NBC | The Slap

•

NBC's The Slap Opening Title Sequence

The outstanding creative team at Trollbäck + Company engaged Christopher Webb to help realize the opening sequence for NBC’s miniseries The Slap, directed by Lisa Cholodenko, using in-camera visual effects.

Interweaving lines of fate play out in macro images, forming the outline of a hand inspired by palmistry and NYC subway lines. The sequence was captured in-camera, adding motion and organic optical effects to animation at Chris’s studio.

Chris and his team constructed a one-of-a-kind camera motion, projection, and animation optics rig that could be operated in real time and controlled via hydraulics and precision servo motors. This allowed the camera to move in almost any direction while photographing projected motion graphics through layers of glass and optical elements. Images of NYC were also layered in-camera using specialized miniature projection units and moving mirror rigs.

The goal of Chris’s studio is to offer creatives unique practical methods for image making such as this.

The camera rig at CW Films Studio captured animation through projection and glass elements.

CW Films hydraulic lift table allowed the camera to move freely under the artwork.

Creative Director Elliott Chaffer of Trollbäck + Company guided the process as it happened in real time.

Christopher Webb adjusts one of the motorized optical elements on the one-of-a-kind rig.

Cinematographer / VFX Technical Director: Christopher Webb

Creative Agency: Trollbäck + Company
Creative Director: Elliott Chaffer
Art Director: Joshua Lynne
Head of Production: Erica Schrager
Executive Producer: Elyse Roth
Editor: Jonah Oskow-Schoenbrod
Animation: Paris Glickman, Adam Levine, Brandon Sugiyama
Studio Manager: Graceann Dorse
Camera Assistant: Tom Cryan
Gaffer: Casey Wooden
Key Grip: Brooks Lockwood
Tabletop Rigging: Daniel Jusino