Concept and creative process
Opening titles for a BBC adaptation of the Charles Dickens novel. Designer Ray Ogden’s initial solution to the title sequence brief was inspired by the charcoal studies of the French post-impressionist Georges Seurat. The suppression of detail and grainy textural qualities of the imagery provided a context for characters half seen through the thick London Fog. Despite successful test filming with costumed extras and experimental optical effects by Roy Turk Opticals, the producers ultimately preferred the non-figurative solution seen here. This final sequence was composed of stills taken by BBC photographer John Jefford around Lincoln’s Inn Fields and Shad Thames in London. For the chink of light effect, a small section of brickwork was made up in a timber frame with a built-in gap. The shot was set up at Stewart Hardy Films with Lighting Cameraman Doug Adamson and backlit through a pall of smoke effect. The stills were filmed on a computer-controlled rostrum camera with elegant typographic titles superimposed or overlaid from artwork and were composited with the effects sequence at Roy Turk Opticals.