Media Diet
Film: Napoleon Dynamite Title Sequence
Napoleon Dynamite (2004) - Title Sequence
Napoleon Dynamite is a movie released in 2004, about an awkward teenage boy's journey through high-school along side his best friend, whilst simultaneously dealing with his bizarre family's lifestyle. I encountered this movie at a young age, and always took interest to its unique cinematography.
Who made it?
Title Design was done by Aaron Ruell, who also played Napoleon's brother in the film, with additional lettering done by Jared Hess and Pablo Ferro.
How did they make it?
In order to efficiently represent the small rural town, Idaho lifestyle (the setting of the film), they chose to embed the titles into aspects, specifically food, found within 'Napoleons' day to day.
The low-budget sequence was shot with only a 35mm camera and a Kino Flo in the cinematographer's basement, using free carpet samples as the backgrounds. In terms of the actual lettering, credit-names were handwritten in various sauces on dinner plates. Despite its simplicity, it's highly effective in communicating Napoleon's environment, introducing the audience to his way of life.
Here's an interview with Jared Hess discussing more about the title sequence:
Music Video: you should see me in a crown - Billie Eilish by Takashi Murakami
Billie Eilish and Takashi Murakami Music Video - 2019
I came across this music video during the release of Billie Eilish's debut album 'When we all fall asleep where do we go?', and as a fan of her's since she started releasing music, it immediately caught my attention due to the representation of her being abnormal in comparison to all her previous work. Additionally, I was really exited about the collaboration done with Takashi Murakami, as I have been a fan of his work since discovering him.
Who made it?
Takashi Murakami, a 63 year old Japanese artist directed and produced the music video alongside his animation team. In the video, Billie Eilish's 'BLOHSH' character is also used to symbolize the population of a town.
How did they make it?
Takashi stated "I sprinted throughout the production process with my animation team striving to realise Billie's vision in an unprecedented way". The animation studio Poncotan/Kaikai Kiki was in charge of the production and visual direction of the CG anime style animation, and spent only 8 months producing the piece.
TikTok: Fan-Made The Office US Edit
TikTok The Office US Edit by @lee.fx
Whilst scrolling through my 'For You' page on TikTok, I came across this comical yet impressive edit of one of my favorite TV show's, The Office US. The high-speed visual transitions are played to the song 'Money In The Grave' by Drake and Rick Ross.
Who made it?
The account on TikTok goes by @lee.fx, with only 370 followers, but a combined 203.8 thousand likes across the other film/show edits they have created. The Office US edit received just under a million views, and almost 190 thousands likes.
How did they make it?
The user stated that they use the application CapCut to create these edits, along side trending audio's in likely attempts to gain views on the platform. The short video starts with isolated type of the respective lyrics, and then proceeds to use icon clips from the show, using a plethora of transitions as well as overlays and cutouts of characters to form one homogeneous video encapsulating the shows contents.
What are the entry points?
To re-create a video similar to this style, I would have to become familiar to the video-editing platform of CapCut or Adobe After Effects, whilst respectively understanding how to correctly interact the video itself with music or trending audio's, to ensure the edit stays on-beat and gains attraction from viewers with similar interests.