Digital Motion Graphics

By Richard Davis

Module Title: Digital Motion Graphics Module Number: 101 AAD Module Lecturer: Ian Killick

Genre Horror and Noir are the genres Im most interested in working with, as I have a great passion for both. Personally I feel Noir will be a little more challenging as there is less reference material as most classic Noir films were made at a time when the title sequence had little meaning and was not very inventive. Today there are modern Noir films, Neo-Noir, but even films like Memento and LA Confidential have very simple title sequences, comprised of basic text. This is a positive and a negative, positive because I have a blank canvas to work with, but negative because I have fewer places to draw inspiration from. Genre Codes and Conventions Horror Codes and Conventions Many genres are intimately imbricated. In the horror and Sci-Fi genre this is especially noticeable, and it can be particularly difficult to make a distinction between either, for example: The Thing (1982) contains elements of each genre. Here the opening title is reviled as a tear in space.

The Task: Produce a films title credits: Describe the genre that you want to work in, what are its general code and conventions? Highlight some specific films that fall into that genre. For your intended film title sequence, describe the overall plot of the film that it will be preceding.

Film Title Production 101AAD

Horror and Sci-Fis many common attributes include: The Monster - Usually from another world or a supernatural plane of existence. A technological horror - In Event Horizon (1997) the ship its self becomes sentient and terrorizes the crew, this provides many ideas for a title sequence, the simple lines of the ship with the blood and gore of the film. In horror we find an individual who is out of control, debased as a human being. Characters - The monster This is the most important character, even though they might occupy the smallest amount of screen time, they drive the narrative forward and without them there is no horror. The innocents These are the hero/heroine characters or they could be a group of characters. They are the monsters victims; their only goal is to survive. Narrative - The narratives deal with a disruption of normality. A narrative centered round the victims fight for survival, they may have unwittingly unleashed some evil force, something in their past has come back to haunt them or a monster had simply appeared to wreak havoc on the world (or usually a small town). The story normally ends with the defeat of the monster; good triumphs over evil. Setting - Often we find the characters in an isolated location and the setting changes to put the characters in an uncomfortable place.

Stylistic Traits of Noir: Chiaroscuro lighting stark lighting, the use of dark and light, high contrast. (Chiaroscuro - the treatment of light and dark, controlling light) Here Light has a moralistic view. Skewed framing (Dutch angles). Unbalanced compositions. Voiceovers, narration and flashbacks. Equal emphasis placed on actors and setting. Themes and conventions: Characters A femme fatale who is dangerous and desirable and a detective who lives by his own rules, on the edge of the law. A network of minor ambiguous characters. A non-linear narrative. An emphasis on realistic urban settings. The loss of hope, leading to despair, isolation and paranoia. As we become more urbanized we find some film Noir move into the countryside.

Film Noir Codes and Conventions Many people have argued as to whether film Noir is a genre or simple a style within film. I personally believe it does contain enough attributes to be identified as its own genre but I can see how some could refer to it as a style within another genre. Film Noir lends its self to film; narratives work perfectly in their structure.

Iconography - Dark/shadowy lighting hides unknown entities. Special effects, blood, gore, screams, death rattles and unnatural shrieks expose us to extraordinary sights and sounds. The monster usually has a trademark characteristic way of killing his victims, this is combined with the exaggerated weaponry he/she/it may use to kill with - A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), Freddy Kruegers finger knives are very iconic.

Film Noir was also heavily influenced by German expressionist Cinema, a cultural movement, originating in Germany in the early 20th-century. It spanned art, design and cinema. Expressionist painting tried to express emotional and psychological experience rather than physical reality; it distorted reality for an emotional effect. These were often grim parables; the films visual style emulated the expressionist paintings.

Neo Noir Codes and Conventions The Classic Noir era is usually dated between the early 1940s and late 1950s. Neo Noir simple means New Noir; it acknowledges the time its in. We still find the familiar traits of film Noir, the conflicted anti-hero, the beautiful and deadly femme fatale, the low key lighting, use of light and shadow and the alternative camera angles. What sets Neo Noir apart is simply that it is aware of modern circumstances and present technology. Modern themes of Neo Noir: Technological fears and complications and their social consequences and developments - Identity crisis, the loss of an identity (identity fraud) - Memory loss, internal reality and thoughts. Also in Neo Noir, classic codes and conventions are broken i.e.: the femme fatale survives. Neo Noir does lack definite form and its in such a state of fluctuation that is can be applied to other works of film that have a similar recurring subject, theme or idea. Neo Noir examples: One of my favorite films Lone Star (1996). Here we can see the use of Skewed framing. Half the film is a flash back, and the main character, the anti-hero, is a small town sheriff attempting to uncover an old mystery.

Chinatown (1974) possibly the best film Noir ever made. It contains almost all the film Noir Codes and Conventions.

A beautiful shot from Memento (2000). Here we can see the anti-hero, the femme fatale, the stark lighting and the unique composition of the shot. Here a man loses his memory, the plot is very complex, and it plays backwards and contains murder and mystery.

Decisions I have decided to create a Film Noir opening title sequence because of the challenge of creating something totally new and unique. The film Noir genre also has many well established codes and convention which I will be able to work with to great effect.

