Here is another title sequence by Kyle Cooper that I like a lot. The first half of the title sequence contain drawings of blueprints for the iron man suits which looks great and is completely relevant to the film as its based on the iron man suits. Same goes for the text font with it, looks like a chalk is being used to sketch out the suits. The second half of the title sequence contains what seems like mechanics with stats on them, possibly part of the plans for the iron man suit.
As mentioned on my last post SE7EN is one of Kyle Cooper's great title sequences. When watching this title sequence you can quickly tell that this movie is gonna be a horror/thriller, this is thanks to the music, the way in which the text seems to be glitching and flying across the screen and of course the glimpses of scary footage. Overall it is very well put together and there is nothing I'd personally change about it.
Kyle Cooper is a motion picture designer from America, he has made many amazing title sequences. Such as the ones in Se7en, Braveheart, Iron Man, Iron Man 3 and many more. His work tends to be fast paced and have lots of effects.
Here is a demo reel of his work:
He is also known for being the founder of two internationally known film companies, imaginary forces and prologue films. His work on Se7en is my favorite, its said to be one of the best title sequences made ever. His great work has earned him five Emmy award nominations and one win for his work on the 81st annual academy awards.
We have a couple of ideas in mind to give of hints that the family being insane or simply strange.
one of them being that before serving the main course (beef/chicken/turkey) the mother drops it in the kitchen by mistake and then simply puts it back on the plate like nothing happened, the floor could be a little dirty as well. Then after one of the guests (aged: 14-17) makes a positive comment on it like ''This beef tastes great!'' and then there could be a close up shot of thew mother pulling of a evil smile.
The beef/chicken/turkey could also be very grand to make help the impression of this family wanting to seem very perfect. Here is an example:
Another one is very simple but could work really great, there will be a bottle of red wine on the table and in the middle of the meal the mother could ask someone to pass her the bottle and then she could poor it into her glass really slowly with a super close up of the wine poring in, then a slow motion shot of her drinking it and a there could be a strong focus on her swallowing it. Its slightly hard to explain in text what I'm trying to explain but a good example of a similar feel is in the title sequence for Dexter. In this title sequence Dexter does ordinary things but because of the way its filmed and edited it makes the audience feel like its very wrong.
The idea my group and I are going for is of an insane family. A father, mother and two kids, in the title sequence we see the kids have to friends over for dinner to what comes across as a happy family but with little hints we will pass the message to the audience that they are trying to hide something.
One of the hints is that the parents will be overly nice and interested into the kids making them come across as fake.
We are planning on making the dinner table and general layout of the room to be very parallel, as seen on American beauty.
Below we see a picture of the establishing shot for the dinner scene in American Beauty.
As stated before the layout is very parallel, there are also candles that give of the impression of this being a important part of the day. Unlike most families which probably just put the food on the table and eat this looks like it time and effort to setup.
We have different suggestions where we are going to shoot our
opening sequence. Each choice has it advantages and disadventages.
SET
Positives
-easy to make the dining room perfect (wallpapers, paintings on the
wall, flowers, candles, etc.) Shooting on set gives us more freedom in
terms of want we want to put there.
-Doesn’t take time to get there as the studio is on campus so we have more time to shoot
Negatives
-Doesn’t look natural (no windows- no natural source of light)
-Hard to shoot from different angles (limited freedom of angles)
LOCATION
Positives
-Looks more realistic
-Don’t have to spend hours to build two different locations in the studio
Negatives
-Some shots may be difficult to shoot due to the lack of space
-Have to use what we have, so can’t find exactly what we want
Here is the list of props that we need for our opening sequence. As our thriller opening is focused on building up tension, rather than on action, the props list is quite long: Food:
meat (steak), Cranberry juice, (to replace wine), empty red wine bottle, fruits in a bowl, Vegetables(for salad), water for kids +2 guests
ketchup
Clothes: Suit for ‘Father’, dress for ‘Mother’, school uniform(business-style clothes e.g. white shirt, black trousers, etc.) for ‘Daughter’ , ’Son ’ and two ‘Guests’.
Decorations: Candles, flowers, plates, forks, knives, spoons, wine glasses, glasses for water, basket/bowl for fruits, napkins, gold & tablecloth.
The last supper is a thriller-cooking show made by a media studies student in Hurtwood House, in my understanding the sequence is about a mad cook that uses humans for meat.
What do you think the rest of the film might be about?
I think the rest of the film is about this man that makes crazy dishes, maybe he even feeds his friends and they have no idea that its human meat.
What
is your view on the casting? Have they chosen convincing actors? (not
necessarily in terms of their acting but in terms of their suitability
for the role/the right look etc.)
I think the casting is great, they got an adult to take the roll of the mad cook which I find is more likely then a kid, the girl being the victim also seems to work well. It would seem unrealistic if he had a really strong older looking man/woman as hostage.
Are the characters interesting?
The characters definitely seem interesting, a human eating cook isn't very common as far as I know, also the way that he is so enthusiastic about his cookery.
If there is dialogue, what do you think of it?
I think the dialogue is good overall, the mad cook sounds insane but I feel like the girl would have tried to call out for help and not just screamed like a kid.
What do you make of the camera work, editing, sound, how convincing is the mise en scene?
The editing and sound was good, there is a nice establishing shot as the first shot to introduce the kitchen, the killer and a close up pan right after to introduce the vegetables. The camera work is good throughout the video, such as when he stabs the girl you see his face with the blood on it, which was smart so that they wouldn't have to get a fake body to stab.
If I were editing I would have re-recorded the screaming after he stabbed her as it seemed unrealistic. Another great shot was of the meat sizzling near the end and the final shot which was of the cook trying the meat.
Is it a studio or location shoot? How does this effect the final product?
It looks like a location shoot but since its indoors it could simply be a really big studio, it has a great effect on the final product as it feels more like a cooking show follow along type scenario.
If there is music, does it fit the piece? What mood does it create?
There isn't any music, but I think that if there was a happy tone when hes not stabbing the girl it would add a little more to the mad man feel that I get from him. It could jump from happy to super sinister when the girl is in the shot.
What do you think of the film title they have chosen?
I think the font and the spacing on the title is great, it gives this scary feel as it fades in from a black screen.
Is it effective overall? Does it make you want to watch on?
Yup, its definitely effective. I'd like to watch on to see if anyone finds out what he used as ingredients in his food.
What
type of film do you think it would be if made for real? Low or high
budget? Independent or mainstream?
It could be a high or low budget film, depending on how the script is before and after these scenes. Again it being independent or mainstream is completely up to how the rest of the story is, but I think that it could be mainstream if it makes the madness and comedic side work well.
Saul Bass was an American born in New York City in 1920, known for making amazing title sequences for many famous films such as Vertigo, The Man with the Golden Arm, North by Northwest, Walk on the Wild Side and more. Saul's title sequences feel very modern for its time, the way he incorporates the images with the text. On the title sequence on vertigo we see a good example of this, such as when the text comes out of the eye and in general how he slows down the background footage as the text is done moving. His use of rotating shapes also looks great.
He was also very successful creating very well known logos such as the AT&T which was used for over 21 years, its still used today after having been redesigned slightly in 2005. He also made a logo for Frontier Airlines which was used for 8 years back in 1978 which looks incredibly modern for its time like most of his work.
