"The Last of Us" Title sequence

http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/the-last-of-us/

Start the video at 14:00 for the full effect of the Title Sequence in context.

This is a really interesting title sequence of a game that I have played, called "The Last of Us". The importance of this title sequence was something I didn't realize until after I read the interview on Art Of the Title. The very first scene in the game is the main character and his daughter as she dies. This moment has surprising narrative weight even though it's incredibly early in the story. At first, the story then immediately jumped ahead several years and continued along. In early testing it was clear this jump was a problem, because the narrative weight of the story didn't have enough time to sink in, so the next scene was confusing and hard to pay attention to. Naughty Dog, the game studio behind "The Last of Us", decided that a film style title sequence would be ideal to give some time to the player to absorb the story. So, this title sequence is both an interesting artful piece, but is also utilitarian in that it is necessary for the story to work. The textures were all inkblots suspended in water, recorded and composited in After Effects, to represent the spread of a zombie virus. It works really well, the textures are intruiguing and you want to figure out what they are, but not so much so that they detract from the titles. The thing I really find cool about this however is that the title sequence wasn't originally intended to be in the game, it was later decided on because it made the story work better. In particular, the vast majority of video games don't have title sequences and those that do usually just flash the title of the game and move on, like for example in Mass Effect 2.

Start Video at 6:20

While this flash to title is interesting and effective in this context, you don't really get to see the more traditional film title sequence in games, and I think that "The Last of Us" is an example of how as video games become more cinematic, how film style opening titles can be incredibly effective.

The Last of Us

The Last of Us is a popular video game released just this passed June. I've yet to play the game myself, but I really hope to soon. I've heard incredible reviews about how successfully the game puts you right into the action. My roommate said he stopped playing the game because it got too terrifying. The game takes place in a post-apocalyptic 2033. You must defend yourself against the zombie-like monsters along with savage humans and cannibals. The story line is apparently very intense with complex characters and twists in the evolving plot. Along with that, the game looks beautiful. Here's a in-game screen shot to give you an idea:

With so much thought going into a game, the title sequence could not be given any less. On theartofthetitle.com, I found a video of the title sequence and an in depth interview of how they made it.

First off, the intro:

The director of this title sequence was a dude named Henry Hobson. 

During the interview posted on the website, he was quoted in talking about the making of this video.

Kevin and I spent a day in San Diego, just covered in black ink, pouring it on every surface imaginable, and every shot just ended up looking like paper! We had black ink, some natural sponges, mosses — everything borne of nature — and then we had compressed air, literally computer cleaning compressed air. If you shook the can heavily you could actually freeze the surface of whatever you sprayed it onto, so the back end of the sequence is actually the reversed footage of this freezing and unfreezing of black ink. It creates the look of the black mould, but it wasn’t anywhere near far enough. It worked perfectly for the back end, but the front needed that extra help from real mould.

If you want to read the rest of the interview here's the link:

http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/the-last-of-us/

It's a very interesting read and really got my mind thinking about ways to get creative shots. What's slight ironic (and I didn't realize until later) is that this intro was made with absolutely no CG effects. But we could easily apply this in After Effects and transform this footage into something that looked even more surreal. If you were looking for that effects anyways. 

As it is, I love the footage they got and I think it fits perfectly with the game. 

Let me know what you think!