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Gruesome School Trip (original Dutch title: "De Griezelbus") is a scary adventure movie for kids about a boy who writes a fantasy horror story that becomes reality. The main-on-end credits were created by Dutch animator and prop artist Balder Westein.

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Gruesome School Trip title sequence - Watch the Titles

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The animated main-on-end titles for the Dutch children's film Gruesome School Trip (original title: De Griezelbus) were created by self-taught animation and stop-motion director Balder Westein of ThreeDoubleYou. The sequence has an almost Burtonesque feel to it...

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Lemony Snicket's A Series Of Unfortunate Events

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Lemony Snicket's A Series Of Unfortunate Events

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(2004)

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Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events

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Creative Director: Brent Watts Director/Designer: Jamie Caliri Character Designers: Joe Esquibel, Justin Reynolds Layout Artists/Lead Animators: Todd Hemker, Benjamin Goldman Animators: Chris Meyer, Joel Fox Illustrators: Joe Esquibel, Tom Aaron Typography/Text Layout: Scott Sorenson, Matt Manes Backgrounds Artists: Celeste Rockwood-Jones, Roger Loveless Production Coordinator: Mimi Vigh Production Manager: Renee Cannon Technical Producer: Benjamin Goldman Producers: Mike Miller, Gary Levine Production Company: Axiom Design & MWP/Caliri Productions

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(2004)

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(1993)

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(2009)

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Sweeny Todd (2007)
Beetlejuice (1988)
The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

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Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

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Title Designer RICHARD MORRISON: This industry is very specific and if you do a good job then you tend to be remembered by directors and producers. What I enjoyed most was coming up with the whole idea. I did not have to pitch to Tim but I turned this project into an internal pitch at th1ng.

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(2008)

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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.

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(2014)

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Dive down into the strange underbelly of Cheesebridge with the boxtrolls, a lovable set of foldable stop-motion monsters, here rendered in warm strokes of sketchy animation produced as a collaboration between commercial studio HouseSpecial and animation house LAIKA.

In LAIKA's latest stop-motion feature, the process gets a technological makeover to become an incredibly beautiful and seamless piece of moving art. The film is a wonder of uncanny, intricate movement and wonderfully detailed environments, each character's face a vibrant smudge of emotion, each object a finely crafted piece worthy of closer inspection. But just as with the studio's previous offering, ParaNorman, the film's title sequence is a horse of an entirely different colour.

Here, in a style reminiscent of the title sequence to Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events and the drawings of illustrator Ronald Searle, HouseSpecial moves the aesthetic of the title sequence away from the film, rendering the monsters as black swaths of ink tumbling through a watercolour city. The lanky serif typeface, designed by LAIKA's Josh Holtsclaw, lends the sequence a handwrought elegance. Paired with the friendly "Little Boxes" by Portland band Loch Lomond, the end credits sequence presents a cozy summation of the film, reminding viewers of key moments and jokes.

The first two and a half minutes of the end credits sequence is made up of these animated drawings, but what follows is different again: a secret extra scene, or stinger. In the stinger, a minute-long bonus scene, Mr. Trout and Mr. Pickles discuss the connection between their world and ours, a meta conversation that lapses into a behind-the-scenes look as a life-sized crew member enters and exits the shot to animate them.

The timelapse stop-motion stinger from the end credits featuring Mr. Trout and Mr. Pickles and their animator

It is this combination of technical mastery and willingness to invite viewers into the process that makes LAIKA and HouseSpecial's collaborations so delightful. We admire the artistry on multiple levels; we are wowed by its surface beauty, losing ourselves to the narrative dance and the depth of texture, when suddenly we are given a glimpse behind the curtain. In a world of increasing gloss and digital manipulation, a peek at something so meticulously crafted goes a long, long way.

A discussion with title sequence director AARON SORENSON of HouseSpecial.
So, you had previously directed the end credits of ParaNorman. What was the first meeting like for this new sequence, for The Boxtrolls?
When the HouseSpecial team met with directors Anthony Stacchi and Graham Annable at LAIKA, the concept was already fleshed out. Travis Knight, LAIKA's CEO, wanted to repeat the success of the ParaNorman end credits, so he asked HouseSpecial to help out again. They had some rough concepts and wanted us to collaborate with Michel Breton, the production designer, and Mike Smith, the character designer. I brought my experience from directing the ParaNorman end credits and translated it into a plan to create the piece. The creative drive was to honor the brilliant design of Michel Breton - to bring his concept art to life in 2D animation.

