Posts Tagged ‘Zack Snyder’

The Art of Film Title Design Throughout Cinema History

Oct 17 |22:00

Photos & Article, Narayan, Wolverine.BlogSpot.com

“Have you ever thought of what makes you remember a certain movie or TV show? Of course, it’s the story being told, you’ll say. But what about movies such as Goldfinger, Seven and Snatch? What’s the first thing that comes to mind? We are pretty sure their opening title sequences stick out for many of you.”

“Today we’ll take a closer look at that short space of time between the moment the lights go down and the first scene of a film, the part that so often sets our expectations of a movie, that sequence that speaks to our creative side: the art of the film title. We’ll look at the evolution of title design and some particularly interesting titles from various periods in the history of cinema and animation.”

“Film titles can be great fun. In them we see the bond between the art of filmmaking and graphic design — and perhaps visual culture as a whole. They have always served a greater purpose than themselves: to move the overarching story forward. Whether you are a motion graphic designer, a digital artist or a connoisseur of design, we hope you are inspired by these film titles and the ideas they suggest to your own creative endeavors. At the end of this post, you’ll find a listing of relevant typefaces and Web resources.”

“For this post, we reached out to David Peters, a San Francisco-based designer and media historian who, more than a decade ago, began a project called Design Films to research the subject. David generously contributed to this article.”

[Offtopic: by the way, did you already get your copy of the Smashing Book?]

Titles In Silent Film

“Words and lettering played an enormous role in films of the silent era. Film titles made their appearance in the earliest silent films, along with letter cards (or inter-titles), which provided context. These cards were the responsibility of the lettering artist, who collaborated with the scriptwriter and director to create narrative continuity so that audiences could follow what they were seeing. Distinct from these inter-titles was the film’s main title, a vehicle of particular concern to film producers because of the legal, copyright and marketing information this footage had to bear.”

“Here is the main title from D.W. Griffith’s “Intolerance” (1916), which many reviewers and historians consider the greatest film of the silent era. Note that variations of the director’s name are featured in five ways:”

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“If there were a hall of fame for film title design, Stephen Frankfurt’s sequence for the 1962 film “To Kill A Mocking Bird” (below, upper row) would have a seat of honor. Cameron Crowe referenced it in “Almost Famous” (lower row):”

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“The title sequence for the 2009 adaptation of the comic book “Watchmen” drew a loud response from the public. It creates an alternate history, depicting the involvement of superheroes in all major events of post-World War II America. The sequence was shot by the film’s director Zach Snyder, while credit for the title’s integration goes to yU+Co:”

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Click here for this full, very informative article containing many more images and examples….

 

Zack Snyder, 300 Director to Lead the Way on New Superman Film

Oct 10 |22:00

Photo & Article, John Nolte, BigHollywood.BreitBart.com

“Some very (to say the least) encouraging news from filmdom broke yesterday: “300? director Zack Snyder will direct the new Superman film for Warner Bros., and as we already knew, ”Dark Knight” director Christopher Nolan will oversee the reboot as a producer. You couldn’t ask for a stronger super-hero Dream Team, which is why I couldn’t disagree more with comments like this:

“Snyder is all about style over substance, and I think that’s a big reason why Bryan Singer’s “Superman Returns” didn’t work, causing the studio to reboot the franchise just four years later.”

“Zack Snyder’s “Watchmen,” which will someday be recognized as the masterpiece it is, was twice as substantive and complicated (in the best way) as any film that came out that year. But even before that, with “300,” Snyder proved he understands and is uniquely capable of managing big, important, universal and timeless themes without hurting the overall story’s broader commercial appeal. And since this latest incarnation of the Man of Steel will be yet another reboot, Snyder is the perfect director to intelligently bring together all the necessary elements – mythology, character, action and excitement. “

“Some leftist critics slammed “300? as simplistic and stupid. Intentionally or not, they unfairly judged the film from a political point of view as opposed to an artistic one because they see the themes that drove “300? — those of self sacrifice, what it means to be a man, live free or die, and opposing cowardly appeasers willing to enable evil in exchange for the “stability” of slavery – as simplistic and silly. While that may be their sophisticated and impressively nuanced political opinion, artistically those are far from simplistic themes and extremely difficult to pull off without resorting to the inane, on-the-nose political speechifying that’s plagued every anti-war film since Bush Derangement Syndrome ravaged the Hollywood Hills. “

“Other than the terrible casting of Superman and Lois Lane, what undid “Superman Returns” was director Bryan Singer’s vision of Superman as an angsty alienated alien who seemed more interested in finding himself than fighting for truth, justice and all that stuff… “Superman Metrosexual” was all so self-consciously humorless, self-serious, dour and lacking in the heroism, spirit and romance that it completely missed the point of what made the first two Christopher Reeve films so timelessly entertaining. Oh, and it would’ve helped had Lex Luthor’s diabolical plot made a lick of sense. But if you boil it down, the problem with “Returns” is that Singer didn’t want to make a genre picture — which is what all great super-hero films really are.”

