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0Job:01212 Title: Basics typography (AVA)
1st Proof Page:101001-184 01212.indd 101001-184 01212.indd 101 12/19/08 3:09:30 PM12/19/08 3:09:30 PM100—101
Se7en fi lm title – Imaginary Forces
Kyle Cooper co-founded Imaginary Forces, one of the world’s
most prominent fi lm design companies. Having directed over
150 fi lm title sequences, Cooper managed to draw attention
to the genre of fi lm title design like nobody else since Saul
Bass in the 1950s and Pablo Ferro in the 1960s. With his title
sequence for Se7en in 1995, Kyle Cooper effectively applied
‘scratchy’ aesthetics to motion graphics. Cooper drew text
information directly on to the fi lm material. On the celluloid,
the ink could easily be manipulated. By pasting the results
on to a seemingly random collage of background imagery,
Cooper gave the title sequence a scrappy, handmade look.
Some of Cooper’s fi rst independent title sequences followed
a similar stylist approach. What prevails in his later work
is his insatiable curiosity about new ways of typographic
manipulation. In 2003, Cooper moved on to create Prologue
Films, another fi lm design company of international repute.Film title sequencesFilm title sequences can be seen as
the origin of motion graphics and of
transitional typography. However,
fi lm titles initially consisted of static
title cards only. In silent cinema,
title cards also helped to convey
dialogues. The introduction of
sound brought little improvement
to the basic treatment of text
information. Only when fi lms were
distributed in colour, towards the
end of the 1950s, were fi lm titles
given more attention. During the
1960s various graphic designers,
including Maurice Binder and Pablo
Ferro, thrived on the challenge of
packaging fi lms. A new genre of
graphic communication was born.Job:01212 Title: Basics typography (AVA)
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