I'm featuring Kleinman in this blog because he is responsible for the title sequences of the 5 latest Bond films, including Casino Royale, my own favourite sequence.
Watch the sequence here.
There are some deviations from the 007 series' iconography in Casino Royale 2007 which have caused many talking points. This sequence is very different from the other bond's but comlpletely appropriate to the film. Also, since this is a modern re-vamp of the original Casino Royale film it's fitting that the title sequence should mark this by being a bit different, and a bit more modern.
In an interview on his overhaul of the Bond films, Kleinman said: "Everybody agreed the idea of using images of the iconic silhouetted dancing girls in the titles was not appropriate. In this film, Double-O is not totally formed as the James Bond everybody knows - the womanizing, slightly un-PC character."
The Casino Royale sequence you can see in cinemas wasn't Kelinman's original idea. He spent some time developing titles which were similar to all the other Bond films, but the pre-title scenes of the film include an intense chase scene which would have been too similar to Kleinman's first design. He wanted to make the titles stand out and be remembered. I certainly remembered them when I left the cinema.
Kleinman went and bought a first edition copy of Ian Fleming's 1953 novel and on the cover saw a design of a playing card bordered by eight red hearts dripping blood.
"The hearts not only represent cards but the tribulations of Bond's love story," Kleinman says. "So I took that as inspiration to use playing card graphics in different ways in the titles," like a club representing a puff of gun smoke, and slashed arteries spurting thousands of tiny hearts.
Then he cut out the actors' silhouettes and incorporated them into about 20 digitally animated scenes depicting intricate and innovative card patterns that play for 3 1/2 minutes.
Seen in historic context with title designs that precede his, Kleinman says "Casino Royale's" credit sequence owes more to the jagged emblematic graphics of Saul Bass than to the cheeky erotica of Maurice Binder, who designed 14 Bond titles in all.
"I can't get too psychological with it because it is a title sequence," he says. "But it must be more than a flow of meaningless images." And there's some good news for the crew. "By the end of this one, 007 is more like the Bond we all know and love," says Kleinman, who is onboard to design the credit sequence for the next installment. "So I think those dancing girls may well come back again."
Read an interview with Kleinman on his overhaul of the Bond sequences HERE
No comments:
Post a Comment