“As he showed with his terrific “Dawn of the Dead” remake and “300,” Snyder is the finest genre filmmaker to come out of the Double Aughts — which makes him perfectly unpretentious for this assignment. And with his two epic Batman films, Nolan proved you can portray a complicated and conflicted hero without ejecting the essential genre elements that make for great storytelling. The only thing that can hurt this film are expectations, which are now sky high, especially with the news that General Zod will be returning as Superman’s arch-villain.”

“But let’s not tiptoe around the elephant in the room, either. Another reason to be excited over the teaming of these two artistic giants is that they’re responsible for ”300? and “The Dark Knight,” two of the rare films to come out over the last decade that we right-wingers could eagerly embrace and call our own. “

“As the proudly un-embarrassed owner of more than 500 Superman comics and a worshiper of  Christopher Reeve’s iconic portrayal and an even bigger fan of Margo Kidder’s unforgettable Lois Lane, this is the absolute best news about a reboot anyone could ask for.”

 

Interview: Simon Whiteley, Production Designer, Legend of the Guardians

Oct 1 |12:00

Photo, Loyalkng.com

EncoreMagazine.com writes:

What were the main environments created as sets for the film?

“We drew most of our inspiration for the landscapes that were created for the movie from the more remote windswept areas of Australia. Primarily the wild uninhabited coasts and mountains of Tasmania, which could only be accessed by helicopter by boat or by foot. Filming the region from helicopter allowed us to capture the landscape and flora as well as the light, atmosphere and weather from an owl’s perspective. It was this footage, our initial designs and lighting frames as well as a short screen test with our first CG owl that got the movie green lit.”

“The Forest Kingdom of Tyto and the family hollow, where Soren and his family lived was based on the alpine landscape and cradle lakes of South West Tasmania. The old red wood pencil pines becoming the basis for the family tree and the other unusual plant life filling the landscape.”

“The Desert of Kuneer and St Aegolius’ Canyons – with its landing platform, moon-blinking chamber, peletorium, Nyras’ chamber and Grimble’s library – were sourced from the red Simpson Desert in the centre of Australia – most of the time a dry and arid region with plant life ravaged and cut into by intermittent torrential rain.”

“The Coast overlooking the Sea of Hoolemere and the Echidna’s perch where the band encounters the crows was based on the tall columned rocks off Tasmania’s south east coast. Designed for a chase sequence and first reveal of the Sea of Hoolemere, we needed to create a gateway and character in the Echidna that would bring the band together and send them on their way into a raging storm.”

“The Island of the Great Ga’Hoole Tree, where the Guardians and all free species of the Owl world live, was based on the craggy rock formations of Tasmania’s wild south west coast. The tree itself was designed around a collapsed flooded volcanic plug, here the nutrient rich soil would be able to support such a massive tree that has been struck by lightning countless times and regrow’s within the ancient carcass of itself. A metropolis of oak trees that our owls could explore with a Great Hall, Dining Hollow, Parliament, forge and armoury, as well as hollows for all of the other Clans.”

“The Beaks and Metal Beaks’ Stone Palace, where his army of Pure Ones build the Fleck field to trap and down the Guardians, was also based on the unusual rock formations of Australia’s red centre and limestone caves that can be found dotted all across Australia. Our owls are able to build up into the ceiling of caves without the need for scaffolding using trees as their inspiration, working statues and columns out of stalactites and stalagmites.”

How did you find a balance between our reality, and that of a world populated by owls, in terms of what things they have/make and what objects surround them?

“To give our owl world a believable reality and allow it to stand apart from other animated feature films, we decided to make it closely resemble the landscapes, flora and fauna we as humans are familiar with.”

“We designed the owls so that they would move act and fly like real owls, the wind would blow through and ruffle their feathers, and they would move and react to their environment with real world physics.”

“We then gave them tools and props that could have been forged and worked by owls using their claws and beaks and constructed their habitats as if they were built by creatures that could fly and defy gravity.”

How was your area impacted by the 3D component?

“The movie was designed from the start to be presented in stereo; therefore the characters and environments had to be built to with stand that type of scrutiny. We expected to get very close to our owls, flying with them through locations that had to be both dramatic and dynamic with the kind of action audiences expect from a Zack Snyder film. This meant slow motion interaction with sets and effects such as fire, rain and a magnetic fleck field as well as owl to owl combat.”