View 3 images

A series of backgrounds, emotive elements, and artwork for distortion pans

How far along was the film at this point?
It was maybe half-finished, in terms of animation. There were no real visual effects shots, but it was easy to see how the technique was getting more and more sophisticated.
So how did you begin? What was your process like?
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Color study and animation log sheets

In this case it was about problem-solving for the transitions and the scale of the artwork, plus figuring out where to hide the transitions between animators. Some of the scenes were 300 - 400 frames with massive camera moves in and out of very detailed artwork. We needed to transition easily from each mini-story to create a fluid narrative.

To map everything out visually, we rebuilt the storyboards in After Effects. This helped us calculate pan length, layer order, and resolution. HouseSpecial's Erich Richter, the lead After Effects artist, figured out the "math" of the animation. Once we had exact dimensions, I gave them to Michel with notes for designs needed.

We also did an animation test to work out the style in motion. I animated a scene of [the character] Shoe shooting out of a pipe and falling down some stairs. We did all the animation on paper partly because it felt good, and the line style was so organic. It was easier to get that traditionally than digitally.
Did you storyboard? What was your process like with that?
Mike Smith storyboarded the credits. His boards are quite amazing - expressive, dynamic and effortless.

The layout planning was tricky. The storyboards called for lots of big camera moves that forced line art to scale up and down fluidly - a definite a head scratcher at times.

For instance, in the shot where Knickers has on the yellow panties...

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Character and spot key sketches, walk cycles, and credit composition sketches

...we had to animate the character as large as we could and then create an even larger panty element that sat on top of the character, which was tracked back in space to transition into a smaller pair of panties all while more panties flew off. I feel like I said "panties" a lot right there.
Tell us about the typeface. How was that designed?
We were given a typeface designed by LAIKA's Josh Holtsclaw. It was a challenge to track the type through scenes and maintain legibility. The solution was to make the tracking very simple and keep the motion linear, with words screened in the background.

Comparison between the design composite (left) and the final shot

There was sensitivity from the beginning about readability and giving equal weight to the credits visually. One thing my career has taught me is that the more you try to get fancy with elements, the harder everything is to balance. If the style of the artwork were simpler we could have pushed the text design further in terms of movement and layout, but it's difficult to combine complex backgrounds with ornately treated text and not lose legibility or design integrity.

Design composite (left) and final shot with credits laid out

In both this title sequence and your previous work on ParaNorman, there is a sequence in which you give a behind-the-scenes look at how the characters and environments are made. Why are these behind-the-scenes looks so important to you?
Travis Knight is a big proponent of allowing the audience to see the artistry behind the film. I really didn't have anything to do with either of those clips but I've read in numerous reviews how much the audience enjoys them. It's a funny thing to pull back the curtain on your technique and reveal your secrets.

The Nature of Creation featurette, a behind-the-scenes look at the making of The Boxtrolls

Do you think it's becoming something of a tradition now for animated features to have elaborate end credits?
It seems to be. Anything to keep people in their seats to see the names of the people who worked on the film is a good thing.
When did the music come in? Did you always know what the end song was going to be?
Malvina Reynolds' "Little Boxes," performed by Portland band Loch Lomond, was always the song choice to my knowledge. I think the only thing that changed was the arrangement. It's kind of perfect.
What tools and equipment did you use?
Paper, pencil, Toon Boom Harmony, After Effects.
How big was your team and how did you all work together?
There were four lead animators, five assistant animators, three Harmony animators, two ink and paint artists, and two compositors, but some of us wore multiple hats.

Layout composite with Jared Harris's credit rolling down a hill in a wheel of cheese

What was different for you this time, compared to the production of ParaNorman's end credit sequence?

