Marilynn K. Yee/The New York Times
Mr. Frankfurt also took that approach for what may be his most famous work, the
titles for "To Kill a Mockingbird," which show a cigar box filled with
children's toys and other trinkets, while on the soundtrack a child is heard
talking over the haunting theme music written by Elmer Bernstein.
Alan J. Pakula, a producer of "To Kill a Mockingbird," sought out Mr. Frankfurt, he said, because of the campaigns he had worked on for products like Lay's, Jell-O and Johnson & Johnson.
The goal was "to find a way to get into the head of a child," Mr. Frankfurt said, to reflect the crucial roles played by the child characters Jem and Scout in the film. The cigar box is filled with trinkets that Jem found in the knothole of a tree, which were placed there, it turns out, by their odd neighbor, Boo Radley.
what follows is from the Turner Classic Movie
network webpage:
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Stephen Frankfurt Introduction
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As Elmer Bernstein's gentle theme is played note by note on a piano, the camera peers inside an old cigar box to reveal such childhood treasures as a broken watch, a pair of good-luck pennies, some marbles and a whistle. While a small girl hums, we see her hand using a crayon to draw a bird. So begins the film version of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), with its evocative and influential title sequence designed by Stephen O. Frankfurt. Described by Variety as "one of the true original thinkers" in his field, Frankfurt will discuss his role as an imagemaker in retrospectives airing throughout the month leading up to a night of films that celebrate his work. The other films in our tribute to Frankfurt, whose designs have also been prominent in broadcasting and advertising, are Superman: The Movie (1978), with its high-tech, electric-blue credits flashing into eternity against a starry sky, plus The Front (1976) and Kramer vs. Kramer (1979). |