Coraline
As an adaptation that was aimed at a fairly young audience, I understood why they needed to tone down the scarier scenes from the book (And needed to make the titular character appear 'less crazy' by having an original character to share her thoughts with), they were thankfully still able to retain a creepy and disturbing enough atmosphere as seen in this opening sequence.
The sequence starts off with a few rather basic title cards that introduces the studios involved and the voice cast. Following that, a rather fluid stop motion scene plays where the dismantling and reconstruction of a doll takes place. Even I felt a little uneasy seeing how the doll was taken apart, the cinematography was just so well done that it almost felt as if a real life human body was being horribly torn apart (Even the removal of the doll's yarn hair seemed painful for some reason, haha...).
While I do not particularly enjoy the choice of audio used, I suppose it fits the scene and overall tone of the entire film and establishes the mood, it does give this film a very ominous beginning, as it should.
The Last of Us
The critically acclaimed The Last of Us has been regarded by many as one of the most unique post apocalyptic survival horror (Well it's not necessarily scary but there are many moments where it gets the player's heart pumping) out there. While it might be a little overrated considering all the attention that it still gets up to this day, there really is no denying how well put together this game actually was, in terms of its gameplay, art direction, writing and so on so forth, music isn't half bad either.
I will admit that the game's opening is practically on the same level as most HBO series openings we see these days (This game is already close to being a movie as it is). As several recordings play in this prologue, what is simply seen on screen are what appears to be human cells as they are infected and overwhelmed by the Cordyceps Brain Infection (Which by the way is a really interesting concept based on a documentary that show an ant dying horribly by Ophicordyceps unilateralis)
The music played a really big part in this too, while it didn't necessarily have the most exciting soundtrack, Gustavo Santaolalla was able to achieve the right amount of poignancy that this game is clearly trying to go for (Films like 28 Days Later comes to mind when it came to this execution of a post apocalyptic story).
I can always appreciate these rather stylised opening sequences, there is never a need to heavily decorate these type of things, but you still however need to consider carefully what is required to make your sequence impactful enough to the audience.
True Detective (Season 1)
As mentioned earlier, HBO has some of the most stylish opening credits for their original series, and while I haven't yet had the chance to watch this series, this opening makes me want to do so as soon as possible (I am seriously starting to develop a soft spot for crime dramas here...). And again, these HBO series also seem to have a knack for composing amazing 'theme songs'.
Interestingly enough, the designs had first read the scripts for the first three episodes before even considering the visual execution of the title. It just shows how deeply thought out some of these sequences are, the sequence has to at least connect to the story in some way to make it effective.
In an interview with Creative Director Patrick Clair, the visuals for this sequence was inspired by photographic double exposures. "Fragmented portraits, created by using human figures as windows into partial landscapes, served as a great way to show characters that are marginalised or internally divided. It made sense for the titles to feature portraits of the lead characters built out the place they lived. This became a graphic way of doing what the show does in the drama: reveal character through location."
Mad Men
Mad Men is another series that I really need to finish watching, to this day, it's opening remains one of my absolute favourites. I am starting to believe that most of the best sequences have a really graphic approach to them. Considering the setting of this show, the art direction for this opening clearly pays homage to photographs and illustrations from the 50s and 60s.
I was pretty amazed that the process in creating this opening lasted for nearly 4 months and went through so many changes. But it was really interesting to see where they first started when it came to the concepts up to the award winning piece that they now have, and it's not surprising to see that this sequence had a huge Saul Bass influence to it.
True be told, the falling figure made me think of those suicides during the Wall Street Crash in 1929, but only just a little. This character's fall however is perhaps trying to convey the world that he himself is tumbling through as he tries to make it, a world of seemingly glamorous advertising and the supposed sacrifices that are made to showcase those "diamond rings, happy families and gorgeous women in pantyhose".
I really do love the visual execution of this, it was interesting to note how most of it was done in After Effects, while the skyscrapers were done in After Effects 3D and the falling figure in Softimage. And "Beautiful Mine" by the amazing RJD2 still remains one of my most favourite tracks to this day, there is just such an intense, if not dramatic feel to that made it sync so perfectly with the title Mad Men.
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