Finding inspiration

- In this movie we're going to talk about finding inspiration for your title sequence. I'm joined here with fellow collaborator Aaron Stern. So great to be here with you Aaron. And sometimes when I think about title sequences, I am so impressed how far we've come from the days of Alfred Hitchcock's title sequences all the way to "Seven", which was a big transitional time when it came to title sequences that appeared in a David Fincher movie. Wouldn't you agree? - Absolutely. I think this is one of the most interesting times to live in, especially when computers got involved and things started to be super crazy and complicated at the same time. - Yeah. And you know, there being complete companies that work with title sequences alone, and sometimes even have the same budget as it is for potentially the entire feature film Regardless, it's always great to be granted an inspiration when you're creating your title sequence and Aaron and I thought we would share a few of our own personal, personal things that we find inspirational when it comes to title sequences. To me, I'm going to start with a few books. One that's a little bit old. It's called "Type in Motion 2". It's written by Matt Woolman, but what's cool about this is you can see all of these title treatments all the way from, you know, something as simple as commercials to HBO and MTV and AMC, and their title treatments for a variety of shows in the nineties and early 2000s. Again, it's a little bit dated this book, but a lot of these design and styles still exist today and still hold up in a large amount of productions. I want to combine that book with "Design for Motion". It actually happens to be by Austin Shaw. He is a professor at SCAD University and just has a variety of tips that he recommends when it comes to thinking about a title sequence and how much preparation is involved before you actually even start to click buttons in your motion graphic or VFX editor of choice. You know, the staging for storyboarding and how much thought goes into a title sequence. I just love this book. And if you're just into watching title sequences, I'm sure you've been there many times like me, Aaron, the Art of the Title, great site, collecting title sequences that are beautifully done, both VFX and motion graphic-wise. What about you? What do you draw from inspiration when it comes to mixing titles with, whether it be video or photography or just overall motion graphic design? - So for me, the big thing or the biggest thing in life is music. I remember myself as a child browsing through those records and sometimes buying stuff just because I loved the cover art. So here are a few examples like this one from Yazoo, this eerie picture with this great photography. I didn't even got what it was all about. I just picked up the record and it's actually amazing. I'm a big collector of maxi singles, thanks to the amazing cover art as well as the content. But look at this typography, the colors, everything's so vivid, just great. And sometimes, you know, less is more and we will talk about it in this course. So this is like a minimalism approach by New Order. And this is something that you can almost touch the type, a great use of Helvetica, still works, also fantastic music. When it comes to minimalism, I guess you will agree this cover art is just amazing, "Too Low for Zero", Elton John, one of my favorite albums. I like the arrangement of this Joe Jackson Live album. This is a double album. Everything here is brilliantly made. And this guy, the late David Bowie, I miss him so much, but all of his things, everything that he touched and did, just typical inspiration for me every time. And I can't afford to miss this great pop-up thing from Frankie Goes to Hollywood, "Rage Hard". I drew so much just by watching it, feeling the music and actually holding it in my hand. A few books that I always come back to. One of them is the "New Guide to Illustration and Design" by Simon Jennings. Once again, this is an oldie, but goldie. So a lot of basic stuff here. And of course my hero Ina Saltz, Ina Saltz, sorry, you can find it here in LinkedIn learning. And this is "Typography Essentials", one of her books. And this is just a journey into typography, brilliantly done, greatly arranged. And I'm going to just mention two things, which are like big part in my life in terms of inspiration, which is humor. So, first one is Mordillo. This is a comic thing without even words, so many great inspiration, great stuff. And of course "The Far Side" by Gary Larson, which just nails it every, in every single illustration. And of course the worldwide web. One of my dailies is the Motionographer website where I visit almost every day. - Yeah, that's a fantastic website, and, you know, to add to that, I love to put things in on Pinterest to collect them as a reminder of things that I do find inspiring on the worldwide web, great way to bookmark and share this inspiration amongst your followers on that channel. I have several collections from people who inspired me about the Northern Lights, which then inspired me taking some awesome photos and doing some typographic treatments with them as well. So I think it's just, it's awesome to find or ground yourself in inspiration and use that as a tool to carry you forward through the creation of your title sequence.