2D Design - Title Sequence

The book/film/TV program selected is:

The Knife of Never Letting Go.

Overview of the key themes

Manipulation

Todd is surrounded by lies and is being manipulated by a majority of adults and the mayor the whole way through the series.

Rules

There are many rules in this new world like no books from the old world (they were burned) having to go ‘become’ a man through hunting and war and becoming part of the circle.

Language and Communication

Noise: this was a gift given to the humans when they landed on this planet but it did not affect the female population. Noise is when all thoughts are projected; the males took this as a curse even though it was meant to help them to become stronger as a unit.

War

This is a major theme because it surrounds Todd from the beginning. This is shown between himself and the rules, himself and the mayor and humankind against the original inhabitants of the planet.

Gender

This is a big issue as in Todd’s town they believe that women have been all killed off in a previous war although he soon learns that they haven’t. It becomes a coming of age story in that respect when a character from the old world reaches this planet and Todd has to learn all about women through her.

Individual vs. Society

In this first book of the trilogy it is Todd against everyone else as he tries to find out the truth.

Your creative idea

My idea was to create a sort of stop/stop animation through photoshop showing the lighter side of the book (animals that can talk) and gradually esculating it to the war. Although I did not manage to get this original idea into motion as I was on holiday. I instead touched on the animals and had the image burn like the history books that get burned like in the story.

INTRODUCTION

I started the title sequence with the introduction lines to the book. I made it seem like Todd himself was typing it which to be completely honest he couldn’t have because he doesn’t know how to read or write and I’m pretty sure all technology has been destroyed too. But I did it this way so that it would be like reading the first few lines of the book like it is written, from his point of view.

Project Planning & Schedule

Research Material

I did research on different types of silhouetted animals, different ways to draw clouds, different effects that could be used on Photoshop (burning) and also on different sound effects.

Typography

I choose the typography at the start because I felt that it suited the theme of it being typed a lot better than the type I used at the end. I usually wouldn’t use two types of font but they were fairly far away from each other in distance that I thought it would be okay. I used the cover of the books typography for the end. I originally thought I would try out different methods of making this myself but as I didn’t have the time I thought I would I ended up just photo shopping a picture of the cover of the book so that only the type was visible.

Colours Palette

I wanted to keep colour out of this as much as possible and try to keep more to the black white and red theme of the book’s cover. However to make the clouds seem nicer I needed to add blue and for the burning I needed to use different variants of brown.

Development Material

STORY

As mentioned above I eventually went with the story theme of the books being burned with a touch of my original idea.

Storyboard

DESIGN & DESIGN DEVELOPMENT

Visual Design

Everything I made was straight from Photoshop, though I did do a few sketches first so that I could trace around it on Photoshop and finish its creation there.

Sound

I used a song called Monster by Meg&Dia. I used a remix of this song as I thought its build up would suit the scene I had made. I did quite a lot of editing on the sound. I also included sound effects of people typing and scratching a pencil across paper.

PHOTOSHOP PRODUCTION

Timing

I never really have an issue with timing; well at least I don’t think I do. I spent about a half an hour making sure that all the sound was in time with my images.

Reflective Analysis

I do not regret taking my holiday but however I do regret it being in the middle of all this course work. I think that when I’m finished this course, if I don’t happen to be kept on through work placement, I will sit down and actually put as much time as possible into these assignments. I enjoyed every aspect of making this, but I really wish I could have gotten more if my ideas across. It also made me realise that some ideas are a lot harder to get across through Photoshop. Just one part of this assignment (the typing at the beginning) took about 157 images and though it may not look like a lot of work went into it, there really was hours placed into it. In conclusion I think that when I am to do this again it will not be around the time a holiday is booked that way I can actually sit down and put the time needed into it.