Dexter Opening Sequence

In the Motion Graphics lecture yesterday, we looked at two very different motion graphic artists, Saul Bass and Kyle Cooper. Bass is considered to be one of the earliest motion graphic artists creating the opening sequences for films such as 'Psycho' and 'Vertigo'. Although he uses primarily simple shapes and animation, he still manages to create the right mood through the use of these 2D animations. By being able to do this, he has become extremely successful and is seen as an idol for younger film directors.

(http://dinca.org/film-posters-of-the-russian-avant-garde/1974.htm)

Kyle Cooper is considered to be one of the most influential motion graphics designer. He has created opening title sequences for hit films such as 'The Mummy', 'Seven' and 'Mission Impossible'. After watching his interview in the lecture (http://www.watchthetitles.com/articles/00170-Kyle_Cooper_interview_pt_1_2) I was fascinated by his work and also respected the fact that he enjoyed using natural man-made objects to achieve effects that sometimes just cannot be reproduced by technology today, for example "shooting through broken glass". After he said this, I was reminded of one of my favourite opening title sequence for the American drama 'Dexter'. Created by Eric Anderson, it features the character Dexter getting ready in the morning. However, it shows the normal steps in his daily routine as extreme close ups and the effect of this is much more sinister.

"Everything, no matter how mundane or beautiful, has an undercurrent of violence to it. It is just a matter of how closely you look. We are conditioned to see a blossoming flower as beautiful. But if you look closely, if you look differently you will see it more like an explosion. Here we see a mundane morning routine illustrated in extreme close-ups showing the underlying tension found in everyday situations making violence a part of everything."

 (http://www.artofthetitle.com/2010/09/27/dexter/)

Although the 'Dexter' opening uses limited motion graphics, it is still quite interesting to watch, especially the typography used. Below is the opening sequence as found on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ej8-Rqo-VT4&noredirect=1). As you can see at 0:20 seconds the title of the series is presented. It is shown in red clearly to symbolise blood and the overall plot of the story. At 0:21, blood appears to splatter just below the letter 'R', again running with the overall theme. The other letters slowly fade downwards in a darker shade of red as if to represent blood running down a surface. The type font is a very simple sans serif with quite sharp lines and edges, which possibly reflect Dexter's brutal character.

After looking at different videos on YouTube and also the Web, I came across a really interesting article and fan tribute to the 'Dexter' opening sequence in the style of Saul Bass. (http://geektyrant.com/news/2011/9/22/fan-made-dexter-opening-sequence-inspired-by-saul-bass.html)

Ty Mattson is an artist and created not only a video tribute but several posters in the style of those seen in the image I posted above. Below is the video created by Mattson as found on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9adZ0HRuo4) and this is his link to his portfolio of work: http://mattsoncreative.com/. By looking at his online profile you can see that there is a strong theme that develops. He clearly enjoys working with bright and bold colours as well as exploring with simple shapes and interesting forms of typography.