Speechless.

(Simpson’s parody of Mad Men title sequence)

After watching these sequences and trying to make my own animated text, I thought about what Kurt Vonnegut said about writing:

“When I write, I feel like an armless, legless man with a crayon in his mouth.”

There’s so much I want to be able to do with After Effects…make really cool stuff like these pieces we watched, but I just can’t do it yet.  Which is to say, I loved watching these title sequences so much it kind of hurts a little.  I would love to be able to do something like Cirque de Freak, which was, by far, my favorite title sequence.  The Circque de Freak title sequence had such strong narrative.  Every little frame seemed almost like a mini-story in itself, so beautifully and darkly illustrated.   I loved the music, and how the animation went perfectly with it’s dramatic orchestration.  I loved all the different, constantly moving camera angles zooming in and out and swinging with a whoosh into the next scene.  I loved the creative way they played with text—using spider webs, snakes and puppet masters as muses.  I loved the layered sepia toned water color look of the background. I love all the shadows.  I love how it seems to be shot from the perspective of some very low to the ground creature, like a spider, and then zooms up high and gives the perspective of a soaring eagle.  I loved the imagination it took to create it, the trees reaching down with their limbs to grab the puppets, everything being eaten and swallowed, showing text as hair growing out of follicles on the head…the birds flying towards us in a huge flock.  The thing was so good I could hardly stand it.

I’ve always loved the title sequences for Mad Men.  It’s the only show I watch where I don’t fast forward through the subtitles and watching it never seems to get old for me.  It doesn’t hurt that I love the score for the show (that drum beat kills me every time)—but the visuals are just perfect for it.  They perfectly illustrate a story too.  I love the falling motion and the existential feel of the sequence.  It seems perfect for illustrating that time period in 50’s of unsustainable materialism and ideals and it’s fitting that a mysterious enigma like Don Draper is a black silhouette, falling into oblivion from a skyscraper.  It’s just so beautifully done, enviably cool and sophisticated.   I love all the fifties imagery that goes on during the fall, and it’s all very sexy with the legs and the fishnet stockings and the bare foot, and the falling motion makes it all feel like a very fleeting pleasure, which kind of enhances that feeling.  I love the black and red font.  It’s amazing that they did something so powerful that says so much in so little time—only 36 seconds!

I also love the title sequences for Archer.  The brightly colored background background and black character animation and color palate and retro style.  I love the way the white dot for the “I” travels through the entire sequence, providing a thread of continuity.  I thought that was really creative.  Very short and fun title sequence.