Kyle Cooper

Kyle Cooper is an acclaimed title designer, art director and filmmaker. This is communicated to viewers of his 'Motion Graphics: Kyle Cooper Demo Reel' in a way that emphasises his creativity and unique sense of style. The video shows various different title sequences of many films and products such as 'Wimbledon', 'Superman Returns', 'Bewitched', 'Dawn of the Dead', 'Spider-Man 2', 'iMac G5'. The range in title sequences of films and adverts he producers shows his diverse style and ability to intrigue varying target audiences. It has been said that he 'single-handedly revitalized the main-title sequence as an art form.'

Cooper studied Graphic Design at the Yale School of Art and is now the founder of the two film design companies 'Imaginary Forces' and 'Prologue Films'.





The opening sequence of 'Seven' is introduced by a book where someone is flicking through the pages giving viewers a sense of an evil mind at work. The sequence includes many different short shots of the persons progress of the book as if they may be planning the destruction of something or someone as many different instruments of possible torture are being examined and observed therefore being captured on camera. The shots are seperated by the continuous blackening of the screen as the actors and casts names appear which signifies the presence of evil and mystery within the film. The shots at the beginning of the opening scene are very much showing the process of a characters plan. The credits of people’s names flicker on screen and abruptly disappear which sets a tense and atmospheric mood as nothing is constant. The non-diegetic music consists of a continuous beat and symbols, which seemingly acts as a heartbeat setting a steady pace. There are however added noises of what sounds like the creaking of instruments in use and the sounds of devices being handled. The actual title ‘SE7EN’ bears the font of a typewriter seeming official whereas the names are written in handwriting, which is more personal and gives the audience a sense of a plan being devised which is similar to the occurring activities of the shots. The significant book, which the title sequence revolves around, is opened and the character is seen to be continuously writing in it in the next shot. This suggests the character has been spending a lot of time and attention towards the contents. The sudden glimpse of a blurred red image fills the screen, which signifies blood and violence as well as danger. This could foretell the actions and events, which are to happen in the movie.
The next shot shows the character cutting and pasting a picture into the book, the object of the scissors being used sets a tense atmosphere as the person is very precise at the job and therefore completes the task at a slow pace which increases the tension. The scissors could also be used a tool for torture or violence. The next couple of shots are edited together and are shown at quick pace. Such as a shot where the characters fingers run along the edge of a photo, supposedly pasting it into the book when suddenly the image changes to a view of scattered newspapers whilst blood drips onto them signifying death and violence. However, the shot changes back to the picture pasted into the book quickly, hardly allowing any time for the viewers to digest what has been shown in the last shot which suggests this shot acts as a hint of what is to come in the movie in the way of a death. The non-diegetic high-pitched tones which are similar to angelic choir voices plays in the background which contrasts with the activities of the opening credits and sets an eerie atmosphere. The names of the credits are interrupted by flashing, scratched numbers, which could signify a possible code adding an aspect of mystery to the film. All the shots that have been shown so far have been close ups which emphasises the aspect of mystery within the film as the shots have been restricted to not allow too much to be given away as a means of visual proof. Again the aspect of mystery is being communicated as certain words in a newspaper article are being covered over with black pen which is a definite cynical colour connoting evil. The image of the newspaper then transforms into the image of a man’s face in which his eyes are being hidden under the similar ink of a black pen, suddenly his whole face has been scribbled over and the non diegetic music escalates in pace as the idea of destruction has been introduced. The colour of red now seems to be a recurring theme to the credits as the pictures being shown in the book become much more detailed and graphic in the pure horror of the image. As the non-diegetic beat of the music quickens the actions of the character match the pace as they may be becoming more hurried with anticipation. Dirtied fingers are shown to be threading a needle stained with blood, which emphasises the terror and disgust of the movie, hinting at death. The only words sung in the non-diegetic backing track are ‘You bring me closer to God’ as the character tweezers away a clipping of a dollar bill which reads the words ‘God’ therefore relating to the actions on screen and also suggest the event of murder as the lyrics imply a person is brought closer to God and an obvious way is as a result of death.

