#title sequence

[circular-time]

Addendum: practical effects SILVERster

raw photos by Keff McCulloch

final result with fancy lighting

ranking classic doctor who title sequences by awkwardness of the mugshot

i was so haunted by the ominous floating tom baker head from the latter seasons of his era that i started kinda obsessing over this. i will now evaluate each and every mugshot in these openings, for my own amusement, and to exorcise the demon.

william hartnell did not have a mugshot in his openings because the photograph did not yet exist in britain at the time. as such we will start with patrick troughton

quite an ominous starter, i feel. vaguely disdainful expression, as though judging the viewer for watching a show about a gay little imp. haunting, and makes me uncomfortable to view for too long. a solid start for Awkward Mugshots in the series

next, we have my goat, the babygirl himself, mr 9.5 cuntquake, jon pertwee.

this one goes for an entirely opposite approach from patrick troughton's look of quiet disappointment. jon pertwee stares straight ahead, unflinching, a smile on his face, and yet... there is a discomfort in his features. as though he's standing next to a man who has, unprompted, begun to complain about how greggs has made sausage rolls "woke." doesn't make me, personally, uncomfortable, but you can sense a troubled soul beneath that smile. but we aren't done with jon just yet.....

this one really tickles me. jon pertwee's expression is pretty unremarkable and neutral, although his fit is, of course, a thing of beauty. i'm more just kinda obsessed with it zooming out into this full body jpg of him where, because it was 1974 or whatever, his legs are just this amorphous blog extending from his big stupid cloak. it creates a unique, extremely funny take on Awkward Shot of the Doctor, and for that i have to applaud it.

its tom baker now. you know this guy, maybe.

tom baker's doctor is very much Supposed to have a kind of unnerving quality to him, and his wide eyed completely blank stare here does quite perfectly capture his ominous fey beast aura. very much not a soothing expression to ease you into the program, but one that definitely sets the tone for how much of a weird freak tom baker doctor is. as such, kind of can't call this an awkward shot.

NOW THIS FUCKING ONE HOWEVER

this is the one that got me thinking about this shit. i do not know what they were going for with this one. tom baker's disembodied, floating head, expression both confused and upset, as if he too is being accosted by the woke greggs guy who was hassling pertwee six years ago. then it just flies directly at the camera, making the sheer befuddled emotion on his face all the clearer and all the more troubling. quite possibly the most awkward of them all.

but, i dare say, we have a contender.... peter davidson, who may or may not be popular youtuber hbomberguy.

this one really fucks me up. his eyes, as unflinchingly trained on the viewer as jon pertwee's. but they're so Wide this time. peter davidson is Alert. he is Looking, At You. and he is smiling. he's so happy to see you. then, as with confused tom baker head, he flies straight at the viewer. frankly, this is much more sinister. get away from me, peter. i don't like that. i genuinely don't know if this or tom baker is the worse one.

colin baker introduces an intriguing new tech wherein they use Two Whole Mugshots in one opening

so first, i like how colin baker gets absolutely coated in the rainbow effects. he does dress like a gay clown, so i think it's suitable. second, i think it's extremely funny that colin baker's doctor was infamous for being like, the most abrasive and unpleasant doctor (i can attest to this with how the first fucking thing he says in revelation of the daleks is to just call his companion a fat bitch who eats too much with almost zero prompting) but they give him these two jovial little smiles. like honestly i think colin baker probably has one of the more natural-looking mugshots and it's so funny that the dude whose doctor was famously A Huge Asshole pulled that off. he's smiling :) he's my friend the doctor who bodyshames me :)

last but not least. my other goat. the silliest old man around. mr mansplain manipulate malewife himself. sylvester mccoy.

sorry colin baker this is my winner for Least Awkward. sylvester mccoy could kinda do it all. they picked a shot of him trying to look all stern, only to hit em with a silly little wink and jolly little smile that do not feel ominous, but instead the playful gestures of a mischievous old man who is maybe constantly plotting the horrific death of his enemies. perfect encapsulation of the seventh doctor's character. in a beautiful perfect world we have like five more seasons of sylvester mccoy.

so yeah final rankings from most to least awkward

KING OF AWKWARD: peter davidson

GRAND VIZIER OF AWKWARD: tom baker 2

VAGUELY UNCOMFORTABLE: jon pertwee 1 and patrick troughton

OMINOUS, BUT FITTING: tom baker 1

JUST KINDA FUNNY: jon pertwee 2

PLEASANT AND INVITING: colin baker

MORE PLEASANT AND MORE INVITING DESPITE SINISTER ANTICS: sylvester mccoy

no i dont know why i fucking wrote this

[oatmealspet]

K now that I don’t gotta password protect it anymore, this is the animatic we did for the title!

