After dealing the high technology with IRON MAN 2, Prologue Films is now grappling with zombies for the main title of THE WALKING DEAD.
Can you explain how did you get involved in this project and how you created this main title?
Kyle Cooper was called to collaborate on an idea the director had that involved blood splatters coming from a bleeding zombie. In these small puddles the cast was revealed, which ultimately led to the title.
This was a short open sequence which was made to launch the viewer straight into the program. While designers Jesse Jones and Adam Swaab were finishing it the show creators called asking for us to come up with ideas for a full main title instead. We began to storyboard some ideas.
Henry Hobson’s idea involved a series of images that depicted a zombie aftermath in America. Cutting through various vignettes of empty stores and streets, creating a heightened sense of reality with very few survivors left.
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I focused on what would be a zombie POV, depicting the corpse scraping and dragging through the rubble of a home that has been ransacked. He (or it) comes across pictures of the family, etc. until his fate is met by the end of a shovel.
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The final concept was a hybrid of these 2 ideas. We had a small budget and very little time so we ended up doing composites and using a few shots from the show itself with some slight modifications (removing cast, etc) and some photography that I had shot during a family trip in the midwest and a time-lapse from a shoot in LA. Jesse did all compositing and edit of the final. In some cases utilizing photogammerty techniques to make the stills look like real footage.
What was your shooting equipment?
A Canon 5d and 7d (digital SLR).
How long have you worked on this project?
There was a lot of back and forth until the client decided to go with the full main title. From there the process took about 4 weeks.
What was the size of your team?
5 people on and off. Core group was 3.
What is your next project?
We are finishing up title and VFX work for TRON LEGACY and environmental stage work for Julie Taymor’s SPIDERMAN play on Broadway.
Thanks a lot for your time.
// WANT TO KNOW MORE?
– Prologue FIlms: THE WALKING DEAD dedicated page on Prologue’s website.
© Vincent Frei – The Art of VFX – 2010
