UPDATE: The lecture has been made available again, but only on the BUniverse site.

Boston University recently hosted Kyle Cooper as a part of their “College of Fine Arts Contemporary Perspectives Lecture Series.” Presented on the BUniverse site is the full 90 minute lecture, including audience Q&A.

From the BUniverse page:

Kyle Cooper is one of the most sought-after men in Hollywood, but he isn’t an actor or a director. He designs the title sequences and credits that open and close movies.

Cooper garnered critical acclaim for the title sequence of the 1995 film Se7en, whose jittery editing and scrawled typography sent viewers into the mind of a serial killer. Other film credits include the Spider-Man series, Iron Man and Iron Man 2, Superman Returns, The Incredible Hulk, and Dawn of the Dead.

A native of Salem, Mass., Cooper spoke as part of the College of Fine Arts Contemporary Perspectives Lecture Series.

Hosted by the College of Fine Arts on November 19, 2010.

“A startling metamorphosis occurs.”

Part two of our exclusive two-part feature on the opening title sequences for Hulk (2003) and The Incredible Hulk (2008). This week we interview Kyle Cooper, title designer for Louis Leterrier’s The Incredible Hulk.

Kyle Cooper’s opening title sequence for The Incredible Hulk depicts Dr. David Banner putting himself in harm’s way with a few well done visual quotes from the original series’ opening. The diaphanous daughter, Betty Ross, is bloodied and a hectoring General Ross is loosed.

Whereas Romero's original film was in part a metaphor for American consumerism, the title sequence for the updated Dawn of the Dead touches upon the idea of Holy War as harbinger to the apocalypse, and details the consequences for the media when it decides to ask tough questions as the feeding is already upon us (they are shot).

Kyle Cooper's design dovetails what appears to be real war-torn footage with actual human blood as Johnny Cash raises the stakes in newfound context. Remaining shelters have been compromised and the machine we are trapped in is bleeding to death.

The heady nature of a floating sarcophagus.

With the nudist joie de vivre of survivalists who have withstood the wet teeth of the dead, the end title sequence of Dawn of the Dead offers snippets of dread navigating a false salvation.

An interpretation of the body suit as an exploded technical diagram on acid. Like Ozzy wails, "Is he alive or dead? Has he thoughts within his head?" Smartly done.