Daniel Kleinman
Encyclopedia
Daniel Kleinman is a British television commercial and music video
director who was title sequence
designer for the James Bond
series of films from 1995's GoldenEye
until he was replaced by MK12
for 2008's Quantum of Solace.
Prior to Bond, Kleinman had directed music videos for artists such as Madonna
, Fleetwood Mac
, Paula Abdul
, Wang Chung
and many others. His 1989 James Bond-inspired video for Gladys Knight
's title song to Licence to Kill
led to him being chosen as the replacement for regular Bond title designer Maurice Binder
after his passing in 1991. In addition to the titles, Kleinman also directed the music video for Sheryl Crow
's Tomorrow Never Dies
title song.
Kleinman has also directed many television commercials for companies ranging from Smirnoff
's Sea and Guinness
' noitulovE
, to pieces for Levi's, Johnnie Walker
, Durex
and Audi
.
' title designer has placed greater emphasis on the use of modern technologies (such as computer generated images) into the creation of the series' title sequence
s, as well as an arguably greater emphasis on the integration of elements of each film's respective plots within the musical sequences.
Kleinman started his career working with Adam Ant.
To elaborate:
• The titles for GoldenEye
feature a two-faced woman, an allusion to the god Janus
, which is the name of a terrorist organisation/the villain behind it
in the film. The sequence also includes imagery of the usual scantily clad women tearing down Soviet monuments, physically destroying Communist iconography, which bridges the gap between the cold open
pre-credits sequence/teaser set during the Cold War
and the remainder of the film, set after the fall of the Soviet Union. A key sequence later in the film is set in a Russia
n dumping ground full of such damaged and redundant statues
of Lenin and Stalin.
• Tomorrow Never Dies
title sequence turns the Bond women into anthropomorphic symbols of technology, specifically circuitry and communications to illustrate the plot's concerns with the power of the mass media. Satellite
s in orbit becoming diamonds is reminiscent of Binder's sequence for Diamonds Are Forever
.
• The titles for The World Is Not Enough
feature, appropriately, images of the Globe
itself, massed ranks of pumping oil derrick
s and the usual silhouette
s of women actually forming from oil
, making use of the rainbow
effect of oil on water, and reflecting the storyline's central theme of the exploitation of the natural resource.
• Die Another Day
s titles further integrate plot elements by advancing the story (something not literally seen since Dr. No
's titles) by illustrating Bond (Pierce Brosnan
) being tortured during his lengthy imprisonment in North Korea
, complete with beatings, dunkings and scorpion
stings. For the first time, the traditional shapely women are represented negatively as 'elementals' – water, electricity and extremes of hot and cold all employed in the torture.
• The women are entirely absent – for the first time – in the titles for Casino Royale
. Kleinman's unique sequence replaces the characteristic silhouettes of naked 'lovelies' with angular ones of men (seemingly achieved via motion capture
) – specifically Bond in black-and-white and a series of colourful attackers whom he dispatches as he works his way to Double-0 status
, again advancing the plot. It is all set against a stylised background of casino
and card-game symbolism to reflect the central theme and the poker
game scenes in the film, and is reminiscent of the original paperback cover for the novel
. The only women to appear are the film's Bond girl
, Vesper Lynd
, glimpsed as the pack's Queen of Hearts
among the cross-hairs / roulette
wheels, and HM The Queen on British £10 bank notes. The sequence concludes with a focus on Bond's (Daniel Craig
) ice-cold blue eyes.
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
director who was title sequence
Title sequence
A Title Sequence is the method by which cinematic films or television programs present their title, key production and cast members, or both, utilizing conceptual visuals and sound...
designer for the James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
series of films from 1995's GoldenEye
GoldenEye
GoldenEye is the seventeenth spy film in the James Bond series, and the first to star Pierce Brosnan as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The film was directed by Martin Campbell and is the first film in the series not to take story elements from the works of novelist Ian Fleming...
until he was replaced by MK12
MK12
MK12 is a design and filmmaking collective based in Kansas City, Missouri, with acclaim in both commercial and artistic arenas. Founded in 2000 by art school refugees Jed Carter, Tim Fisher, Matt Fraction and Ben Radatz and later joined by designer / composer Shaun Hamontree and computer guru Chad...
for 2008's Quantum of Solace.