The Original Idea Shadow Land - The story of an alcoholic, womanizing, private eye, Hank. He is approached by a young woman, Jane, who employs him to find her missing husband, Don. He discovers a trail of clues in a grimy underworld of shadows, which ultimately point to a murder. Jane and Hank fall for each other but she has been setting Hank up for the murder all along, as he discovers the clues he implicates himself as the number one suspect. Jane has killed her husband and Hank is her fall guy. Design Fonts Im looking to use a font that best represents the era, I want the font to be appropriate for the piece of work, initially not to give any specific meaning, just be correct in the correct context. This means I will probably take my inspiration from many Noir films from 1940s-50s. The fonts tended to be very bold and dramatic, clean lines and drop shadows were often used. Art Deco fonts were also popular. The font ill use will use all capitals for DRAMA!

Colors An easy one, Black and white, for obvious reasons. The classic Noir films were made in the 1950s and black and white was all that was available. This gives me the stark, high contrast, Chiaroscuro lighting look I want to capture, also allowing me to create a moralistic view with light.

Visual elements Smoke is an element I could work with, I can create a mask from this to revel hidden objects.

The idea could be to revel object/clues as the credits roll. Images move out from the shadows and text is exposed in the light. I want to uses these elements because they are all stylistic traits of film Noir. A lone light in darkness. Outlines and stark shadows.

I want to use clean lines, creating frames within frames. The clean lines will be skewed (Dutch angles) and ill use unbalanced framing.

Blinds: The light allow us to see images or highlight credits.

Objects Some of the object I could look to capture for my credits to add meaning and context to the sequence: Jack Daniels bottle and a crystal glass. A burning cigarette. The classic fedora hat. Shadowed figure under a streetlight. The femme fatale and her lips. A smoking gun. (colt detective special) Window blinds. Dark alleyways. Type righter text. Body parts (a hand on the floor in shadow)

Images Below is a collection of images that are similar to the footage I want to create.

These objects will allow me to set up the theme of the story. Im looking to create a dark mystery and through the images and their composition the tone of the movie will be set. My tag line sets perfectly captures the tone of my credits Not every crime is black and white Shadow Land

Effects I initially intended to use blending modes and masks in my composition; these effects will allow me to create my reveals. I started playing with effects in after effects and soon discovered a simple design can be very effective. Instead of using images, Im going to stick with text and shadows, and use them to create meaning. Tests The spin Here Im using a light and rotating an image, to give that Hitchcock, thriller feel to the credits.

Hidden here a light is used to revel objects hidden in the shadows, the idea would be to revel the credits in the shadows also.

Smoke I have created smoke with fractal noise and added a blending mode to have images being reveled behind moving smoke.

Shadow play I started working with shadows and really liked the effect. Ill create my credits using light and 3D space. Here text rises from the background and a shadow is cast.

I have done numerous tests In After Effects in preparation

Here I intended to cast a shadow across a backdrop and have text being reveled under a spotlight that moved over the shadowed areas.

In this test the camera spins over the fonts shadow. Multiple lights are used to create more depth to the shadow.

Context Shadow Land - My idea is to have the bold powerful text of the title represent the protagonist; he casts a large shadow over the scene (and story). The credits will be exposed in a feminine font, an elegant script, to represent the femme fatale of the story and the credits will be reveled under the moving shadow of the films title text; this representing the hidden clues left by the femme fatale for our protagonist to discover in the shadows of the storys settings. I want the floor/back drop for the text to have texture, this representing the texture of the story, so I found a large image of tarmac, great because of its haphazard texture and very apt because most film Noirs are set in urban areas. The camera creates disorientation with its movement as it spins across the shadows of the title text, moving in and out, this reflecting the hero searching for the clues in the shadows and being confused and perplexed at what he discovers. The shadows created are also similar to the shadows cast by blinds often found in film Noirs. The shadows also mirror the high contrast lighting found in film Noirs

The cameras angles reflect the Dutch angles of many film Noirs

Fonts Adine Kirnberg Alternate - Font for the credits. This feminine text represents the femme fatale, sleek, smooth and attractive.

Perpetua Titling MT - Font for the main title text Bold, classic, authoritative and powerful: the text mirrors out hero of the story.

The Credits Paramount Pictures Presents David Kent Jane Compton Written by Dom Clement

The Final Composition

My final composition was kept simple: the same theme runs throughout. The camera rotates over the shadow of the title text and the credits appear within the shadows of the title text. Picture right: you can see the composition set up, the lights and sporadic nature of the credit text positioning.

A Blah Blah Production Madeline Green Edited by Frank Holmes Produced by Tammy Wells

A Dick Davis Film Bradley Everett Director of photography Jim Smith Directed by Richard Davis

When the title text is finally reveled a bright light is turned on and then fades away, this light representing the femme fatal, she burns bright but inevitably our hero turns his back on her and she fades from memory!

This is the end movie title revile. I found that because the camera is constantly spinning when we eventually get here, the spinning actually physical affects you as it appears the title is still in motion, its actually quite disorientating, which is great as it works with the story.