Character designs

Character designs, for my animation 

My work

Throughout my research there are key objectives all title sequences need such as credits, but also they should be able to get you ready to watch the movie and transport you into the movie.

My aim

For this project i wanted to create a title sequence that not only did the required such as giving the credits and to tell a story but i also wanted to create a sequence that had transitions throughout and flowed. I was lucky enough to get a script from Rob Sprackling which gave me new objectives such working to stricter deadlines, high level work and learning to work in a professional environment. The script i recieved is about Police dogs and the setting is in London in the 70's.

update

Iv'e been working on the title sequence things are looking ok but still need to get the feel of a dog world throughout the sequence, things are also looking better with the sound effects and soundtrack

 

Car chase sequences

Here are some car chase sequences that i've looked at to get some inspiration,

The Italian Job - www.youtube.com/watch?v=82BjhIs9m8k

Gone in 60 seconds - www.youtube.com/watch?v=242ixkBIz8w

Bullitt - www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMc2RdFuOxI

The Blues Brothers - www.youtube.com/watch?v=1y-LQd2e_Uw

The French connection - www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hu3GmRQ-U9k

Starsky and Hutch

Another title sequence i've looked at is the Starsky and Hutch one which has a lot of similarities as the Sweeney titles, the sequence begins with a chase, they catch the criminals however unlike the Sweeney credits these go away from the chase when they introduce the characters which i actually prefer because you also get to see their personality in that brief second, from looking at this sequence and the Sweeney one the titles are there to get you ready for whats to come, to build up the show and they are fast paced which i think works great and could be a way for me to go, below is the link to the Starsky and Hutch sequence-

www.youtube.com/watch?v=GN1grF2rXpM&feature=related

Idea for my title sequence

I am going to base the title sequence around a car chase, also trying to get the feel of the 70"s into the sequence and trying to get the feel of the dog world of the movie into the sequence.

The Sweeney opening title break down

Firstly before designing my title sequence i want to breakdown the title sequence from The Sweeney and see how they get the feel of the TV show into the sequence.

The Sweeney is a cop show set in the 70's in London, about two officers who specialize in tackling armed robbers and the title sequence is basically a car chase in where the officers finally catch the thiefs.
I want to see how they get this through in the title sequence so below is the points throughout the sequence that i think help get the chase theme throughout,

1. Car (head on) approaches camera as if it was speeding

2. Close up of steering wheel being turned

3. Close up of accelerator being pushed to the floor - obviously speeding up to catch up to robbers

4. Side shot of car, camera pans across quickly, indicating the speed of acceleration

5. Car approaches screen but closer this time so much that it appears as if car has drove over the camera and the title "The Sweeney" appears beneath the car

6. Screen pans across a still shot of houses as if speeding by

7. Camera in the back of robbers car looking out at the road behind where the coppers are approaching

8. Coppers car tails robbers car into a car park (i think)

9. A close up of copper on the radio calling for back up (maybe) and his name appears besides him

10. The police car do's a 180 with dust flying everywhere- hot in pursuit of the robbers!

11. Close up of second copper holding his gun, then his name appears

12. Unable to shake off the coppers the robbers car flys into a ditch

13 . Close up shot of a man pointing somewhere, his name then appears

14. Cop car races towards the robberes car in the ditch

15. Robbes try to run but coppers grab tehm

16. Coppers pin them to the car and cuff them

If this sequence was to be created by film it would have been obvious that it was meant to be a chase scene however it was created using stills so from the points above you can see how they got the feel of a chase throughout the sequence, especially by points 4 and 6 where the camera pans across the stills to indicate speed, also everything was very logical throughout so from the start where the car speeds hot in pursuit, man grapples with steering wheel, pushes down on accelerator to catch up and so on, so in my opinion apart from using stills with a tint over them the sequence is pretty simple but tells you what you need to know very well.

Script

Ok so the script is an animation set in the 1970's in London and is about Police dogs, thats about as much as i can say at the minute but from the discussions i have had with Rob Sprakling i am taking The Sweeney (a British TV show) as a reference point to the type of thing they are looking for but i do have freedom on which way to go. Below is the link to the Sweeney opening titles:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmUOee7fRRQ

From the Sweeney opening titles you can see they are very simple, using stills to depict a chase.

I have a script!

After a few weeks trying to get hold of a decent script I managed to get intouch with Rob Sprackling the script writer for Mike Bassett: England manager and have recieved a script for an animation, i can't say too much about it at the minute but i will post more up shortly.

For this project i will be designing the characters aswell as creating the title sequence.

