Skip to content

Bridget LaMonica

Cinematographer & Steadicam Operator

  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Reel
  • Work

Month: June 2016

Title Sequences: From Saul Bass to Kyle Cooper

June 23, 2016June 23, 20162 Comments

Before the 50s, credits were not always on display. Projectionists only pulled the theater
curtains after the credits in the beginning of the film had passed. If you thought nobody in the audience pays attention to who makes films today, imagine in a time before DVDs and IMDB as reference, when the credits weren’t even bothered to be shown in the theater.

Saul Bass

Saul Bass changed all that.

First, some history on Saul Bass. He was born in 1920 in New York City. He started taking
painting classes by age 15, and later studied at Brooklyn College and the Modernist School of Design.

Bass’ professional work began in advertising agencies in New York until he moved to Los Angeles in 1948. In Hollywood, Bass found himself doing print ads for films until he got the chance to create a title sequence for Carmen Jones. He had the opportunity of influencing the narrative with his contribution, saying “I saw the title as a way of conditioning the audience, so that when the film actually began, viewers would already have an emotional resonance with it.”

golden arm

image courtesy artofthetitle.com

Bass really changed things with his title sequence for The Man with the Golden Arm. The film centered on a jazz musician addicted to heroin. Saul Bass created a stop-motion paper cut-out animated sequence that turned into the image of a heroin addict’s arm. This arm, he knew, was a powerful image meant to be shown to the audience. It worked. Instructions were put on the film cans: “Projectionists—pull curtain before film titles.” This intro worked so well that Saul Bass had invented a new art form, and before his death in 1996 he would make over 50 more, for great directors like Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick, Otto Preminger and Martin Scorsese. His early titles are characterized by animated paper cut outs and moving lines, many underscored by the talented composer Bernard Herrmann.

For North by Northwest, the titles are worked into grid-like lines seen at an angle. At one point, the lines are like cross-hairs of a gun, foreshadowing the danger that is to come.

Kyle Cooper

Saul Bass’s legacy lives on, especially so in Kyle Cooper. Born in 1962, he has been dubbed the revitalization of the title sequence. Graduating with an MFA in Graphic Design from Yale, he was influenced heavily by title designers of the 1960s such as Stephen Frankfurt and undoubtedly Saul Bass. He has definitely proven himself, surpassing even Bass’ impressive fifty-plus titles by creating or producing over a two hundred for movies and television shows alike. His title sequences are so impressive, they can be better than the film they precede.

spiderman marvel comic flip

Cooper’s titles are meticulously crafted and have an incredible amount of detail. He is the one who created the flip-comic logo for Marvel studios, starting with the first Spider-man film. He scanned dozens of comics to create the five second clip that is now a standard in Marvel movies. He even had his own collection of black widows to use as reference. The title design from concept to finished product on Spider-man 2 took a year to complete. That’s dedication.

A title sequence can be used as a metaphor for the film or reveal the story. In the horror film remake Dawn of the Dead, it wasn’t clear to test audiences what caused the zombies in the first place, so the title sequence showing news reports and riots made the message clear. Real blood was even used in the imagery. In fact, an end title sequence was added to create an ending the test audiences liked much better. Otherwise, the film would have stopped when the main characters reach a boat to apparent safety. Now, through the end titles, we see them discover an island overrun by zombies, and they no longer have a vaguely happy ending.

seven2

 

image from watchthetitles.com

The title sequence of Se7en helped establish who the serial killer was, because during the movie the killer isn’t shown all that often. This montage of disturbing images of strange diaries, razor blades and the serial killer’s scrapbook being put together really gives an idea of who this character is. The famous typography during this sequence was scratched by hand onto the film stock with a needle.

walking dead titles

The Walking Dead‘s title sequence did an excellent job portraying a world taken over by a
zombie apocalypse. The images of empty streets of the once-busy Atlanta, shattered picture frames of the series’ stars layered with grimy layers of filth sets the tone. One might also notice how the stars’ names appear next to props or sets important to the character they play. Norman Reedus is over an image of arrows stuck in a tree, and his character primarily uses a crossbow. Andrew Lincoln’s name is superimposed next to a fallen Sheriff’s badge.

Ending Thoughts

A title sequence in a film or television series is more than a clever way to get the creator’s
names in front of an audience. It is up to two and a half minutes of prime real estate that has many purposes. It can help to tell or set up a story, by showing what might not have been clear in the rest of the film. Images can foreshadow what is to come, and
establish the characters before a single line of dialogue is uttered.

Title sequencing is an art form worth appreciating. The next time you watch a film, pay close attention to the details present during the title sequence, and you may learn a few things.

watchmen titles
north by northwest
mad men
deadpool_c
edward scissorhands
Sources:
  • 6 Unknown Artists Who Made All Our Favorite Movie Moments
  • Art of the Title
  • The Dark Genius of Kyle Cooper
  • Poster Service: North by Northwest
  • 7 Movies that Put Insane Work into Details You Didn’t Notice

Recent Posts

  • National Cinema Day is September 3rd!
  • A Film is Born Three Times: Pt. 2 Production
  • Screenwriting Basics #5: Scene Description
  • Screenwriting Basics #4: Dialogue
  • Screenwriting Basics #3: Character

Recent Comments

Edie Grant on Film Job Scams and How to Avoi…
Screenwriting Basics… on Reading List: Screenwriting
bridgetlamonica on Film Job Scams and How to Avoi…
Maxine Recio on Film Job Scams and How to Avoi…
Film Job Scams and H… on Common Film Job Scams and How…

Archives

  • September 2022
  • June 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • April 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • May 2020
  • January 2020
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • October 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • February 2017
  • October 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016

Categories

  • entertainment
  • film business
  • film industry
  • freelance
  • networking
  • news
  • scandal
  • Uncategorized
  • writing

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.com

Recent Posts

  • National Cinema Day is September 3rd!
  • A Film is Born Three Times: Pt. 2 Production
  • Screenwriting Basics #5: Scene Description
  • Screenwriting Basics #4: Dialogue
  • Screenwriting Basics #3: Character

Recent Comments

Edie Grant on Film Job Scams and How to Avoi…
Screenwriting Basics… on Reading List: Screenwriting
bridgetlamonica on Film Job Scams and How to Avoi…
Maxine Recio on Film Job Scams and How to Avoi…
Film Job Scams and H… on Common Film Job Scams and How…

Archives

  • September 2022
  • June 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • April 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • May 2020
  • January 2020
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • October 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • February 2017
  • October 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016

Categories

  • entertainment
  • film business
  • film industry
  • freelance
  • networking
  • news
  • scandal
  • Uncategorized
  • writing

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.com
Blog at WordPress.com.
  • Follow Following
    • Bridget LaMonica
    • Join 41 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Bridget LaMonica
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...