monochrome
2D Animation & Design – Lee Beauchamp
Music – ‘ofelia’ by Juan Arenosa
After Effects, Illustrator
the brief
With a shadowy aesthetic with intriguing visuals, create a title sequence for the fictional film ‘monochrome.’
concept
Crafting the look and feel of the title sequence couldn’t come first without pinpointing the point of story. This then developed the Foundation of said film:
- a man is haunted by fading memories and faced with winding paths that never align and lead to insurmountable choices.
With this in mind, it became easier to establish the visuals with the word play.
- fading memories = shadows + blur
- choices = repeated items, but different
- paths = doorways
That theme can then be echoed in the rest of the sequence.
design rationale
As the title sequence is mostly comprised of a dark and white composition, I played around with angles of shadow and light, alongside visual markers of time. The passage of time often goes hand in hand with memory, so interjecting it throughout would strengthen the story concept.
this scene mimics a zoetrope- an old animation technique that repeats images to create motion. while the images create a loop, the shadow creeping reminds of passing time.
a newton’s cradle is usually associated with physics- but its secondary association exists with time. the motion stops eventually.
with all that in mind, watch it again
interested in a different breakdown of this title sequence? check out from storyboards to motion, from my series motion talks! thanks for reading 🙂