#robert brownjohn

IO Interactive has revealed the title sequence for 007 First Light.

While I'm avoiding spoilers, I couldn't help but watch it — and WOW!

Did Daniel Kleinman design this?! For those who don't know, Daniel Kleinman has designed and directed the title sequences for the Bond films from GoldenEye (1995) to No Time to Die (2021), with the only exception being Quantum of Solace (2008), which was designed by MK12.

If Kleinman wasn’t involved, then IO Interactive has done an incredible job replicating his style.

It’s a real, proper Bond title sequence and pairs perfectly with Lana Del Rey’s title song.

The iconography of the Bond title sequence, as we know it today, should be credited to Robert Brownjohn, who created the titles for From Russia with Love (1963) and Goldfinger (1964).

'On this type of film the only themes to work with are, it seems to me, sex or violence. I chose sex.’ — Robert Brownjohn, from his article ‘Sex and Typography’ written for the British magazine Typographica.

Maurice Binder, who designed the titles for Dr. No (1962), followed what Brownjohn had established, beginning with Thunderball (1965): sex, fantasy, and a design that linked directly to the film.

Kleinman and MK12 also followed suit.

The theme of sex is present here with the shadowy silhouettes of nude women watching Bond.

The shadow figures of these women, along with those glowing eyes, may also represent the Fates of Greek mythology, as mentioned in the lyrics of the theme song: “People try and stop you, all the fates just watch you. Dying just to know whether you'll play your life like a game.”

The last time I can recall the Fates being represented in popular media is in Zack Snyder’s Justice League (2021). The wraith-like beings inside the three Mother Boxes are the Fates. Victor Stone/Cyborg and Superman pull them apart, literally pulling apart the threads of fate and emphasizing the theme of making your own future.

This is a reiteration of the themes from Snyder’s first Superman movie, Man of Steel (2013) — a story of a man (who has godhood thrust upon him) trying to find his place in the world and forge his own destiny.

Then there is the theme of youth. Bond is 26 years old in the game’s story, and there is a great emphasis on that youthful vitality. Bond is trying to find his place in the world. So Bond plays with the Fates but ultimately forges his own destiny. At least, that is my interpretation of the title sequence.

Brownjohn, Chermayeff & Geismar (cover), Concert Of Overtures, (Vinyl/LP), Royal Danish Orchestra, John Frandsen (conductor), F-70001, Forum, (year?) [midcenturyclassical]

In December 1959, designer Robert Brownjohn was commissioned to create a sculpture for the lobby/exhibition space of the soon-to-open world headquarters of Pepsi-Cola, a masterpiece of the International Style by Natalie de Blois.

The result: Pepsi-Cola Christmas Ribbon, made of thousands of Christmas ornaments and chicken wire, is the greatest thing to occupy the space. And I only found out about it fifteen minutes ago from a skeet on Bluesky by Peter Huestis.