Barbarella opening title sequence

Jan 23, 2009 Art of the Title

Barbarella

The new associations of the 1960s ushered in sex ‘n shag science fiction in the form of Roger Vadim’s Barbarella.

The opening sequence, credited to Arcady and the great Maurice Binder, features an unrestrained intergalactic planetary aviatrix Jane Fonda peeling off her space suit in the kind of weightlessness that has the viewer seeing past the errant reflection. Text spills from the head, chaotically at first, then coalesces in credit, and finally plays the coy cover up.

Extras

Barbarella high-res poster art

Barbarella desktop background (1920×1200)

(Courtesy of philougraphix.de)

DETAILS

France/Italy
1968
Color
2.35:1
English

CREDITS

Title Design: Arcady and Maurice Binder

Category: Film, News

Tagged: Barbarella

Paolo Jamse

How did they do it? Don’t you just love when there was no computer around?
brad

She’s just lying down on a green screen.
Julian

Oh! I love this title sequence and it never occurred to me that she was meant to be floating (which seems stupid now, when I watch it afresh). When she takes off her glove, the reflections are telling; she’s rolling around on a plane of glass above the set, isn’t she? I was always more impressed by the metallic helmet.
http://jm3.net John Manoogian III

The helmet visor effect looks like it might be a double-paned bubble that is filled with opaque liquid, but played in reverse and filmed with the camera tilted so as not to give it away.
http://www.lowlow.nl Xander Smalbil

Amazingly sexy.
http://www.stephanpauly.com stephan

yeeeeeah, the greenscreen, rite. and then in postproduction, they took their fingernail scissors and cut away everything that was green. and then they glued the background on with scotch tape. (or did I not get the humor?)
http://www.sfaustina.com sfaustina

“How did they do it? Don’t you just love when there was no computer around?”

Thats all i can think about as well. Would love to see the making of these!

Just amazing!
http://www.bdh.net SteveB

Looks like she’s lying on glass, you can occassionally see reflections around her.
Mark

Sexy and clever. The faux weightless look is nicely done.
http://www.owlboy.com/ OwlBoy

I love how near the end the titles seem to be fighting for your attention.
Nelson B

Its says 60′s every second of it. You get hooked and interested to watch the rest of the film, No Doubt about that. Clever, Sexy, Classic.
Token57

How they did it.
She moves on glass (Julian). Camera tilted. The ‘BackPack’ is simply drawn off from the left side. Watch the 2nd tube (from ‘above’). The helmet sequence is as Julian Manoogian III suggested a reverse shot. You don’t see the helmet’s top (’cause of the hole) when the fluid fills the space between the two helmet shells. Because of avoiding bubbles. Jane Fonda’s hand moves make this believable. And the whole title is simply 60′s and SEXY!
Cale

I believe the helmet was filled with mercury, which is thick and reflective enough. I could be tripping but if you look closely you can see a blurred camera between the two lights.

I remember there was this black cabin/tent thing used to shoot jewelry and hide the camera. A similar contraption could have been used.

Not sure if it needed to be played in reverse as mercury is really dense and wouldn’t leave any spill on the glass – gravity would do the job.

It’s such a lovely sequence though.
http://blackholereviews.blogspot.com/2010/01/barbarella-1968-ultimate-guide-part-3.html Mark Hodgson

How come Binder isn’t credited on the film itself? The only source for this credit is recenlty on IMDB. I’d like to see a confirmation from anywhere else.
http://videomagus.com VideoMagus

Really artistic and pretty sexy, even with the noticeable glass reflections and some wrong movements of beautiful Jane Fonda…
Lord Byron Quinn

WOW. Forgot how much I love that intro, and it really shows what the film is about. The scene has the feeling of making out.
Francoe

No green screen there. 60′s at least use a blue based chroma (green comes popular in 70′s), and you can’t get those details in hair through several photographic mattes. Do you know how hard was to make a good chroma in those days?
Then you have those projected shadows with perfect perspective over the background. The glas reflection…
People tend to forget the magic before CGI, and there are some discovering the wheel.
getbrett

I always thought it was plexiglass she was lying on as you can see it really flex in some shots. If the glass was flexing that much it would have shattered.
Anonymous

She’s lying on glass. Laying on glass? It’s glass.

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