Context

Practitioners Concerned with Identity

Charlie Kaufman is an American screenwriter and director most known for writing films like Being John Malkovich, Eternal Sunshine at the Spotless Mind, Adaptation, and Synecdoche, New York, with the first two winning the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.

The theme of identity is present in his first movie, Being John Malkovich, which is about a puppeteer who takes on a temporary job as a filing clerk, and while working on the job, he discovers a portal to the mind of actor John Malkovich, which leads to a series of strange events following the discovery of the portal.

The main theme of the movie is self-identity, which is shown through the main characters Craig and Lotte Schwartz, played by John Cusack and Cameron Diaz respectively. Their different character arcs are shown by being polar opposites of one another, where both become infatuated with being inside the mind of John Malkovich but have different motives for being inside of his mind.

Lotte's infatuation with being inside the mind of the actor is because of her feeling like a man while inside of his mind. It's shown early in the movie that the relationship between the two main leads isn't lovely and perfect, and that alongside Craig, Maxine is another character in the film who at first rejects Craig's love but later is shown going on a date with John Malkovich with Lotte in the mind. This experience makes her reflect on her marriage with Craig, where she finds more interest in Maxine than Craig.

Craig's infatuation with being inside the mind of the actor at first starts off innocent, as he's the first to discover the portal and what it does, he at first just sees what's going on inside the actor's mind. however, as the film goes on, his intentions start to get more sinister. After he realises he can use his puppeteering skills on Malkovich, this leads to him using Malkovich as a way to get famous, as it's said in the film. Craig takes control of Malkovich for 8 months, turning him from an actor to a world-famous puppeteer, which is all that Craig wanted to achieve before he discovered the portal.

The characters arc of the two main protagonists shows both sides of taking advantage of someone, where one does so with intentions of feeling like someone they aren't, and one realises they can exploit the person they're taking advantage of for their own personal gain, being so infatuated that they alienate almost anyone that loves them. With the different sides of taking advantage of someone shown, the consequences are also present, where one lives a happy ending and the other one doesn't.

Lotte's character arc comes to an end by her expressing her love with Maxine and shares a child that Maxine had while Craig was inside John Malkovich's mind, and living happily ever after. Craig's character arc comes to an end by finally leaving John's mind after he is threatened with Maxine being shot but doesn't reciprocate. As a result, when he enters the portal again, he is then trapped inside the child, forced to watch Maxine and Lotte be happy together and suffer the consequences of his actions.

Creative Practitioners to Research

Saul Bass was an American graphic designer and filmmaker. He was born on May 8, 1920, in the Bronx, New York, and died on April 25, 1996. He is best known for his film poster designs and opening title sequences in films, with him being considered a pioneer for storytelling in opening titles in films. For posters, his most famous are The Shining, The Man with the Golden Arm, and Vertigo. For title sequences, his most famous include The Man with the Golden Arm, Vertigo, North by Northwest, Psycho, Spartacus, West Side Story, It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World, Big, Goodfellas, Cape Fear and Casino.

Alongside creating iconic movie posters and title sequences, he has also worked on many iconic logos for companies like Quaker, Warner Communications, United Airlines, Hanna Barbera, Kleenex, AT&T, and Kose.

One example of his work on title sequences was for Anatomy of a Murder, a 1959 film about a small-town barrister who defends an army officer after the officer is accused of killing the bar owner for supposedly beating and assaulting his wife. Alongside creating the title sequence, Saul also created the poster for the film as well, using the man seen in the title sequence as the main subject.

One thing I can definitely commend about this title sequence is its visual design, specifically how Saul composes the different body parts in the title sequence. The way simple imagery of the dead man's silhouette is used to display the opening credits is exceptionally well-composed. One of my favourite details is when the cast credits are presented, the start of it lists James Stewart on the head, signifying that he is the main character of the story, while the rest of the actors that are in the film but don't have much presence are shown outside the body with one hand representing the important and the other representing being credited with only a few scenes.

Another thing I can commend the title sequence for is the simple animation. For being in the '60s, the simple animation mixed with the beautiful composition looks stunning for the period it was released in. I feel this way because making something like this in the 60s was a lot more time-confusing and expensive than nowadays where you use Adobe programs to create a sequence like this, back then, it was all done on hand and cards, so for a title sequence like this to still be impressive for it's time says a lot about the creativity of Saul.

On the topic of being linked to identity, the dead man shown prevalently in the title sequence is an easy link to identity. As the film involves an important plot point relating to murder, Saul's way of creating the title sequence not only gives you a brief summary of what the film is about but also wants you to know who the dead body is meant to represent, which links to identity as the dead man represents the bar owner who is supposedly killed by the officer. Saul's way of integrating both of these in the title sequence not only makes for an interesting title sequence but also a unique one in the way it uses simple graphics to convey the opening credits.

