Key:
Green - Improvements
Red - Peer Assessment
Pink - Teacher Marking
Unit 37 Visual Effects
To be able to understand how two iconic artists impacted the history of and progression of visual effects. RAG
Saul Bass
Saul Bass was born on May 8th 1920 and died in 1996. He started his career as a graphic designer making iconic posters for big films and directors. He is mainly known for making posters in his career but he did later start making title sequences in some classic films and became an award winning film maker. He started his career in Hollywood during the 1940's by designing print advertisements for films directed by Otto Preminger. He came up with an interesting concept of using 2D graphics to merge together characters and recognisable scenes from movies.
This image is an example of his use of 2D graphics to merge characters and scenes from the same movies to create posters. He has used single solid colours and iconic characters to create recognisable scenes and titles with relevant information without over complicating it. He managed to effectively create informative simple posters without making them boring.
This image is an example of another simple but effective poster created by Saul. Here we see what looks like a human cut up into pieces as if it is part of an autopsy. The colouring and placement of words in this poster are smart because the single solid red represents blood and the way that the words have been placed on the limbs make the audience have to reverse anatomise them back together to create the title.
Maurice Binder
Maurice Binder was a film title designer, he was responsible for early title sequences in the James Bond series, he worked on a total of 14 James Bond films. He was born in New York but spent most of his time in Britain during the 50's.
To be able to understand the purpose of visual effects. RAG
Examples of the use of visual effects in media:
Movies
Music video
TV shows
Adverts
News
Games
Apps
Title sequences
Why do title sequences use visual effects?
Title sequences may use visual effects to make the introduction less boring
Title sequences in television are often required to give whatever show that is being made a recognisable introduction
They make the product stand out
It foreshadows what to expect in the film and gives the audience an idea of what's to come and the theme
You can move away from realism and make a fun creative introduction
TV identity
A television ident is something that can be used to give an introduction the the channel you're watching
Examples:
This an example of an ident that BBC One uses, they often use images of animated animals or people to create a circle that leads to a zoom out that shows the BBC One title. The formation of the circle is a representation of the letter O for One, with the channel being BBC One. The visual effects of the hippos swimming in a circle would have been created on a computer.
This ident is for BBC Two, this ident uses real footage of the inside of a tent with a specially made opening of a number two and a view outside.
Here is an example of a visual effect used by channel 4 as an identifier. Channel 4 often use real visual shots from around the world and they then edit the structures from the shots to form the number 4 as an ident. The fact that old ruins are used in this ident could reflect the fact that Channel 4 sometimes do documentaries on history.
This is an animation of an ident made in collaboration with the Simpsons and Channel 4. All these visuals were drawn by the creators of the simpsons and then animated to form the number 4 for Channel 4. This type of indent not only advertises the channel but it also advertises the animation.
This is an example of an identifier used on the children's TV channel cbeebies. Cbeebies have a friendly cartoon mascot as their ident, this ident would have be specifically created to appeal to children as it's a channel dedicated to them.
Visual effects: Motion capture and tracking, Colour manipulation, Animated special effects, Compositing
Motion capture and tracking
With motion tracking you can capture the movement of something or someone and then apply the captured data to another layer or effect. An example of when motion tracking was used was in the film Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011). Motion tracking was used in this film to create the apes, first an actor's face expressions and motion of him talking and moving was captured with special optics and a suit and then that motion was applied to a computer generated ape to make the character have more realistic expression. The reason that motion tracking like this is used is because it's a lot easier to motion capture human expression and movements and then apply that to an animation that animate it yourself from start.
Colour manipulation
Colour manipulation is when certain colours or layers are changed. Colour manipulation is often used in cinema to highlight certain things or to represent meanings. Often black and white layering is used to show flashbacks. In the movie The Giver, the main character is the only person that can see colour. The use of colour manipulation is used heavily in this film to tell a story and distinguish a characters perspective.
Compositing
Compositing is the distinction between the different special effects used on screen. For instance the image to the left is an example of the composition difference between the man and the background. They are both created using different techniques but mostly differentiated using green screens or blue screens.
Title sequence example(s) analysis
Game of Thrones
This is the title sequence for Game of Thrones.This title sequence is completely computer generated and has no real footage used. In this title sequence we see a map of all the different holds in the place that this TV series is set. One of the things that makes this title sequence good is how the title sequence can change in small ways in each episode depending on what happened in the last. For example certain holds may display one family banner in one episode but if in the next it could be different if it was captured by another family in an episode. This type of title sequence is good as it can give you a reminder of what happened in previous episodes. One of the things that makes this title sequence bad is the repetitive use of the actors of characters that are no longer in the show, for example Sean Bean is shown in every season despite dying early in the series. Showing actors names that are no longer a part of the show is bad for a title sequence because new people that might be tuning in for the first time could be drawn in by the fact the names of certain actors are shown who they like.
