Sometimes I hear a song and I mentally catalogue it as “perfect for a TV show opener.” I have a special love and fascination with opening titles; it’s such a cool way to introduce your audience to the world of your show.
People have short attention spans nowadays, so we are encouraged to make these short and sweet…or even, to not bother with them.
But as a kid fascinated by the What’s New Scooby Doo opening titles, I can say: never underestimate the power of those 10–15 seconds. I always know I’m okay when I hear the opening, “Where you lead, I will follow!” of Gilmore Girls, or watch the goofy shenanagins of the Psych opening titles.
I dare you: Make opening credits worth NOT pressing the “skip” button on. Who knows what nostalgia (and hope) they may one day fill someone with!
Thusly, when the song “Follow the Crows” by Violette Rain came across my Instagram feed the other day, I was instantly captivated by it; I saw a whole show opener in my head, backed by this song, with images from my upcoming book “Birds of Pray.” It fits the spooky southern gothic vibes perfectly, and is about crows!
When I see something so clearly and perfectly, I have to bring it into existence.
It was plaguing me with visions, so I began creating.
Step One: Thumbnails
Above are the thumbnails I drew as I concepted what parts of the song would go with what visual. I wanted to “follow the crows” (hee hee) from the swamp as they travel around Grace Hollow and harass people.
Everyone in town has a different reaction to seeing the crows — some pray, some spill their coffee, some are simply shocked.
We end up back at the swamp and zoom in as the music heightens…
And, finally, a car driving into town as the book title comes onscreen and crows begin polluting the skies.
Step Two: The Drawings
With the trailer so clear in my mind, I jumped right into drawing all the scenes. I had to keep in mind what elements I wanted to animate, so I put those on separate layers or had to make variations (i.e. the crows moving, the bell ringing, the blinds closing).
My style inspiration was actually from a book self-published (and illustrated!) by Rosalind Welcher in 1969. I loved the simplicity of the colors and the spooky, gothic vibes.
I used Procreate, and the following brushes: Soft Pastel, 6B Pencil, Watercolor, and Oil Pastel. Below are some thumbnails translated into final illustrations.
Step Three: Animating…and Fine-Tuning
I began animating in After Effects, using simple opacity fades for movement. I started out with getting all the movement as I wanted and everything in place, without the music.
This was by far my favorite part! As I animated, I got some more ideas; originally, the Faye scene (above) only had the blinds closing, but I ended up also adding:
- Coffee spills
- Her scarf moves
- Her mouth opens in shock
Otherwise, she seemed too stiff…and as one of my favorite characters, she deserved far better!!
These crows originally only moved once, but the beginning of the song was longer and needed them to have more movement. I also thought they HAD to seem to take flight in some way.
Then, I added the music and fine-tuned it to the words. Sometimes they lined up really great — there’s a line about “where we first kissed” and I have the love interest on-scene. Violette sings “down by the river” as the swamp comes on-screen. And there’s a final slowdown and crescendo in the song that is a perfect climax when my villain is possessed by the spirit of the swamp…
Step Four: Final Touches
I watched the animation back again and took critical notes.
First off, to make it more show-opener-esque, I added the names of the characters as they appeared.
Then I realized: the transitions were abrupt — in fact, they didn’t exist. I had a faint memory of being told in my college cinematography class to pay attention to how you frame things from scene to scene, because if the scene changes and the new subject is on the left where before it was on the right, your eyes read it as being an abrupt transition.
In my illustration haze, I hadn’t thought to give the images any kind of through-line. Which is why it was reading as abrupt.
(If I were to do this again, I might try to be more intentional about using the crows flying across the screen to lead the eye.)
As it stands, this is a personal project just for me to play and learn, so I didn’t need to go back and rethink everything.
I was able to fudge the seamlessness by adding some transitional elements: a moon scrolling across the scene, and crow feathers.
The Final
I was so ready to post this, but I use a whole minute and six seconds of Violette Rain’s song and I wanted to check with her first before posting it, especially on YouTube. As you can see in the screenshot above, I gave her credit so I’ve tried my best to be respectful either way.
So unfortunately, I won’t post the final product here…yet. But make sure you’re following me on Instagram (@amanda.m.westlake) because I’ll post it on there within the next two months!
Thanks for reading!
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