Split (2017)

“He's done awful things to people and he'll do awful things things to you.” — Hedwig

The opening to M. Night Shyamalan’s Split is a sinister and sophisticated introduction to a twisted character, a glimpse into a fractured mind, all sharp angles and darkness.

With nods to the iconic and minimal main titles to Alien, designed by R/Greenberg Associates, and Psycho, designed by Saul Bass, the sequence builds upon a rich title design tradition. It’s driven by three simple ingredients: a black screen, white typography, and the typeface Helvetica. Title sequences that focus exclusively on typography are rare, particularly in the current context of CGI-heavy work.

Designed by Creative Director Aaron Becker and a small team at LA-based studio Filmograph, the opening sees each on-screen credit sliced up, segmented into a 24-frame grid and layered, like some kind of grim sister to the titles of The Seven Year Itch. The combination of black screens and Helvetica in white has not been used this effectively since Dan Perri’s work for All The President’s Men in 1976. Paired with the percussive and moaning score from West Dylan Thordson, the effect is eerie and unnerving, underlining the characters’ terrifying and blurry half-consciousness. The sound oscillates between low growls and far-off, bleary screeches, like heavy creatures moving in dark corners – nightmares on the edge of reality.

To cap off the experience of the film, Filmograph also created an end sequence to suit. The splitting process hinted at in the opening is brought full circle, with the end credit crawl running down-screen not once but 25 times simultaneously. At the close of the film, the personalities of the main character are revealed, each square in the 24-frame grid repeating the crawl and echoing his many identities. The sequences are stark, chilling, and innovative while performing their primary purpose: setting up M. Night Shyamalan’s film and letting it shine in the dark.

A discussion with Creative Director AARON BECKER and Executive Producer SETH KLEINBERG of Filmograph.

So, last time we talked with Filmograph was about your work on Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation. What have you been up to since then?

Aaron: Since that project, summer of 2015, we’ve been working on more title sequences, entertainment branding for production studios, commercial work, and even a few short film concepts. Last summer, in 2016, we moved into a larger facility in our Echo Park office building, which has allowed us to work on more challenging projects with larger teams, which has been really…

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