Dexter
In this title sequence we see the morning routine of Dexter, the main character in this show. Dexter plays the role of a forensic scientist who is secretly a serial killer. This title sequence uses real shots to illustrate Dexter's personality. It crosses between his murderous tendencies and his perfectionist attitude as a forensic scientist throughout. Visual effects involving blood are used in this to represent his murderous side. A close up shot of blood being absorbed by a tissue is shown when Dexter cuts himself while shaving. Furthermore we can see that when he is eating his breakfast there are splatters of red ketchup on his dinner knife, this also reflects murder that this show heavily revolves around. In an earlier scene we can see Dexter cutting pork with a knife, this represents his jobs as forensic scientist and his role as a murdering slasher. This type of title sequence is good as it shows and heavily reflects the main character's personality and his dark secret using one sequence of a simple morning routine. The visual effects and emphasis on blood are what really shows the main theme in this show.
Pitch for my two title sequence ideas
Initial analysis of themes in my drama to inspire ideas
Idea 1:
The first idea for my title sequence involves real shots of the two main characters together to show the theme of friendship. The first shot of this title sequence will be of the main characters walking from a levelled long shot taken from the side. The special effects in this scene will heavily revolve around lighting manipulation. In this sequence I will have the two main characters walking into the distance and then there will be a flash of bright light ahead of them which signifies the unknown drama that is about to occur on screen. The camera will then pan into the visual bright light and display the title 'released'. The bright light represents walking into the unknown and the afterlife/death which the drama has themes of.
This is an example of the first type of live action shot that would be used in this title sequence (no explosion). This scene would show two characters walking along a pathway in a straight line with the display of both the actors names over their heads.
This is the other type of shot that would be used in this title sequence, the characters will be walking into a bright light which holds the title of the drama. The strong image of the characters stood side by side represents the theme of friendship that is in our drama. And the bright light would represent death which is consistent with the idea of crossing into the afterlife.
Idea 2:
In this title sequence there will be special effects of blood splattering. In our drama there is a violent knife attack that leads to the death of one of the main characters. This title sequence will illustrate the murder that is about to occur in the drama by showing the title written in blood. Colour manipulation will be used in this title sequence to highlight the blood and put emphasis on it. Special effects will be used in this idea to spell the title of the drama on screen in blood. Editing techniques are used in this title sequence to slow down the live action shots that are going to be used.
This is an example of the style of titling that I am going for in this idea. The red colours used in this title represents blood which comes back to the theme of death/murder that my idea follows.
Filtering has been used on this title sequence to help put emphasis on the significance of the title. You can see how the filter is brighter around the border of the letters than it is around the border of the image.
This is an example of a tint visual effect that I created for my trailer. The clip shows someone being stabbed in an alley. The red tint represents blood and shows the audience the severity of the attack. For a brief second the colouring is normal and then as the attacker lunges the knife the speed of the video slows and it turns to red.
This shows how I edited the tint effect into my trailer to relate to the theme of the film. As I specified in my initial popplet ideas I felt that using a red filter would be a good way of showing the theme of murder as red represents blood and blood is associated with murder. As the attacker lunges towards the victim the colouring is normal and then when the knife reaches the victim the tint changes to red to illustrate that the character has been stabbed and is bleeding.
The adjustment layer is used to make the effects that I used effects more flexible. The footage that has no adjustment layer above is normal and the footage that has the adjustment layer is tinted. The way that this makes editing more flexible is by allowing one effect to be dragged over an entire row of footage that needs the same effect. This saves time because instead of having to individually assign the effect to each segment one by one it can be done with the adjustment layer.
The red tint clearly illustrates to the audience that the character is bleeding and when someone bleeds it can be quite scary if you're not used to it. The emphasis on the red in the sequence can make the audience feel panicked like the character. Because the whole screen is covered in red the audience know that it's been a serious attack as the more blood (red) that you can see represents that the injury is deep. If you (the audience) has ever fell over and injured themselves then they will know that the more blood there is the more it usually hurts.
The overall reason of why the character was made to have a short chase while bleeding out was to create an emotional response in the audience. Often when audiences see someone injured they feel sympathy so instead of just having the victim immediately killed the chase allows the audience to build a short emotional connection with the character which is triggered by seeing him in pain and trying to escape. The red tint is a clear indication for the audience that the character is in distress which triggers a sympathetic distress in them as a result.
Idea 1:
This is the title sequence that shows a clear view on the main characters walking past. As the characters move past the screen a visual effect of their names was edited to show the audience who they are. This type of visual effect is used in profession production title sequences all the time.
To create this visual effect I simply had to overlay a title over the footage and edit the title into position.
Idea 2:
This is the title sequence that I created based on the intro for the TV show Dexter. The colouring in this represents blood which is foreshadowing of a knife attack that happens in the film. The title "released" in this sequence has been edited to be red, this further illustrates the aspect of the blood and murder that appears in the film. A visual effect was used in order to make the title appear more smooth as it enters the screen. The visual effect that was used a video transition that makes the title dissolve onto the screen.
Video > Transition > Block Dissolve
This is the visual effect that I used to make the title on my sequence appear more smoothly.