American Horror Story: Cult (2017) Kyle Cooper

Cult is the seventh season of the FX horror anthology television series American Horror Story, It is quite obvious that the genres of this series are Horror/ Supernatural horror.

The general colour of the opening title was green, and the lighting was quite dark, which was creepy

Kyle Cooper Biography

Kyle Cooper
American designer known for his work creating title sequence. He has produced and directed over 350 visual effects sequences and main title sequences across a broad array of film and various broadcast mediums.

In his childhood, Cooper spent his days obsessed with sketching monsters. He was fascinated by comic books, monster makeup books and horror movies. He has always wanted to be a film director.

For education, he worked at interior design for the graduate degree, then he went to Yale University to earn his Master of fine arts in graphic design in 1988.

After graduating from M.F.A from the Yale School of Art, Cooper went on to work at  R/GA (then known as R/Greenberg Associates) from 1988 to 1996.  During this period, Cooper created the title sequence for the 1995 American crime film Seven (1995 film), a seminal work which received critical acclaim and is credited for inspiring a number of younger designers for years to come. According to Cooper, at the time he made the title sequence for Seven, main title sequences were behind what was happening in print, music videos, and commercials. Cooper has stated he aimed to create main titles that would raise the bar creatively for future title sequences.

INTERVIEW

Title sequence

Analysing Titles

We have been looking at the opening sequence of The Guardians of the Galaxy VOL 2( 2017)

The order of credit:

“MARVEL STUDIOS” (Company Logo. “The Money” – the producer)

“Marvel Studios Present”

“A James Gunn Film” (The Director)

“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2” (Title of the film)

Chris Pratt (MAIN ACTOR/MAIN STAR)

Zoe Saloana (Actor 2)

Dave Bautista (Actor 3)

“Featuring Vin Diesel” (Actor 4)

“Bradley Cooper, as Rocket” (Actor 5)

Michael Rooker (Actor 6)

Karen Gillan (Actor 7)

Pom Klemontieff (Actor 8)

Elizabeth Debicki (Actor 9)

Chris Sullivan (Actor 10)

Sean Gunn. Tommy Flanaghan, Laura Haddock (Actors 11, 12,13)

“With Silvester Stallone” (Actor 14)

“AND Kurt Russell” (Actor 15)

“CASTING BY”

“ASSOCIATE PRODUCER”

“MUSIC SUPERVISOR”

“MUSIC BY”

“VISUAL EFFECTS SUPERVISOR”

“COSTUME DESIGNER”

“EDITED BY”

“PRODUCTION DESIGNER”

“DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY”

“CO-PRODUCERS”

“EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS”

“EXECUTIVE PRODUCER 1”

“EXECUTIVE PRODUCER 2”

“EXECUTIVE PRODUCER 3”

“PRODUCED BY”

“WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY” (The directors second mention)

The genres of this opening sequence are action, comedy, sci-fi. We can see these from the location of the scene, it's on the space ship, and the characters are fighting against the huge monsters which do not exist in the real-life, while the little tree man is listening to the music and dancing, which is quite different compare with the boom, fire in the background. 

The opening scene introduced the main characters and their relationship between the tree man, that they are quite protective to him. Also, the tree man has the longest screen time, which means he is the lead character over the whole film.

JAMES BOND film, Skyfall(2013)

Albert R. Broccoli's

Eon Productions LTD.

Daniel Craig as Ian Fleming's James Bond 007 in

Skyfall

Starring:

Javier Bardem

Ralph Fiennes

Naomie Harris

Bérénice Lim Marlohe

Ben Whishaw

Rory Kinnear Ola Rapace

with Albert Finney

Judi Dench as M

Co-Producers Andrew Noakes, David Pope

Script Superior Jayne-Ann Tenggren

Sound Recordist Stuart Wilson

Electrical Superior John Higgins

The main elements of the opening sequence are graphic design, so the visual effect is the main way to show the atmosphere.

The first scene of the opening sequence was James Bond sinking and he has the longest screen time over the opening sequence, so obviously, he is the lead character in this film. Also, he is holding a gun or bleeding in some scenes, There are lots of designs of skull and guns, and James Bond is quite famous from the film series, so most of the audiences would recognize this is an action movie.

In the title, the camera keep moving forward, which make a strong and smooth, sense of space movement. There are some scenes of the body curve of women, which is associated with sex and love. The lyric of the background music is quite related to the film. The general colour of the opening sequence is dark and blue, which give depression mood. Also, the design of distorted shape and the close up of iris making the atmosphere more mysterious.

Roles involved in the production process

-Production
production refers to the tasks that must be completed or executed during the filming or shooting. This includes tasks such as setting up scenes, the capture of raw footage, and usage of set designs, to name a few of the many pre-production tasks. Production is the second step in film creation. It follows the pre-production phase and evolves into the post-production stage.

-Distribution
the process of making a movie available for viewing by an audience. This is normally the task of a professional film distributor, who would determine the marketing strategy for the film, the media by which a film is to be exhibited or made available for viewing, and who may set the release date and other matters. The film may be exhibited directly to the public either through a movie theatre or television, or personal home viewing (including DVD, video-on-demand, download, television programs through broadcast syndication). For commercial projects, film distribution is usually accompanied by film promotion.

-Marketing
Marketing refers to activities undertaken by a film company to promote the buying or selling of a product or service. Marketing includes advertising, selling, and delivering products to consumers or other businesses.

-Exhibition
Refers to public screening, usually for paying customers in a site devoted to such screenings, the movie theatre. What the exhibitor sells is the experience of a film. Because exhibitors to some extent control how films are programmed, promoted and presented to the public, they have considerable influence over the box-office success and, more importantly, the reception of films. (e.g. Film Festival)

Roles on set

-Producer
A person responsible for the financial and managerial aspects of making a film.

-Director of Photography
Assists the film director by establishing the visual look of the movie. (DP tells the story through the artistic and technical decisions you make regarding lighting, film stock, shot selection, camera operation and other elements.)

-Camera Operator
Camera operator is a professional operator of a film camera or video camera as part of a film crew. 

-Set Designer
Someone who creates and designs sets for plays, films or television productions

-Editor
A film editor is a mechanic who removes the unneeded and fits pieces of film together to make a finished movie

What is genre?

Genre- A category on 'type' of film, characterised by similarities in form, style or subject matter.









Western

Action

Horror

Sub-Genre- A sub-category within a particular genre.

Rom-com 


Hybrid Genre- Genre that blends themes and elements from two or more different genres

Horror (Vampire), Western, Romance.