“So near, so far: Five decades of title sequence design in Iran” was the title of an article by Ramin Sheykhani published in the 17th issue of Neshan in the summer of 2008. Throughout the course of an exhibition called Karnameh: Visual culture of Iranian children 1950-1980 held in the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, a number of films and animations produced by the Ministry of Art and Culture and the Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults were screened, some for the very first time and others after five decades. Some of Nosratollah Karimi’s works produced by the Ministry of Art and Culture were among the displayed films. They had not appeared on screen for more than four decades, and were new to much of the audience in the event’s cinema section, the Karnameh Theatre. The following text reviews the title sequence design of these films within the framework of the aforementioned article.
Nosratollah Karimi was born in 1924 in Tehran. As a child, he learned miniature from his brother, Ali Karimi. In 1940, he entered the theatre as an actor and make-up artist and then moved to Prague to study Puppet Arts in 1953. After obtaining a BA in Dramatic Art, he continued his MA studies in Puppetry Direction at FAMU. These experiences turned Karimi into a competent, multi-skilled person in the world of visual arts.
Having made a few short animated films during his studies, Karimi was put in charge of the animation sector of the Ministry of Art and Culture after his return to Iran. The primary productions of this sector lacked the required visual and administrative standards and were not based on the “science of cinema,” as Karimi put it. Nosratollah Karimi’s entry into this department led to fundamental structural transformations. One of the reasons he mentions for joining the department was realizing the unfinished dream of creating an animation based on Rumi’s notions. He had created primary sketches during his years of study in Prague with puppet stop motion technique, and the final product entitled Life was eventually created in 1967 in Tehran.
Since the production of this film took more time than the Ministry’s directors expected, and also because the employees of the Ministry’s newly-established animation sector lacked the required academic education, cinema knowledge, and work experience, Karimi had no choice but to design and produce short animations with diverse techniques during his cooperation with the Department. This increased the number of animated films produced in the sector and was a long-term class for his colleagues dedicated to various animation techniques.
\The nature of design in Noratollah Karimi’s animations can be explored through the title sequence designs, apart from the animation’s characters and contexts inspired by different historical styles and eras of Iranian art. After returning to Iran, his obsessive interest in studying and his effort as a student in using Iranian script and image in designing title sequences (such as the title sequence of Iranian Miniature in 1955-1956) laid the ground for the creation of several unforgettable title sequences for Iranian animated films.
Creating title sequences as a designed graphical product began in the late 1950s, particularly with Asre Talayi Studio’s products. These title sequences were extremely naïve as far as graphics were concerned, and imitated the structure of Italian title sequences of the 1950s. The general structure of these title sequences was composed of typography and illustrations or caricatures of the film’s technical personnel –Physique Comes First (1960) and Aghaye Haft Rang (1963) – or drawings based on the film’s subject, Ten Terrifying Shadows.
The first title sequence of Karimi’s animation series Heart of Mouse, Skin of Leopard (1966) followed the Italian title sequence tradition, although Karimi’s attention to the appearance and script was different than the common typography of those days. This is evident from the first product. The title sequence of King Jamshid (1967), a folk story narrated through Qajar paintings, appears on the pages of a book that is flicked through, with calligraphically written names of the contributors and uniform icons recalling Qajar paintings and lithography. In the title sequence of Life (1967), Karimi uses Nasta’liq calligraphic hand on a miniature sky background in accordance with the story’s Iranian nature and miniature context. The calligraphy, which is washed away with the rain and reappeared each time, refers to the circle of life, which is the film’s main subject.
In 1969, shortly before screening Qeysar, Nosratollah Karimi designed the title sequence of Things must be nipped in the bud in collaboration with Esfandiar Ahmadieh. This animation’s title sequence was inspired by Hunting the moon (1968) and used the cutout technique. The geometric structure of the title sequence, along with allusions, were simultaneous with the introduction of Progress Publishers’ books to Iran.
One of Nosratollah Karimi’s most significant title sequences was designed for Houshang Shah: Genesis of fire (1969). Inspired by the myth of the creation of fire in Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh, the film’s title sequence appears on a stone-texture background, symbolizing the archaic characteristic of the narrative. Its typography, which resembles cuneiform harmoniously, brings the film’s allusions to the title sequence.
In the title sequence of Dogma (1969), Karimi uses two modules (men’s and women’s shoes—the film’s main characters) to create diversified compositions. He employs the same structure in the title sequence of Ayalvar, a feature film.
There is nothing more than unconventional typography in the title sequence of the animated films Incredibly Strange (1972) and The Untimely Rooster (1973).
The end of Karimi’s cooperation with the animation sector of the Ministry of Art and Culture and his engagement in cinema draws his numerous productions and experiences in title sequence design to a close. Perhaps the most significant title sequence he designed for cinema in the 1970s is that of Hassan Siah (1973). This multimedia collection, which includes a title sequence, cinema marquee, posters, magazine advertisements, the film’s music record cover, etc., based on the needs of movie theater customers, is an attempt to create and use a simple, rigorous visual system for creating an effective graphic collection.