Designing A Main Title:  Percy Jackson and the Lightening Thief

At Deva Studios, we did the Main Title design and animation for trailer as well as the rest of the graphics.  Production liked this look so they asked if we would be interested in working on the Main Title for the Feature.  Of course we said YES!

The first step was going to San Francisco and meeting with director Chris Columbus to discuss his vision for the title.

We didn’t have any direction before the meeting but I didn’t want to show up empty handed so I brought along some texture exploration as a starting point for our discussion.

Original Trailer Design

After our initial meeting with Chris, we knew the title was either going to be above water or below.  We had a basic idea of the direction the textures would need to take, not shiny but more stoney and weathered.  So we went back to the shop and I worked up a series of exploratory boards.  Chris wanted to see what we could come up with so these boards ranged from whimsical to a bit more serious and moody.

Upon our second showing, we were given a more defined direction.  The title would need to be dark and moody.  It was probably going to be underwater but might also be coming out of black.

If it was underwater, it might be around the Coney Island Pier where the film opens.  So I set out to explore these ideas in another series of boards.

Our third showing brought us into the range of what we eventually finished.  It was decided to use the original animation from the Trailer Title but treated to be mossy stone underwater, lit with caustic light and atmosphere. 

Here’s the final animation that we delivered.