I have to honestly say that I didn’t watch Stranger than Fiction because I wanted to. It was one of those cases of it appearing in a pile of DVD’s at my place (thanks dad) - and nothing to watch one summers night. The movie is terrific - it looks like a romantic comedy but doesn’t follow any of the conventions that one has to endure with the typical romcom. Will Ferrell is great in an un-Ferrell like performance.

Anyway the opening and closing titles are what interests me. I loved the integration of plain typefaces and symbols with the movements of the film. It reminds me of the IKEA sequence in Fight Club - but adds a kinetic element that both meshes and mimics onscreen action.

If  you break the whole sequence down - it is not just cool - it serves as a totally considered piece of storytelling - the OCD world of Harold and how Harold visually breaks the world down.

From the sparse , desaturated apartment - the watch (as the central plot device) flickers to life with the funky alarm animation (I wondered if such a watch existed - a search on Amazon provided successful - but alas no funky blue animations on the real thing).

The infographics unfold for the audience to see as Harold brushes his teeth while the narration talks about his love of numbers and order- the graphics then unfold  form like for Harold to mentally check off.

These graphics reveal the thought processes of a character who doesn’t say a lot in his dialogue (at least initially). The clicking of the tie graphics and shuffling as he moves through the different steps is offset by the blurred text with delicate drop shadow (giving both weight, distance and focus) informs the character of Harold.

The counting of the dots on his tie is so subtle and looks so real that you could spike yourself on it.

The beauty of the sequence is that its not covered with the graphics - it leaves shots and spaces for nothing. The mix of design styles ( maps while crossing the street, forms and geometrics as he wanders into the office and then the organic handwritten ‘thoughts’ as he is computing figures together) is neither distracting nor abrupt but adds in informing the story of Harold without actually ‘telling’ you.

The cubicle office environment boxes Harold in just like the forms and table graphics (again mimicking the cubicles) that float around him.

The whole sequence speaks to measurement in both a numerical manner (figures and numbers), spatial manner (the drawing of vectors and shapes) and objectually (1 bowl, 1 spoon, 2 forks 3 cups). This idea of measurement and thus accountability is central to the films narrative. I like the idea of exploring a character by interpreting visually the picture inside said characters head.

There is a great docu on this sequence here @ artofthetitle.com

The team @ mk12, Jed Carter, Gunner Hansen, Kevin Tod Haug Ben Kadtz are responsible for this tremendous piece of work. The end titles are worth looking at too!