The difference with The Boxtrolls was that it was more about pure character animation and less about how to achieve a look. With ParaNorman we spent a lot of time composing these perfect still frames that we then animated. The Boxtrolls was more about movement and energy and the expressive quality of the line.
What do you think this title sequence gives to the film?
I think it's a nice way to celebrate the characters and the inspirational art that went into making the film in a light, playful way.
What are some of your favorite animated films?
I mostly watch classic hand-drawn films with my kids, who enjoy 2D films and stop-motion more than most CG films. I think their favoritism has to do with the pacing of the classic films and how short they are. 101 Dalmatians (1961) is my favorite feature. I just watched Bambi again with them and rediscovered an amazing lack of dialogue, plus the film is only 70 minutes long!
What are you working on next? What's coming up for you?
I'm mostly directing commercials including ongoing campaigns with Honey Nut Cheerios, Shaw Communications in Canada, and some new, secret work.

I also have a short film in pre-production at HouseSpecial. It will be stop motion with a sort of 2.5D look and a decidedly adult theme. I'll say no more.

Out now - The Boxtrolls: Slide 'n' Sneak game for Android and iOS.

View the credits for this sequence

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Dive down into the strange underbelly of Cheesebridge with the boxtrolls, a lovable set of foldable stop-motion monsters, here rendered in warm strokes of sketchy animation produced as a collaboration between commercial studio HouseSpecial and animation house LAIKA. In LAIKA's latest stop-motion feature, the process gets a technological makeover to become an incredibly beautiful and seamless piece of moving art.

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Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant

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Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant

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(2009)

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While many cinematic title sequences suffer from a sense of autopilot, the main title for Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant keeps you guessing. Taking on the thrust of a children's nightmare, the resulting aesthetic is innocent but deftly tuned with motifs of fear - a surefire way to take the edge off the sweetness.

Borrowed from themes developed by the film's director, Paul Weitz, the typography serves a dual purpose in providing information while also being an extension of the puppets themselves. By redrawing original woodcut lettering, the typeface takes inspiration from lithographic circus banners, and as a narrative device, leads the children along an ominous journey. Cracked from the vault of graphic design, inspiration for the letterforms was drawn from the stylistic sentiments of Dada, shadow puppetry, and German Expressionism.

The result is decorative but highly engaging, with an undercurrent of darkness and grit à la Tim Burton. Through a string of slick transitions, the sequence strides forward with a sense of athletic perseverance resolving in moments of compositional clarity.
This article originally appeared on Motionogr apher.com on Nov 3rd, 2009 and is republished with permission.

Motionographer's Brandon Lori spoke with Creative Director GARSON YU in November 2009.
How hands-on was Director Paul Weitz? How much leverage did he have in terms of the title sequence?
The director's role is to guide the design process and Paul directed every single aspect of his film. As title designers, we showed Paul what we thought the tone of the opening should be during the development stage. Once the idea was sold to Paul, it was our job to run that creative process independently and show him our progress, always working towards the vision that was discussed.

I think it's rare that directors will micromanage the design process since they have other, more important things to deal with then. Post-production, especially when it comes to the last stage of the making of the film - doing final audio mixing and dealing with studio reviews - is pretty demanding. At the end of the title design process, Paul worked with the composer making sure the music hit every single beat of the picture. Although the titles are the work of the title designer, it is always the director's film and they've got to put their touch on it. We're just one of the many contributors - the filmmaker is the soul of it.

Although the titles are the work of the title designer, it is always the director's film and they've got to put their touch on it. We're just one of the many contributors

How has working with Paul Weitz compared to working with directors like Steven Spielberg, Ang Lee, or Sydney Pollack? How does each one consider film titles?
Compared to those other directors, Paul is quite young. At first, he said he had no ideas for the opening. He left it up to us. He invited me to watch the film and after some time, he called another meeting. He told me he wanted the opening to be about Mr. Tiny controlling the boys like puppets. I always try to think on my feet and have an answer on the spot, so my response was: "Why don't we create it with shadow puppet animation?" And he loved that idea. It sounds obvious, but he bought it! I think it turned out to be the right idea for the project.

So there was a creative back-and-forth dialog, which I enjoyed. He was receptive to all my ideas. Sometimes directors have clear ideas but sometimes they have no clue. As for working with Ang and Sydney, they are always very clear with what they want. They have a lot of respect for our work and they hire us to do what we're good at.
Most commercial productions are known for their tight deadlines. Was that the case with Cirque du Freak? How much time and effort went into development?
We had a decent amount of time to develop the concept and the design of the look. We also had enough time to execute it. You're right, on most commercial projects we don't have time but film is a craft - that's why we like to do it.

