Concept and creative process
‘Close Up’ was a series of documentaries looking at the arts and popular culture. The brief for the title sequence was to introduce the various art genres documented within the series, as well as reinforcing its unique perspectives. Steve Burrell of BDH came up with the idea for the title sequence of reversing the point of view (and the programme title) and showing it from the perspective of the object being viewed. The opening scenario depicted the viewer from the viewpoint of a painting in a gallery and showed a man inspecting the beauty of a detail in the painting, while a woman behind him contemplated slashing with a knife the very thing being admired. Other scenarios showed a reader from the viewpoint of a book, of a writer from that of a computer screen, a musician from that of a sheet of music and from a television shop window looking out at an audience on the street. Steve Burrell photographed a series of backgrounds which were digitally enhanced in post-production. These were printed onto huge canvasses 20 feet x 16 feet (ca 6m x 5m) and filmed in a studio. This backdrop 'tableaux' technique is used in the theatre to create false perspectives and it endowed the sequence with a unique painterly look and feel.