Transcriber: Van Nguyen Reviewer: David DeRuwe
Sugar, spice, and everything nice -
these were the ingredients chosen to create the perfect little girls,
but Professor Utonium accidentally added another ingredient to the concoction:
chemical X.
Now, does that ring a bell?
Of course it does.
I’m talking about “The Powerpuff Girls” cartoon, of course -
“The Powerpuff Girls”′ intro sequence to be more specific.
This was one of the most iconic visual narratives from my childhood,
and I’m sure it must be the same for many others out there as well.
I still remember how much I enjoyed this cartoon as a child.
I would be glued to the TV every time it was on.
Although I didn’t realize it at the time,
but this was probably one of the first title sequences
I would watch and come to love as a seven-year-old kid.
And I still love it to this day.
There are many more memorable title sequences for cartoons
that have been etched in my memory,
like “Justice League”;
“Batman,” the animated series;
“X-Men”; “Ed, Edd n Eddy”; and many more like these.
If you think back to your childhood,
even if you don't remember exactly what happened in these cartoons,
there’s a chance you’ll remember the title sequences for most of them.
Nostalgia aside, I believe these are prime examples
of the impact a title sequence can have.
It can boil down the story of an entire series in under a minute
in a simplified manner that even a child can fully understand and absorb,
all the while having a distinct visual style that leaves a lasting impression.
Of course, title sequences aren’t just limited to cartoons,
and they're part of all kinds of TV shows and even films.
They have the same function in all of these formats,
although the target audiences change as per the nature of the presentation
Most critically-acclaimed shows have iconic title sequences
that are now inseparable from the short set,
like “Breaking Bad,” “Mad Men,” “Game of Thrones,” and the list goes on.
Title sequences use immersive visual storytelling
to establish the world that the viewer is about to dive into.
Setting the tone for the entire show,
a title sequence acts as a curtain-raiser for the main event.
Once a post-production afterthought,
title sequence design has become an artistic medium in its own right
In TV’s “Golden Age,”
at a time where an endless catalog of CDs is readily available on our phones.
Even if you’ve never overtly given TV’s title sequences a thought,
you’ve probably experienced a few of them in films -
take the James Bond title montages, for instance.
They are iconic pieces of visual art that have a legacy of their own.
Looking at the long list of Bond films that spans nearly 50 years,
it’s a great way to observe the evolution of title design and its scope.
The older Bond films use simple yet powerful emotional design
to tie the titles into the narrative.
The newer Bond films like “GoldenEye,” “Tomorrow Never Dies,” “Casino Royale,”
took that distinct visual style to the next level.
Integrating 3D motion graphics with a host of newer technologies,
increasingly ambitious style sequences started getting created.
With the arrival of video streaming platforms in India
came a meteoric rise in the production of Indian content for a global audience.
Just like how a poster gives us a hint of what the show is about,
its title design also helps distinguish it from the rest.
This is becoming more and more relevant
as the list of shows to watch keeps getting longer.
As a result, over the last few years,
title sequences for Indian content
have steadily become more ambitious and large-scale.
Last year in 2020,
I got the incredible opportunity
to create the title sequence for the show “Scam 1992,”
which revolves around the larger-than-life exploits
of the most infamous Indian stockbroker in history, Harshad Metha.
This title sequence was created amidst the pandemic
when most of the country was under lockdown.
This meant that I had to make the whole thing sitting at home from my bedroom
without access to a proper studio.
Although I had worked as a motion designer and an animator
on title sequences before this,
I had never had the chance to lead a project of this scale by myself.
To avoid being overwhelmed by the sheer scope of this project,
I decided to prioritize the different aspects of it
in the order of their importance:
the different aspects for story, visual style, structure, and treatment.
Let me quickly take you through all of them.
Coming up with the story for the title sequence was a daunting task.
I’d had to be comprehensive enough to set the tone for the show,
but it also had to be simple enough
to be depicted within the 40 seconds of runtime that I had.
After many brainstorming sessions,
it dawned upon me that Harshad Metha was a figure who came before my time,
and few people from my generation knew of him in the way our elders did.
The story of this common man who rose to maddening heights
is what had taken the country by storm back in the day,
as did his fall from grace.
I thought the simple story could perhaps be presented in the form of a fable,
a legend, if you will.
The challenge here was to tell an evocative story
without using any dialogue,
using the most universal language of them all, visual storytelling.
After figuring out what story to tell, I had to decipher how it could be told.
This brings us to the visual state.
With the use of animation and graphics,
there are many ways to visually interpret a simple story.
Analyzing title sequences, I was inspired by it;
it helped me to understand this process better
and streamline the whole thing.
Going back to the James Bond titles,
I observed that they could be broken down into three key thematic elements:
guns representing violence and danger,
feminine silhouettes representing lust,
and a third theme that changes according to the setting of each individual fit.