For this project, we had two months to develop the design and two months to actually produce it.
Specifically for Cirque du Freak, how challenging was it to distill the film's complex narrative into the time provided by a main title?
It was quite a challenge! I try not to over-think creating a complex narrative for the opening unless it's necessary. The idea of a main title sequence is to set up the tone and mood so the audience can discover the story as the movie unfolds. I believe the opening sequence needs to be metaphorical in content and impressionistic in tone. Unless there is a very specific prologue that the filmmaker feels strongly about, I usually try not to be too literal and keep it simple.

I mean, you don't want to reveal too much about the plot of the film in the title sequence. As for Cirque Du Freak, it is a graphic opening that introduces six freak show characters and brings them together through the journey of two puppets. I wanted to let the credits play an important role. They become the main actors throughout the sequence and the story is the backdrop.
Can you talk a bit about the sources of inspiration and references that went into the style of the sequence?
Well, Cirque du Freak is a series of three books by British writer Darren Shan and all of the characters and motifs are taken directly from them. Paul worked with the art department to come up with the woodcut illustration look and also the look of German expressionist paintings. Those were our main source of inspiration.

If you see the credits as actors on stage instead of just titles in the foreground, then you can imagine doing anything you want as long as you direct them

And let's talk about the type. Can you explain the dual purpose of the letterforms in providing information while also being interactive devices for the characters?
The typography is inspired by references throughout graphic design history. I am particularly interested in Dada artists such as Filippo Marinetti in the way they use letters to literally illustrate the content. It becomes a figurative poem. And concrete poetry - the idea of seeing letters as actual objects - as well as Bradbury Thompson's work in the '50s and '60s. All those were sources of inspiration for the title.

I also wanted to see if I could innovative a bit, invent a new way of how credits behave. If you see the credits as actors on stage instead of just titles in the foreground, then you can imagine doing anything you want as long as you direct them. They can dance and they can interact with the characters. In this case, they're actors on stage with the puppets.
The title is so heavy in design content that it can seemingly be broken up into a series of moments effortlessly transitioning into one another and then resolving in an instance of visual resonance. How did you decide to use slick transitions as opposed to camera cuts?
Great question. That decision was based on how the music drives the visuals. In the overall story, there are many small stories introducing each freak show character. So there are about six different vignettes in addition to the intro and closing - a total of eight short stories, each connected by a visual transition. The idea was to maintain a flow throughout instead of making it feel fragmented.
It seems like there has been a lot of cost-cutting these days because of the state of the economy. Did the production ever feel squeezed?
Most of the time, the film's budget has already been planned, so cost-cutting has not had a major impact on us. It seems like there is always a piece of the budget allotted to title design. Normally it will reference the previous film's budget. For CDF, we had a pretty healthy budget to do it right.
Like most things, motion graphics is not immune to cliché, where certain visual cues like lens flares and pop-up books now spark contempt where once they were all the rage. With Cirque du Freak and several other film titles under your belt, how mindful are you of that kind of repetition?
Film is about storytelling and the title sequence should be driven by that story. If the story doesn't require those clichéd visual cues, then they shouldn't be there. We used the shadow puppet idea as a visual metaphor because it fits the story. I never want to repeat myself on new projects.
For a main title, you have a captive audience, while for a main-on-end, you have the opposite - you're battling people shuffling out or leaving en masse. How do the creative processes differ in designing a main title versus a main-on-end for you?
A main-on-end is the credits and we no longer need to set up tone or mood. The only objective is to engage the audience to stay in their seats and watch the credits so it needs to be visually engaging. Any heavy storytelling will just not work. The credits are the most prominent element so I usually build the graphics around them.
Finally, how do you see changing technology affecting the continuing evolution of film title design?
I believe the media that we use will change the product. With changes in technology, the look will invariably change as well, get more sophisticated in its execution. However, film is about storytelling and I believe the choice of medium will always depend on that.
View the credits for this sequence

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Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant

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While many cinematic title sequences suffer from a sense of autopilot, the main title for Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant keeps you guessing. Taking on the thrust of a children's nightmare, the resulting aesthetic is innocent but deftly tuned with motifs of fear - a surefire way to take the edge off the sweetness.