🎬 #53 60 Second Storytelling.

The sign of a great storyteller is their ability to use every thing they have at their disposal to tell the story. And not necessarily in a purely plot moving forward kind of way - but in the establish the world, establish the tone of the world and feel of it kind of way. Using every second, frame, prop to expand the characters and the world in which they find themselves - to tell us more about the story that we’re watching, and the kind of things that could happen in this story.

And in the dynasty of US centric filmmaking - the first thing we see in a film isn’t necessarily anything to do with the story. It’s usually a series of elaborate, and depending on the way the film was produced, iconic studio logos - Warner Brothers, 20th Century Fox, Universal, Paramount and so forth. So what began in the 1920’s was that directors realised they could use these logos, they could adapt them, mess with how they looked, how their iconic theme sounded, they could start to tell their story even before the first image of the film was seen by the audience. They could use these precious seconds to tune the audience into what kind of film they were about to see, they could use every second to tell us something about their film and get us excited about what is about to grace our eyeballs.

Happy choosing, happy viewing

Bry

FILM ONE: WATERWORLD

1995 Dir Kevin Reynolds

Controversial film, but it’s one I have a very soft spot for. I remember endlessly reenacting moments from it with my action man, even destroying several different uniforms to cobble together an appropriate wardrobe that looked semi-like Kevin Coster’s Mariner. I also ended up improvising a zip line for my man doll across our tiny back garden pond that was filled with fish that would later get taken down one by one by our neighbour’s cat.

But today I’m not going to talk about why I actually like it [you can’t help but smile when you hear the story about why Kevin Costner wanted to make it, roughly paraphrased - I was the most powerful man in Hollywood at the time and I wanted to do it, so I made it happen]. Today I’m talking about why it’s one of the best adaptations of a studio logo to tell a story.

What makes this adaptation unique is that it doesn’t just set-up the audience for the mood/feel of the film that’s yet to come, as is the case with Alien 3’s use of the 20th Century fanfare to establish a feeling of dread. Waterworld’s adapted logo is as much a part of the narrative of the film as any frame of the two plus hours that follow. It uses the logo as a storytelling element as integral to the story as a close-up of the map that promises to lead humanity to dry land.

The logo doesn’t end and the film then begins - it’s a mini-prologue to the film. It is a part of the film, giving us vital information as to why the world is the way it is and blending directly into the main action. There’s also the element of surprise and intrigue. This kind of direct takeover and unique use of the logo was less prevalent than it is today. It gives the film a sense of ceremony - like ‘oh they’re messing with the logo this must be a big important film.’ The film itself is exerting influence over the corporation and not the other way around, these little things signal something to us even if we don’t consciously take it in. Also it’s just plain fun find a reason to fuck around - and the filmmakers here found a perfect way to fuck with and tell their story with the Universal logo which just so happens to be the perfect icon to use tell the story of a film called Waterworld.

TL;DR why should I spend 2 hrs 15 mins of my precious life watching this? Kevin Costner’s epic is worth a second look if purely for the opening and for the fact his character has gills.

*Available for a small rental fee on Amazon, YouTube, Google Play and Apple TV.

Fact: One of Dennis Gassner’s first big budget films as Production Designer. He would go on to do Blade Runner 2049.

FILM TWO: CATFISH

2010 Dir Henry Joost & Ariel Schulman

Whether you like the film or not you have to love the charm and appropriateness of its adaptation of the Universal Studios logo. I didn’t intend for both this week’s films to be Universal releases but I guess their logo is more easily adaptable to a film’s narrative / theme than say DreamWork’s cloud fisher-child.

The film that follows the intro logo is one that centres on online identity and the investigation that the narrative follows relies heavily upon online tools, say like Google Earth. So a whole film about and fuelled by the pros and cons of our increasingly online world is perfectly set-up by their playful use of the Google Earth globe replacing the Universal globe. It’s lo-fi style subtly queuing us up for the lower budget, more run and gun approach of the faux doc filmmakers.

If Waterworld’s logo adapt was integral to getting story information across, Catfish’s logo adapt sets up the ‘quality’ and thematic concerns and ‘tools’ of the film that follows. This is a film that is about the world of the internet and the story they unravel is made possible because of it.

The juxtaposition of the computer screen graphic quality of the logo and the full orchestral theme can only make you smile before the film quickly wipes it off your face. In fact there’s a video of people watching the film and they whoop, cheer and laugh at the logo intro - it’s an ingenuous blend of a symbol of the internet and a traditional movie-making titan. It catches you off guard just like the twists and turns Catfish has to offer after the logo is minimised.

TL;DR why should I spend 1 hrs 27 mins of my precious life watching this? An early and unique foray into the storytelling possibilities the internet has to offer.

*Available for a small rental fee on Amazon, YouTube, Google Play and Apple TV.

Fact: ‘Officially’ the film has yet to make any profit. It was also released the same year as David Fincher’s The Social Network.