James Bond Title Sequence

Evaluation

Posted by paradox18 on March 7, 2013
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Evaluation

For this project we were asked to make a James Bond title sequence.

What was good?

In this project I managed to get a good title sequence out that looks halfway decent.

I managed to get the style I wanted which was a simple black and white style.

I got the audio into the sequence without any problems and I got the videos in with no problem either.  So as far as that goes I didn’t have any importing problems.

I managed to get a hold of the controls for after affects reasonably quickly.

I did get a similar style to an artist called Saul Bass.

What went wrong?

I had gone through too many ideas so I left myself short on time.

It did take a while to learn the controls.

I wasn’t able to complete my original idea because I took too long.

What could be improved?

I should spend more time to learn the skills needed.

I should try to complete work faster.

I should try keep my ideas realistic.

Overall

This project went well but could have its quality improved by my working faster and more efficiently, and learning more skills within the program I am using.

Contemporary Title Sequence

Posted by paradox18 on March 7, 2013
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Grimm Title Sequence

I chose the title sequence from Grimm season 2 because it has a lot of overlays and dual imagery which I find to be quite interesting, because of the nature of the program, it has changing faces of people where the screen rolls over the image and changes for the new face, I thought it was effective because it was such a smooth transition from one to the next.

The next feature I like about this sequence is all the dark tones and how they played with the light and contrast allowing for dark hues and tones, in doing this, for me they got the feel and atmosphere perfect and made the title sequence just right.

They also added a nice dramatic camera shake which adds a tone of feeling that was needed to make this successful, the camera shake adds to the emotions that all the actors are portraying and that makes the mood feel even stronger by adding anger and tension etc.

Finally, I’m not really a fan of lots of jump cuts but his title sequence got it right by adding just enough to hold the tension and mood whilst not being annoying or causing irritation, the title sequence really draws you in because of this, so it is a job well done.

Overall this title sequence is great the only issue I have with it is its length but that is just my opinion (I prefer shorter sequences), but it is still a very good title sequence.

Saul Bass

Posted by paradox18 on March 7, 2013
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Saul Bass

Saul Bass (May 8, 1920 – April 25, 1996) was an American graphic designer and filmmaker, perhaps best known for his design of film posters and motion picture title sequences.

Saul Bass had also invented a new type of kinetic typography (Kinetic typography is the technical name for “moving text” which is an animation technique mixing motion and text to express ideas using video animation.This text is presented over time in a manner intended to convey or evoke a particular idea or emotion.)

Saul Bass’ style was an interesting one, it was simple but effective, new and fresh. At the time it came out it was nice and different from the simple text that was used before. It brought about the new style used quite often today. It consisted of bright colours and simple shapes to make up objects like people and cars etc. This style was reminiscent of a cartoon comic book style almost which is why it was different from all the drab boring older title sequences.

Amongst his most famous title sequences are the animated paper cut-out of a heroin addict’s arm for Preminger’s The Man with the Golden Arm, the credits racing up and down what eventually becomes a high-angle shot of the C.I.T. Financial Building in Hitchcock’s North by Northwest, and the disjointed text that races together and apart in Psycho.

Bass designed some of the most iconic corporate logos in North America, including the AT&T “bell” logo in 1969, as well as AT&T‘s “globe” logo in 1983 after the breakup of the Bell System. He also designed Continental Airlines‘ 1968 “jetstream” logo and United Airlines‘ 1974 “tulip” logo. These became some of the most recognized airline industry logos of the era.

Selected film title sequences

Maurice Binder

Posted by paradox18 on March 7, 2013
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Maurice Binder

Maurice Binder (August 25, 1925 – April 4, 1991) was a film title designer best known for his work on 14 James Bond films including the first, Dr.No in 1962 and for Stanley Donen‘s films from 1958. He was born in New York City, USA, but mostly worked in Britain from the 1950s onwards. The Bond producers first approached him after being impressed by his title designs for the 1960 Stanley Donen comedy film The Grass Is Greener. He also worked with Stanley Donen in Charade and Arabesque, both with music of Henry Mancini.

James Bond

Binder created the signature gun barrel sequence for the opening titles of the first Bond film, Dr. No, in 1962. Binder originally planned to employ a camera sighted down the barrel of a .38 calibre gun, but this caused some problems. Unable to stop down the lens of a standard camera enough to bring the entire gun barrel into focus, Binder created a pinhole camera to solve the problem and the barrel became crystal clear.[1]

Binder described the genesis of the gun barrel sequence in the last interview he recorded before his death in 1991:

That was something I did in a hurry, because I had to get to a meeting with the producers in twenty minutes. I just happened to have little white, price tag stickers and I thought I’d use them as gun shots across the screen. We’d have James Bond walk through and fire, at which point blood comes down onscreen. That was about a twenty-minute storyboard I did, and they said, “This looks great!”[2]

At least one critic has also observed that the sequence recalls the gun fired at the audience at the end of The Great Train Robbery (1903).[3]

Binder is also best known for women performing a variety of activities such as dancing, jumping on a trampoline, or shooting weapons. Both sequences are trademarks and staples of the James Bond films. Maurice Binder was succeeded by Daniel Kleinman as the title designer for 1995’s GoldenEye.

Prior to GoldenEye, the only James Bond movies for which he did not create the opening title credits were From Russia with Love (1963) and Goldfinger (1964), both of which were designed by Robert Brownjohn.

Green Screens/Chroma Key

Posted by paradox18 on March 7, 2013
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Green Screen/Chroma Key

What is it?

Green Screen/Chroma Key is a process in which many Hollywood film makers partake in, but its not just them, Green Screens are used in a multitude of areas, one being the weather forecast. Green Screening is a process in which you get a flat surface which is one colour and keep it well lit so that shadows don’t appear, the flat surface can be any colour but Green and Blue are used the most as they are the colours least worn by people, then when you start filming you do it all within the proximity of the screen to make it easier if you are post-processing but if you are doing it on the spot like a news station then you will have the equipment that will pick up all the green and then filter it out so that you can overlay the relevant video or image to do what you need to do. in post-processing you would use a program like Adobe After Effects to take out the green, basically selecting the colour and then it will add alpha to that colour so that it is transparent and useable.

For a demonstration use the URL below