Kyle Cooper
is
renouned for being a director and designer of many famous film title sequances
including that of Seven, Spiderman, The Mummy, The Incredible Hulk and Final
Destination 5 and programs like American Horror Story and The Walking Dead. He
also direcreted the entirity of ‘New Port South’ in 2001.
He
studdied grahic design at the Yale School Of Art and went on to co-found and
name the creative name agency ‘Imaginary Forces’ which takes its name from a line in the prologue of William Shakespeare's 'King Henry the Fifth.'
This
name was chosen as the company was created with the idea of prologues as a key feature
and this quote came from a prologue of William Shakespeare’s which fits with
the companies image.
He was a finalist in the ‘National
Design Awards’ and has earned 5 emmy award nomintions. He hold the title for Honorary
Royal Designer for Industry from the Royal Society of Arts in London and won an
award for his work at the 81st Annual Academy Awards.
He claims
his biggest influence is the opening of Stephen Frankfurt’s 1962 adaptation
of To Kill A Mockingbird.
In 2003
he left Imaginary Forces to go on to found ‘Prologue’ which was a creative
agency in which there is a small team that concentrates on creating title sequences.
Cooper has worked on films such as; (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyle_Cooper)
HOW ARE THE OPENING TITLES OF 'SEVEN' SIMILAR TO THAT OF 'AMERICAN HORROR STORY?'
The obvious difference between the openings is the
time they were made. Seven was released in 1995 which was 16 years before the
first season of American Horror Story.
The opening for both was made by Kyle Cooper who has also
worked on The Walking Dead.
FIGURE 2- CHARLES RENNIE MACKINTOSH TYPEFACE
Both title sequences have the idea of mystery embedded in
them. When you first see the titles, you’re unaware of what much of it means,
in the case of Seven, you’re not told in the prelude that this film is about
the murder of 7 people for committing what are described as the 7 deadly sins. This
is similar in American Horror Story in the way that by the time you get to the
opening credits, you don’t know that every part of the credits has a meaning
until you have got much further into the series.
Both of the openings are filled with ambient sounds.
American horror story has like dripping water which gives hints to one of the
episodes in the first season which foreshadows events to the unknowing viewer.
This is similar in the opening of Seven. It shows and almost
obsessive and methodical sequence that includes sharp fragments and multiple
quick cuts.
FIGURE 1- FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT TYPEFACE
Looking at the type faces of both sequences, they both use
fairly unusual ones that have an alternative meaning behind them. America Horror
Story uses a typeface created by Charles Rennie Mackintosh which is
imaginatively named ‘Rennie Mackintosh.’ The director of American Horror Story, Ryan
Murphy, wanted to use the ‘Frank Lloyd Wright’ (Fig. 1) who was a famous stained glass
architect who was influenced by the work of Mackintosh (see Fig. 2).
In Seven, there is no real type face used. It is simply the
words they wanted to be used, hand etched into the emulsion and many of the
cuts are created by physical movements of the camera. The actual footage is
created on old film that has literally been cut and pasted together to create
the jump cuts and unsmooth look.
What ideas or techniques could you take from this to inform the planning of your own thriller opening?
There are many techniques i would like to take from this to use in my own thriller. I really like the idea of the 'scrattchy' titles and the idea that they look messy ad hand drawn. I think this would look effective in my own thriller. I would also like to use the jumpy shots that both of these openings use in an effect to create confusion in my thriller. I like the shortness of the shots in both clips as they create a sense of enigma in the sense that they don't stay the focal point for long enough so the person watching is left questioning what each spot/clipmeans and what relevance it has.
He
studdied grahic design at the Yale School Of Art and went on to co-found and
name the creative name agency ‘Imaginary Forces’ which takes its name from a line in the prologue of William Shakespeare's 'King Henry the Fifth.'
