"When the past no longer illuminates the future, the spirit walks in darkness." —Alexis de Tocqueville

Adam Jensen is dying. The blinding lights of an operating theater melt away in a mechanical fever dream of pleading voices, surgical tools, and rent flesh. Memories of lost love flash between images of a broken and dissected form, while shattered limbs and failing organs – the embodiment of Jensen’s flawed humanity – are replaced with the cold perfection of carbon fiber and silicon. A body restored, a soul fractured – but what remains of the man? A corporate thrall bound to unseen masters or a transcendent being gifted with the power to change everything?

Echoing the central motif of Eidos-Montreal’s video game – the merging of the real and artificial – Goldtooth Creative’s stunning title sequence for Deus Ex: Human Revolution seamlessly blends both live-action and computer-generated imagery to introduce players to a world at the dawn of a cybernetic renaissance.

A discussion with Paul Furminger from Goldtooth Creative (director of the sequence) and Jean-François Dugas from Eidos-Montreal (Game Director on Deus Ex: Human Revolution).

Art of the Title: Could you tell us about the original concept for the title sequence and how it was developed?

Jean-François Dugas: It started with us at Eidos-Montreal. We knew we wanted a sequence that would tell the story of Adam Jensen’s life being saved on an operating table. The thing is, we didn’t want anything basic or expected. We wanted something more stylish and conceptual. We talked to the guys at Goldtooth Creative and explained our idea as to the direction we wanted to take and they started to pitch really creative ideas.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution promo art (Click to Enlarge)

Paul Furminger: Central to the game is the exploration of the murky boundary between man and machine in a technological age. In the opening scene, Adam Jensen, the first-person protagonist, is attacked and left for dead. Without consent, his employer reconstructs his body, saving his life
but changing him forever. It was this reconstruction that we needed to depict in the opening title sequence – to show machinery slowly taking over Adam's body and, more importantly, to show his body accepting the augmentations, using them to become stronger, to become something more than human.

Original storyboards (3 images)

So the original concept was a descent from the macroscopic to the microscopic and from the organic to the mechanical. We started working on storyboards and animatics that began with the gruesome reality of Adam's beaten body and ended with the sublime perfection of veins and circuitry combining at a microscopic level. Though as we worked on it, we found that we weren’t conveying the pain he was enduring during the operation. So we started adding memories of Megan Reed, the ex-girlfriend he failed to protect. The thoughts of lost love and revenge brought a new level of emotion to the piece.

Art of the Title: At what point in the game’s development did work begin on the title sequence?

Jean-François Dugas: We started to work on it in the final year of development for about three months straight.

Paul Furminger: Yeah, about a year before the ship date, around the same time that we began the pre-rendered cut scenes for the game and just after the release of the E3 CGI trailer.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution E3 Trailer (Click to Watch)

As co-writer and editor of the trailers, I was very familiar with the material and eager to re-purpose some of the masterful imagery that Visual Works/Square Enix had produced. Because the game resolution was 720p and the trailers were rendered at 1080p, I was able to blow up and reposition elements from the CGI trailers for use in the title sequence. I would’ve loved to get new CGI from the same team for the title sequence, but the timing wasn’t right – the team at Visual Works had already moved on to another project.

Heart render (Click to Enlarge)

Heart render passes (Click to Watch)

Consequently, the original computer-generated imagery seen in the title sequence had to be created in-house by a small team led by Mike Smith-Kennard. We focused all our CG production energy on key visuals: the heart covered with Sarif-owned circuitry, the gears driving augmentations deep into Jensen's body, and the robotic arm splayed out on the operating table, among others.

Jensen arm concepts (Click to Enlarge)

Arm ambient occlusion render (Click to Enlarge)

Arm render passes (Click to Watch)

Art of the Title: High contrast imagery and prominent lens flares figure heavily into the look and feel of both the game and the sequence. How did the two teams achieve a consistent aesthetic?

Jean-François Dugas: Our game has a unique and strong visual signature. It was important to us that everything remained coherent on all fronts. Whether it was a component of the marketing or a piece of the game like the title sequence, it needed to convey the same visual identity. So, it was clear from the get-go that the title sequence would be black & gold with triangles integrated here and there.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution marketing artwork (Click to Enlarge)

As for the lens angle, it was intended to convey a kind of dream-like quality for the sequence as if Jensen lost consciousness and then partially woke up. During this time, he would have flashes of memories or maybe dreams about his ex-girlfriend, Megan Reed.

Paul Furminger: It was all very ambitious. We knew we’d never be able to create all the CG within the tight timeframe and limited budget, so we decided to shoot live elements to help us tell the story. Paal Wilhelm Nesset, our DP, and Scott Moulton, our production designer, were instrumental in creating live action images that fit in seamlessly.

Mechanical reference images (Click to Enlarge)

Augmentation closeup (Click to Enlarge)

Also, before we shot anything, Pablo Gonzalez – the art director for the sequence – created a post treatment that would allow us to combine our mixed media into a unified look to match the game's art direction. He used depth of field, particles, light rays, vignettes, high contrast, cyan accents, flares, and countless other tricks for that.