Prior to Bond, Kleinman had directed music videos for artists such as Madonna
Madonna (entertainer)
Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
, Fleetwood Mac
Fleetwood Mac
Fleetwood Mac are a British–American rock band formed in 1967 in London.The only original member present in the band is its eponymous drummer, Mick Fleetwood...
, Paula Abdul
Paula Abdul
Paula Julie Abdul is an American singer-songwriter, dancer, choreographer, actress and television personality.In the 1980s, Abdul rose from cheerleader for the Los Angeles Lakers to highly sought-after choreographer at the height of the music video era before scoring a string of pop music-R&B hits...
, Wang Chung
Wang Chung (band)
Wang Chung are an English New Wave musical group.The group found their greatest success in America, with five Top 40 hits in the US, all charting between 1983 and 1987, including "Dance Hall Days" , "Everybody Have Fun Tonight" and "Let's Go!" .-Pre-history: The Intellektuals and 57 Men :Jeremy...
and many others. His 1989 James Bond-inspired video for Gladys Knight
Gladys Knight
Gladys Maria Knight , known as the "Empress of Soul", is an American singer-songwriter, actress, businesswoman, humanitarian, and author...
's title song to Licence to Kill
Licence to Kill
Licence to Kill, released in 1989, is the sixteenth entry in the Eon Productions James Bond series and the first one not to use the title of an Ian Fleming novel. It marks Timothy Dalton's second and final performance in his brief tenure in the lead role of James Bond...
led to him being chosen as the replacement for regular Bond title designer Maurice Binder
Maurice Binder
Maurice Binder was a film title designer best known for his work on 14 James Bond films including the first, Dr. No in 1962 and for Stanley Donen's films from 1958. He was born in New York City, USA, but mostly worked in Britain from the 1950s onwards...
after his passing in 1991. In addition to the titles, Kleinman also directed the music video for Sheryl Crow
Sheryl Crow
Sheryl Suzanne Crow is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, musician, and actress. Her music incorporates elements of rock, folk, hip hop, country and pop...
's Tomorrow Never Dies
Tomorrow Never Dies (song)
Entertainment Weekly music critic Jim Farber negatively reviewed the song, explaining "While Crow's music has the right swank and swing, her brittle voice lacks the operatic quality of the best Bond girls and boys, like Shirley Bassey, Tom Jones, or even Melissa Manchester...
title song.
Kleinman has also directed many television commercials for companies ranging from Smirnoff
Smirnoff
Smirnoff is a brand of vodka owned and produced by the British company Diageo. The Smirnoff brand began with a vodka distillery founded in Moscow by Pyotr Arsenievich Smirnov , the son of illiterate Russian peasants. It is now distributed in 130 countries.Smirnoff products include vodka, flavored...
's Sea and Guinness
Guinness
Guinness is a popular Irish dry stout that originated in the brewery of Arthur Guinness at St. James's Gate, Dublin. Guinness is directly descended from the porter style that originated in London in the early 18th century and is one of the most successful beer brands worldwide, brewed in almost...
' noitulovE
NoitulovE
noitulovE is a British television and cinema advertisement launched by Diageo in 2005 to promote Guinness draught stout. The 60-second piece formed the cornerstone of a £15 million advertising campaign targeting men in their late twenties and early thirties...
, to pieces for Levi's, Johnnie Walker
Johnnie Walker
Johnnie Walker is a brand of Scotch Whisky owned by Diageo and originated in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, Scotland.It is the most widely distributed brand of blended Scotch whisky in the world, sold in almost every country with yearly sales of over 130 million bottles.-History:Originally known as Walker's...
, Durex
Durex
Durex is the trademarked name for a range of condoms that used to be made by British company SSL International. This company was sold to Reckitt Benckiser in July 2010....
and Audi
Audi
Audi AG is a German automobile manufacturer, from supermini to crossover SUVs in various body styles and price ranges that are marketed under the Audi brand , positioned as the premium brand within the Volkswagen Group....
.
James Bond
Kleinman's appointment as 'BondJames Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
' title designer has placed greater emphasis on the use of modern technologies (such as computer generated images) into the creation of the series' title sequence
Title sequence
A Title Sequence is the method by which cinematic films or television programs present their title, key production and cast members, or both, utilizing conceptual visuals and sound...
s, as well as an arguably greater emphasis on the integration of elements of each film's respective plots within the musical sequences.
