Art of the Title

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Dean Spanley (2008)

Dean Spanley
There's no point to regretting things that have gone to the trouble of happening
—Fisk Senior
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Spires and moons outfit hidden worlds with a depth of bells and the sea scored with bombast, coruscating glyphs infuse a chalice and the souls of men spill forth.

Oana Elisei of UK-based Lipsync Post:

The brief for the project was to produce opening film titles reflecting the quirky quality of the movie itself which features strong performance from Peter O’Toole and Sam Neil amongst others.

The graphic style draws its influence from Victorian art and crafts, Indian paisley designs and William Morris wood block prints. All of these elements were carefully considered and adapted in order to make this title sequence unique.

After the initial design discussions with Director Toa Fraser and Editor, Chris Plummer, LipSync’s Howard Watkins created the animatic which became the basis of the sequence.

Every element was hand drawn by artist Jason Dickinson, these were then scanned in at a high resolution and prepared in Illustrator in order to be then animated in After Effects by Peter Dickinson. For the typography, a William Morris style font was created and animated by Julia Hall.

  • Credits

Creative Director: Howard Watkins
Lead Design and Animation: Peter Dickinson
Additional Design: Julia Hall
Storyboard Artist: Jason Dickinson
Graphics Assistant: Oana Elisei
Production Company (titles): Lipsync Post

Atlantic Films
Producer: Matthew Metcalfe, Alan Harris
Director: Toa Fraser
Editor: Chris Plummer

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Title sequence

  • Production Studio

    Lipsync Post
  • Category

    Film
  • Styles

    2000s, animation, illustration, main title
Dean Spanley
  • Film Director

    Toa Fraser
  • Release Date

    December 12, 2008
  • Aspect Ratio

    1.85:1
  • Studio

    Miramax Films
  • Country

    New Zealand
  • Language

    English
  • Reviews

    Reviews on Letterboxd
  • IMDb has full details

Article

  • Writer

    Alexander Ulloa
  • Published

    October 19, 2009

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