Coursework: developing ideas

After we had spoken with Matt, we had to change our ideas as we were told that Max's idea is not an opening title sequence-it is finished clip. My idea was rejected mainly because the dialog which was there is very hard to film as it would look unnatural. We decided to pay more attention to other ideas and also think about new ones. It was very hard to almost start everything from the beginning, however we have made our decision. Max has came out with a new idea. Actually it was his old idea, which was redone. We have changed it so that it "hit, but not tell". We drew a new storyboard and started to think more about details. Firstly, we wanted to make it look like "Seven" open title sequence, but later on we have changed it again.

Coursework: groups, ideas and storyboards

In our class we were pet in a group of 3-4 people for the coursework. I turned out to be in a group with Max, Pete and Marina. All of us had different ideas and we needed to decide which one to use. At first we focused on one of my ideas and one Max's. The group said that they are the most successful so we need develop them. We started to draw our first storyboards just to show how do we see our ideas. My idea is the one with two men in a car and the body in the trunk (the first idea from my list). Max's idea : the man in the studio who is making music, when there are some dead bodies around him, then two men entering the room carrying another man, they put headphones on him and he is also dying.

However we have also made storyboards of other ideas just in case.

Actual coursework task defined

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

Kyle Cooper's work: American Horror Story

American Horror Story is an American anthology horror television series created and produced by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk. These are titles for the first season. 

The main idea of these titles is probably to create an atmosphere. This opening contains a lot of terrifying, hard to watch scenes, which prepares you for the actual product.

The titles are shown on the black screen separately from the actual video, probably they done it this way in order to focus all the attention of the viewer to the video when it is playing and then all attention to the titles. The font of the titles is strange and unique, which creates their own brand.

The opening start with some shots of the room. It seems like this house is abandoned and shots were taken at night. It seems like we are going through this corridor into the basement.

Then we are shown some old photos of children. These photos seems very cute, but dreadful when become negative. It is clear from the opening that the season is going to be about children not only because of the photos, but also because we have shots of human embryos on the shelves of the basement. We can also see different medical equipment, which shows that these were probably done in the same place-basement. There are also photos of young women and brides and shots of white dress which also seems like a wedding dress.

After that we see more shots with blood and human skeletons.

Opening title is ending on the photos of babies in the fire.

Kyle Cooper's work: se7en

Seven  is a 1995 American neo-noir crime thriller film directed by David Fincher.  It tells the story of David Mills (Pitt), a young detective who is partnered with the retiring William Somerset (Freeman) and soon tasked with tracking down a serial killer (Spacey) who uses the seven deadly sins as tropes in his murders.
At the beginning of this title sequence, we see just shots of some sketches along with shots of blade. These shots do not draw any specific attention. However next shots are harder to watch, they are much more unpleasant. I think it shows the genre of the film and introduce its atmosphere. After those, the viewer will be more interested and look more carefully to find more clues.
After the title with the name of the movie, shots are becoming longer and have more information in it. We see more shots of work: how this person is cutting out and writing things. Those are close-ups, the time on this shots allows to read such words as 'non-pregnant', 'intercourse', 'transsexual', 'heterosexual' etc. Then we start to see different photos of people; children and some injured people.  All of these gives us more ideas about the plot of the film.  
The titles are mainly showed on the black screen, so they are clearly seen. They are shaky, change it place an look like handwritten. They totally suit the picture we see. 
The music is very depressive. It goes with set of different scary sounds. 

Kyle Cooper

Kyle Cooper is a director and designer of film title sequences. He has directed and produced more than 150 film title and VFX sequences.

Cooper was borne in Salem, Massachusetts. He was studying interior architecture at University of Massachusetts Amherst, then went to study graphic design under Paul Rand at Yale University, receiving his Master of Fine Arts from there in 1988. In 1996, he co-founded and named creative agency Imaginary Forces. In 2008, he became a finalist in the National Design Awards. Cooper has earned five Emmy Award nominations and one win for his work on the 81st Annual Academy Awards. He also holds the title of Honorary Royal Designer for Industry from the Royal Society of Arts in London.

This is his demo reel:

Coursework Ideas

1.      

(1)  This movie is going to be about two friends, who know each other for ages. They still like to pass time together, but they do it in a different way. They have become criminals as such live seems easier and more amusing. They are travelling around the country, meeting their old friends, having a good time with them, but do not forgiving for the past.

(2)  The opening title sequence is showing two friends in the car driving somewhere. The dialog is important in this scene. They are discussing how well they have passed last night with their friend (eg Harry). They are discussing how funny Harry was and how they’ve enjoyed the evening. When they finally stopped one asks another “Do you think Harry would like this place?”. Then they get out of the car and open their trunk: we see a dead body of Harry in there.

2.      

(1)  This movie is about young woman. She is smart and intelligent, moreover she is a killer. She almost has two lives: one where all her friends think that she is shy and cute, an another where she is known as Abaddon. The plot of the movie is how her two lives are intersects and how hard it is to decide what is more important for her.

(2)  The opening title sequence starts with a young lady sitting on the coach and watching movie/listening to nice music/ talking, laughing on phone. We see her from the back (over the shoulder shot). Deeper in the shot we can see news where we are told about a horrible death of the person and among the injuries we hear about scratches on the body. The camera is moving closer to woman and we see that she is filing broken nails.

3.        

(1)  This movie is about a family life which has completely changed one morning. They turned up in the situation where thy should risk everything they have, hide from the government and forget about friends just to save guiltless person.

(2)  The opening title sequence consists of the binary opposition of the typical family morning when parents discuss their routine for a day and a person running through the forest. At the end, when we see kitchen we hear a loud and insistent knock to the front door which scares the people in the kitchen.