Saul Bass

Title Sequence Designer: Saul Bass

As a group we chose two pairs so one could research and write about Kyle Cooper and the other Saul Bass. This is what Tolani and Kaan researched about Saul Bass.

Saul Bass started out his career being a graphic designer and filmmaker but is best known for his film posters and title sequences . He grew to fame in the film industry after creating the title sequence for The Man With The Golden Arm by Otto Preminger in 1955.

After watching a few of Bass' title sequences I've noticed a correlation in which he repeatedly uses atmospherically classical instrumentals that are appropriate for the genre of the film. He also enjoys presenting the credits on a plain background with simple transitions and patterns or images that may move across the screen. They don't give away much of the narrative or create narrative enigma as they are quite abstract thus having no immediate impact on the audience.

Specification

Video

Preliminary exercise: Continuity task involving filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. This task should demonstrate match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180-degree rule.

Main task: the titles and opening of a new fiction film, to last a maximum of two minutes.

All video and audio material must be original, produced by the candidate(s), with the exception of music or audio effects from a copyright-free source. Both preliminary and main tasks may be done individually or as a group. Maximum four members to a group. 

Continuity Sequence

This is a continuity sequence that: me, Motolani Onanuga, Jack Darkins and Kaan Gunduz produced and the plot was a woman who was accused of murdering her husband and received a message from an anonymous number which lead on to The Escape?

The Incredible Hulk- Title Sequence Analysis

The Incredible Hulk- Title Sequence Analysis

The use of fast transitions of comic pages at the start of the title sequence implies that it is a fiction movie where everything is not real. It is also signifies that it could be an adaptation of a media text from the comic and make a movie from it. After that, the name of the production appears, ‘Marvel Studio’. Most people know that Marvel is famous for comics. So the evidence of the movie is an adaptation from the comic is quite strong.

The use of fades out of the page saying ‘Marvel Studio’ to the black and fades in to the page saying that what they want to present. The use of black colour for the fades out signifies the genre of the movie. 
Power, fear, strength, formality, authority and sophistication are associated together creating an adventure and action movie. The colour of the fonts that has been used showing the names of key production and cast members is in green. This signifies that green is the main colour of this movie or maybe it signifies the main character? Green connotes peace, yet it also symbolises witchcraft, evil, jealousy, vigour and toxicity. This colour mirrors the characters personality.

The background image showing skull and scan photos connote that it is a sci-fi genre. This is because the uses of technology of medical cue to support the genre strongly. The movie belongs to the sci-fi genre anchored by low-key lighting and plots effect in the mise-en-scene.

It is using crescendo sound where the sound going higher and higher showing the action part of the movie giving high intense to the audience.
The face expression of the man in the lab looks relaxing and not stressed. His hands are being tied to the chair, he could be volunteered for the experiment because his face expression shows that he is not scared or worried. A woman looks at him and he looks back at her then winked at her. This part shows that the woman is concerned about the man and he actually reassures her by winking at her. The close-up shot clicking the button and the chair moving shows that the experiment is starting. The danger sign on the button is in red which signifies that something unexpected could happen. It also could mean security and attention for the lab workers to be careful.
The man’s eyes colour changed to green. His body changed to bigger size and the diegetic sound anchored by monster this indicates that the man is changed resulting to the radiation. The point of view showing that he has different sight as human also signifies that he changed into The Hulk. He starts to destroy things in the lab and hurt people, we see this from a point of view shot. He even hurts the woman that he likes which means that he doesn’t even know what he’s doing since his anger has taken over.
The woman lies on the hospital bed wounded and swelling. The long mid shot of a man’s back looking at her worriedly. Just looking at his hand gesture and body language can see that he is worried.
The use of newspaper articles is written codes giving out clue to what is actually happening and what The Hulk has done to the city. The scenes mostly happen at nighttime and dark place creating enigma codes and high intense to the audience when they are watching it.

Se7en- Title Sequence Analysis

Se7en- Title Sequence Analysis

Typography- The font used in the opening sequence is a computerised hand written font. The writing looks handwritten yet it is disjointed and irregular. The effect of scratched and imperfect writing accompanied by the black background could be reflective on the killers disturbed mental state. The leading is not in sync which conveys the scattered pattern of the killers psychopathic thought process and mental instability.





Mise-en-scene- the use of everyday tools gives off an unsettling atmosphere because we are focusing on the sharp edges and although we can see they are ordinary objects we are pondering  the ways in which they can be dangerous when used in certain ways. The flickers of rough writing and Bible passages make it clear that the man in the sequence is slightly unhinged. The use of the Bible passages makes it more obvious that this man, due to the way we see the set ups in that background it is clear that the Bible is not being used well.

It is not the simple objects that are unsettling, there are images of people who have most likely been murdered and these images are in what seems to be a scrapbook, this adds to the unease of the whole scene.







Sound and Music- The music created an eerie feeling as it seemed to give a sense of being watched, highlighting the psychological thriller genre. The amplified screams are non diegetic sounds that cause a feeling of discomfort and insecurity, generating the idea of helplessness, additionally giving it a thriller feeling. The monochromatic visuals are contrapuntal to the music, which has a low beat which builds tension and the feeling of mystery.

Todorov's Narrative Structure

 Todorov's Narrative Structure

Here is the narrative structure in which my group's title sequence will follow. This theory was created by Tzvetan Todorov.

• Equilibrium - This is where Jack, the protagonist, is at school, his mum is a single mum, they are not well off and Jack has an interest in football but he is unable to fully pursue his dream of being a professional footballer due to the fact he doesn't have good football boots and has no encouragement. His PE teacher acts like a father figure to him and encourages him to keep on following his dreams. He has a contact who is a scout for Tottenham Hotspur and organises and trial for Jack. Jack then gets signed by Tottenham and has the ability to buy nice football boots.

• Disruption - Jack starts to let the fame get to his head and some of his friends start to lose patience with him.  
• Disequilibrium - Jack gets injured playing for Tottenham and the person who injured him was one of his bullies from Secondary School. Jack breaks his ankle and is out for a lengthy amount of time, whilst he is recovering a friend of his visits him a lot and they get closer.
• Attempt to restore Equilibrium - Jack is recovering from his injury and is striving to hit the form he once hit. His aim is to return for the cup final. His girlfriend says to him that she doesn't want him to behave like he did before.

• New Equilibrium - Jack returns for the cup final, against the team in which he broke his ankle against. Jack scores the winning goal. 

Kyle Cooper

Kyle Cooper

Kyle Cooper studied interior architecture at the University of Massachusetts and he then went on to study graphic design at Yale University. In 1988, he received his Master in Fine Arts. He has directed and produced over 150 title and VFX sequences. One of those being the title sequence for Se7en, which could be proclaimed as one of his most famous pieces of work. Other title sequences he produced was; The Spider-Man Trilogy, The Walking Dead and American Horror Story.  The great success and positive feedback on the Superman and Spider-Man title sequences grabbed Marvel's attention and this resulted him directing and producing the title sequences for other superhero films such as The Incredible Hulk and Iron Man. Cooper has also had great successes with television such as producing and directing the title sequences for Sherlock Holmes and Vegas, Elementary. Typically, his title sequences are very dark coloured, fast paced, manic and mysterious. 

In this two part interview Kyle Cooper is talking about title design.

Part 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6kE0FccYkM

Part 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSwTZZWux4g