Kleinman started his career working with Adam Ant.
To elaborate:
• The titles for GoldenEye
GoldenEye
GoldenEye is the seventeenth spy film in the James Bond series, and the first to star Pierce Brosnan as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The film was directed by Martin Campbell and is the first film in the series not to take story elements from the works of novelist Ian Fleming...
feature a two-faced woman, an allusion to the god Janus
Janus
-General:*Janus , the two-faced Roman god of gates, doors, doorways, beginnings, and endings*Janus , a moon of Saturn*Janus Patera, a shallow volcanic crater on Io, a moon of Jupiter...
, which is the name of a terrorist organisation/the villain behind it
Alec Trevelyan
Alexander "Alec" Trevelyan , also known as Janus, is a fictional character and the main antagonist in the 1995 James Bond film GoldenEye, portrayed by actor Sean Bean...
in the film. The sequence also includes imagery of the usual scantily clad women tearing down Soviet monuments, physically destroying Communist iconography, which bridges the gap between the cold open
Cold open
A cold open in a television program or movie is the technique of jumping directly into a story at the beginning or opening of the show, before the title sequence or opening credits are shown...
pre-credits sequence/teaser set during the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
and the remainder of the film, set after the fall of the Soviet Union. A key sequence later in the film is set in a Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n dumping ground full of such damaged and redundant statues
Statues
Statues is a popular children's game, often played in Australia but with versions throughout the world.-General rules:# A person starts out as the "Curator" and stands at the end of a field. Everyone else playing stands at the far end...
of Lenin and Stalin.
• Tomorrow Never Dies
Tomorrow Never Dies
Tomorrow Never Dies is the eighteenth spy film in the James Bond series, and the second to star Pierce Brosnan as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. Bruce Feirstein wrote the screenplay, and it was directed by Roger Spottiswoode. It follows Bond as he tries to stop a media mogul from engineering...
title sequence turns the Bond women into anthropomorphic symbols of technology, specifically circuitry and communications to illustrate the plot's concerns with the power of the mass media. Satellite
Satellite
In the context of spaceflight, a satellite is an object which has been placed into orbit by human endeavour. Such objects are sometimes called artificial satellites to distinguish them from natural satellites such as the Moon....
s in orbit becoming diamonds is reminiscent of Binder's sequence for Diamonds Are Forever
Diamonds Are Forever (film)
Diamonds Are Forever is the seventh spy film in the Eon Productions James Bond series, and the sixth and final Eon Productions film to star Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The film is based on Ian Fleming's 1956 novel of the same name, and is the second of four James Bond films...
.
• The titles for The World Is Not Enough
The World Is Not Enough
The World Is Not Enough is the nineteenth spy film in the James Bond film series, and the third to star Pierce Brosnan as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The film was directed by Michael Apted, with the original story and screenplay written by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and Bruce Feirstein. It...
feature, appropriately, images of the Globe
Globe
A globe is a three-dimensional scale model of Earth or other spheroid celestial body such as a planet, star, or moon...
itself, massed ranks of pumping oil derrick
Derrick
A derrick is a lifting device composed of one tower, or guyed mast such as a pole which is hinged freely at the bottom. It is controlled by lines powered by some means such as man-hauling or motors, so that the pole can move in all four directions. A line runs up it and over its top with a hook on...
s and the usual silhouette
Silhouette
A silhouette is the image of a person, an object or scene consisting of the outline and a basically featureless interior, with the silhouetted object usually being black. Although the art form has been popular since the mid-18th century, the term “silhouette” was seldom used until the early decades...
s of women actually forming from oil
Oil
An oil is any substance that is liquid at ambient temperatures and does not mix with water but may mix with other oils and organic solvents. This general definition includes vegetable oils, volatile essential oils, petrochemical oils, and synthetic oils....
, making use of the rainbow
Rainbow
A rainbow is an optical and meteorological phenomenon that causes a spectrum of light to appear in the sky when the Sun shines on to droplets of moisture in the Earth's atmosphere. It takes the form of a multicoloured arc...
effect of oil on water, and reflecting the storyline's central theme of the exploitation of the natural resource.
