Reading the creator’s description of the title sequence to Made in YU helps Art of the Title understand just how savvy the design is beyond the superlative animation. Some favorite moments, incidentally, include the organic reveal of Sasha Drakulić’s credit and the contemplative car window reflections.
"The aim was to tell a story about what happened before the events in the film, which revolve around a former Yugoslavian family that came to Sweden in 1960’s. The film follows their lives through the 1980’s and 1990’s.
We first made the character designs, storyboards and animatic and presented it to director Miko Lazic and he gave us a free hand, which is something of a dream for a designer. We then came up with the concept of moving through time using three color schemes and also a year-counter in the upper right corner [as] the movie itself jumps back and forth in time. The sequence illustrates character history and introduces the story that follows."
If model airplane kits are "the genesis of many aviation careers" then we post in tribute!
The supersonic opening to Les Chevaliers du Ciel (Sky Fighters) places Dassault Mirage jets center stage, with detail-driven exploded views fusing seamlessly with impressive live-action footage. Blueprinted blades of a tactical helicopter whirring into aerial maneuvers is a nice example of form. The testosterone driven trade show intimacy however telegraphs the Top Gun hangover/love affair felt to this day.
Reminiscent of the center-of-(wide)frame-focused opening to The Naked Gun, the knockout title sequence to Lord of War is a first-person narrative where the “I” happens to be a bullet. We bear witness to the life and death of the little guy. Sadly, the HDR-based CG imagery robs the piece of its realism; it’s obfuscatory where it might be stark. While well-intentioned, the execution is incredibly clinical -there is too much message and not enough heart. You want a bulleted reality of war?
Private Joker: How can you shoot women or children?
Door Gunner: Easy! You just don't lead 'em so much!
The lensing is exquisite but calculated to a fault while the timeless music of Buffalo Springfield serves as a kind of mawkish plea, an unnecessary retread. And the child endgame plays as yet another manipulation; he wouldn't be standing stiff in the midst of a firefight because he wouldn't last with the given sight lines. As it -he- stands, the blocking of the actor contradicts a primal predilection towards self-preservation. As this doesn't make sense, the slick stylization does not serve. The sniper duel in Saving Private Ryan succeeds because of a rooted context which subsumes an implausible end. That context is missing here.
We struggled for some time with this post. The first person POV reminds one of a first person shooter video game and never seemed suited to the subject matter. Now I wonder, was the gaming correlation part of the intent?
Textual fluidity frozen repeatedly.
Art of the Title spoke with Julien Widmer, the designer of the opening titles for "Le Souffleur" a film about an imaginative but shy theater prompter who falls in love with an unwitting actress.
"'Souffleur' means 'the prompter' and 'the blower.' It's the same word in French because a prompter 'blows' the words to the actors when they are in need. This particular theater prompter happens to live in his prompter box. So for this title I chose to blow letters and words like a prompter would do. In this 3D graphic space, we are like the actor who forgot his lines, searching for the words between the letters."
