Intro to motion graphics:
One of the first uses of the term “motion graphics” was by animator John Whitney, who co-founded Motion Graphics, Inc. in 1960 to create motion picture and television title sequences. However, motion graphics dates back to before electronic media, sometime back in the 1800’s with presentation flipbooks.
Motion graphics, in a nutshell, is any graphics that use technology to create an illusion of motion, transformation, or rotation in order to communicate messages through video and audio storytelling. Motion graphics includes things such as films, videos, animated text, and web-based animation, among other things and the field has quickly evolved as a direct result of improvements in technology.Saul Bass (1920-1996)
Practitioners:
Saul Bass (1920-1996)
Saul Bass is a great name in the field of motion graphics and is a major pioneer in the development of feature film title sequences. Although he had a memorable career as a graphic designer, his film titling work and poster design is what really made him stand out. His designs were simple, but they effectively communicated the mood of the films. Some noteworthy title sequences he created were for films such as The Man With The Golden Arm (1955), Psycho (1960), Goodfellas (1990), and Casino (1995.)
Check out a brief visual history of his most celebrated work in “The Title Design of Saul Bass”: https://vimeo.com/31992143
John Whitney (1917-1995)
John Whitney is considered to be one of the fathers of computer animation. In 1960, he was one of the first to use the term “motion graphics” when he founded Motion Graphics, Inc., in order to create motion picture and television title sequences through his own mechanical analogue computer invention. One of his most famous works was the animated title sequence from Alfred Hitchcock’s film “Vertigo” in 1958, collaborating with Saul Bass, which featured swirling graphics growing from small to large.
Vertigo Title Sequence: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DU0IVmBgsQ
Stan Brakhage (1933-2003)
Stan Brakhage is considered to be one of the most important figures in 20th-century experimental film. He explored a variety of formats, creating a large, diverse body of work. Some of his approaches and techniques included handheld camerawork, painting directly onto celluloid, fast cutting, in-camera editing, scratching on film, collage film, and the use of multiple exposures. You can see his influence in the credits of the film Seven (1995), designed by Kyle Cooper, with the scratched emulsion, rapid cutaways, and bursts of light in his style; this work received critical acclaim.
Pablo Ferro (1935-)
An American graphic designer and film titles designer, Pablo Ferro was a pioneer of quick-cut editing and multiple screen images animation (the first in film and television in 1963.) Winning over 70 national and international awards, his work is featured in popular films such as Philadelphia, Beetlejuice, Men in Black, and A Clockwork Orange. His titles and montage sequences have appeared in 12 Academy Award winning films.
See his design work in the compilation “Pable Ferro: A Career Retrospective”: https://vimeo.com/90413568
Norman McLaren (1914-1987)
As an animator and filmmaker, Norman McLaren was a pioneer in a number of areas of animation and filmmaking, including drawn-on-film animation, visual music, abstract film, pixilation and graphical sound. He developed a number of groundbreaking techniques for combining and synchronizing animation with music.
Kyle Cooper (1962-)
One of today’s major players in the motion graphics industry, Kyle Cooper is an American designer of motion picture title sequences. He studied under the great Paul Rand at Yale University and his work in film title design is often compared to Saul Bass. His work for the title sequence of Seven (with influences from Stan Brakhage) really raised the bar creatively, and you can see his work in other popular films such as the Spiderman Trilogy (2002, 2004, 2007), Sherlock Holmes (2009), and in popular TV shows including The Walking Dead (2010) and American Horror Story (2011.)
No comments:
Post a Comment