• Die Another Day
Die Another Day
Die Another Day is the 20th spy film in the James Bond series, and the fourth and last film to star Pierce Brosnan as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond; it is also the last Bond film of the original timeline with the series being rebooted with Casino Royale...
s titles further integrate plot elements by advancing the story (something not literally seen since Dr. No
Dr. No (film)
Dr. No is a 1962 spy film, starring Sean Connery; it is the first James Bond film. Based on the 1958 Ian Fleming novel of the same name, it was adapted by Richard Maibaum, Johanna Harwood, and Berkely Mather and was directed by Terence Young. The film was produced by Harry Saltzman and Albert R...
's titles) by illustrating Bond (Pierce Brosnan
Pierce Brosnan
Pierce Brendan Brosnan, OBE is an Irish actor, film producer and environmentalist. After leaving school at 16, Brosnan began training in commercial illustration, but trained at the Drama Centre in London for three years...
) being tortured during his lengthy imprisonment in North Korea
North Korea
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea , , is a country in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea...
, complete with beatings, dunkings and scorpion
Scorpion
Scorpions are predatory arthropod animals of the order Scorpiones within the class Arachnida. They have eight legs and are easily recognized by the pair of grasping claws and the narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward curve over the back, ending with a venomous stinger...
stings. For the first time, the traditional shapely women are represented negatively as 'elementals' – water, electricity and extremes of hot and cold all employed in the torture.
• The women are entirely absent – for the first time – in the titles for Casino Royale
Casino Royale (2006 film)
Casino Royale is the twenty-first film in the James Bond film series and the first to star Daniel Craig as fictional MI6 agent James Bond...
. Kleinman's unique sequence replaces the characteristic silhouettes of naked 'lovelies' with angular ones of men (seemingly achieved via motion capture
Motion capture
Motion capture, motion tracking, or mocap are terms used to describe the process of recording movement and translating that movement on to a digital model. It is used in military, entertainment, sports, and medical applications, and for validation of computer vision and robotics...
) – specifically Bond in black-and-white and a series of colourful attackers whom he dispatches as he works his way to Double-0 status
Licence to kill (concept)
Licence to kill is a literary device used in espionage fiction. It refers to the official sanction by a government or government agency to a particular operative or employee to initiate the use of lethal force in the delivery of their objectives...
, again advancing the plot. It is all set against a stylised background of casino
Casino
In modern English, a casino is a facility which houses and accommodates certain types of gambling activities. Casinos are most commonly built near or combined with hotels, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships or other tourist attractions...
and card-game symbolism to reflect the central theme and the poker
Poker
Poker is a family of card games that share betting rules and usually hand rankings. Poker games differ in how the cards are dealt, how hands may be formed, whether the high or low hand wins the pot in a showdown , limits on bet sizes, and how many rounds of betting are allowed.In most modern poker...
game scenes in the film, and is reminiscent of the original paperback cover for the novel
Casino Royale (novel)
Casino Royale is Ian Fleming's first James Bond novel. It paved the way for a further eleven novels by Fleming himself, in addition to two short story collections, followed by many "continuation" Bond novels by other authors....
. The only women to appear are the film's Bond girl
Bond girl
A Bond girl is a character or actress portraying a love interest, of James Bond in a film, novel, or video game. They occasionally have names that are double entendres or puns, such as "Pussy Galore", "Plenty O'Toole", "Xenia Onatopp", or "Holly Goodhead"...
, Vesper Lynd
Vesper Lynd
Vesper Lynd is a fictional character featured in Ian Fleming's James Bond novel Casino Royale. The name is a pun on "West Berlin". It has been claimed that Fleming based Lynd on the real life Special Operations Executive agent Christine Granville. In the 1967 film of Casino Royale, she is played by...
, glimpsed as the pack's Queen of Hearts
Queen (playing card)
The Queen is a playing card with a picture of a queen on it. The usual rank of a queen is as if it were 12 ....
among the cross-hairs / roulette
Roulette
Roulette is a casino game named after a French diminutive for little wheel. In the game, players may choose to place bets on either a single number or a range of numbers, the colors red or black, or whether the number is odd or even....
wheels, and HM The Queen on British £10 bank notes. The sequence concludes with a focus on Bond's (Daniel Craig
Daniel Craig
Daniel Wroughton Craig is an English actor. His early film roles include Elizabeth, The Power of One, A Kid in King Arthur's Court and the television episodes Sharpe's Eagle, Zorro and The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles: Daredevils of the Desert...
) ice-cold blue eyes.