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    Lesson 4
    Main Title Design

    4. Graphic Design Basics

    • instructor

    - Ash Thorp

    • apprentice

    - Jama Jurabaev

    • apprentice
    • learn squared

    - Florian Aupetit

    • apprentice
    • learn squared

    - Tim Zarki

    Learn to approach projects which only required graphic design to achieve their creative goal. Using the principles taught in previous lessons, Ash will be creating 4-8 brand new styleframes using only design. You will explore how he creates thumbnails, pulls and organizes references, and utilizes mind maps.

    Homework

    Assignment

    Applying the graphic design principles you've learned, create twelve (12) thumbnail frames for your favorite film, game, or television show.

    Extra Credit
    Applying the graphic design principles you've learned, create six (6) styleframes for your favorite film, game, or television show using only circles, squares, and triangles.

     

    Student Gallery

    For this lesson I decided to use an adaptation of Shakespeare play (Macbeth). At that time I was doing another workshop in the British Council (Shakespeare illustrated) analyzing their works and contexts. I decided to unite both and make the styleframe of his most current adpatation in the cinema (With Michael Fassbender y Marion Cotillard).

    I tried to symbolize all the feelings of the movie, revenge, guilt, anger, sadness and graphically interpreting events such as betrayal, ambition, power, being blind by power, madness.

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    Extra credit - Luke Cage

    One of my favorite series, try to represent it in an abstract way using only circles, squares, and triangles. But dont work for me, so I changed it to something more figurative / geometric way.

    I decided to do my thumbnails based on the tv show, The Office. As much of the tv show is based off standard corporate situations, my frames were influenced by the same thing.

    Chose AKIRA for two reasons. Firstly because its one of my favourite animated movies. Secondly as a challenge for myself, since its not a style I'm accustomed to.

    Not much to look at, and I'm not the greatest quick-sketch artist, but below are the final sketches I will be building off of in the next homework assignment.

    Since taking this class, I've learned a new program, new processes to do things, and new ways to see. Gonna keep at it!

    - Jeany Ngo

    For this lesson i wanted to work something out for my all time favorite tv show "The Sopranos".
    I tried to focus on strong images and symbols that replicate the heavy contradictions going on in Tonys life, while he´s trying to find a balance between his role as a loving father and family man and his life as a violent mobster and mafia boss.
    Another important theme of the series is panic attacks and depression.
    I used the ducks flying away from Tony as my last to images, because they are used in the series to portray Tony´s fear of losing control and being alone, which enventually leads to his panic attacks.

    AKIRA! It's my favorite anime, so I create a mind map to it and also a quick and simple storyboard, showing the main concepts, like: destruction, blood, death, bikers gangs, experiments and the final explosion with "Akira" (Tetsuo).

    For this lesson, it was a hard choice to do but I finally decided to work on an opening titles for the movie Watchmen. I really like the dark aspect of the comic and this adapted movie by Zack Snyder. How the plot is embedded into a real part of the history (cold war) and how deep are the characters is what get me so hyped in this movie I guess, making it way more than a simple super hero movie all black or white, good against bad.

    So i develop my ideas around the characters themselves, trying to illustrate their main features and the relation between them.

    I think the hardest part of this exercise was to get away from the actual footage of the movie or the comic, by creating my own shots, without compromising with the graphic universe of the movie, plus showing the characters involvement in the story subtly without spoiling the plot.

    See All Homework

    Lessons in this Course

    Software Used: 
    Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Bridge
    Optional Software: 
    Font Explorer, Mind Node, Adobe InDesign, Cinema 4D Studio R16, Octane Render, Marvelous Designer

    1. Analyzing Titles

    (1 hr)

    What exactly is the function of a title sequence? To get things started, Ash will walk you through various examples and dissect what works and what doesn’t in title sequences. Study how the Greats are able to capture a unique glimpse of the story in a short amount of time.

    2. Typography

    (48 min)

    Choosing a relevant typeface may seem like a simple task, but it can make or break a project entirely. Ash will show you how much thought should go into a decision like this, and begin laying out quick frames with type placement in mind. From here, you will learn to craft a moving story to match the progress made during the previous lesson.

    3. A Controlled Experiment

    (1 hr, 58 min)

    Let’s dive head-first into a controlled title design experiment. Using a small, predetermined set of reference images, Ash will challenge himself and his students to create a mock sequence based off of a sample logline and film title.

    4. Graphic Design Basics

    (1 hr, 14 min)

    Learn to approach projects which only required graphic design to achieve their creative goal. Using the principles taught in previous lessons, Ash will be creating 4-8 brand new styleframes using only design. You will explore how he creates thumbnails, pulls and organizes references, and utilizes mind maps.

    5. Finishing Graphic Design

    (1 hr, 34 min)
    Building upon the contents of the previous lesson, Ash will further explain his philosophies and techniques behind creating a title sequence based in graphic design. You will revisit the world of typography, building out final composites in Photoshop, and learning to take a step back to reflect on our work.

    6. Using 3D Software

    (3 hrs, 12 min)
    Sometimes you don’t always have the time or resources for a large photoshoot. In these situations, realistic 3D can be a wonderful substitution to use in title design. In this lesson, Ash will explore how he uses Cinema 4D, Octane, and Marvelous Designer - and more importantly why he uses them in these situations. 

    7. Compositing 3D Renders

    (1 hr, 7 min)

    Building upon the knowledge from the prior lesson, we’ll continue exploring the complex world of 3D software. Ash will show his process for integrating his 3D renders into Photoshop, to further accomplish the goals of his mind map and theme. Here, you will learn to create detailed production-ready frames using all of the 2D and 3D techniques discussed prior.

    8. Brains over Brawn

    (1 hr, 5 min)

    You should always strive to be a part of your client’s brain, and not strictly their hands. To wrap things up, Ash will recap his best practices for managing artist/client relationships. Learn how and why you should carefully present your work to preserve the quality within.

    Glauco Dos Santos Basic

    Ash,
    for lesson 4's homework, are you looking for 12 frames of thumbnails or fully finished pieces?