We were approached by Greg Barker to collaborate on his film, The Longest War, which was commissioned to screen after the Homeland season finale. The film explores the human stories behind America’s involvement in Afghanistan, now the longest war in American history.
We’d previously worked with Greg on a number of his previous films (Sergio, Koran by Heart, Manhunt, The Thread, Homegrown, The Legion of Brothers) and were looking forward to collaborating again. This film required a particularly fast turnaround, due to the impending Homeland finale, and so we worked closed with the LA based edit to deliver a range of graphics for the film which were created with a strong consideration for timing. This film was also our first delivering during lockdown during the CV-19 pandemic, so we were also exploring our remote delivering timelines simultaneously.
Greg’s brief for the title sequence was quite straightforward. Working with an existing archival bed, we were to unify the sequence and create a timeline which emphasised the endlessness of the war. Within strict time considerations, we also explored treating the archival with echoes of this theme, using repetition to further accentuate this point.
The ever present timeline was critical for the sequence. Though our timing for executing the sequence was limited, we felt it was important to explore the aesthetic of the timeline. Critically, the timeline needed to feel almost monotonous. There needed to be a tiring aspect to it, this elongation needed emphasising and we needed to be careful with our design and functionality not to glorify this aspect of our sequence. Less, here, was more.
Blue Spill credits:
Titles and VFX: Blue Spill
Design Director: Allison Brownmoore
Flame Artist: Anthony Brownmoore
Lead Designer: Joe Nowacki
Designers: Linda Scerpella, Xanthe Bodington, Kevin Smy
Categories: Motion Design, Title Design