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  • Movie title opening sequence -inspiration?

    Posted by Dan Forgione on April 15, 2005 at 2:48 am

    I am a 4th year animation student on the last week of finishing my film, and i am looking to create an interesting opening title for my thesis film, but i am having trouble coming up with ideas.

    My film is called stroke of sin, and it was originally inspired by milton’s, paradise lost, more specifically book 2, when lucifer falls from heaven and becomes the ruler of hell. Its an animated film about 2 police K-9s who end up in a quarrel, resulting in the fallen fate of one of the dogs, and it is mixed with live action backgrounds.

    Since the story is strongly influenced by the concepts of hell and the devil, (btw..im not a devil worshiper or anything, just a story fanatac, and was really inspired by paradise lost when coming up with the idea for my thesis)…anyways, I want to incorporate similar concepts of things relating to hell/the devil into the title sequence some how, possibly with some fire or burning text, also the idea of using a stroke animation, somehow…..im not sure exactly though.

    now the opening shot is of the sun beginning to set over NYC, so im debating on whether or not to have the title appear there, or before it, i really want to grab peoples attention with the title and try to get them thinking about the story’s association with hell.

    Ive been search tutorials, and forum sites for some inspiration on cool ways to animate the title, so i was hoping by posting here someone would be able to offer some additional suggestions, tutorials, or sites i may check out, whether it be a site dedicated to movie title sequences, or effects similar to what i want.

    im not set on having an extremely elaborate title animation, i just want something that is revelent to the story, but more captivating than having a title card right before it starts.

    any suggestions would be very much appreciated.

    Thanks!!

    Dan

    Dan Forgione replied 19 years, 7 months ago 3 Members · 13 Replies
  • 13 Replies
  • Grand Admiral

    April 15, 2005 at 3:26 am

    watch the movie, “End of Days” that was released back in 1999, with Arnold!

  • Dan Forgione

    April 15, 2005 at 5:17 am

    thanks….ill check it out..

  • Tomsmall

    April 15, 2005 at 5:26 am

    oh my mind runs wild here. with some simple stock footage you might be able to find on archive.org, i see the blue titles with a glow fall from heavenly clouds then mid screen burst into red firey titles and they continue to fall out of frame and as soon as its off frame a flare of flames comes up and you hear this hellish mix of totured screams, as if the gates of hell opened and closed for that fallen soul. and after your last title has passed through that process the flames come from the entire bottom edge of the frame and engulf the screen, and the sunset beams through it as the fire fades away. the bursting into red firey titles would look great if it had a flamed explosion from the center and some smoke to go along with it. and as for the sun rise beaming through the flames. split flames engulfing the screen where the sun fades up behind it and set the flames blending mode to add and then fade the flames out at your pleasure.
    im not a satan worshiper either
    i just love making title sequences, and id look for some stock footage to help you but im running on a deadline finishing a title sequence for someone else’s thesis film. i hope this helps.
    what school do you go to?

    Tom

  • Dan Forgione

    April 15, 2005 at 5:39 am

    wow, thats pretty sick….(in a good way)

    id probably leave out the hellish screams, because it just wouldnt really fit, cause the story isnt as dark…..its more of a tragedy, where i make the one dog “the devil” to actually be the one people feel sorry for…..

    but in any case

    i wish i knew where to even start with all that…ill definitley play with it in my mind and see if i can possibly do it…..my only problem is that im still finishing the inking and painting of my film, and then compositing, witha deadling of next thursday, so diving into something like that wouldnt be a realistic thing….at least for me cause it would take a hell of a lot of time and fiddling around to even come close to your description.

    but just in case, as far as the stock footage, would this tutorial:

    https://www.creativecow.net/show.php?forumid=2&page=/articles/simpson_mark/surreal_text/index.html

    be a possible substitute?

    dan

  • Dan Forgione

    April 15, 2005 at 5:40 am

    by the way i got to School of Visual Arts i Manhattan

    dan

  • Tomsmall

    April 15, 2005 at 6:05 am

    i go to sva as well. im a second year film and video editing major. if i wasnt involved in the title sequence im working on id do this for you. if you want i could take a crack at it after i finish this other project. i dont know if itll be done for your deadline which is prob in the next week or two but it might just add that extra umph to it when you use it in your reel. let me know.

    Tom

  • Dan Forgione

    April 15, 2005 at 6:15 am

    thanks i appreciate…unfortunately a final has to be in this coming thursday so, and im not sure im gonna touch it much if at all afterwards…but if you feel up to it and could by some chance finish be weds, id love to check it out….

    are you on campus?

  • Tomsmall

    April 15, 2005 at 6:23 am

    id say its possible but id kinda be lieing but i never back down from a challenge. ill see what i can do. i live in central new jersey and i commute into the city for class and what not. how about you?

    Tom Small
    2nd year Film/Video editing major, SVA NYC

  • Dan Forgione

    April 15, 2005 at 6:37 am

    im pretty efficient with AE, but it does take me some time to tinker on things from scratch…..im pretty good at following tutorials and all, so
    even if you could point me in the direction of a tutorial, or sample of how to make the titles burst into flames, i actually just found some awesome heavenly cloud footage ( as well as flame footage on a black BG) that i had stored away from 2nd year….im kinda familiar with using the cameras and splittin it between the foreground and BG, but like i said it would take me a while to fiddle around with it without specific intructions…..also im having trouble imaging how you see the title falling out of the sky…..

    im an RA in the NRES residence hall, originally from northern NJ.

    and like i said before…4th yr traditional animation…

  • Tomsmall

    April 15, 2005 at 6:44 am

    the titling falling kind of how a leaf falls. like it you dropped a piece of paper from 2 feet off the floor. it just kinda floats down. maybe a an expression could make it alittle more random so its not so hard to keyframe.

    Tom Small
    2nd year Film/Video editing major, SVA NYC

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