Earlier quoted context omitted.
Same thing happened to Tolkien and fantasy literature.
I read LOTR in the early 70s. There was nothing else like it then.
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The title cards in Blade Runner are amazing
171–180 of 221 posts
Re: The title cards in Blade Runner are amazing
#172> Like when you buy a car, and all you see is your new car on the road.
Fun fact: the reason all car commercials sound the same, and distinctly different from other types, is that people tend to pay attention to them, but only when they're in the market for a car.
--source: ex worked as copywriter for ad agency
Re: The title cards in Blade Runner are amazing
#173Well, besides the language and the typeface, the other element of this sequence at the beginning of Blade Runner that makes it so special is the accompanying score by Vangelis, and the sound effects that start with twinkling computer notes and gradually build in volume to explosions and the whoosh of futuristic vehicles. It effectively immerses viewers into this incredible world and story.
I've always wondered what was causing the explosions. I've seen the movie dozens of times, and if they explained it, I missed it.
Re: The title cards in Blade Runner are amazing
#174Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah, there’s a bunch of these. I really like finding these sorts of “ur-“ moments, the first time a way of doing things really crystallizes into something other practitioners can see. The Matrix is another one - that movie is the transition point from 90s cinema to the 2000s, and it’s a little clunky from a 2000s viewpoint, but if you look at everything that came before it, it’s so clearly a turning point.
Stop trying to steal The Matrix. It was released in 1999, that's OUR movie. You get the sequels.
I have escaped the Matrix [bits and bytes world];
But entered the Gastrics (juice) [ie flesh and bones world]
Re: The title cards in Blade Runner are amazing
#175The skyline was inspired by north east England, Middlesbrough Teesside. ICI was one of the largest chemical sites in the world. Ridley Scott had studied at Teesside Polytechnic and took inspiration from the Imperial Chemical Industries that over looked Middlesbrough. One side of the skyline in the area you see towers and smoke billows and roaring flames, the other picturesque north Yorkshire moors and Odins Mount. Quite a contrast.
Re: The title cards in Blade Runner are amazing
#176Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's one of those "lies programmers believe" kind of things - we like to think that there is one definitive "notation" of a piece of music - but even when there IS accurate sheet music, it only tells part of the story. Music before recordings was much closer to jam-band style than people realize; and in the Middle Ages you could hear substantial differences in the same song just by traveling a few tens of miles.
When I was in high school band, there was a music store where I would go purchase my saxophone reeds. And as it was the 1980s, most of the music store floor space held racks of sheet music in books and quartos and so forth. Now, I had learned music theory and sheet music, which immediately disqualified me from a career in punk rock. But the music store sold modern pop music as well. It wasn't long before I had Tina T…
This is definitely a thing. I remember buying the Metallica black album tab book and there was one section in there with a chord that was literally impossible to play as written. I can't remember exactly where it was, but it was a two note chord on adjacent strings with an impossible to cover distance between them.
Re: The title cards in Blade Runner are amazing
#177Blade Runner is absolute perfection in every aspect. It’s crazy how deep Ridley Scott has fallen since
I still enjoy some of his later works. James Cameron on the other hand - boggles my mind that he wants to waste his remaining years on that Avatar dreck.
Re: The title cards in Blade Runner are amazing
#178Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, no doubts. But why does the author think that in this case such process was followed, and was so successful to deserve the "amazing" adjective? How did this specific design manage to convey the intended feeling? Was it better than the proto version that was never released? It's like someone recommending a restaurant saying "tastes good", with no details to back up such assertion.
The evidence is the output - sure, they could’ve been throwing dice for every decision and landed at this spot out of pure luck, but that’s not a hypothesis that’s likely to hold up under scrutiny.
Here's a visual listicle of "the 10 best opening title sequences of all time". (Epilepsy warning: a lot of flashing in #10) - they compare and contrast and highlight how their picks stand out against others.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8twthdaqB8
Not only is this a better example of film (title) criticism, the titles they pick are also more amazing.
Re: The title cards in Blade Runner are amazing
#179Earlier quoted context omitted.
What’s sort of funny about that is there’s a normal thing whenever anyone who hasn’t seen it watches Blade Runner for the first time - often they come out feeling it’s kind of derivative, when the truth is that it feels that way because everything after Blade Runner copied Blade Runner. Add the initial title cards to that list too now, I guess.
It's been reported that William Gibson saw Blade Runner before releasing Neuromancer and was worried that people would think he stole ideas from Blade Runner, as the aesthetic of Blade Runner was so close to the way he imagined the Neuromancer world. Now in turn people are worried that the Apple TV adaptation of Neuromancer will feel derivative because so many subsequent works are its hereditary kin. What can ya do?
I've seen a few people complain that the first trailer for the Neuromancer TV show looks "too bright" or "too clean." I think the real difference is that they're consciously trying to avoid that Blade Runner aesthetic, which includes avoiding the "never get brighter than dusk" trope.
Re: The title cards in Blade Runner are amazing
#180I also appreciate this was before the trend of animating the opening credits by increasing the kerning. I'm sure graphic designers today would consider it boring and low effort/energy. It's giving lame. Or some such criticism.
same thing happened on the web, letter-spacing/tracking reveal on scroll is basically the default hero animation now. felt premium a few years back, now it just kinda signals template