BOOM Goes Losts Title Sequence.

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. 

Supernatural Opening

Something that is unique about the show Supernatural, is that every season they change the graphics of their opening theme and they match it to the running plot of that season. The show is about two brothers who dedicated their lives to hunting down demons and monsters, and the atmosphere of the show is captured in just a few seconds of their opener. I'm sure very similar aspects of these can be achieved using after effects, but some of them are things we have talked about or gone over. Season 3 is set over fog and clouds, which we have done very basics forms of with the smoke. Another one that involved particles could be season 7 where the name of the show emerges from black material that dissipates into smaller pieces. Similar to season 5, where there is a red liquid that looks like many of the examples from Video Copilots riot gear expansion. It is also really similar to the end credits of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.

We're definitely seeing a lot more opening credits that rely heavily on motion graphics rather then rolling text over live action. Especially the opening for Chuck, shown below.

This is a really interesting article on fanboy.com that chronicles animated opening sequences in television from the 50's through the 70's (it also mentions how Saul Bass played a large part in this television revolution that brought animation to the audiences at home). It says that in the late 1970's, credits began to switch back to live action or just straight animation.

An article in smashing magazine showcases many of the impressive animated credits that have been playing in the last couple of years. Everything from the minimalist title of Lost, to the pop-up book in United States of Tara. While live action seems to work better with comedy, dramas are better paired with animation because it can create a certain mood for the audience and prepare them better for the show without getting distracted.

Ideas for the first project

So I'm stuck between a bunch of ideas for my first project! My top three ideas (which seem wayyy too complicated) are:

Option One:
The opening title scene of Chuck but I found something really cool on youtube that someone did using supernatural within Chuck's title sequence!

Original:


Supernatural Version:


Option Two:
Community:


Option Three:
Skins:
Skins (British version of course)(can't be embedded)

This is Harry Potter version someone did of the opening!


Then simpler ideas (but really short openings) I was thinking about were Lost or Gossip Girl!