Apr 7, 2011 Angel Tagudin
Blackstone
Steve Seeley and Studio Dialog paint a gritty picture of heritage and struggle with their opening for Blackstone, Showcase Channel's gripping Aboriginal drama. In the show's title sequence, mounds of dusty earth blow across archive photos and snapshots of modern day tribe life and the children of First Nation branch out from their ancestors' shadows.
Steve Seely: Blackstone is an unmuted exploration of First Nations’ power and politics. This raw, intense and authentic drama tells the story of the fictional Blackstone First Nation, suffering disintegration by its own hand – the result of the corruption of its Chief and Council. From within the community, a new generation of leaders rise up and fight to create lasting and substantial change.
Ron E. Scott, the creator of Blackstone came to us looking for an opener that matched the raw, grittiness of the show. We wanted to create something that would have enough detail in it that something new would reveal itself each time you watched it.
Glenbow Museum research images (Click to Enlarge)
The first thing we did was photograph assets from the Glenbow Museum, which has an excellent collection of artifacts, photography, and art from the First Nations people of Alberta. Starting with these pieces in place really helped give an authentic feel to the show open. We toyed with the idea of stop motion vs. actual video for a while. We actually did some tests with video, but ultimately felt that stop motion really conveyed the grittiness that we were looking for. It also had a bit of a hand done feel which we preferred over the slickness that video might have.
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Glenbow Museum research video (Click to Watch)
The sequences were shot on Canon 40D, 5D & 60D DSLRs as straightforward JPEG sequences. The 40D and 60D have a fairly fast burst rate, and they gave us high res files that allow for a bit of panning and cropping. We have used video in the past and just stepped down the frame rate to about 12 fps to simulate the stop motion look, but in my opinion, taking actual stills is usually the most effective.
We then took those photographs and brought them to an outdoor location, similar to the reserve that the show takes place on, to film. We wanted a really organic look to the piece, so we used stop motion animation and organic material like dirt, leaves and water to lend a raw, natural look to the animation.
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Location video footage (Click to Watch)
The client provided the video materials. They had shot some b-roll footage of an actual native reserve to use in the titles and throughout the show. There was a bit of heli footage, and some shots of children playing, as well as some redneck style burnouts in old trucks. We incorporated this footage during the edit, once we had all the other pieces created. We layered on some greenscreen footage of dirt and leaves to tie it in with the rest of the assets we were using.
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Greenscreen dirt and leaves footage (Click to Watch)
For the logo animation, we created a few different treatments. Both began with the Cree spelling of Blackstone and transformed into the final logo. The chosen direction used the Cree text as metaphorical roots, which grow upwards, forming the Blackstone logo, again reinforcing the organic theme.
Logo Concept A (Click to Enlarge)
Logo Concept B (Click to Enlarge)
Once all those parts were created, everything was composited together and colour treated to give the piece a dark and foreboding atmosphere. Music was the final component, which really gave it a somber, and somewhat controversial, final twist.
WRITER: Angel Tagudin
INTERVIEW: Ian Albinson
LAST UPDATE: June 29, 2011
© Art of the Title, 2011
- English
Concept, Design and Animation: Studio Dialog
Creative Direction: Steve Seeley & Robb Thompson
Design & Animation: Shelley Cornies
Editing, Compositing and Colour Grade: Darren Bierman
Music: Mike Shields
