This is Us Title Sequence: The Process

Normally if we can, we try to fast foward through the opening or the previously on part of the show we are watching. Nowadays we want to be able to do things as quick as possible. The title sequences showing the actors in the show is too long to watch, even if it is 30 seconds long.

When I was assigned to create a title sequence for a film or show of my choosing, I chose the show This is Us. So as someone who is designing a title sequence, I had to think about what can I do that will make people want to watch it.

I went through multiple ideas before I came up with the final look of the sequence. At first I only showed the the actor, their name, and three stills from the show behind them with all of the pictures fading in and their name fading in and moving towards the pictures. However, once I exported the file and showed it to others, there was aspects that needed to be changed and fixed. As they were watching the video, I saw that they were not interested after a few seconds.

Back to the Drawing Board

I realized I needed something that will keep people’s attention and to design the overall look better. Since the show takes place during different time periods (1970-present), I decided to use the shapes that were popular in the 80’s and mix it with their names while keeping the full size image of the actor. Using the shapes makes it interesting for the viewers like thinking of what else is going to happen.

A lot of the opening title sequences of shows has an image or video of the actor a maybe with an effect or filter on it. Whenever I saw title sequences with something cool on the actor, it makes me want to watch it every time and not skip it. So I took that into the project and added an artistic effect to the images of the actors like they have been painted onto the frame. After exporting the project and showing other people, their was a better reaction to it. Everyone even stated that it was more intriguing compared to the first draft of the sequence.