It was a ton of fun, it was 100% a group effort and collaboration of ideas between me, McKenzie Atwood our editor, and Yvonne Hsuan Ho who storyboarded with me as I directed. Things are just way more fun when everyone has the ability to chime in with their ideas and just try stuff just to see if it slaps

McKenzie is literally one of the best editors I’ve been privileged to work alongside with and has so many fucking baller ideas and vision and it was a blast to be the chaotic shitposting duo that we were on this show lol (also to make the title sequence of course, but mostly for the shitposting shenanigans)

And of course Yvonne is such a stellar board artist, they came in blasting and it helped so much when we were just spitfiring ideas for the opening sequence! I had a blast making the title sequence and I hope they had fun too 🤞

Oh and let’s not forget Brian H Kim who composed the song! We didn’t know who would be singing it officially so we had a scratch version to work with and it lived in our heads rent free

[gebo4482]

Devil May Cry - Opening Credits #1

Official Teaser

[victoranimation]

Captain Dracula Adventures: Intro animation sequence (1/2) Watch the full thing HERE!!!

[kreaaterka]

Just Aziraphale and Crowley sitting on the rooftop. For my papercraft model, I need to know the precise positions of their limbs so I paint them. And yes, they’re holding hands! Just look at Crowley’s second arm—it’s my new headcanon.

[misterlemonzlime]

05-21-25 | The Avengers dazzled ABC TV watchers throughout the 1960s. misterlemonzlime.tumblr.com/archive

[maxwellatoms]

This is the original marker comp done for the opening shot of the main titles. These sorts of things are done for important shots (or any time you've got time to give something a bit more love). I remember that Art Director Rae McCarson also made a more purple version and a red/orange. I like that this one looked like a bit of a punk rock eyesore, so I went with that.

I always felt that the Grim & Evil titles were obnoxious in the WRONG way, and I wanted to make sure that the Billy & Mandy titles were CORRECTLY obnoxious.

It was a fun title sequence, with the exception of the fact that we had three days and zero extra dollars to put it together. Once we had the art assets, I took a weekend with my roommate La and girlfriend (all of whom worked on the show) and shot a bunch of extra stuff. We threw water balloons full of paint at poster board (which would later be used as mattes for the "splatter" transitions. We filmed smoke swirling in a tube and that can be seen swirling around the edges of the whole sequence. We did dumb little drawings of sharp-toothed Billys and Mandys. Many of those made it in as film scratches or pops. Most of it (like the infamous names on the tombstones) is really hard to see in SD.

Nice we had all of the stuff, editor Bobby Gibis and I spent a couple of days mashing it all together with the music.

My biggest regret is that we weren't given the time or budget for any actual animation, as I'd really wanted Billy & Mandy's sketelons to drop down followed by organs and skin as in the pilot. Instead we just had to use "electricity magic". Still, considering the resources we had... I'm pretty proud of what we were able to accomplish.

This piece (and many others) are on eBay right now under username: gr1mb0t.

I'll be putting more stuff up through the next couple of months, so keep an eye out if you're interested!

[nicoooooooon]

The Brutalist, Official Teaser, 2024, title design by Sebastian Pardo

[fortesque]

Napoleon Dynamite (2004)

[youryurigoddess]

The biggest Easter egg yet

I’ve been meaning to address this for a while now, but @camdenleisurepirates gave me the final push after reading my piece on Gabriel’s cross. Huge thanks for that morsel of motivation, my ADHD brain loves you.

This is going to be yet another long read, although not as extensive as my bookshop statues meta. Still, better get yourself some hot chocolate or another drink of your choice and make sure you’re comfortable!