What i've noticed so far

Rules for movies, games and TV

So far after the research and hours and hours and hours of watching title sequences this is what I've realized between the relationship between title sequences in movies, TV and games, TV has it's own set of rules where as I've mentioned before the title sequence is more of a promotional and branding tool where as in more recent times games title sequences now follow movie title sequence rules where they have a more artistic and storytelling purpose which prepare you for whats to come, for example the Killzone 2 game title sequence is a perfect example of this below is the link to view the sequence,

http://www.watchthetitles.com/

Also another great example of this is the Scarface video game title sequence, where they use clips from the movie, a great soundtrack and quotes from the movie throughout the sequence which all tie together to make a sequence that builds in suspense, you can view this at,

www.prologue.com/index2.html

Typography

The typography should be part of the animation, key points the designers pointed out that typography should be informative, engaging, narrative and expressive.

Fonts that other title sequence artists like to use are Helvetica, Universe Condensed in medium and bold forms, Avant Garde or Lubalin Graph, however i think it depends on the piece you are creating and you should try to keep an open mind.

My favourite title sequences

Below are some links that i have looked over to help me gain more knowledge of title sequencing and that have many other sequences on that you can view,

http://www.watchthetitles.com/

http://www.artofthetitle.com/

http://idents.tv/blog/

Below are some of the title sequences that have influenced me,

Casino Royale (2006) - This has to be one of my favourites because I'm a fan of vector art and think it ties in great with the theme and i love the way the casino elements have been incorporated into the scenes and how they are used throughout the sequence, below is the link to view the sequence:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=tj2MBLsAVbY

Kiss Kiss Ban Bang (2005) - This sequence is a Danny Yount production, what i like about this piece apart from the great design and graphical work is how easily Yount moves from scene to scene, there's a great sense of fluidity in this piece, below is a link to the website where you can view the sequence:

http://www.watchthetitles.com/articles/index/page:13

Gruesome School Trip (2005) - I've just seen this sequence recently and think it works great in keeping in theme with the movie, the film is about a boy who writes a fantasy horror story that becomes reality. Some of the things i also liked about that sequence is how the typography does interact with the animation and how like in the Kiss Kiss Bang Bang sequence the animation flows from scene to scene instead of cutting to another, below is the link to the website where you can view the sequence:

http://www.watchthetitles.com/articles/index/page:5

Dexter (TV show) - This is one of my favourite title sequences for a TV production, the show is about a blood splatter analyst for the police who in his spare time is also a serial killer. What i like about this sequence is how they take a normal everyday routine like eating breakfast and getting ready for work and put a twist on it to make it look as if Dexter is torturing someone by the way he also gets ready in a aggressive manner from the way he grasps the top of the coffee machine to the way he ties his lace on his shoe how he ties the lace several times around his hands and pulls them forcefully, below is the link to view the sequence and leave your comments to:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ej8-Rqo-VT4

Prologue

Recently I been trying to gather information on principles of title sequences and rules and i wanted to go to a major player in this area so i got in touch with some people at Prologue who have done some amazing pieces of work and where Kyle Cooper is the founder of Prologue and where Danny Yount is the director and someone was kind enough to send me several links on that and i have been over everything and they have been a massive help.

Below are the links that i was sent that you can look over.

http://www.mographwiki.net/Danny_Yount

http://www.dannyyount.com/

http://www.dannyyount.com/movies/reel/REEL2009_v2.html

http://www.prologue.com/

The key points that i have gathered from the links sent are that when designing sequences for movies or television they have their own set of rules for example from an article that was sent to me that Danny Yount features in he says "Each medium has it's own criteria" he continues. "TV is more of a branding and promotional device, whereas film is more of an artistic storytelling medium."

Also typography plays a huge part in the sequences where static typography might work great in a graphical piece it doesn't necessarily mean it will work in motion, also from another article several designers are asked what their views on a great motion typography were and all of them agreed informative, engaging, narrative and expressive. Also the designers agreed that typography is the point at which it moves beyond being words that move on and off the screen, and becomes part of the work as a whole and if it's not integrated it damages the whole piece.

From interviews of several designers i have found that their process is similar to each others when developing idea's for their title sequences,

• They listen to the clients comments and idea's because they where the movie or even TV stories develop.
• And the client should be open to the designers interpretation

Plan of attack

Below is the action plan I have wrote up to ensure my work is structured and that i get the best out of this project and myself, maybe after a few weeks once i gather more information i might need to restructure the action plan but for now i think it will help me a lot, click on each page to enlarge.

Title sequences

This is my new blog that i have set up for my university project in specialist studies. Now in my final year at uni I'm defining my area of specialty and want to go into the motion graphics field and for this project I wanted to create a piece that would help show my variety of skills from script writing, character design to my technical skills and that's why I wanted to design a title sequence.
I think title sequencing doesn't always get the recognition it deserves because a good title sequence can set the mood of the movie and give you insight into the characters and the movie.
Title sequences have become more mainstream in recent years and are now created for movies, television and even games but of course title sequences have been around for many years and some still have influences on designers to this day, take for example Saul Bass who created the title sequence for Psycho the Alfred Hitchcock movie from the 1960's which is simple but the soundtrack complements the sequence perfectly adding anticipation to the sequence and movie and many designers and fans look to this sequence as one of the best.