Kyle Cooper designed the title sequence for the romantic comedy Wimbledon. This simple but clever concept perfectly captures the essence of tennis in a way that is both playful and entertaining.
Wimbledon was one of the main titles Cooper showed at his 2009 Flux/Forget the Film, Watch the Titles presentation at The Hammer Museum in L.A. “It doesn’t always have to be about blood and eyeballs,” Cooper noted casually, as he introduced the main title.
With Wimbledon, Cooper effectively establishes the right mood for the movie and captures the audience’s attention in the first few seconds with nothing more than the sound of a tennis racket hitting a ball and a clever play with images, credits and timing. By following the consecutive order of the credits, positioned strategically on the far right and far left sides of the screen, the viewing direction of the audience in the movie theater mimicks that of the spectators of a tennis match tracking the motion of the ball across the tennis court. This effect is re-enforced by the rhythmic sequence of still images of spectators that follow. Interesting and entertaining at the same time, this is the perfect opener for this romantic comedy.
Article: Remco Vlaanderen, © Submarine Channel, 24 June 2009
Year of production
2004
About Kyle Cooper
Title designer Kyle Cooper has been credited as the man who revitalized the title sequence as an art form. His groundbreaking title sequence for Se7en (1995) changed the way we look and think about title design today and is arguably the most imitated main title ever made. The work was hailed by New York Times Magazine as “One of the most important design innovations of the 1990s”.
Full credits
Title designer: main title sequence
Kyle Cooper/Prologue Films
Title designer
John Bunker
Editor
Lauren Giordano
Production Companie
Working Title Films