Movie Title Sequence

Challenged with creating a movie title sequence using Adobe After Effects to, I knew immediately which iconic opening credits I wanted to tackle: Ridley Scott’s 1979 sci-fi horror classic, ALIEN. Richard Greenberg’s original titles are simplified perfection and represent everything I aspire to in my own work. Clean, direct, and contextually rich, while capturing the creepy, foreboding tone of the film itself. I expanded on Greenberg's “thing growing within a host” concept by adding science class, a flesh room, and metal “bones” titles. Instead of the title slowly revealed by masking, I went for a more organic, swirling-in-the-blood coagulation. The resulting flow is creepy and awe-inspiring, invigorating while honoring one of the great films of its type ever made.

Storyboards lay out the initial coalescence idea, the alien’s DNA recombinating in the host to breed its spawn. The hexagonal shapes connect our subconscious to molecular building blocks and the fragility of chemical bonds against intruders.

Using a electron microscope image of steel (metal teeth!), I developed a mosaic and overlay. Each letter was then carefully cut out using 30 to 55 hexagons.

Each hexagon was then animated by hand to fall together into final letter forms as the sequence proceeds.

Modernizing the type treatment gave me the opportunity to support the transmutation theme of the film. Turbulent displacement masks and particle sweeps echo the swirling hexagons and adds just the right amount of tension and motion.

Enjoy!

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