Design: February 2008 Archives
Remember the classic titles from the original Superman film, with each line coming at you from the depths of space leaving a laser like three-dimensional trail? Kyle Cooper, in respect to those original titles, reinterpreted the idea for the 21st Century update Superman Returns and, by capitalising on new technologies, took us round planets and into solar systems on a one man solo flight through space. Watching the sequence reminds me fondly of all the times I’d creep downstairs as a child before anyone was up, slip the dusty Superman VHS into the recorder, and sit there, entranced by the story I knew almost better than my own name. And don’t pretend all you guys didn’t do the same...
It’s this kind of emotional resonance that Cooper, the man behind such legendary title sequences as Donnie Brasco and David Fincher’s Seven, aims for in all his work, and it’s the reason his new company, Prologue Films, has that name: for Cooper, the film titles are not simply a means to deliver information, but the first scene of the story at large - a prologue, much like Stephen Frankfurt’s eerie sequence for To Kill a Mockingbird (see below), a piece of work that continues to influence Cooper even today:
“Achieving that poetic intimacy and melancholy, that’s very difficult,” he recently told Eye Magazine. “But the thing is, we have a tremendous platform, yet what are doing with it? There’s something redeeming about always doing the best you can. Doing something positive that advances other kinds of messages and doesn’t just entertain the culture - it does matter.”
Cooper won’t ever underestimate the significance of good design in film.
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As the digital age makes everything faster, cleaner and more and more perfect, who from time to time doesn’t crave a little imperfection in their lives? A 12” in their hand, not an MP3 on their pod; the unpredictability of a Moog, rather than the coldness of digital uniformity; or just the crackle of a film reel rather than clips viewed on a handheld screen?
Digital’s good. Analog’s good. Combine the two, and what do you get? Lots of things actually, among them the various creations of 45 iPod, an inventive little company that transforms old vinyl and cassettes into protective cases for both Classic and Nano iPods. The inspiration came from the realisation that the centre hole on a record matches the dimensions of the Classic touchwheel exactly, and so old vinyl is thus contorted into the shape of an iPod holder, with the centre hole framing the wheel exactly. They do a similar thing with old cassette tapes for the Nano. It’s analog meets digital in the truest sense.
The list of available cassettes and records to choose from is limited - the modest collection includes such luminaries as Pink Floyd, Depeche Mode, Culture Club and Stevie Wonder, to name but a few - so the next step, surely, would be to allow people to send in a record to be reborn as a case. But then, who would be willing to part with those treasured twelves in the first place? Oh the conundrum: to have it spinning on your 1210 or adorning your own digital library?
Stevie Wonder it is then...
Digital’s good. Analog’s good. Combine the two, and what do you get? Lots of things actually, among them the various creations of 45 iPod, an inventive little company that transforms old vinyl and cassettes into protective cases for both Classic and Nano iPods. The inspiration came from the realisation that the centre hole on a record matches the dimensions of the Classic touchwheel exactly, and so old vinyl is thus contorted into the shape of an iPod holder, with the centre hole framing the wheel exactly. They do a similar thing with old cassette tapes for the Nano. It’s analog meets digital in the truest sense.
The list of available cassettes and records to choose from is limited - the modest collection includes such luminaries as Pink Floyd, Depeche Mode, Culture Club and Stevie Wonder, to name but a few - so the next step, surely, would be to allow people to send in a record to be reborn as a case. But then, who would be willing to part with those treasured twelves in the first place? Oh the conundrum: to have it spinning on your 1210 or adorning your own digital library?
Stevie Wonder it is then...
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