Another example of Saul's work on title sequences is the 1960 Alfred Hitchcock film, Psycho. This was his third collaboration with Hitchcock after Vertigo and North by Northwest and was also his last with the famous director. The title sequence Saul created for Psycho follows lines moving around with bits of the credits forming together through the lines, while suspenseful music is played throughout the title sequence.

The composition of the lines on how they form the credits is one of the most unique and brilliant title sequences to me, mostly because of the time it was made, and especially compared to Anatomy of a Murder. While the aforementioned movie has a simple title animation, this one has moving lines that form the credits in a fast-moving way. A type like this would've been extremely hard to do properly, considering it had to utilise different cards and cut-outs to mimic what was on screen. The way Saul executed the final product certainly shows his level of talent and creativity, and I can definitely say this is one of the best title sequences he's made.

Another thing I like about this title sequence outside of the outstanding graphic animation, is the music by Bernard Herrmann, who has collaborated with Hitchcock for seven films, with one of them including Psycho. The music is a perfect way of getting you excited for the film while also pretty telling of what kind of movie you are about to watch will be like. The music in the title sequence is a mix of bombastic and catchy with a hint of uncomfortability added. As the film involves things like embezzlement, murder, and a psycho killer, the unnerving side of the music gives you a hint at what is to come in the actual film, with the bombastic side of it is meant to entice you to keep watching and engage with the movie.

Moving onto poster design, One of Saul's most iconically designed poster is for the 1958 Alfred Hitchcock film, Vertigo (which he also made the title sequence in that movie). The movie in question follows a man who has a fear of heights being assigned to investigate the assignment's wife bizarre activities.

The poster in question Saul created for the movie is certainly interesting, like his poster for Anatomy of a Murder, it uses simple graphic art like silhouettes for the main characters on the poster, but one huge difference is there is a swivel effect around the main character's. This links the title of the movie 'Vertigo', which is a word that describes when your mind tricks you into thinking the world around you is spinning.

What I like about the poster is that the swivel effect used on the effect looks clean and wonderfully drawn for a poster in the late 50s. The way the two different textures used for the swivel seamlessly blend together is one of the most interesting factors, as it shows Saul carefully crafted the swivel into what it looks like now.

Another interesting detail is that the swivel on the poster looks like an eye, as vertigo is something that you can see happening with your eyes, the swivel meant to represent what vertigo is potentially like is a nice attention to detail about not only linking to the title of the film, but also gives you an idea of what the main character will be experiencing in the movie.

The link to identity is this poster is the sense of vertigo, as that is something someone may experience in either a day or every day, depending on the severity of their case. The sense of identity is more-so linked to a relatable experience rather than a disorder, as vertigo is not a disorder, but more like a hindrance to someone.

Another movie poster that Saul created was for the 1980 Stanley Kubrick classic, The Shining. The movie follows a man who takes his family to a hotel that has a violent past, where the man starts to lose his sanity from isolation.

The poster Saul created for the film is a simplistic poster, having the title alongside a haunting face inside the word "The", a tagline that says "A Master piece of Modern Horror", and the credits of the movie on a yellow background. However, despite it's simplistic look, it is a great-looking poster.

The main reason as to why I think that it is a beautiful looking poster is that despite it's simplistic design, it's way of selling the movie to you is simply perfect. The poster excels in both showing and communicating you what the main genre of the film is about, the face integrated in the title of the film not only tells you about the genre, but is also simply eye-catching to a general person, where they take one look and wonder who that person is and what's his significance.

The link to identity in the poster for this movie is mostly centred around the face in the title of the poster, where he's shown with a blank expression, but one that invokes a sense of uncomfortability to someone. The link to identity in this case is the personality of the man in question, where we are shown that he potentially acts like during the movie, which links to the main plot of the movie where the main character starts going insane during the movie, another part of identity that can be linked to personality.

Context/Entertainment

The FMP video could be uploaded onto video-sharing sites, such as YouTube, Dailymotion, and Vimeo. Alongside social media sites that allows videos to be uploaded, such as Twitter, Instagram, Reddit, Facebook, TikTok and Pinterest. Some other means of showcasing the video would be submitting to film festivals related to autism, such as the Oska Bright Film Festival.

What needs to be considered when showcasing the video to a wider audience is knowing how to distribute it to the right audience, specifically what area of the website should best be uploaded to in order to reach the audience you wan to appeal to. Some parts of social media are filled with people who say hateful things online about some people, and autism is part of it, where it sometimes used as an insult, people mocking parts of autism, believing autism is a disease and seeking for a cure etc. So I should take careful consideration on where it should be uploaded and what to do to reach the audience I have in mind.