This time it had to be different. No more fireworks and upbeat tones, softness and nostalgia instead. The last title sequence of this beloved trilogy had to bring a feeling of closure. Set to a beautiful acoustic version of Creep, by Radiohead, the animation of the letters blowing on and off the screen had to feel light as a feather – having an almost ethereal quality to it.
As Erin explained: "James let us know that he envisioned weaving the opening credits into this amazing, song-driven opening sequence, that is much more contemplative compared with the other films’ openings. Right out of the gate, it was a fun challenge for us to evolve our work in a beautiful way that completely sets the mood for the story to come."
The opening sequence had to feel more introspective with ‘indie’ like treatments with a pinch of the 90s.
In order to achieve that the new typeface is based on the original and Zekton. It may feel very familiar due to the same ligatures and pointy terminals, but this typeface has rounded corners and feel much softer and lighter. It was used both for the opening credits and some of the locators.
For the film’s title card, we also created an updated version of the Guardians of the Galaxy logo. Choosing a 2D treatment, its letterforms are fragmented and missing pieces… symbolizing the broken nature of the film’s characters, while adding to the typography’s stylized approach.
The final aspect of our GOTG design efforts focused on the storytelling end crawl, where once again,
James Gunn added hand-picked elements.
The stills James sent us came from all the previous films featuring the Guardians: Guardians of the
Galaxy Vol. 1 and 2, the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers:
End Game.
A scrapbook treatment allowed us to strategically place the stills around the blocks of text that were typeset by Exceptional Minds.
We collaborated very closely with the editorial department on timing and animation,
Sarofsky followed the color workflow and specific delivery specs required by the VFX department and
Company 3, using Adobe After Effects with OpenColorIO to manage the specified color spaces and
LUTs. Our graphics appear at different emotional moments in the film, providing an elemental
visual system that ties them all together while still matching the mood.
