Hollywood visual design and motion graphics studio yU+co created the opening title sequence for Universal Pictures' Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant. Directed by Paul Weitz (About a Boy, In Good Company), this latest film foray into the vampire craze is adapted from the bestselling book series by author Darren Shan that revolves around the adventures of two high school boys with an underground freak show, complete with modern-day vampires.

Cirque du Freak Opening Title Sequence (2:42)
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Garson Yu, creative director and founder of yU+co, directed this sequence and designed with yU+co’s Ed Baker and Etsuko Uji. The overall feeling created in the sequence is one of a jumbled dreamscape in a supernatural world that borders on being a nightmare. Yu credits the final result as a real collaboration of the entire team, where everyone contributed a certain part to the whole. “Our designer, Ed Baker, gave the story structure and created content, while art director Etsuko Uji gave the 'look' and created the artwork. Other team members gave life to the animations and 3D puppets, so it was real team effort from beginning to end,” says Yu.

Inspired by German Expressionism, woodcut graphics and shadow puppetry, this animated title sequence takes viewers on a journey that begins underground in a coffin and then follows the two boys as they wind their way through a surreal world of forests and mazes until they emerge into the illusionary world of the circus. “Our challenge was to figure out how to create tension throughout the entire sequence,” says Yu. “Working with Ed and Etsuko, we came up with a story structure and a look for the piece.”

The title sequence reflects the dark humor of the film, creating an ominous mood through the use of a muted color palette and design elements. “To create an impressionistic background, we incorporated a mixture of graphics with organic elements, using shots of abstract ink splashes and patterns of rain,” says Yu. “The technique gave us a rich, constantly changing visual texture from scene to scene.”

The other challenge they faced was introducing all the main characters while showing at the same time that the boys are being manipulated like puppets by Mr. Tiny, the bad vampire in the story. “The journey of the two boys gave us a way to interweave all the characters they pass along the way, such as the Bearded Lady, Octa the Spider, Monkey Girl and Snake Boy. The features of these characters are used as transitional devices that cleverly transform into other images to keep the action moving along from scene to scene,” says Yu.

yU+co also created the typography in this sequence by re-drawing and re-creating an original woodcut font, taking inspiration from the graphics of sideshow banners. “Typography is used as a narrative tool to help tell the story, so the titles play an important role in the sequence,” comments Yu. “We have the two boys interact with the letters as objects when they carry the titles through the forest, and later they use them as a staircase and walk up on them.”

In addition to Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant, yU+co. projects include the upcoming film title design for Tooth Fairy for 20th Century Fox and A Thousand Words for Paramount Pictures. yU+co. also created the recent graphics show package for the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards and the show open for The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, both for CBS.