For my next project I'd like to create an opening title sequence for ABC's Once Upon A Time. Currently the show's opening sequences are about 7 seconds in length, simply showcasing the title of the show and along with a mythical creature, person, or item that foreshadows what the current episode is going to be about. The following is a video including Once Upon A Time's episode openings through Season 2:
I'd obviously like to elaborate on this and create a sequence that tells a bit more of the story and includes appropriate credits. The following song is the perfect base to begin animating:
This song, entitles "Henry's Proposal," I think does a great job of communicating the confusion, tentativeness, realization, and excitement that Henry--one of the main characters--finds in unfolding the magical tale that surrounds his life.
I've been watching a lot of Lost recently with some of my friends. Most of us have seen the series, but one of my roommates is completely new to it, and with each little discovery she gets into it more and more. It's really amusing to watch first-timers discovering Lost. Every little thing seems so much bigger to them, because everything is fresh. I sometimes wish I didn't know the whole story just so I could watch it again and have the same reactions.
Cast of Lost, Season 1
But anyways, the reason I decided to write about Lost was because I read an interesting fact about it recently. The creator of Lost, JJ Abrams actually also created the intro sequence to the show as well. This seemed pretty cool to me because I didn't think that this happens very often. It is modeled after the Twilight Zone because he was inspired by the black and white theme and the mysterious use of focus.
Lost intro
It's such a simple opening, even at our current level of After Effects experience, any one of us could probably replicate this if we really wanted to. But this is also why it's so effective. The mysterious music, and the drifting of the title only add to the themes of the show. Rather than having a cheesy opening with collected footage set to upbeat pop music, they chose to add to the already mysterious effect of the show, which makes all the difference.
Lost outro
Additionally, the end of the show featured this same logo. However, for the end shot of the show they rotate the title so that it faces the audience head on. My friend made the observation the other day that it's almost like a challenge, the way they change the title format. It just makes you want to watch more of the show, which is completely true.
My favorite part about the end logo is the accompanying music. JJ Abrams is also responsible for the music of the intro/outro. He created the majority of it with parts from the plane they used as the Oceanic Flight 815. The "boom" noise at the end comes from hitting a piece of the plane.
I don't know about you guys, but this just about blew my mind.
One of the new shows that I've really enjoyed so far this season is ABC's Pan Am, which centers around a group of Pan Am stewardesses in the 1960s. The show is shot in New York but takes place all around the world. In the past four episodes alone it has taken place in Hong Kong, Paris, Jakarta, London, New York City, and Berlin. The show has done a great job of portraying these different locations and is very convincing. A lot can be attributed to the visual effects team and art department.They are able to build entire cities without ever leaving their studio in New York. This is especially important for a show that's main focus is the different cities the
flight attendants go to.
Even the scenes that take place in the Pan Am terminal in New York are extremely convincing and well done. The sets are huge and you can tell that the production doesn't hold back, especially when it comes to its visual effects. I found this article that describes the making of the pilot episode. I found out that Stargate Studios, the visual effects company I posted about a few weeks ago is the company behind the visual effects of Pan Am. The article goes into detail about how the Pan Am features one of the largest virtual sets ever created, the main airport terminal set. Rather than build the entire set, an area of 150 square-feet was covered in green screen and used for shooting.
The production used Stargate's VB-live real time compositing system, which requires the studio to pre-build all of the virtual sets so the actors can see them on monitors as they are filming. After shooting, they fine-tuned the shots in Maya and After Effects. The results are stunning in my opinion. Pan Am is beautifully shot and so much of that can be attributed to the visual effects team. I definitely recommend you all check out the pilot! Here is the trailer:
