Artists
use Adobe After Effects to create the
opening title sequence for "The Talented Mr. Ripley"
Adobe After Effects
stars in creating the opening title sequence for The Talented Mr. Ripley
 |
|
Click
image for larger view
TM & Copyright 1999 by Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved |
Nominated for five
Golden Globe awards and considered an Oscar contender for Best Picture,
current box office hit The Talented Mr. Ripley features a critically acclaimed
director/screenwriter (Anthony Minghella of The English Patient fame),
a stellar cast of young stars (Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Jude Law),
sumptuous locations (New York and several cities in Italy)…and one of
the longest opening title sequences (eight minutes, or 11,800 frames)
to be animated and composited entirely on a desktop computer, using After
Effects 4.1.
The team of title designer Deborah Ross of Deborah Ross Film Design and
animator Trish Meyer of CyberMotion have collaborated on several movies
in the past, including Now and Then, Out to Sea and Almost Heroes. Rather
than sticking to one recognizable style, each project has featured a different
look -with a correspondingly different set of technical and artistic challenges.
"The title sequence of a film is like the frame around a painting: it
should enhance and comment on what is 'inside', alerting and sensitizing
the viewer to the emotional tones, the story ideas, and the visual style
which will be found in the work itself," notes the well-known film editor
on Ripley, Walter Murch. "The title sequence is the membrane which must
both contain the work and yet let it breathe."
You're In The '50s
The majority of the story takes place in Italy, where Tom Ripley (Matt
Damon) attempts to take over the life of Dickie Greenleaf (Jude Law) and
ultimately finds himself in ever deepening hot water. The opening sequence
tells the backstory that triggers this unfortunate chain of events. The
design goals were to reinforce the time period (1958), and the place (New
York City), without having to spell it out for the audience. In the words
of Anthony Minghella, "if we could channel Saul Bass" (the father of modern
film title design, perhaps best known for his work on Hitchcock thrillers)
he would be thrilled. Music - and in particular, jazz - is a constant
backdrop throughout the movie. To play on this, Deborah Ross drew on '50s
and '60s album cover art from the famous jazz label "Blue Note", which
includes liberal use of colored shapes, tints, and text. Sections of the
film were tinted with animated bars of color, which move in, frame a title,
and then segue into another treatment. "This underscored the dueling musical
themes of jazz versus classical in the story, as well as the bohemian
'coolness' of the period," comments Ross.
 |
|
Click image
for larger view image |
The credits themselves
appear in a funky typewriter font (Obsolete from Aerotype), reinforcing
the Blue Note look, as well as the fact that Ripley later appropriates
Dickie's typewriter to forge letters. The main title itself includes the
words "The," "Mr." and "Ripley" set in Adobe Helvetica Condensed, sliced
up and compressed, Blue Note-style. In between is a rapid, overlapping
blur of adjectives that describe Ripley's qualities, ending on the word
"Talented."
In the biggest nod to Saul Bass, transitions between major sections employed
animated bars as masks that reveal the next scene. Sometimes, these bars
echo playful piano keys (Ripley is a pianist); other times, they are jagged
shapes "that foretell the disturbing psychological aspects of the story,"
as Ross explains.
Continued
on Page [2]