Imaginary Forces in more detail after looking at the 'Mad Men' sequence. I was drawn to the ink effect used within the scene. Unlike other title sequences where the ink looks as if it is splattered on top, this sequence makes it look as if it has much more depth; you can feel the ink moving around the screen. I would be really interested in learning how to create this effect.
I also very much like the use of harsh colours within the scene; I think it is very effective in purveying a certain mood. I specifically like the bright yellow as seen in the image above, and also the dark red used further on in the sequence. The camera movements are extremely 'jerky', constantly twisting 90 degrees and moving in and out. This makes the opening very fast paced and really shows that they are the opening credits for an action programme.
'THE NUMBER 23'
I really enjoyed this film starring Jim Carrey. Imaginary Forces were also responsible for the opening titles and you can see the similarity in camera movements between this sequence and 'Human Target'. The movements are quick and sharp and create an uneasy atmosphere. I very much like the use of typography within the scene, as this is something I am interested in generally. The text looks as if it has been created by an old fashioned typewriter, and the amount of ink used for each letter makes it look as if the buttons of the typewriter have been pressed down harshly by a character who is deeply frustrated.
As the sequence progresses, blood splatters seem to appear and cover the letters and numbers that are typed on the sheet. This reminds me of the ink effect in the 'Human Target' sequence and also the scene from 'Kiss Kiss Bang Bang', and I feel it is really effective. Towards the end of the sequence, the blood no longer looks like red ink but far more obviously blood seeping across the page, which I feel shows the increased frustration of the character.
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