Opening Title Design for 2001: A Space Odyssey
Audio on and full-screen recommended!
In VART 2600, Type in Motion, I redesigned the opening title for Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 film, 2001: A Space Odyssey. This movie is one of my all-time favorites, so this final was truly a passion project. All assets and effects were created by me within Adobe After Effects, Photoshop, and Illustrator.
In Depth:
When creating this video, I wanted to freshen up and pay homage to the original intro (made in 1968). Those of you who are familiar with the movie might recognize some of the visuals!
The image below has the original sequence. If you click, it will take you to youtube so that you can view the 1968 opening title.
The first section introducing the text, “A Stanley Kubrick Production,” alludes to the antagonist HAL (both in color and slight lens flare) and presages his rise and fall.
The eclipse nods to the original 2001 intro that includes an alignment of the Earth, Sun, and Moon. However, I’ve chosen to represent Jupiter and the Sun to foreshadow the culmination of the journey to Jupiter and comment on the passage of time (as Kubrick intended).
Finally, my favorite section treated the film’s title similarly to how Kubrick captured the monolith. The letters appear from darkness and slowly turn to reveal their true form.
I genuinely love this movie and put lots of time into conceptualizing a narrative that would do justice to the original opening sequence and the entire film.
Value the process.
Take a look at my chaotic brainstorming:
