bob kurtz case study
TRANSCRIPT
Bob Kurtz is the winner of over 250 awards including:
• Peabody award• Emmy award, • Annie Award for Lifetime Achievement,• Clio Awards, • U.S. Television & Film Festival - New York
and many more.
Bob Kurtz was born in Los Angeles, California and graduated from the Chouinard Art Institute which is now called ‘The California Institute of the Arts’ Bob Kurtz is the founder of ‘Kurtz & friends animation’. He is also a director, producer, a artist and designer. He is also involved and has a career in films and Television commercials. He is a teacher of the ‘Character Animation program’ and has taught this in the ‘California institute of the arts’ as character animation is one of his specialties.
Kurtz and friends is a animation studio founded by Bob in 1981. The company was based in Burbank – California . Kurtz and friends were most known for producing film and television commercials. The first piece of work created by the company was the special effects for ‘A Midsummer Nights sex comedy’ in 1982. Working together with Kurtz, Kurtz and friends created the main titles for ‘The pink panther’, ‘Are we done yet’ , ‘George of the jungle’ and many more. Together they have also created several animation sequences and commercials.
This image straight away suggests that it is a animated film genre. Also The contrast of colour between the pink and black shows that this film is aimed towards children because of the bright pink and lilac.
The pink typography is continuing the the friendly theme/mood of the title sequence once again due to the bright pink in contrast to the black to show it is more important.
The use of shadow is very effective as it creates another mood which is mystery and this is helped to be created by the use off sound. The music is a slow pace repeativesound to create meaning to the audience like there is a mystery that needs to be solved therefore a enigma has been created. Once again the colour contrast between the grey and yellow creates a friendly ambiance.
Here shows how the smashed title has been over exaggerated therefore once again suggesting children are the target audience as slapstick comedy is mostly used, this has created another genre in the film of comedy therefore the genre has become a hybrid.
Effect after breaking title –Slapstick comedy.
Continuing the colour scheme of the pink panther. Also representing the film name.
Formal writing –representing detectives as they analyse text for evidence.
Position within the frame is central therefore showing the importance of the editor.
Detective kept within the frame to show how he is related to the text format.
After working for Friz Freleng by writing some scripts for the original pink panther short films, Kurtz was chosen to create another title sequence in 2006 of the original 1963 version of ‘The pink panther.’
When the Pink Panther producers ran into trouble they decided to bring in three companies. As Bob Kurtz was known for his comedic film title skills he was chosen for the job. When Bob was brought in a title sequence had already been created but with the approval of the director but not all the other producers, the team began to panic and set up a competition in which the talented Kurtz won.
When Kurt went through the character creation stage he didn’t want to lose the pink panther style and flavour so Kurtz decided to edit the Pink panther with better animation effects rather than changing the appearance and loosing the reputation that the outstanding original Friz Freleng and Richard Williams produced.
http://www.watchthetitles.com/articles/0013-Are_We_Done_Yet
With the background labeling building plans, the typography on this shot could be suggesting materials such as wood because of the sharp edges and straight lines.
Continued by another bright coloured text, this could be suggesting it is a family film therefore suitable for all ages. It gives the friendly atmosphere making the audience aware it is far from a horror.
The character animation comes onto the frame whilst this text is being positioned, this shows how the text and character are related and the text is central therefore stating the characters importance and the man role as he is the first actors name on screen.
Once again showing the film involves construction by hitting the title with a hammer therefore showing how they are related especially how it is the film title this shows construction and failure will be a main event in the film.
Once again slapstick comedy is added with Kurtz Titles to show how there will be humorous moments in the film but not constantly.
Here the image once again suggests it is a family film, but this also is attracting children as the audience as it shows them the perfect family lifestyle.
Looking for the man who did ‘City Slickers ‘Steve Carr had no idea where to find bob Kurtz. The first time Meeting Bob, Steve ran towards him, hugged him and said, "You're a fucking genius”, Kurtz instantly replied "I love those two words together.” (Laughed) and after that moment they had officially met.
After giving Kurtz a set brief, his own opinion did not agree with Steve’s as it was to specific and not humorous enough so he took it upon himself to go and write a new idea; Steve thought it was great what he had done.
After being so successful with the opening credits, Kurtz ended up also doing the end credits. A 20 second clip of all the characters bowing with ice cube leading them, this also got a good reception therefore showing how Kurtz gets awarded for making simple things more entertaining.