“Tightly story boarding, prevising and layout meant that we could focus on the elements that would be close to us and in focus and spend less valuable time on things that might be motion blurred or out of focus in the background.”

What were the challenges of working long-distance with Zack Snyder?

“We began work on the project back in 2007, with John Orloff on the initial script. So by the time we met Zack in early 2008, we had already decided roughly what species of owls might be in the movie and the environments they might inhabit. These along with some lighting key frames were presented to Zack in Vancouver.”

“Zack had worked with Grant Freckelton the Art Director before on 300 and liked the direction we were hoping to take the movie even at this early stage. From there we worked closely with him creating the characters, refining the environments and honing the story.”

“Once under production we spent several hours a week via conference call with him in Vancouver and then in Los Angeles so we never felt we were out of touch. Having a very tight crew from design and story all the way through R&D, modelling, rigging, surfacing, layout, animation, visual effects, character effects and lighting to production has meant that we could turn the movie around in an unusually short amount of time even with a director halfway round the world.”

 

Review: ‘Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole”

Sep 23 |22:00

Photo & Article, Todd McCarthy

“This is just one of many reasons it’s difficult to engage with this elaborate animated 3D adventure fantasy, which goes through all the motions of trying to create an owl-world mythology but, despite a stellar vocal cast, ends up feeling like a pale rehash of so many similar kid-friendly ventures that have come before. Zack Snyder’s fans will be hoping he gets back to more heavy duty action in short order.”

“It’s something that most people have not spent excessive time pondering, but apparently even owls, who rate quite high in the feathered scheme of things in terms of survival instincts and predatory skills, have their own aristocratic pecking order. And their own legends, such as they are.  Unfortunately, from the opening scene, in which some of this gets laid out, I started checking out, so undifferentiated is this yarn from the countless other myth and legend tales constantly served up in the hopes of sticking with young readers and moviegoers, who periodically turn them into goldmines for their creators.”

“This one features handsome brother owls who are kidnapped and taken to an evil land presided over by an owl named Metal Beak who’s got Hitlerite purity issues and intends to conquer an island of peace-loving souls. Said island is dominated by an enormous tree virtually identical to the one that was destroyed by Earthlings in a rather popular film that came out nine months ago.”

“One brother escapes and stays good while the other brother remains with Metal Beak and goes bad, leading to an inevitable climactic confrontation. There’s a raft of supporting owls with different featherings and plummages, but I could never understand their names and neither could my son, no matter how impeccably they were pronounced by the wonderful group of largely Australian actors, including Helen Mirren, Jim Sturgess, Sam Neill, Abbie Cornish, Joel Edgarton, Geoffrey Rush,, Hugo Weaving, Ryan Kwanten and Bill Hunter, among many others.”

“The animation and 3D work are very good but nothing feels fresh. The screenwriters who tackled Kathryn Lasky’s novels “Guardians of Ga’Hoole” are both serious scribes—John Orloff wrote “A Mighty Heart” and part of “Band of Brothers,” while Emil Stern penned “Tenderness” and “The Life Before Her Eyes”—but that may be part of the problem, as the film presents the perils of the owl universe with a gravity that outweighs the project and the intended audience. There’s not a single surprise here except, perhaps, for one line of dialogue the good brother utters to summon some self-confidence: “Just once I need to trust my gizzard.” I should certainly hope so.”

 

Zack Snyder Says “NO 3D” for ‘Sucker Punch’

Sep 4 |12:00

Photo & Article, Ryan, ReelzChannel.com

“The one sticking point is Snyder, however, who admitted in July that he wasn’t sure about the conversion. Snyder’s other upcoming movie, the animated Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole will be in 3-D, but Snyder told Encore that he’s decided against 3-D for Sucker Punch.”

“It’s a definitive no. Maybe it’s Guardians‘ fault a little bit, because I’ve seen what really awesome 3D looks like. We talked about it at first, but I’ve been kind of broken by Guardians to the point that I said “Guys, there’s no way that we can do something that’s remotely close to Guardians, let’s not every try.”

“Snyder admits that “there’s a gap in the marketplace for high-end, perfectly done 3-D”and says that Australian animation and VFX company Animal Logic did convert a sequence from Sucker Punch that included a sequence where Emily Browning “has to fight a dragon and steal its fire,” but it seems it wasn’t enough to convince Snyder to do a full conversion. Snyder is clearly impressed with the 3-D work done in Guardians.”

“Not to compare myself to anything else, but I feel like we’ve created a really amazing 3D experience. Everyone has kind of said that 3D is the next thing, but no one has delivered that experience except for Avatar. This might be a breath of fresh air.”