Augmentation render passes (8 images)

Augmentation render passes (Click to Watch)

Art of the Title: How did you approach the live-action portion of the sequence?

Paul Furminger: Once we decided to take the mixed media approach for the opening credits, I went through the animatic and clearly defined the shots that would need live-action elements. The entire shoot was done over two easy days, each around eight hours, which is very relaxed for a live-action shoot. On the first morning, we shot all the love scenes with our Megan and Adam lookalikes. In the afternoon, we put Adam on our futuristic operating table and got all of the surgery shots. On the second day, we shot all of the still elements, the pyro/effects plates, and we did the more serious operation shots – for example, we shot the circular saw cutting into the fake human body on the second day.

Live-action shoot (4 images)

As far as putting it all together, the goal was always to seamlessly blend the CG, motion graphics, and live-action shots to create a surreal, etherized vision of the operation. I worked with Scott, our production designer, to find elements that would fit into the world already defined by the CG shots. Often, Scott created the futuristic surgical tools by taking parts from modern-day computers, household hardware, power tools, and medical supplies.

Then with Paal, our DP, we created simple rules that we would also follow when compositing the CG and motion graphics: 1) always light for the black and gold look, knowing that the blacks will be crushed in post, adding cyan accents where possible; 2) shine lights directly into the camera (there are lots of lens flares in the future!); 3) shoot with as many foreground elements as possible with very shallow depth of field in order to hide the boundary between live action and CG elements; 4) add atmosphere and particles to as many shots as possible (scenes with many layers were shot clean and the particles were added in compositing).

Needle render passes (9 images)

In the final sequence, there are 25 shots, not counting the title cards. Of those 25 shots, 14 are live action, 9 are computer-generated, and two were created in motion graphics using 2D animation on stills and photographed elements. The laser shot, for example, was entirely created from one still of a horse tranquilizer that we shot on our second day. The still was modified in Photoshop and then animated in After Effects.

Art of the Title: What were some of your references for the sequence?

Paul Furminger: The two biggest references for this piece were the title sequences for The Six Million Dollar Man and Ghost in the Shell.

Jean-François Dugas: Also, various James Bond opening sequences and Bjork’s video for “All is Full of Love” by Chris Cunningham.

The Six Million Dollar Man opening title sequence (Click to Watch)

Art of the Title: At what point in the process was Michael McCann's score introduced? Was there ever a temporary track in place or did the team have the track from the beginning? How did the music inform the process?

Paul Furminger: We were given a track from Michael McCann very early. It had a similar mood and tempo to the final piece. The track was very influential in the selection of imagery in the edit. The animatic that we referenced during the live-action shoot also had the temporary Michael McCann track underneath it. We had lived with the music for quite a while before locking down the edit. Once the edit was locked, Michael did a final pass on the music, combining audio flawlessly with the visuals. It really helped that we refined the audio and visuals at the same time, instead of forcing one to mesh with the other.

Rembrandt's 'The Anatomy Lecture of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp' homage (2 images)

Art of the Title: What are some of the differences between producing content for games as opposed to for film and television?

Paul Furminger: Our game clients seem more open to experimental and mixed media approaches than our film and TV clients. It's that pioneering spirit that attracted me to creating gaming content in the first place.

Art of the Title: What attracted you to Goldtooth Creative?

Jean-François Dugas: We wanted to work with people outside of our industry who would have a fresh take on our vision, because we’re video game makers, not movie makers. In regard to the trailers they created, it was important to us that we did some things that were non-traditional and unexpected. We wanted something different – more cinematic and more emotional – to compel people to jump into our universe.

With Goldtooth, we found the right partners to achieve these goals because they were on the same page. Internally, we had one of our art guys working with them to nail the concept until completion of the sequence and it was a natural fit. They totally understood what we had in mind. It was a true collaborative effort.

Adam Jensen still (Click to Enlarge)

WRITER/INTERVIEW: Will Perkins
EDITORS: Will Perkins, Lola Landekic
© Art of the Title, 2012

“One final thing I have to do… and then I’ll be free of the past. “ —John ‘Scottie’ Ferguson

There is a threshold in art and design where a work can become so iconic as to transcend its own scope and become a symbol for its medium. Consider Warhol’s soup cans or Mondrian’s color fields, or – to bring it closer to home – Saul Bass’ iconic AT&T or United Airlines logos. And just as it would be difficult to find an American unfamiliar with these works, so too would it be difficult to find a moviegoer unfamiliar with the title sequence to Vertigo. Credit Bernard Herrmann’s haunting score or Bass’ odd synthesis of sensual Kim Novak closeups and spirographic imagery, but it’s likely an alchemy of the three that makes the Vertigo titles an enduring classic.

