Forget the Films, Watch the Titles

Some watch the Super Bowl for just the com­mer­cials. Oth­ers watch films for the title designs. Title sequences begin and end every movie. They can be “engag­ing or wild­ly enter­tain­ing … or sim­ply drop dead beau­ti­ful.” They can “ooze with visu­al poet­ry and sophis­ti­cat­ed imagery.” And they can put the audi­ence in the right mood for the movie, or close it in the right way. The ins-and-outs of title design get lov­ing­ly cov­ered by a web­site called For­get the Films, Watch the Titles, and today we’re fea­tur­ing the clos­ing moments of Lemo­ny Snick­et’s A Series of Unfor­tu­nate Events, a 2004 black humor film. This five minute ani­mat­ed sequence is the work of Jamie Caliri, a direc­tor with a self-described pas­sion for visu­al sto­ry telling. Not too long ago, we high­light­ed the ani­ma­tion con­cepts he devel­oped for The Amaz­ing Adven­tures of Kava­lier & Clay. And, here, Caliri sits down for an inter­view with For­get the Films, Watch the Titles and talks about his art­ful approach to title design…