Now, remember the X-Ray interview with Peter Anderson on Easter Eggs in the opening animation he created for the second season? Forget red herrings, apparently our fandom has a literal red phone box! I’m convinced that this whole scene is a one big — the biggest, actually — Easter Egg, and I’ll explain why step-by-step.

The red phone box Crowley used to warn Aziraphale about the Antichrist and the following Armageddon in S1, the exact one where he left change for an emergency call, seems important enough in terms of the future S3 plot, but there’s so much more going on in this frame. Not only the lift.

The angels

At the very start of this sequence we can see a fragment of an elaborate bridge guarded by cherubs sitting on two columns, maybe globes, leading to a distant structure built over a literal mountain of trash — all elements of the S1 and S2 openings which were consciously picked out by the animators and put together in a very ominous pile.

Ready for some scavenging?

In the Gabriel’s cross meta, I already mentioned the importance of Ponte Sant’Angelo in relation to the ex-Archangel’s statue. Now it’s time to widen our perspective and focus on the full picture — quite literally. Apparently the bridge from the opening sequence has ten statues of angels, exactly as the Italian historical monument.

First things first though: the two big cherubs guarding the entry to the bridge might seem familiar to some of you. While they’re obviously not copies of the same statue, a very similar pair of brass cherubs is placed in Aziraphale’s bookshop to symbolize Aziraphale and Crowley. And looking at the screenshot above and the way they sleep or sulk with their backs turned on each other, they are most certainly not talking. The addition of more than one set of eyes is a lovely reference to biblically accurate angel memes though.

If we assume the traditional left-right positioning of the characters, Aziraphale is on the left and Crowley is on the right. Directly behind Aziraphale we can see a ship named “Good Traits”, but in reverse — kinda sorta confirmed by the animator Peter Anderson to be connected to the concept of the seven deadly sins on Twitter. Same that was mentioned recently by Neil in one of his asks.

The presence of Gabriel — a renegade Archangel wielding a broken cross — on the right, Crowley’s side, seems to match this theory. It could also support one of the possible interpretations of the very last bookshop shot in the S2 finale.

Out of all ten statues, Angel Carrying the Cross by Ercole Ferrata is considered inferior to the others on the bridge in that it appears to be a two-dimensional relief sculpture rather than an unbounded three-dimensional artwork, which seems to match Gabriel’s first impression as a character.

The inscription on the statue reads, “Dominion rests on his shoulders" — that is the weight of the cross that Christ was forced to carry through Jerusalem before being crucified. Even though Gabriel’s burden partially disappeared, the whole bridge and its environment is covered with crosses. It’s clear that we’re looking at a direct parallel of Via Crucis, the Way of Sorrows.

Towering over the Italian bridge, at the very top of Castel Sant’Angelo, is a statue of Archangel Michael, seen as the golden angel on the top left part of the trash pile. Aziraphale’s side, perhaps as his assistant, perhaps a rival? Legends of the Jews mention Michael as the chief of a band of angels who questioned God's decision to create man on Earth. The entire band of angels, except for Michael, was condemned to Fall — which could explain why they have such a good access to the Grapevine That Obviously Doesn’t Exist. And whatever’s going on between Michael and Dagon, perhaps.

In Roman Catholic teachings, Michael has four main roles or offices. Their first role is the leader of the Army of God and the leader of Heaven's forces in the final triumph over the powers of Hell. Viewed as the angelic model for the virtues of the spiritual warrior, their conflict with evil taken as the battle within. The second and third roles of Michael deal with death. Their second role is that of an angel of death, carrying the souls of Christians to Heaven. Michael descends at the hour of death and gives each soul the chance to redeem itself before passing; thus throwing the devil and his minions into consternation. In their third role, Michael weights souls on perfectly balanced scales they are often depicted with as their attribute. In their fourth role, Michael appears as the guardian of the Church. Might be the reason why they’re the closest to the building on top of the mountain.

It looks like Michael lost their sword though, just like Gabriel lost a part of the cross he was supposed to carry. The sword in question was supposed to be used to slay the dragon — Satan, the Adversary — according to John of Patmos and his Book of Revelations.

Speak of the devil: interestingly, there are two copies of an anonymous variation of the Angel of Light statue appearing twice on both sides of the bridge. Both the title as well as the statue itself seem like obvious references to one (former) angel literally called the Lightbringer, Lucifer. Perhaps one of them is representing his son, the Antichrist, instead, with the both of them helping out the Ineffables on two opposing — or perhaps only parallel — sides of the bridge?

