The Art of "A Kiss From Tokyo"

This is an article on the making of a movie trailer for a book that is a volume of marketing materials for a movie that has never been made.

(Read that sentence over several times. I wrote it and even I'm not sure that's all correct)

A non-fiction art book about a fictional movie that was never actually made, but has a trailer.

(There! Is that clearer? Maybe? Okay toss me a bone here!)

I JUST KNOW IT'S COOL.

And then there's this:

ATS: Where do you want to take the character? You’ve done the book, which details the world. You’ve done the trailer detailing one of the films from that world. Where else do you see this going?

Kevin Dart: I’m kind of hoping the character takes on a life of its own with people picking it up and talking about it. More books, a graphic novel perhaps. I’d like to involve more people with the project to help expand the universe. I’m hoping to pitch it around to studios as a feature idea or something along those lines.

ATS: Are you suggesting something more open sourced?

Kevin Dart: That’s been one of the most fascinating things about this project. I was always very attached to the character but never so attached that I wouldn’t let others input their ideas. Through every step, when I contacted different artists to contribute to the book they would ask “What can I do with this character? Is it okay to do this?” I didn’t have any rules because I was interested to see what they would do. To me, this is a kind of big playground that is open to all these different ideas.

And it was the same with Steph. I didn’t really have notes for him on the stuff he was doing because I saw it as something he would inject his own vision into. I never worried that Stephan would come back with something that was not in line with what I was trying to do. It was amazing to me to see how it all came together.

Bottom line. This one is worth studying kids. Hard.There's a lot of good stuff in here about marketing, trailer design, and working backwards toward the book itself. It all fits together in a way that makes the best kind of crazy sense. Bravo.

And to cap it off:

ATS: What inspired you on this project?

Kevin Dart: I think a lot of it was the collaborative aspect of it, seeing the stuff my friends did for it and seeing how excited they got about it, kept me excited the whole time. There were a lot times I got pretty bummed out about how it was going but then something would always happen, like one of my friends would send me a piece of artwork that they’d done and it would get me excited all over again. I’d say that my friends inspire me more than anything.

Opening Title Sequences:

All too often I see indie filmmakers miss opportunities to make their movies better, more cohesive, more entertaining stories. That is, their films are riddled with dull camera work, flat lighting, dull action, padded scenes, and of course simple white on black opening title sequences.

Ugh.

I've spoken briefly about titles before, but I want to remind everyone reading that if you want to be a "pulp" filmmaker then you must, absolutely MUST take every opportunity to add to your story without adding to your budget. You can do that very effectively with your opening title sequence.

For example:


(click here to watch the title sequence)

Opening title sequences can be designed using still or video images that can be manipulated in all sorts of ways (Photoshop, After Effects, etc) and can add another level of story (background, tone, design) to your movie.

This saves you a lot of time in having to "set up" your story and get it moving along.

For example, in my script WOLFSBANE I set up a whole 30 days from one event to another in the opening title sequence:

A couple is attacked by a werewolf (the opening scene of the movie)...

[Begin titles]

The wife survives but the police think she actually murdered her husband (Booking photos, fingerprints taken, court date set) because she sticks to her story that a "monster did it and she hasn't any bite marks on her as evidence (though she swears she was bitten). She is committed to a mental hospital for observation pending trial, given drugs, and wastes away in a padded cell...

[end titles]

Cut to: It is 30+ days later and a new Full Moon rises in the night sky over the hospital.

All done in a style similar to this:

Thing is, your titles don't have to be this elaborate, but you do have to take every opportunity to tell your story more effectively. This establishes that your movie is going to be funny, or brutal, or fast, or colorful, or whatever. Why oh why would you want to turn your back on that and do lazy white on black titles?

(Maybe I just answered my own question)

Pulp filmmaking isn't about being cheap, it's about being the most effective without wasting money or time (which always equals money in this business).

Just as your key art can add a layer of story to your project so do your opening titles. Use this opportunity to get the most bang for your buck.

Now go read: Art of the Title.