Kyle Cooper is a designer of motion picture title sequences. He most often takes a two-hour film and consolidates it into two minutes, providing an overview, foreshadowing or at least setting the emotional tone. Other times he can participate in the creation of an entirely new scene, which serves as the first act of the film. The main purpose of the title sequences are to create the mood and prepare the audience for what is ahead. Great title sequences are symbolic and thoughtful, they embrace the story and help to clairify the plot or set up the personality of the main character/s.
Cooper's works include the title sequence for Se7en (1995), The Mummy (1999), Spider-man (2002), Dawn of the Dead (2004) and video game Metal Gear Solid 3 (2004).

One of his most well known works is the title sequence for Donnie Brasco. In this he reveals the nature of the main character. To come up with the sequence Cooper accessed surveillence-type photography used for the film and then experimented with fonts. The result was a stylish title design that introduced us to the characters whilst at the same time establishing Johnny Depp's outsider status before the movie even begins.

Clip from the title sequence of
Donnie Brasco



For Coooper's work on the film Se7en, the director wanted to set up the films relationship with evil in a very direct and uncomfortable way. It takes so long for the killer to be revealed in the film that they wanted to foreshow his macabre movements from the very beginning of the movie. The title sequence references the killers fussy preparations for murder.


Clip from the title sequence
for Se7en




I am a big fan of Cooper's work. I like the way he takes influences from Pablo Ferro by using hand-drawn lettering on some of his work. I really liked the intro sequence to Se7en.
I'm experimenting with hand-drawn lettering in my work as I don't like the restrictions of computerised fonts.