The light carried by Lucifer appears to be green, a color used in the series as a visual representation of Hell, but on the intertextual level might also serve as a reference to F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel The Great Gatsby and the green light at the end of the Daisy’s dock symbolizing the undying love, desperation, and longing for an unattainable dream. In the story, the color represents the limitations of power and money. Not surprisingly, the novel appears on Jim’s bookshelf and is part of the Good Omens book club — a list of personal recommendations from Neil Gaiman and Douglas Mackinnon for the fans to catch up on before the next series.

Last but not least, the possible connection to Libertas as the inspiration for the Statue of Liberty, shown multiple times in S2 as a foreshadowing of our character’s trip to America in S3. The related quote of Patrick Henry “Give me liberty or give me death” becomes even more relevant if we consider how the motto of the French Revolution was sometimes written as Liberté, égalité, fraternité ou la mort (“Liberty, equality, fraternity or death”). A lesson surely learnt by a certain angel back in 1793, when he was held prisoner for the last time before being forcefully taken Upstairs in the Final Fifteen.

The bridge and the castle

Okay, these are the basic observations. Now a brief historical overview and we will reach the fun bit in a jiffy.

Have you ever wondered about the meaning of this whole complex? It wasn’t always angelic, but named after a Roman noble dynasty. The Aelian bridge was built by the Emperor Hadrian in 134 AD to span River Tiber from the city center to his mausoleum. With time, the remains of more emperors were put to rest in there, until it was plundered and destroyed in a war. Then the remaining structure was transformed into a military fortress and a castle serving as the papal residence in times of war.

The Papal State also used Sant'Angelo as a prison; the Renaissance philosopher Giordano Bruno was imprisoned there for six years. Executions of the inmates were performed in the small inner courtyard, but they weren’t the only deaths in the area. On the other side of the bridge, in the adjoining Piazza del Ponte, under the watchful eyes of the stone likenesses of two saints, the public executions were held, and the heads of the criminals were brought onto the bridge and exposed to public view there.

As a prison, the former mausoleum is also the setting for the third act of Giacomo Puccini's 1900 opera Tosca. Long story short, the eponymous heroine convinces her lover to feign death so that they can flee together. Unfortunately, they are betrayed and the firing squad shoots at him with real bullets instead of blanks. Tosca believes in the quality of his acting performance rather than the truth, and when the realization hits her, she leaps to her death from the Castel’s ramparts.

After Nero’s bridge was destroyed, the travelers were forced to cross this bridge as the only direct route to the Vatican and St Peter’s Basilica, earning it the nickname “the bridge of Saint Peter”. That’s why in the 16th century Pope Clement VII erected statues of Saints Peter and Paul at the ends of the bridge, guarding it as they are supposed to protect the entry to Heaven.

In 1688 the bridge was embellished with ten angel statues, five on each side of the bridge, carrying Arma Christi, the Instruments of the Passion. The Good Omens characters represented by those statues in the opening sequence might be other instruments of Christ’s suffering as parts of the system that needs to be overthrown or replaced.

One angel appears particularly important in the context of both the bridge and the Second Coming — Saint Michael the Archangel.

Legend holds that the Archangel Michael appeared atop Hadrian’s mausoleum, sheathing their sword as a sign of the end of the plague of 590, thus lending the castle its present name. A less charitable yet more apt elaboration of the legend, given the militant disposition of this particular Archangel, was heard by the 15th-century traveler who saw an angel statue on the castle roof. He recounts that during a prolonged season of the plague, Pope Gregory I heard that the populace, even Christians, had begun revering a pagan idol at the church of Santa Agata in Suburra. A vision urged the Pope to lead a procession to the church. Upon arriving, the idol miraculously fell apart with a clap of thunder. Returning to St Peter's by the Aelian Bridge, the Pope had another vision of an angel atop the castle, wiping the blood from his sword on his mantle, and then sheathing it. While the Pope interpreted this as a sign that God was appeased, this did not prevent Gregory from destroying more sites of pagan worship in Rome. In honor of the vision and Michael, the bridge was renamed in their name.

