Before 1955, there was a reoccurring problem at the beginning of feature films. Much like today, films began with credits introducing the cast and eventually the title of each film. The problem was that opening titles were basically devoid of creativity. In fact, audiences and projectionists resented them.
Film producers went so far as to imprint a note on film reels requesting that the projectionist “pull curtains before title”, as they’d often wait until the main title came up to open the curtains to reveal the screen.
As you can imagine, audiences would typically wait until the opening titles were over to pay attention to what was happening on the screen. It created an environment where moviegoers would spend the first several minutes of a film buying and munching away on popcorn, until a film’s title was revealed and the narrative began.
This all changed when “The Man With the Golden Arm” came out in 1955. It began in what was then an unconventional/paradigm-shifting way, where the titles were done not just with text, but with moving graphic elements. Graphic artist Saul Bass created for that film what is now know as “the title sequence”. You can see it here:
Simple by today’s standards, this title sequence ushered in a whole new method of storytelling that has continued on into today’s summer blockbusters.
Saul believed that the opening titles could be used to set a mood that would invite viewers in to the underlying core of a film’s story. He saw opening titles as a metaphorical extension of a film’s narrative.
Bass described title sequences like this: “I saw the title as a way of conditioning the audience, so that when the film actually began, viewers would already have an emotional resonance with it.”
Well, our annual Insane Library Sale sale is set to end today. If you like to wait until the last minute, well, this is it. This is the best deal of the year here at Midnight Oil, and is a chance to stock up on one of the most comprehensive libraries in the world of media ministry resources. You’ll get almost $1900 of stuff for just $199. The offer includes 14 disks worth of material (Our general Media library, and our two newest Christmas and Easter Resources).
So today is set to be it, but… since we had almost a week were things were a little wonky with our store, we’re going to extend it until Tuesday (the day after the US holiday). So all of you procrastinators, (you know who you are) can wait just a few more days for the last minute.
Also, we’ve added a new freebie to our site just in time for Memorial Day weekend. Get our Memorial Day graphic from Announce It Volume 2 at no cost by logging in here.
Unlike today’s modern runways, the Wright Flier didn’t take off from a smooth paved surface. Before the first flight test took place, Wilbur and Orville worked in the bitter cold to lay 100 feet of track on a smooth stretch of ground. They meticulously measured the wind velocity and compared it to the data they’d been collecting for years in wind tunnel and practical glider tests. All this was done in preparation for what they hoped would be a successful run.
Though they probably didn’t call it such, what they were creating was the first “flight plan”. With a pre-flight checklist in place and a theoretical system for landing the plane devised, they felt comfortable moving forward. Had the track been haphazardly laid, or the wind speed not been measured, they could have very likely failed. Many pieces needed to be in place to make the first flight possible. The same is true with worship design teamwork. Putting the team in a position to fly takes much preparation and care.
Before entering ordained ministry, Len’s father was an infantry officer who served two tours in Vietnam. One of his favorite sayings is, “Mistakes in deployment cannot be overcome.” In other words, many teams fail at the start because of bad choices made at the outset about who its members are. What are some of the characteristics of good worship design team members? Consider the following and choose wisely.
Plugged in
Do you know any digital thinkers? No, we don’t mean people who think in binary code. Rather, who do you know that could be a spokesperson for what’s current in culture? These sorts of people are the kinds that follow the latest Web trends such as social networking. They like to go to new releases at the movie theater. They seem to know a little bit about anything that’s current. They’re the kind of person that dives into a new piece of software without timidly trying to read the manual first. These sorts of people are comfortable with new trends. They are less likely to suggest something just because it’s been done before, and more likely to push envelopes of creativity, technology and innovation. In our experience they are invaluable in their ability to add fresh ideas. Read the rest of this entry »
by The MO Guys on February 28th, 2011 | 696 views |
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Got something to announce this weekend? Wanna make it more creative? Check out Announce It 1 and 2 – now on sale.
Who has time to design really cool announcement graphics on a regular basis? Not many of us, which is why we’ve created 100 pre designed templates (based on the most common announcement ) submitted by churches all over North America.
Each volume includes 50 announcement templates in layered Photoshop/Elements and flattened jpg form. They’re ready to drop right into Powerpoint, MediaShout, ProPresenter, EasyWorship, SongShow Plus, and pretty much any other presentation program.
Sale ends next Friday (March 4th) at midnight, so be sure to act fast!
by The MO Guys on January 26th, 2011 | 736 views |
We are excited to announce the release of the new 2011 Midnight Oil Sampler – available for one week only! The new 2010 Midnight Oil Worship Media Sampler is full of great new worship media not available individually on any other bundle or disc.
It’s been our yearly tradition since 2004 to take all of our monthly media freebies, which are only around for a short time, and put them into a collection at the end of the year. If you missed any of them, this is your chance to have them all in one collection. This year’s collection includes 15 items, including a number of previously unreleased videos and graphics! For the first time ever you can use them in your churches! For only $25, it’s a great way to get your Midnight Oil collection going. Preview what’s included here:
You can get all 12 media sets for $25 as an instant download. And we’ve opened up the Midnight Oil Vault (maybe you didn’t know we had one of those) and gotten out every sampler dating back to 2004 which will be available for a limited time on our site. You can get any one volume for $25 or the entire collection (7 volumes) for $75 (includes over 85 pieces of media):
