Laurent Brett

TITLE SEQUENCE CASE STUDY ON:

So who is Laurent Brett?

Laurent Brett is a French motion graphic designer, who has a lot of passion for the production of film title sequences. Brett was born on the 4th may, 1969 in Evreux, France. Laurent Brett spent two years at a general communication school, this began his interest in video editing. In 1993, Brett became part of the video and commercial business at Bandits production as a post supervisor. After 4 years at Bandits production Brett decided to pursue a career in music videos in which he was involved in many SFX (special effect) productions for the Florent Siri’s music videos.

Production of Brett

Laurent Brett is known for the production for both film title sequence ,music videos corporation trailers and TV titles. Brett was creatively involved in the 2002 film “THE NEST” in which he was both art supervisor and title designer, due to him participating in the production to the movie this got him into the film industry. Brett is also know for producing the title sequence for the following films Sky Fighters (2005),Hostage (2005),OSS 117: Cairo, Nest Of Spies (2005) and Inmate Enemies (2007).Since he work as a director, Motion-Screen-Titles Designer for movies, VFX and split-screen editor , as free-lance.

Laurent Brett’s Catalogue of work:

• 2010 What War May Bring (art supervisor, title designer)  • 2010 It Begins with the End (title designer)  • 2010 My Own Love Song (split screen designer)  • 2010 Mes chères études (TV movie) (digital art supervisor, digital compositor, screen designer, title designer)  • 2009 OSS 117: Rio ne répond plus (split screens designer, titles designer)  • 2009 Bank Error in Your Favour (title designer)  • 2008 Transporter 3 (screen designer)  • 2008 The First Day of the Rest of Your Life (title designer)  • 2007 Gomez & Tavarès, la suite (title designer)  • 2007 L'ennemi intime (digital compositor, title designer)  • 2006 Golden Door (digital compositor)  • 2006 OSS 117: Le Caire, nid d'espions (title designer)  • 2005 Sky Fighters (title designer)  • 2005/I Hostage (digital compositor, title designer: / main titles)  • 2002 The Nest (art supervisor)

• 2011 You Don't Choose Your Family (title designer)

• 2011 Intouchables (title designer)  • 2011 La guerre des boutons (title designer)  • 2011 A Happy Event (titles designer)  • 2011 The Conquest (main title designer)  • 2011 Une folle envie (art director, title designer)  • 2011 The Artist (digital compositor, title designer)  • 2011 Low Cost (title designer)  • 2011 Les aventures de Philibert, capitaine puceau (titles designer)

• 2011 Final Balance (digital compositor, title designer)  • 2010 Toi, moi, les autres (title designer)  • 2010 Il reste du jambon? (title designer)  • 2010 Potiche (digital compositor, title designer)  • 2010 In Gold We Trust (title designer)  • 2010 With Love... from the Age of Reason (title designer)

Laurent Brett’s Catalogue of work:

A Laurent Brett Tile Sequence

YOUR SHAPE TRAILER for WII

Hostage (2005)http://www.watchthetitles.com/articles/0067-Hostage

Hostage (2005)

The title sequence of the film Hostage opens with typography which indicates the production company. The type of typography used is like a comic book font , this could indicate that in the film there could be possible heroes and villains featured in the narrative. The typography is red this could symbolise a life threating or dangerous situation in which the characters could endure .

An image of a city scape could represent the prime location in which the film occurs. The film is a prologue this is down to the title sequence informing the audience of a possible location of the film also it provides them with information on what the film could be about.. Again there is a recurrence of the red sky, this is another indication that the film could possible be based on life threatening situation. Again images are used through out the title sequence , there is a reoccurrence of images of policemen with guns this could indicate that there possible could have been a crime committed or a villain/ criminal on the loose. This could also represent the genre of the film crime/ actionThe constant darkness of the title sequences could connote malicious side or the loneliness of one of the characters in the film

OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies (2006)

A Laurent Brett Production

http://www.watchthetitles.com/articles/0080-OSS_117_Cairo_Nest_of_Spies

OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies (2006)

The opening of the title sequences sets the genre of the film , the audience are provided with a view of a plane flying through the sky. This can suggest that the genre of the film is adventure/spy. The footages of the plane is in black and white this could indicate the time period in which the film takes place. The title sequence cuts from real footage to animation, this could suggest a change or twist in the narrative. The change in narrative could provide the audience with two possible outcomes. Throughout the title sequence there is a contrast between black and white, the background is black and the typography is white. This is used effectively to inform the audience of the production team.

Various images are show during the title sequence , a suit, dress and a pearl necklace is shows this is shown to provided the audience that these objects could feature in the film. The suit/ dress suggests that the characters in the film take pride in there appearance and the necklace could symbolise money/ wealth. Various shapes and colours are shown the , the colours that are used set a content atmosphere , combined with the music the audience are provided with evidence that possibly there is a satisfying mood. The typography is used inside the coloured shapes, this draws the audiences attention to them allowing them to see the people involved in the production.

The initial inspiration for the title sequence came from Frank Miller’s Sin City comics and the Panic Room title sequence. “I’m a fan of types in perspective!” says title designer Laurent Brett. “The director, Florent Siri, is also French and I’d worked with him before on several music videos and on his previous movie ‘The Nest’. Because we’re friends, he involved me in this project since the first day. He wanted to make a high pressure sequence in a high contrast black-and-white style. I went to the shoot, took 1500 photos for reference and textures. We then built the set in CG and I made a lot of shots from macro to wide. I wanted to do shots that were impossible to do in real life, but with a realistic look. I edited the sequence with 30 CG shots. All the work was done in France by me, including all the compositing. It was a one year job, between the first and the last day

Laurent Brett’s Inspiration for Hostage