Inspired, Design Week.

The following post was printed in this weeks issue of Design Week, and is a response to being asked to write about something that has inspired me. Many thanks to Lynda for asking me to contribute.

Inspired: Lee Bennett

I can trace one of my earliest inspirations all the way back to my childhood. Although it’s something I greatly admire now, it scared the living daylights out of me at the time. I watched this particular film title sequence repeatedly, not because as a 10-year old I loved the typography and animation. No. It was because I found its eeriness so haunting that it scared me from watching the film itself.

Countless times I sat in my Knight Rider pyjamas (probably with a glass of soda-stream by my side), huddled behind a pillow, determined that this time I would be brave enough to make it past the title sequence and watch the actual film. But as I pressed the big green VHS play button (not Betamax thank you – my Dad was wise), the tension started. Dark abstract shadows moved slowly across the screen. As the cast names rolled up, large white panels slowly appeared one-by-one top frame. Symmetrical at first, next came the cross-bars. It was the music that did it. An eerily disturbing sound echoed from the TV speakers, building slowly to a full screeching tension just as the last letter became legible; A L I E N. That was it. Stop. Eject. And run upstairs to seek comfort and safety under my Transfomers bedspread.

I’m glad to say that I eventually watched the full film in my teens, and I still enjoy watching the title sequence today. Only not wearing Knight Rider pyjamas.

Posted by Lee Bennett.