What if the procession from the opening sequence was meant to imitate the procession led by the Pope from the legend? What if Aziraphale, now officially a Supreme Archangel, Commander of the Heavenly Host, is the one actually leading it, with Crowley finally at his side as his partner and second in command, just like it was proposed by him in the Final Fifteen?*

What if by some reason, maybe personal ambition, maybe just a tragic coincidence or situational necessity, there really was an impostor in Heaven, and Metatron — the so called Voice of God who seemingly doesn’t speak up for Herself since Job’s test — has been playing a winged version of the Wizard of Oz all along?

It would make just the perfect sense if not for one tiny detail. The procession we see on the bridge is actually led by Crowley, which doesn’t fit the parallel at all — unless it’s actually a proof of an ongoing body swap, as the mismatched names of the actors could also suggest?

The mountain of trash and the bookshop

The symbolic mountain of trash we can see Aziraphale and Crowley climb is a reference in itself. To an actual mount called Zion, believed to be the place where Yahweh, the God of Israel, dwells (Isaiah 8:18; Psalm 74:2), the place where God is king (Isaiah 24:23) and where God has installed king David on his throne (Psalm 2:6).

In a literal sense, it’s a hill in Jerusalem, although the sources refer to three different locations in different contexts — although for the purpose of this meta the Upper Eastern Hill (Temple Mount) makes the most sense. Its highest part became the site of Solomon's Temple. The same King Solomon the rituals in Freemasonry refer to. Masonic buildings, where lodges and their members meet, are sometimes called "temples" specifically as an allegoric reference to King Solomon's Temple, not actual places of worship. And Aziraphale’s bookshop is built around Solomon’s Magic Circle.

In a metaphysical sense, and especially in the context of the Christian New Testament, it is also believed to be a part of Heaven — the heavenly Jerusalem, God's Holy, eternal city. Christians are said to have “(…) come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven” (Hebrews 12:22-23 cf. Revelation 14:1). Just like the procession were following in the opening sequence.

There’s been some speculation whether the lift on top of the mountain could symbolize Aziraphale’s bookshop, or, more specifically, the oculus in its centre. If you look closely at the enhanced screenshot, you can see that the dome isn’t made of glass and that it looks like a tower (a church’s bell tower, perhaps) more than a whole building.

And there is an actual doorway in there — not like the modern lift doors — opening up towards the source of that white, heavenly light. And what kind of enlightenment can you usually find up in the skies or heavens?

We’re welcomed to crack open the doors to the Heavenly Sanctuary — the Most Holy place, Sanctum Sanctorum, the Holy of Holies — to undraw the final curtain and finally stand eye to eye with God. Who knows, maybe even ask some questions or listen to some answers.

Or, at the very least, to meet one of Her forms known as Jesus Christ. Because that’s precisely where he serves as our (humanity’s) Mediator and the Holy Priest after his Ascension to Heaven. The structure at the top reminds of some temple architecture seen in Antiquity and Christianity.

The Catholic Church considers the Church tabernacle or its location (traditionally at the rear of the sanctuary) as the symbolic equivalent of the Holy of Holies, due to the storage of consecrated hosts in that vessel and their meaning as the Body of Christ. Tabernacle is commonly marked with a red light turned on and off depending on His presence or lack if it.

Looks like He’s already in the area, one way or another, keeping eye on some things.

Are we following a procession of believers happy to embrace their one and true Savior? Or are they actually protesters on their way to dethrone the authority and the system?

Guess we will have to wait and see.

[astridncs]

how to get me to watch something — Angela Bassett edition 🎥✨

[skullislandproductions]

After one of his traps fails, Wile E. Coyote “tests” the faulty device to see what the heck is going on. This is from the photo album style title sequence for “Little Go Beep.”

[stone-cold-groove]

Opening title sequence. The Mary Tyler Moore Show - 1970.

[gebo4482]

Devil May Cry - Opening Credits #2

Official Teaser

[victoranimation]

Captain Dracula Adventures: Intro animation sequence (2/2) Watch the full thing HERE!!!

[kartatchk]

rakeshmohun: "I've had the chance to work once again under the direction of Peter Anderson as the Director of Photography (Green Screen) on the new title sequence of Good Omens 2."