Rushes Help Create Dorian Gray Feature Titles

Using a combination of post production, polystyrene sheets, cellulose paint thinning solvents and a lot of patience, the titles for Ealing Studios and Fragile Films' Dorian Gray were born.
Titles designer Matt Curtis of AP Design briefed Rushes to create a fluid title sequence that illustrates the theme of decay that is a prevalent in the film.
It was determined early on, through numerous tests, that to create the titles within the time available, it couldn't be achieved digitally.
Matt Lawrence, Rushes Head of Motion GFX, spent a week experimenting with various techniques to produce the right look, burning painted letters using an electric paint stripper and heating baking powder in a frying pan, to create this feel of corrosion.
Through a system of trial and error, Lawrence developed a successful method that involved spraying cellulose paint thinner directly onto polystyrene sheet and shooting it with an HD camera. Lawrence then spent the next week cutting out hundreds of letters from the polystyrene sheet in preparation for the shoot that was undertaken in a day at Rushes.
After a many layered after effects build, the titles were determined and then passed onto Rushes' shake compositors lead by Hayden Jones to carry out the refine, grade and layer revealing Ben Barnes' (who plays Dorian Gray) image through the letters with extra textural splats shot by Matt Lawrence.
Matt Lawrence commented: "I think this was one of the most enjoyable projects I've ever worked on. It was great to get back to my roots and get my hands dirty doing model making again. Just because we use computers every day to create our work, doesn't mean it's necessarily the best way of achieving the effect you are after.
Dorian Gray is due for UK release on September 9.
(KMcA/BMcc)