For instance, the “Casino Royale” titles had a vector graphics style
imitating a deck of cards, which is very relevant to the theme of the movie.
“Quantum of Solace,” another Bond film,
which is set in the landscape of the desert,
has its title sequence also set in a desert.
All the Bond titles use similar concepts of surrealistic compositions
to imply a connection between the elements they have.
I resonated with this approach a lot,
and I wanted to adapt it to the story that I wanted to tell.
Taking surrealism as the core concept,
I used key visual themes from all across the show of “Scam”
and depicted them in a stylized manner to get the narrative across.
For example, in the final act of my title sequence,
the floor gets swept away beneath Harshad’s feet,
depicting the stock market crash of 1992
that eventually brought down Harshad’s empire.
I showed the monument of his success collapsing,
as it was built on faulty foundations.
The profit margins touching the sky come crumbling down under their own weight,
while his riches get seized and locked down by the government.
Next, the visual elements
had to be arranged in the right order to tell the story coherently.
Fortunately for me, the title track for the title sequence had been locked
long before I joined the project.
So I used the title track to order the structure
of the title sequence from its musical cues.
After rigorous planning, down to each second of the title track,
I knew exactly which shot went where before I even animated anything.
Using storyboard frames set against the theme music,
I made a rough animatic for the entire title sequence.
This helped me understand the progression and rhythm of the entire thing.
The final stage was the icing on the cake:
the treatment stages where I find two individuals
to get the exact aesthetic that I was going for.
The sequence was entirely made using 3D animation software,
but I still wanted to give it an animated look and some texture.
The idea was to make it look like something straight out of a comic book,
depicting Harshad Mehta as the main character
in a period piece of sorts, if you will.
To achieve this, I used a couple of simple techniques:
First, I dropped the frame rate of the 3D angles
to make it look choppy and shaky, like a flipbook animation.
So instead of playing 3D angles back at 25 frames per second,
like the rest of the show,
I played them back at 12 frames per second.
Then I layered a ton of photos of abstract paintings
on top of the entire sequence.
This gave the title sequence a distinct texture similar to print media,
almost as if the animation was happening on top of an actual canvas.
The making of this title sequence was an intense experience,
and I learned a great deal from it.
Conceptualizing, creating, editing,
and finalizing my designs was not a straightforward process.
It required a lot of persistence to see through to the finish line.
Technology surrounding animation and design have now become so accessible
that even one person can create studio level work,
straight from home without even needing a whole team.
All the tools and techniques I know are mostly self-taught,
and I didn’t know if it was the industry method at all.
I was faced with a lot of tough creative decisions along the way
which I had never faced before.
When I was backed into a corner
without enough experience to show me a way out,
I had to rely on my instincts alone to guide me.
This instinct stems from that innate intuition
that we developed throughout our lives straight from our childhood.
I believe this intuition is something all of us have,
and it's wired differently in each person,
influenced by their inclinations and geared towards their passion.
In my case, this intuition was built over the course of my childhood
when my love for visual storytelling
allowed me to passively observe and learn from films, cartoons,
TV shows, and comic books alike.
The idea we passively ingest knowledge about things we are passionate about
is something I find really encouraging.
If we are truly passionate about something, chances are that
you’ve been either directly or indirectly learning about it for a long time,
long before you even realize how that might translate into a career.
That kind of learning comes from a very pure place in your heart
and can be a powerful resource to draw inspiration from.
A friend of mine once told me
that if the seven year old you were would be proud of what you’re doing today,
then you’re probably at the right place in your life.
And I keep asking myself the same question from time to time,
and every time the answer is yes, I know I’m probably on the right track.
I was really taken aback by the immense positive response
to the “Scam 1992” title sequence.
The success of the show really opened a lot of new doors for me.
Although I still work from home going through the pandemic,
I no longer work alone.
I found like-minded people who share the same passion for storytelling,
who are now working with me to realize multiple new projects
all through online collaboration.
As a designer, I’m really excited for what the future holds.
Thanks to the growth of online streaming platforms,
all of its viewers are now part of a larger global audience
who can watch shows from across the world at the click of a button.
This has created opportunities for telling diverse,
vibrant and meaningful stories to a variety of shows and films.
Title sequences have always been an inseparable part of these stories,
showcasing a unique blend of filmmaking and design.
The realm of visual storytelling is getting more sophisticated
and extensive with every passing day.
Rather than just serve the function of introducing the name of the show,
a title sequence can tell a story that has a life of its own.
At times, they can even be considered to be microfilms
set in the larger world of the film or the series.
Exploring this rapidly evolving field of design,
I hope to be able to pursue my childhood passion for storytelling
for years to come.
Thank you.