Mercy Street opening credit sequence

Now that the new PBS show Mercy Street has aired, I can finally share that I had a hand in creating the opening title sequence (see my blog post from last year). While the show provided the character and location video used in the titles, all the other overlay elements had to be generated, which is where I came in.

Rather than create everything in the computer, we instead shot as much as we could practically. That is one of the calling cards of production company Elastic, who has also provided opening credits for other shows such as Game of Thrones, True Detective (winning the 2014 Emmy for Outstanding Main Title Design), and Marvel's Daredevil.

Bottle elements shot by me.

Shot practically, printed out on back lit paper. We did a practical slice in the paper as well, but I'm not sure if they used our practical take or added the cut in post.

Why yes, I did shoot the saw blade and the surgical instruments.

Another back lit paper shot (see my blog post). Again, I'm not certain if they used the take where we actually sliced the paper or if it's a post effect.

The least impressive of my contributions. I shot the glass texture that overlays the image.

Sorry about the terrible quality of this picture. I had to photograph the screen of my TV with my phone, as this frame wasn't included in the video I pulled screengrabs from for the other pictures. I shot the medical instruments.

One more terrible phone photo, so please excuse the poor color balance, etc. This image runs at the top and end of the show with the sponsors overlayed, but I shot the background lace curtain element.

More opening credit sequences

Last week I shot more elements for the opening title sequences of another show. Once again, I can't name the show, but it's a big one. It's not due to air until 2016 according to my internet searches, so it'll be a little while before I can say which one it is.

This time there was a lot of macro work with the camera on a Dana Dolly which was tough to do, as the macro nature amplifies any bumps. At one point, the director said out loud (more to himself than anyone else) that he wished we had a crane so we could jib up and down instead of being limited to only side to side. So we rigged up a solution where I mounted the tripod plate to the side cheeseplate of my camera (rotating it sideways) and then turned our object sideways as well. This way, instead of dollying side to side on the piece, it turned into a dolly from top to bottom, effectively giving us a jib movement relative to the frame. My setup is pictured below.

It was a long day of work, but we managed to get everything shot. Part of the fun was figuring out how to shoot FX sequences practically instead of relying on compositing later. I think we came up with some very interesting solutions (including rear projection, glass, and printing graphics on paper). I'm curious to see how it all comes together.

Sideways camera on the Dana Dolly.