Imaginary Forces: Ray
I went back to the Imaginary Forces Website because I really liked their pieces. I picked the title film credits to the movie Ray.
First of all, throughout this piece, there is a black background, and through the first half of it, there is smoke that either overlays or masks the video that is playing. It starts off with the close up of the smoke and words fading in. There is no music playing in the background which gives the scene an interesting feel. Then it cuts to hands that make their way to the piano keys and begin to play a jazzy kind of piece.
As the extreme close up of the hands play, the smoke continues to billow as an overlay. When the key of the music changes, the angle of the camera also changes. It is now an overhead shot of the hands playing the piano. Still, the smoke is moving giving it a cool effect. However, in this case, I think it's serving more as a mask, or maybe it's just highlighting the places where it is the lightest.
A microphone (an older model) comes straight down to the camera. This gives a sense of the time frame this movie is taking place. There is no smoke, but the two lines of text in this part move closer together (moving: top to bottom and the other bottom to top). Instead of a fade in like used with the smoke, they chose to have the text move in a way like the microphone.
The next scene shows an extreme close up of an ashtray (looks like we found where the smoke was coming from) and in the background (not in focus) is (who we think is) the piano player. This transitions into the smoke alone again. Then a quick cut to a foot stamping in time. Next is a pan down a drumset cymbal being played as the drums come in with the music. Again, through all this, the smoke is moving over the video.
Some more close ups appear of the piano player's shirt, his hands playing etc. The title credit words are fading in. They are all golden yellow. Also, they seem to show an effective typography. The more important words are larger and, interestingly, in all lower case. For example, they wrote "A taylor hackford FILM". Taylor Hackford is in all lower case, but is significantly larger and thicker than "a" and "film." This helps the audience focus on the important name rather than the information that isn't as important.
There are some more shots of the drumset, the piano players shirt, and hands (all close ups.) There is no smoke during this part and therefore the text lines move towards each other rather than fading in. I thought this was a very subtle change, but also very effective.
A shot of the hands playing from overhead is the next scene and as the scene zooms out it shows that it is the reflection from the sunglasses that the piano player is wearing. Once zoomed out to show the full glasses, the word Ray comes in as if it is being drawn. This not only shows us the title of the film, but it also identifies the mysterious piano player. We assume that he is Ray. As the face turns slightly the video fades to black leaving the golden letters there alone on the black background: very bold and very clear.
First of all, throughout this piece, there is a black background, and through the first half of it, there is smoke that either overlays or masks the video that is playing. It starts off with the close up of the smoke and words fading in. There is no music playing in the background which gives the scene an interesting feel. Then it cuts to hands that make their way to the piano keys and begin to play a jazzy kind of piece.
As the extreme close up of the hands play, the smoke continues to billow as an overlay. When the key of the music changes, the angle of the camera also changes. It is now an overhead shot of the hands playing the piano. Still, the smoke is moving giving it a cool effect. However, in this case, I think it's serving more as a mask, or maybe it's just highlighting the places where it is the lightest.
A microphone (an older model) comes straight down to the camera. This gives a sense of the time frame this movie is taking place. There is no smoke, but the two lines of text in this part move closer together (moving: top to bottom and the other bottom to top). Instead of a fade in like used with the smoke, they chose to have the text move in a way like the microphone.
The next scene shows an extreme close up of an ashtray (looks like we found where the smoke was coming from) and in the background (not in focus) is (who we think is) the piano player. This transitions into the smoke alone again. Then a quick cut to a foot stamping in time. Next is a pan down a drumset cymbal being played as the drums come in with the music. Again, through all this, the smoke is moving over the video.
Some more close ups appear of the piano player's shirt, his hands playing etc. The title credit words are fading in. They are all golden yellow. Also, they seem to show an effective typography. The more important words are larger and, interestingly, in all lower case. For example, they wrote "A taylor hackford FILM". Taylor Hackford is in all lower case, but is significantly larger and thicker than "a" and "film." This helps the audience focus on the important name rather than the information that isn't as important.
There are some more shots of the drumset, the piano players shirt, and hands (all close ups.) There is no smoke during this part and therefore the text lines move towards each other rather than fading in. I thought this was a very subtle change, but also very effective.
A shot of the hands playing from overhead is the next scene and as the scene zooms out it shows that it is the reflection from the sunglasses that the piano player is wearing. Once zoomed out to show the full glasses, the word Ray comes in as if it is being drawn. This not only shows us the title of the film, but it also identifies the mysterious piano player. We assume that he is Ray. As the face turns slightly the video fades to black leaving the golden letters there alone on the black background: very bold and very clear.
posted by Jessica | 2/19/2006 07:53:00 PM
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