Kyle Cooper designs motion picture title sequences dramatically with 3-d graphics and compelling content. He is an influential typographer who has perfected his artistry in the entertainment industry creating masterfully developed flowing text. His work is likened to Saul Bass because of the fast paced and graphic orientated content utilized dynamically through his work.[1]
His early titles focus on the gritty aspects of the horror genre which expose the internals of a dark world. His title sequence for Barry Levinsons sphere syndicates the complexity of the nefarious natural world, a fish’s eye, and the technological advanced rippling animations. By linking the inhabitants of deep water with space effects, Cooper creates synchronicities altering the reality effects of these two worlds imposed on each other. In his credits for the first spider man in 2002 the type reacts with cobwebs creating a clinging feeling of disruption. This evokes a sense of sticky cohesion between text and imagery which integrates perfectly with the flexibility of this Spider Man’s theme of webs. Cooper is also responsible for the animated Marvel title which begins each of their movies. The flipping of comic book pages are integrated seamlessly with the sound of flipping, ultimately revealing the marvel logo. The main titles of Donnie Brasco, a mobster film by Mike Newell in which Johnny Depp must go undercover to expose Al Pacino’s mafia syndicate, communicate an outsider’s perspective into an insider’s world.
The sequence starts with a black and white image of Johnny Depp’s tired eyes looking downwards. When he looks up white titles fade in overlaid in juxtaposition to his image. Beethoven’s slow-paced Pathetique is audible as his eyes look up. A series of black and white images ensue in stop motion and in uneven intervals revealing surveillance photography with marks on them.
A white all-capped sans serif font is utilized with irregular kerned spacing creates a subtle infusion of unbalanced movement. The movie and fade in time with the music. Colored stills overlay Depp’s portrait towards toward the end of the sequence, which creates interplay and leads the viewer into the opening scene of the movie flawlessly. [2]
In Cooper’s title design for the movie Se7en, a nervous tension can be felt by the wiggling type jumping from place to place. The type screeches, jumps, and scrawls across the screen leaving a lurid blur behind. Occasional scratches and random images flashes of images appear. The type is often duplicated making the words seem lucid and alive.
His credits surge creatively because of the stimulated imagery and use of cutting edge graphics which link into modern consumerist ideology. He has established his own company, http://www.prologuefilms.com/#, through which he has designed titles for Se7en (1995), ), The Mummy (1999), Spider-Man (2002), Dawn of the Dead (2004), Spider-Man 2 (2004), and Spider Man 3 (2007), among others[3].
