Lord of War (2005)

“The first and most important rule of gun-running is: Never get shot with your own merchandise.” — Yuri Orlov

The opening title sequence of Andrew Niccol’s 2005 film Lord of War, starring Nicolas Cage as arms dealer Yuri Orlov, is a tale of birth and death. The life of a bullet. The death of a child.

The title sequence, conceptualized by Niccol and shepherded by Visual Effects Supervisor Yann Blondel with production studio l'E.S.T., is one that is technically and thematically exceptional. In placing the viewer in the position of an inanimate object on the move and pairing it with an iconic protest song, the film immediately sets itself apart, announcing its artifice while introducing its key ideas. The sequence establishes the narrative world of gunrunning, the story’s wry, tongue-in-cheek tone, as well as the film’s primary motif: the lone bullet.

The bullet in the title sequence is our entry point to the film but it’s also a symbolic representation of main character Yuri Orlov. Just as Forrest Gump is the feather, floating on the breeze and falling haphazardly into his fate, Yuri is the bullet, single-minded and on a deadly and inevitable course. Yuri also wears a bullet around his neck, a constant reminder and talisman of power. The lone bullet is a constant presence, providing the potential for change early on as well as the power behind the climactic scene between Yuri and his brother Vitali.

Object-oriented POV shots are rare in film, and rarer still in title design. Notable examples of object-POV-shot title sequences include 1988’s The Naked Gun, featuring a wailing police siren on the loose, and 1993’s So I Married An Axe Murderer, featuring a giant cup of coffee weaving through a café.

Here, the object is a 7.62×39mm bullet, born in a Soviet Union munitions factory, packed into a crate, shipped over land and sea into a warzone in Africa, loaded into an AK-47, and shot into the head of a child soldier. Placing the viewer in the position of the bullet is startling as well as enveloping. It’s like a finger pointing back, making us complicit, implicating us in the events that unfold for our entertainment. It’s a message so transparent as to be glib, while foreshadowing the climax of the film.

The typography design, angular and clinical, comes care of title design powerhouse Imaginary Forces. It reinforces the detached calculation and cool efficiency of the factory environment and transport journey. The accompanying song, Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth (Stop, Hey What's That Sound)”, plays in cocky opposition to the subject matter. The song was written by Stephen Stills after the Sunset Strip curfew riots in Hollywood, California in 1966 and quickly became a well-known protest song, capturing the general unease spreading across America in the late ’60s, becoming an anthem surrounding civil rights and the Vietnam War. The use of the song in Lord of War’s titles gives the opening a warmth and sense of humour that is otherwise absent on the cold conveyor belt of weapons manufacturing. Much like the opening of Dawn of the Dead (2004), which uses Johnny Cash’s “The Man Comes Around”, the sequence’s horrifying visuals gain levity and texture through powerful music.

The sequence is a bold and self-assured overture that cleverly depicts the main thrust of the film, asking difficult questions and packing a punch that lingers long after the end credits roll.

A discussion and visual effects breakdown with Lord of War Visual Effects Supervisor YANN BLONDEL.

Where did the idea of this opening come from? What were the initial discussions like?

Yann: Andrew Niccol had the original idea. The “food chain” idea. It came from Andrew’s brilliant mind. I remember saying that even if we screw it up the sequence will still be brilliant! That said, we felt the pressure: spacecraft, monsters, blowing up cars... all that’s cool but it’s kind of straightforward. Here, all the team was afraid to ruin an amazing idea. What we needed was to keep the…

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