The spirographic images (called Lissajous waves, technically) were contributed by artist John Whitney, a pioneer of computer arts and a long-time animator at UPA, a commercial animation studio well-known for their modern aesthetic and experimental techniques. (In fact, Bass would again use a UPA alum, Bill Melendez – best known as the Peanuts sole animator – three years later in his sequence for It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.)

While seemingly unrelated to the story and perhaps even too modern for their own good, Whitney’s contributions to Vertigo were validated by Bass’ graphic direction and Hermann’s score, folding his designs into their tried-and-true audio-visual template. The resulting sequence is a landmark work both for Bass and the title industry, framing the film’s premise through evocative-yet-unlikely imagery and Hitchcock’s unique branding eye.

WRITER: Ben Radatz

"Not every conspiracy is a theory."

An unseen agent trails the truth, circling mysteries and raising questions with every paranoid swipe of the highlighter. Newspapers, bar codes, maps, documents, and photos – otherwise mundane minutiae is checked and rechecked for evidence, a pattern of some kind, or perhaps nothing at all. Every whir and click of the microfilm reader widens the web, as the line between conspiracy theorist and intelligence analyst is blurred in Imaginary Forces’ title sequence for AMC’s Rubicon.

A steady beat of stadium claps sets the stage for Buck 65’s gravelly voice as he weaves a miscellaneous lyrical list in the first verse of his track, “Superstars Don’t Love.” Simultaneously, Travis Hopkins’ fictional title cards stream forward in a blitz of elegant homage. These 69 individually-crafted title cards salute films like 2001: A Space Odyssey, Wild Style, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, The Royal Tenenbaums, and others, turning Hopkins’ clear enthusiasm for film and typography into a charming panegyric in the style of the masters.

"If you're wondering how he eats and breathes
and other science facts (la la la),
Then repeat to yourself, 'It's just a show,
I should really just relax
For Mystery Science Theater 3000!'"

Drawing on a fascination with home-made props and blending imagery from sources as diverse as Frank Zappa, the Mickey Mouse Club, and 2001: A Space Odyssey, Joel Hodgson and his team created a title sequence with its roots in UHF television broadcasting. Tom Servo, Crow, and the rest of the gang show their seams unabashedly, embracing the spirit of the movies so endearingly skewered aboard the Satellite of Love.

Joel Robinson’s space-borne imprisonment by distant jailers is a trial of the will, every film a battle. Each successive gauntlet of schlock that Joel (and the viewer) survives drives these tormentors further and further into manic desperation. How bad will they get? How bad can they get?! Joel and his impish robot companions may be prisoners to cinematic dreck and straight-to-video garbage, but no matter how terrible the film, they joyfully embrace it. The journey to Mystery Science Theater 3000 reminds viewers of the true meaning of “so bad it’s good.”

"I think I must have one of those faces you can't help believing." - Norman Bates

It's safe to say that after half a century of critical writing about Psycho, there are few stones left unturned. The same can also be said of Bass' now infamous opening title sequence. Designed on a $21k budget, it is likely his most significant and familiar accomplishment in the eyes of cinephiles and laymen alike.

Admittedly, Bass does not give his audience much to work with. Like the minimalists who came before him and his modernist contemporaries, Bass' favorite route from idea to execution was usually the shortest — and there are few routes shorter than the one taken in Psycho. He uses a series of simple white bars to usher in the sans-serif titles and escort them back out again. Although these lines come from different areas of the screen, they never once break formation or intersect. Likewise, the animation of these lines and the type itself are just as reserved — every object has a path from which it does not deviate. On, off, left, right, up, down, black, white — those are Bass's self-imposed restrictions on Psycho, and he employs them with dramatic effect.

There are two major currents running through Psycho: contrast and tension. Antagonist Norman Bates' dual personality provides the contrast, and the caper (or the Macguffin, as Hitchcock would have called it) brings the tension. In many ways, the film succeeds because it doesn't stray far from these core elements. There is very little comedic relief, for example. Romance and interpersonal relationships are little more than props. As far as plot husbandry goes, Psycho is about as streamlined and fuel-efficient as they come.

Therein also lies the brilliance of Bass' title sequence. In the space of a few short minutes, with his minimal toolkit and Bernard Herrmann's jagged score, Bass creates a parallel visual tension to the film that tells the audience everything they need to know about the plot, without saying much of anything at all. He artfully sets the tone by asking the viewer to read between the lines -- quite literally -- but he also asks that we read into them.

I can think of no better way to enter a Hitchcock film.

WRITER: Ben Radatz
© Art of the Title, 2011

"There'll come a time when all of us must leave here..." - George Harrison, The Art of Dying

Like sighs from a scythe in a wheat field of psychosis, the opening title sequence for Gaspar Noé’s Enter the Void is a melting onslaught of typographic design foisted upon the senses. This unrelenting visual overdose hacks pleasurably at the viewer, as the tip of a nail does finding its destiny. Names become bright little deaths fired to a machine gun beat; the images encircle your pupils as LFO’s "Freak" drives the nail deeper.