Overview
Film director and editor Michael Wiley needed a title card and main-on-end credit sequence for his narrative short film, Man on the Street. The film explores themes of perseverance over failure, awkward humor, and finding support in unexpected places.
Approach
Mr. Wiley desired a title card reminiscent of that in 1982 feature film The King of Comedy, to design the title card as a sort of logo with varying character weights for added emphasis. Incorporating a pop-on effect of each individual word in the title, a more subdued text layout was approved and we ultimately nixed the idea of the title card occurring over a typical Scorsese freeze frame. Further, to evoke the feeling of films made in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, a slight and random x-y position shift of all graphics mimic the slight variation of position film frames experience while passing through the gate of a camera and optical printer. A subtle blur and chromatic aberration completed the look. The same visual treatment was applied in the film's credit sequence.
Select Screenshots of the opening title sequence of Scorsese's The King of Comedy
Initial options presented with iconic freeze frame homage to Scorsese
Round two of options to settle on scale and color
Select screen grabs from the film's credit sequence
Reflection
I was glad to take part and contribute to someone else's passion project. Helping to stylize and unify on-screen graphics can truly complement and elevate a picture. I personally prefer subtle treatments for titles and credit sequences and Mr. Wiley and I spoke the same language on this one. This title card and credit sequence was an opportunity to demonstrate the use of subtle technique to rouse a nostalgic quality without drawing particular attention to the processes of production, making them relatively invisible.
Final outputs
