Friday, 16 October 2009

(Un)title(d) sequence

Why not do some research for the titles sequence project? I think I might be doing Jean de la Florette (I liked the movie) but of course, the list is open. Anyhow, a few links:



I like this title sequence, partly because I like to have only objects, or parts of the human body in the opening sequences...I find it more intriguing. I would say that sometimes, hands, eyes, lips, etc have a life of their own, they are "alive"  even without viewer seeing the actual character...and just maybe, sometimes, they speak more true of that character than the overall image, which often time helps diverting one`s attention. Just a personal thought really...
The scratches and the color tints go rather well with the music...it gives one the general feeling that even the lens through which the story is being captured is something that might be put under scrutiny, dissected, re-written, censored, etc. Somehow, this is not a free flowing, outside observer point of view...makes a reference to the cutting and...scratching of the editor maybe, or even to the cut-and-paste nature of one`s own reality (ok, I know I got carried away, that`s probably not what it means to say, but...it has the potential for that as well).



Well, if I were to judge animation and music separately, they would probably be nice but not particularly remarkable. But as a whole they really make a good duo, each raising the other`s quality I think. Flipping through the pages of a book is a fairly over-used idea, but the words forming up the characters and the landscape is a pretty neat counter-weight to that (although, again, not a novel idea), the (corny) detective feel of the music dissipates fairly quickly into the awkward hero`s theme song. We get introduced to the main characters of the series and the sequences pretty much speak for themselves: the wise guy, the village idiot, the femme fatale, etc.



Got to love the title sequences from Monthy Python`s Flying Circus. It looks like a dada collage: tongue-in-cheek and twisted! The idea of the gradual build-up within the animations that compose the sequence, followed by the inevitable giant foot that squashes all attempts to create a predictable pattern (titles, names of actors, beginning of the actual show and a chronological/ structural logic to it) are rendered futile.

That`s it for today. Links to have a look at: http://www.artofthetitle.com/

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