Waking The Dead (2001)

Concept and creative process

Titles for a series in which a crack detective team led by Detective Superintendent Peter Boyd applied new techniques to nightmarish old crimes as they sought to solve cold cases. The titles for the series were filmed, like the series dramas, in 16:9 format and have a very cinematic feel. They were created in a multi-layered digital edit of live-action textural elements and an intriguing typographic montage, which by the use of shadows cast by the type, through cuts to negative images and sudden unexpected changes of scale also became part of the moving background texture. The sequence was revealed from black by mattes created by drips of black liquid which grew and spread organically. The typography was never static but kept on the move by rippling or waving movements responding to objects in the background. The series main title was revealed and brought into focus by a magnifying lens that panned across it as part of the foreground action. An extremely well-crafted and choreographed title sequence, which by virtue of its visual complexity and synchronisation with the music created exactly the right degree of suspense and intrigue for the subject matter about to unfold.