Entertainment and design company Imaginary Forces (IF) created eerie main titles for the new feature, ‘The Messengers,’ in which an ominous darkness invades a seemingly serene sunflower farm in North Dakota, and tears the Solomon family apart.
In keeping with the sinister, paranormal theme, IF Art Director Grant Lau spearheaded a title sequence design that uses the interplay between light and shadows. For Lau and the team, the idea was to incorporate symbolic elements such as the house, a pitchfork, a doll and sunflowers to reference the film.
[IF Designer] Stan Lim brilliant boards and [Animator] Orlando Costa animations are what really brought the title sequence to life,’ explains Lau. ‘We used the light to catch reflections of floating dust like what you’sd experience in an old, creepy house, creating a grainy look. Since the house becomes a character in the film, we pushed this idea further by slowly drawing the audience into the space. From the stairs transforming into the pitchfork to shadows over the farm equipment, we were able to bring a sense of place and also capture the feeling that something unidentifiable is lurking in the darkness.’
The main titles mark IF second collaboration with Sam Raimi who was a producer on this film. IF previously created the opening sequence for Raimi blockbuster, ‘Spider-Man.’
About Imaginary Forces
IMAGINARY FORCES (IF) is an entertainment and design company based in Hollywood and New York. Its award-winning work spans the diverse industries of feature film production, entertainment marketing and promotion, corporate branding, architecture, advertising and interactive media. IF recent work includes identity packages for Lifetime, USA Network, Animal Planet and MTV, as well as effective and compelling broadcast advertising for Nike, Toyota, Pontiac, Smirnoff and Lexus. In entertainment and media marketing, IF created campaigns for such films as Transformers, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Stepford Wives, Signs and both Men in Black films. The company also designed and produced main title sequences for Charlotte Web, The Break-Up, Ray, Spider-Man, and Seven, and produced the highly successful Blade trilogy. Combining architecture and media, IF has developed branded experiences for IBM, Morgan Stanley, Airbus Industries and the NFL Baltimore Ravens. The studio is also a principal partner in United Architects (UA), one of six finalists for the re-design of the World Trade Center site at Ground Zero. Combining storytelling, filmmaking and architecture to address the social, emotional, urban, national and international issues, the UA model is now a part of the permanent collection at the Museum of Modern Art. UA recently collaborated on an immersive architectural media exhibit, ‘Bubbles in the Wine,’ for the ‘New York, New York’ exhibition in the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco. The company also designed most of the graphical elements for MTV ‘Virtual Laguna Beach,’ based on the popular reality TV series, and created projections for Director Julie Taymor operatic production of ‘Grendel.’
Credits
Designed & Produced by: Imaginary Forces (IF)
Creative Director: Peter Frankfurt
Art Director: Grant Lau
Producers: Jamey Kitchens, Keith Bryant
Designer: Stan Lim
Animator: Orlando Costa
Editor: Keith Roberts
Inferno Artists: Matt Spencer, Rod Basham
Studio: Screen Gems, Ghost House Pictures, Columbia Pictures
Production Company: Blue Star Pictures
Directors: Danny Pang & Oxide Pang
Executive Producers: Nathan Kahane, Joe Drake
Producers: Sam Raimi, Rob Tapert, William Sherak, Jason Shuman
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