The spider-man title sequence is introduced to the audience with sinister non-diegetic music setting an atmosphere of potential terror. The whole of the title sequence is animated displaying the names intertwined in cobwebs which links to the title of the movie ‘Spider-man’ as spiders produce cobwebs. The letters making up the names of the members of cast bear the font of the renowned spider-man title which is an effective lead up to the start of the film. The twirling and erratic movements of the camera symbolise the similar movements spider-man as if the transition through out the title sequence is from spider-man’s point of view. As the title sequence progresses there is a significant increase in the colour red, which could symbolise danger, and violence, which possibly foreshadows the events of the movie. Also as the sequence goes on there is an introduction to spider-man’s features, displaying a punch movement signifying violence and power. The swift transition of the names also resembles spider-man’s movements, showing more and more of his features, steadily introducing the character. Another feature of the title sequence is the introduction of possible other characters within the movie, whom are enemies to spider-man and then transform into cobwebs which signifies the defeat of the enemies via the power of spider-man. The background scene transforms into the urban landscape of a city, which could be seen as intimidating. Spider-man is situated on the side of a high-rise building, which displays his courage and bravery giving an insight into the adventures of the main character. 

Investigating

We have researched into our target audience of 15-24 year olds and from our investigation we have realised a number of facts:

Boys:
1. The majority of boys want a film that is exciting.
2. Their favourite genres are thrillers.
3. They are influenced by what their friends say.
4. They like watching films that are realistic.

Girls:
1. Most girls want a film that makes them think about something.
2. They want an attractive lead actor or actress.
3. They are interested in how the trailer represents the film before they actually watch it.

25-55 year olds:
1. They mostly like films that are believable.
2. Their favourite genres are sci-fi and thriller.
3. What the film critics say helps them decided whether they want to watch the film.
4. They want a film which makes them think about life, love and the universe.

Back to the Drawing Board

After our failure of our first final idea, our group had to move forward and develop a different idea.

Therefore we came up with a different storyline under the sub genre of Conspiracy Thrillers. I have added details to the storyline that slightly differ from the rest of the groups versions but I believe this adds a realistic element to the opening scene.

The basic opening scene involves an autistic teenage boy on his laptop on the social networking site, Facebook. He is scrolling down his home page when he sees an advert on the side of the screen which is advertising a computer product. Since the boy is very interested in technology and gadgets his attention is easily diverted towards this. When he clicks on this advert a page of links and codes appears which he is intrigued by and starts to connect links between the numbers. There will be close up shots of certain numbers and letters of the codes which will then be followed by a montage showing the boy typing frantically, a close up of his eyes darting around the screen, more close ups of the numbers on the screen and then suddenly the screen changes to show the FBI headquarters. Then the screen will fade to black and the title will role. The storyline is very much based on the Gary McKinnon incident of him hacking into US military and NASA computers using the name 'Solo'.

We found inspiration from the movie 'Mercury Rising' as the little boy in the film is autistic and is able to break codes also and therefore becomes the focus of the plot because he hacks into the FBI mainframe.

Account of the Pitch and Feedback

I felt that our ideas in the pitch were presented very well and clearly although our teachers did pick up on a few problems which we noted for our feedback.

 

When the teachers reviewed our work and ideas for our thrillers we were given feedback in which we would have to take into account in order to improve our existing idea.

For my group our feedback consisted of:

Lose the idea of abduction fantasy and replace with another idea. A way of doing this may be to take the girl out of the equation and focus more on the Ugandan men plotting a plan.

Our idea can easily link to Kony research which has recently been in the news and was the subject of much speculation therefore this would be an interesting topic to research and possibly incorporate some of the matters into our thriller.

Possible outline of conspiracy thriller:

ACT 1 – main character discovers the conspiracy

ACT 2 – the process of revealing the conspiracy

ACT 3 – the exposure and reaction to the conspiracy

A major issue connected to our idea was the fact that the opening is set in Uganda, which consequently would be very hard for our group to film in the UK with a sense of realism.

It may just be that our idea is too much of a vast project to deal with in these circumstances. Therefore it would be wise to take the thriller from a different conspiracy angle. 

Our idea was not completely successful and we will have to return to the drawing board, they did approve of the idea but admitted that it was too big of a task to accomplish in one day. Therefore we are saving the idea for a later date. I thought the process was positive, as we worked very well as a group, which is a good start to our thriller project and it was very helpful to gain feedback from the experts of these student projects.

The feedback was not entirely positive, as we will have to return to the drawing board. The teachers did like the idea but admitted that it was too big of a task to accomplish in one day. Therefore we are saving the idea for a later date. 

Account of Developing 'The Third World' Idea

My group decided on our idea of ‘The Third World’ after a lot of developing and discussion of ideas. However, we decided to present this idea as we thought it possessed the most potential to produce an exciting and exhilarating thriller. The idea of ‘The Third World’ gradually evolved from a discussion of basing our storyline on the epic plot of ‘Taken’ as the mother of a daughter is captured by a group of Ugandan thugs because of, the added element, the girl finding out about a well-kept secret within Ugandan communities. This meant our thriller was to be based on a conspiracy theory, which added a sense of realism to the idea which we thought was vital and therefore we could research similar happenings that have occurred in the real world. Personally, I thought this idea was very good and included some very fascinating aspects but I could see a few flaws in the plot such as the issue of the location Uganda, as we are in England it would be very hard to make the location look anything like Uganda. However, we went forward with the idea and decided to communicate our ideas in a PowerPoint presentation including separate slides on the storyline, setting, lighting, costume, actors, props etc. This covered all aspects of our idea well and I believe we presented it clearly as a group, choosing two girls to talk about the idea and two girls to note the feedback from our teachers on our idea. 

Ugandan Children

 

Our Thriller Idea

Thriller Sub-Genres

The Conspiracy Thrillers

Normally the main character within the film is a protagonist. They are most often journalists or investigators who become tied up in a full blow investigation of a conspiracy. It is typical that the villains in the movie cause trouble and the heroic characters endeavour to solve the problems. There is often a narrative in the movie, which is similar to the style of a detective story in a murder mystery. The heroic character of either a journalist of investigator comes across troubles on the way in the form of propaganda or lies, which complicate the situation and build on the conspiracy. Apart of the conspiracy may be a hidden secret of history

Examples of Conspiracy thrillers include: The Conversation, The Bourne Identity, Eagle Eye, and All the President’s Men.

The Political Thriller

A political thriller is one that has the background of a struggle in power of politics. They sometimes involve aspects of political events happening in reality to add a believable aspect to the thriller. Some usual themes used in political thrillers are terrorism and warfare. Usually the party in power have ideas to take complete control. Normally the basic plot consists of an innocent person examining information, which leads to total and complete political or governmental corruption.

Examples of Political thrillers include: The Ghost Writer, Green Zone, Night Train to Paris, and Seven Days to Noon.

The Spy Film

The Spy film genre involves fictional trickery and the preparing of a cleverly assembled trap. It is a sub-genre of both thriller and action.  A spy film could either be portrayed in a realistic way, such as John Le Carre, or based on a fictional idea, such as James Bond. Spy films are a strength of British Cinema as James Bond is famously British. There are many leading British directors of Spy films such as Alfred Hitchcock and Carol Reed. Their films involve plots set in the British Secret Service. The Spy film has transformed from Nazi espionage thrillers in the 1940s to James Bond in the 1960s to highly edited blockbusters of today. The films often involve technological scares where characters escape to exotic locations. The spy film involves the action and science fiction genres.

Examples of Spy films include: James Bond, Hanna, Salt, and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.

Psychological Thriller

The psychological thriller is a sub-genre heavily associated with the possible emotionally unstable state of mind the character possesses. It can be combined with a mystery and thriller. The genre of psychological thrillers often overlaps with the genres of drama and mystery, and horror. Psychological Thrillers are based on the battle of the mind, where the character relies on their mental resources to gain the equilibrium of their state of mind, completely abandoning their physical strength, which are a vital aspect of the movie in many action-thrillers to overcome the protagonist’s enemies. In movies, which are bracketed within the sub-genre of psychological thrillers, characters playing misleading games with each other in order to destroy the other’s mental state create the suspense.  Within the movie Inception, Christopher Nolan displays the themes of perception, realism, mind and identity.

Examples of the psychological thriller include: Inception, Silence of the Lambs, Seven, Black Swan, Psycho, The Eye, Paranormal Activity, and Shutter Island.

Techno-thrillers

Techno thrillers are normally focused on science fiction and thrillers. The films under this genre normally have an unequal amount of technical details on the main subject matter. The plot includes explorations of secretive workings of technology and the procedure of different disciplines. As technology is a key aspect to everyday life in most countries today, most modern thrillers are ‘techno-thrillers’. The genre of techno-thrillers is often merged with hard science fiction and conspiracy fiction. Techno thrillers often have a wide choice in the narrative however world wars are a common topic chosen. The characteristics of a movie of this genre are focus on current or realistic futuristic technology as well military action. 

Examples of techno-thrillers include: Westworld, Jurassic Park and Die Hard 4.0.

Supernatural Thriller

Supernatural Thrillers incorporate fantasy elements into the film as well as tension and added suspense with plot twists. The protagonist is almost always in danger but possesses a superpower or alternatively the villain has a power of some kind. The film may have numerous different subjects such as ghosts, the ability to see the dead, and demons. There is a noticeably reduced amount of action within the film as the main attention goes towards the suspense and build up of tension within the film through altering the storyline.

Examples of supernatural thrillers include: Shelter, The Sixth Sense, Fallen, What Lies Beneath, and The Others.