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Adland best of 2007 - the TV show titles.

Honestly, there were some great shows this year, which means great titles and after a long hard think these are the two titles that Adland (and I) loved the mostest of them all.


Dexter main title design
A mundane morning turns sinister in the hands of Digital Kitchen with their design for Dexter which won a well deserved Emmy. Shaving, cooking eggs, making plunger coffee and even tying shoes all hints as bloody mayhem and mass murdering violence - just like the calm character Dexter himself who is so clean on top but violent right beneath the surface. We have to let this win only because cutting oranges now scares the bejesus out of us. Damn that's good.


Mad Men - Title Sequence - (2007) :30 (USA)
Imaginary Forces directors Mark Gardner and Steve Fuller created a free-fall animation where the falling character is suddenly found reclining in a overly confident pose in the end shot - all surrounded by pretty ads and shiny skyscrapers. The end shot was such an iconic image that it became the branding device of the show. Well done.

See also Adland on Mad Men Episode #1 (Pilot) if you missed it.

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As a filmmaker, I'm very

As a filmmaker, I'm very interested in title design, especially in Television, where I do think it's somewhat more important than film.  I think titles in TV help "brand" the show and serve a way different purpose than movie titles.  I think the two you've chosen here are prime examples of extremely effective design, although they're very stylized and I don't always think that's necessary.  For instance, I think the titles for The Sopranos were very effective for the tone of that show.  But on the other hand, I think the more stylized titles for Entourage are perfect for the Hollywood glitz of that show.

In film, I think there are times when simple white titles on black or on the opening scene are called for, and make a statement of their own.  The most complicated and production intense title sequence I've ever done was for Marvin's Room, where we shot a miniature set of medications with a motion control rig, and overlayed the titles on top.  That cost over 200k in 1996 dollars, much to the studio's dismay. But in a shameless plug for my favorite title designer, Randy Balsmeyer, it was worth every penny.

Dexter is right on. I hadn't

Dexter is right on. I hadn't seen it properly until now, it's beautiful.

I love the Dexter titles.

I love the Dexter titles. They deserve to be the best of 2007. I'm also very partial to Ugly Betty.