Sunday 11 December 2011

Film similar to ours: 2



Happy Gilmore (1996) is a film similar to ours (andrew Anderson) as it is humerous and has an interesting plot twist within it.

Art of film design throughout cinema history

Movies such as Seven and The pink panther have unforgetable title sequences. The title sequences stick out for most of the people whom have watched these films.
Today we’ll take a closer look at that short space of time between the moment the lights go down and the first scene of a film, the part that so often sets our expectations of a movie, that sequence that speaks to our creative side: the art of the film title. We’ll look at the evolution of title design and some particularly interesting titles from various periods in the history of cinema and animation.
Film titles can be great fun. In them we see the bond between the art of filmmaking and graphic design and perhaps visual culture as a whole. They have always served a greater purpose than themselves: to move the overarching story forward. Whether you are a motion graphic designer, a digital artist or a connoisseur of design, we hope you are inspired by these film titles and the ideas they suggest to your own creative endeavors. At the end of this post, you’ll find a listing of relevant typefaces and Web resources.

Importance of typography

Use of typography is everywhere, literally. It identifies the films we are watching and generally sets the theme of the film. Typography, defined as the art of arranging type, exists to provide somewhat of a structure to how we display words and numbers.
It can easily be argued that typography is taken for granted in our fast-paced culture, just as good design often is taken for granted. That’s exactly why it works. Well arranged type (in addition to well executed design) will not necessarily be noticed by the general public or audience of a particular advertisement or graphic piece–the ad will simply appeal to its audience as is intended.
Good design hinges on good typography, in many cases. It’s not often that you find effective advertising graphics that use absolutely no type. Even in the simplest of cases, a word or phrase provides a direction for an advertisement in relation to the other elements that exist within it.

Codes and conventions and purposes of title sequences

All types of genres will have ways that we can recognise them, similar features this is how we classify different media texts into groups
These are called coeds and conventions.
Codes:
A code is like a really firm rule that is almost never broken there can be: Character Codes, Plot Codes, Structural Codes, Cultural Codes, Production Codes
Conventions:
Conventions are habits or long accepted ways of doing things these can change a lot as a genre develops but if you change to many or too quickly the audience may not understand what you are doing.
          What are the purposes of title sequences:
  • To introduce the programme.
  • Tells us the genre/sub-genre of the show.
  • Tells us location/setting.
  • Tells us information about the characters.
  • It's a warning that the shows about to start.
  • It gives the show a recognisable identity.
  • It can give the information about the tone/style/pace.
  • Tells us the period of time the show is set in.

Saul Bass write up

Saul Bass

Saul Bass, 1920-1996, was one of the greatest graphic designers of all time but the greatest and most original film title designer thanks to his assossiciates with Alfred Hitchcock, Otto Preminger and Martin Scorsese. Thanks to these men they helped him create amazing title sequences such as 'Psycho' and 'Around the world in 80 days.'
When the reels of film for Otto Preminger’s controversial new drugs movie, The Man with the Golden Arm, arrived at US movie theatres in 1955, a note was stuck on the cans - "Projectionists – pull curtain before titles".
Until then, the lists of cast and crew members which passed for movie titles were so dull that projectionists only pulled back the curtains to reveal the screen once they’d finished. But Preminger wanted his audience to see The Man with the Golden Arm’s titles as an integral part of the film.
The movie’s theme was the struggle of its hero - a jazz musician played by Frank Sinatra - to overcome his heroin addiction. Designed by the graphic designer Saul Bass the titles featured an animated black paper-cut-out of a heroin addict’s arm. Knowing that the arm was a powerful image of addiction, Bass had chosen it – rather than Frank Sinatra’s famous face - as the symbol of both the movie’s titles and its promotional poster.

Tuesday 6 December 2011

Andrew Anderson - Pitch



Here is the pitch for our created film 'Andrew Anderson' created by me, Jason and Michael.

Working title presentation



Here is our presentation from our group for the production company 'Working title.' For this piece of work we had to find out information from this group and create a presentation on them. The presentation had to include previous films they have produced, how successful they have been over the past years and how much money this production company earns. 

Film distribution - The Sitter 2011



This is the presentation for the film 'The sitter'. We done this presentation for the distributors of the film, 20th century fox. We we're looking at trailers for films that were yet to be released. We found this trailer amusing and enjoyable and decided to work on the distribution for this film. We found out background from the distributors, such as other films they've created, the director for this film and other films they have created.

Sunday 4 December 2011

Film similar to ours- Step Brothers


      The film Ste brothers is a film which is quite similar to the film that our group is making.
       Brennan Huff and his step brother Dale Doback, both in their 40's when Brennan's mum and Dale's dad marry. The sons still live with the parents so they must now share a room. Initial antipathy threatens the household's peace and the parents' relationship. Dad lays down the law: both slackers have a week to find a job. Out of the job search and their love of music comes a pact that leads to friendship but more domestic disarray compounded by the boys' sleepwalking. Hovering nearby are Brennan's successful brother and his lonely wife: the brother wants to help sell his step-father's house, the wife wants Dale's attention, and the newlyweds want to retire and sail the seven seas.

Homework- Film titles similar to ours.

http://www.watchthetitles.com/articles/009-My_Big_Fat_Independent_Movie

For this piece of work it was very difficult to find film titles similar to ours as film titles are not usually focused on for comedy films.
       NonethelessI had picked up on this title sequence. It is similar to the film our group will be creating because for these opening titles this film has used animation to create a comedy feel to the film to reveal to the audience what genre it will be straight away. The typography is great as it is quite bold and comical, this also connotes that this will be a comedy film.
       Even though right at the beginning of this film it has straight away signalled that it is a comedy it has successfully managed to hide the story behind it allowing the audience to find out what really happens in the film to determine whether this man succeeds or not. This means that from the title sequence itself the story has already created a narrative enigma for the audience.
       Overall I think this is a good title sequence which is quite similar to our film. I felt that it was difficult to find opening titles as good as this to make a study on and I am pleased with the outcome on this analysis.

Friday 2 December 2011

Title sequence designer



Here is the analysis for a title sequence designer. I chose Simon Cassels.