TITLE:
Taste for Blood
WHAT:
Title sequence for 2001: Space Odyssey
ABOUT:
“During the long, dry spell from January through April, our ancestors would have had problems getting enough food, and to find their usual fare, they would have had to expend more time and calories. Early hominins were at an evolutionary crossroads. Some, like the australopiths, chose to eat large quantities of lower-quality plants; others, like early Homo, went for meat. The australopiths ended up extinct, but early Homo survived to evolve into modern humans.”
APPROACH:
In the beginning of this film the gorillas make contact with the monolith and they change, discovering how a bone can be used to kill. This sequence is about showing the evolution and corruption of the human race through diet. The gorillas, once a docile creature, only evolved to become a civilized race by gaining a taste for blood.
MENTOR:
Individual
MENTOR:
Ming Tai
This sequence opens with a vein of a leaf that fills with blood. As we back away from the leaf we can see the veins have fully transformed in color, consuming it completely. Light floods the scene and the camera moves down following the blood-soaked stem where a drop is suspended. The drop makes contact with a white surface. We cut to a top-down view of blood filling the frame and we see structures emerging from beneath. The structures reveal the title 2001: Space Odyssey which rises through a pile of blood on a dinner plate.
PROCESS
Mood of Concept and Color
Mood and Treatment for Typography
Raw Photos
All the photos in this sequence were shot in-camera with a 100mm macro lens. Swiss Chard with its variety in vein color was used for my main prop. I used color gels for the color treatment. For the ending title, I laser cut 2001: Space Odyssey out of wood and mounted the letterforms on a board base. I used the schools vacuum form machine to melt white styrene over the letterforms to create this reusable prop.