Kyle Cooper

 

 

Kyle Cooper

 

 

Kyle Cooper, born July 1962 in Salem, Massachusetts, USA , is a creator of movie title sequences. He has directed over 150 title sequences, including successful movies, such as Iron Man, Sherlock Holmes, Zoolander, Spider-Man and Se7en. He has earned five Emmy Award nominations and one win for his work on the 81st Annual Academy Awards

He studied graphic design at Yale University and earned an M.F.A. and whilst working as a creative director created the title sequence for the 1995 American crime film , se7en. He is the founder of two internationally recognized film design companies, Imaginary Forces (created in 1996) and Prologue Films (created in 2003). It has been said that Cooper was "almost single-handedly revitalizing the main-title sequence as an art form". Cooper holds the honorary title of Royal Designer for Industry given by the Royal Society of Arts in London. He has claimed that his influence into his career choice was Stephen Frankfurt's opening title sequence for To Kill A Mockingbird. He is well renowned for his title sequences. He was one of five title designer to present his work at the Flux/Forget the Film, Watch the Titles event in The Hammer Museum in L.A. 2009. In 2008, he was a finalist in the National Design Awards.

One title sequence of Cooper's that I will analysing is the critically-aclaimed title sequence of se7en.

What we see while watching this sequence is the creation of some kind of handwritten book or scrapbook, we see pictures developing and being stuck into the book.We see through the opening sequence that a lot of care and detail has gone into making this book. Newspaper articles are shown with topics like how smell can affect a woman and about transsexuals. There are many developed photographs of people that show the people in compromising situations. The credits are jumpy and the music is very low and tense, the music builds to a climax and therefore builds tension. The entire sequence is jumpy. The non-diegetic music creates a suspenseful atmosphere.

Another movie that I will be analysing is the opening sequence for Spiderman.



The first thing noticeable was the non-diegetic music that gave a triumphant yet ominous feel to the opening sequence. We see the camera climb along what becomes a spiders web, and it becomes apparent that we are going through a spiders web and we could be a spider. We also see spiderwebs being shot by spiderman. We go on an adventure through the webs. Later on in the credits we almost become spiderman. The non-diegetic music quietens and a voice-over from Peter Parker begins.
By Alice Gamble