The hypnotic magnificence of Duncan Jones' "Moon" is the setting of a kind of space-drawn samhain built to support the machines, here harvesters of Helium-3, the latest source of our terrestrial dependency.

Affecting documentary -all of it stock footage- is unveiled as something corporate and cankerous, shortly giving way to the inviting lightness of Clint Mansell's score. The title card features an impressive use of perspective. Placement and persistence of type domineers the narrative as something akin to Kevin Spacey's lilt which plays like HAL 9000 but follows its own heart.

Art of the Title: At what point did you become involved in the project, and how involved were you? Just the titles or more?

Simon Kilroe: We became involved after the edit. We composited all the screen inserts in the film, including the face of the robot. About 120 shots in all.

ATS: Talk about how the initial ideas came about and what was referenced in the creation of the sequence?

SK: After seeing the cut we immediately decided to track the type into the environments. Duncan Jones came back a day later with the same idea, which made for a very painless creative process. The classic reference for this are the Panic Room titles.

ATS: Were the editing decisions already made by Duncan Jones, or did you help shape the final montage of images of Sam's introduction and daily life?

SK: Duncan Jones presented us with the entire edited sequence.

ATS: How difficult was it to time the number of credits with the live action shots?

SK: The sequence was perfectly edited for the amount of credits.

ATS: Detail the process of laying the typography into the live action elements.

SK: It was a simple case of choosing a line of perspective. We tracked some of the tricky shots in bou-jou. The remainder were tracked in Shake where all the compositing was done. The type was generated in photoshop. The type was given a simple highlight and colour to match its backplate. We had to avoid giving the type any sense of scale, owing to the variety of shots within the sequence. Shadows were applied to add depth as well as reflections of the type within the environment. On some credits camera shake was added to help it sit in.

ATS: And what is the typeface used in the sequence?

SK: Bank Gothic.

• UK
• 2009
• Color
• 2.35:1
• English
• Available on DVD or Blu-ray

Design & Animation: Molinare