FYC Emmy Main Title Design
Monday, June 27, 2022 at 4:00PM by Nathaniel R
The opening titles for "Voir" are gorgeous, aren't they?
The "Skip Intro" / "Skip Credits" button on various streaming services is why we can't have nice things. The art of credit sequences can really set the tone for a series and skipping it is impatient at best and rude at worst. The website "Art of the Title", which extolls the virtues of such things, is not technically shuttered (we reached out to see!) but it hasn't had any new articles in 11 months. All of which leads us to hope sincerely that Emmy voters choose well enough that at least a few people here and there are reminded of wonderful this tiny niche sidebar of entertainment can be. Emmy voters always have plenty of worthy options in this category. This year there are 162 programs vying for 7 nomination slots if we counted correctly.
Here are six programs off the top of our heads that we hope they're considering with voting ending today...
SEVERANCE (APPLETV+)
A hypnotic sequence that plays with the nightmarish surrealism and identity splits of the show's central premise.
ONLY MURDERS IN THE BUILDING (HULU)
A wonderful aping of "The New Yorker". Cartoonishly direct and endearing
THE STAIRCASE (HBO)
The architectural breakdown quality of the 3-dimensional family home is eye-widening. But the glass house element is the perfect cherry on top, given the scandalous sordid family story at the center.
VOIR (NETFLIX)
A simple concept executed with dream-vision clarity. That all the classic films are projected on to a round reflective surface and that surface revealing itself (if you haven't figured it out already) to be an eye with the blink at the end is sublime. Love love love this series which has so much potential to run forever with people talking about their personal experiences with films. We hope it at least gets a second season. It's also worth noting that Sasha Stone, of Awards Daily fame, wrote and narrates the best episode "Summer of the Shark" which is about her experience with Jaws as a young girl. She's also on the ballot for Narration!
HALO (PARAMOUNT+)
With a beautiful sci-fi polish, we see the creation of a Spartan in front of us. It's reminiscient of the classic titles for Netflix's Daredevil. The one puzzling thing about this glistening beauty is that it doesn't appear to be the actor Pablo Schreiber as the body model here as we gawk at the making of Master Chief 117 (his character). So points deducted for that?
THE ANDY WARHOL DIARIES (NETFLIX)
This was a good show and the titles feel appropriate to the artist and mood.
Weirdly we couldn't find a video of the Squid Game opening title sequence (though there are HUNDREDS of fan-made variations including dozens of tutorials on animating a sequence like the opening) though that one probably needs no push to get nominated.
Which title designs do you love and which shows would you never dream of "skipping intro" on?
Reader Comments (4)
Pachinko. Pachinko. And yet again Pachinko.What a joyous way of getting into any new episode. And what a great use of the entire main cast! Always chuckled at some of Youn Yuh-jung's reaction . All different generations dancing with each other and shaking the blues away to "Let's Live for Today" by The Grass Roots. How could you skip that ?
I was going to make the same comment as MiloThatch - Pachinko. I think those are the best opening credits in years.
I really do not like the Severance opening credits. It feels like they just put their first idea into action without much thought, which doesn't make for a good match for such a complex and original show.
Jules, I fully agree with you about Severance. I also particularly hate the style of animation used there; not stylized enough to look like a deliberate and thematic choice, so instead seems as though they simply didn't want to pay the actors for more work. Love the show, though.
Only Murders has the visual homage to the New Yorker, but it also has the audio homage to the Serial podcast opening bars. A great reference, since it's clearly based on Serial and even has a character based on the Serial host.
Compare the plinking piano keys on the OMITB song, above, to the Serial opening:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0v6dmme1DU