Parody

Looking into parody a lot of it is down to visiting the past and recreating something iconic into something unique but also holds the element of humor.
"A parody exists when one imitates a serious piece of work, such as literature, music or artwork, for a humorous or satirical effect. Parody, as a method of criticism, has been a very popular means for authors, entertainers and advertisers to communicate a particular message or point of view to the public."
(http://www.publaw.com/parody.html, Lloyd L. Rich, 29/09/09)

Copyright issues regarding a parodied piece of art in the terms of re-creating a film and making it their own can also be classed as a breach of rights and so designers and film makers work around that and instead of using exactly the same style or design they put their own mix into it and change the design slightly to make it their own, or completely change it but still have a strong element that it is that particular historical piece they are trying to portray. Also freedom of speech plays into it as in a wide range of artistic expression. Parody can be seen as a form or method of criticism but also can be a method to reflect on something so iconic it is considered as inspiration to an extent.

Here is an example of a parody, Sesame Street is a children education program, whereas Avenue Q is an Adult Broadway show.



"Sesame Street is an educational television program designed for children of all ages, and is recognized as a pioneer of the contemporary standard which combines education and entertainment in children's television shows. Sesame Street is well known for the inclusion of the Muppet characters created by the legendary puppeteer Jim Henson. "
(http://www.spiritus-temporis.com/sesame-street/, 29/09/09)





"The show is largely inspired by (and in the style of) PBS's Sesame Street, with several characters that are recognizably parodies of classic Muppet characters. For example, the roommates Rod and Nicky are clearly adult versions of Sesame Street's Bert and Ernie, and Trekkie Monster seems to be based on Cookie Monster. Likewise, many of Avenue Q's musical numbers are in a style associated with classic Sesame Street songs."
(http://www.spiritus-temporis.com/avenue-q/,29/09/09)

Kyle cooper

I chose one of my favourite designers; Kyle Cooper the creator of many memorable title sequences like Se7en, Flubber, Spiderman, Spiderman 2, Mission: Impossible, The Mummy, Dawn of the Dead, The Incredible Hulk and many more, to look into his influences and interests. Kyle is still very proud of his work and doesn't regret any of them, he pushes the boundries especially for 'Dawn of the Dead' by using real blood. One of his influences helped him base his sequence from the film 'Se7en' to a classic sequence for 'To Kill A Mockingbird" created by Stephen O. Frankfurt.

'To Kill A Mockingbird' - Stephen O. Frankfurt.

'Se7en' - Kyle Cooper

Cooper's style is very similar to Frankfurt's in this sequence with the live action filming, up close and personal, so it feels like your the one doing the things it shows in both sequences, you get the same feel for them, although 'To Kill A Mockingbird' is really different to the film 'Se7en' the mood is different you still think the same in the way that you know where cooper got his idea from.

From an interview by ThunderChunky.co.uk

"You have been cited as the most influential film credit designer since Saul Bass. Was his work an inspiration to you?

Not as much as people who have written about me have suggested. I love Walk On The Wild Side and Man With The Golden Arm but I actually have gotten much more familiar with his work after I started doing this. Paul Rand was my mentor and he and Saul Bass were often compared to each other. There is no question that Saul Bass is the father of film titles but Paul Rand was the father of American graphic design. Mr. Rand and my teachers at Yale did not hold up Saul Bass as a great designer. I think Saul Bass’s contribution is obvious and I love the later work he did with Martin Scorsese but by Rand’s standards Bass was not a typographer. I prefer the Westinghouse logo to the Minolta logo. The thing with Rand also was that he did everything with his own hand and I do not think as far as the logos go that was the case with Saul Bass. But again I do not consider myself worthy to be compared with either of these men but I will press on and hopefully get better."

Saul Bass was one of the first to realize the creative potential of the opening and closing credits of a film and started to experiment in different ways to draw the attention of viewers and try to create different moods to suit the nature of the film itself.

'Anatomy of a Murder' - Saul Bass




Paul Rand was a graphic designer who wanted to push boundaries and experiment to create a certain mood in his work that would suit a certain situation, also to make it memorable and have a meaning that everyone gets straight away like Saul Bass and Kyle Cooper in their title sequences.

Direction Magazine, 1939 - Paul Rand




'Kiss Kiss Bang Bang' - Danny Yount & Kyle cooper

Many designers get their influences and ideas from what they have seen and incorporate them into their own work like you can see above.

Fringe Title Sequence

For more information on fringe visit this fansite:
FringeTelevision.com

Dexter Kinetic Advert

"London based NBC Universal launched its first ad campaign for 13TH STREET, the digital crime & thriller channel on Benelux television. The channels top 5 programs are put in the spotlights through kinetic film. Every film features a typical scene of the series, narrated through kinetic typography. The series of films have been created by its brand agency Cultural Oil and will be supported online. From the Internet you can send the films to your mobile, embed them in your blog, email or website.

Credits:
Agency: Cultural Oil.
Concept: Nathalie Brähler en Ora Masashi (Tokyo).
Typography: Koos Dekker & Jesper Hauwé. Directed by 60Layersofcake.
Client: NBC Universal Benelux : Marcel Swagers."

Kinetic Type - The Office US

TURTLES!

A clip from Bugs Bunny - Falling Hare

This is just to show an example of falling, one of my kinetic words is fall and sort of got my idea, from something like this;




But also road runner is a classic in the comedic way of falling:

A Worms day out

Animation NCFE 06/07
First year of college in ND Graphics
Flip book - first piece of animation I ever did. No sound though.

Animation NCFE 06/07 - 'Spring'

I did this in my first year of college, its a bit naff but it was my first time trying this so give me a little credit.

Willard - Title sequence

Tried to upload the video but it kept failing on me or taking its time to upload and I got bored of waiting so here is a link to see it instead
WILLARD OPENING TITLE SEQUENCE CLIP
enjoy ...




This sequence holds a dense diversity of process including montage, live action, collage, stop motion, clay and more.

Nirvan Mullick: "The title sequence was produced by The Picture Mill. ..."
"The idea was to move through Willard’s basement as if it was the character’s mind, treating the physical space as a metaphor for his mental decay. I wanted things be a little off at first, and then unravel into madness as we introduce more animated elements. We only had 2 weeks to built all the sets, puppets, and shoot the sequence, so the challenge was to find a way to create that feeling within the production limits."

Animation Director: Nirvan Mullick
Stop Motion and Art Department: Cameron Baity, Morgan Hay, Ellen J. Kim, Kathleen Lolley, Rick Orner and Jonathan Silsby
Behind the Scenes Photography: Rick Orner
Lead Designer: Brad Berling
Producer: Kirk Cameron
Production Company: The Picture Mill

I got this info from www.artofthetitle.com