Queue And A: What Images Never Made It Into ‘The Night Of’ Opening Credits?

You know those opening credits for HBO’s new miniseries, The Night Of? Of course you do, they’ve probably been haunting your brain since you first laid eyes on them. We did our best to uncover all the clues in the images, but we still went directly to the sources to dig up even more info. We spoke to Deluxe’s Method Studios creative team, responsible for that 1 minute and 20 seconds of dark, beautiful imagery. Jon Noorlander, creative director of Method Studios, and Johnny Likens, director of the opening credits, break down exactly how they were created, what was left out of them, and so much more about the intro to this summer’s biggest mystery.
Decider: How did you come to work on the credits for The Night Of?
Johnny Likens: The director and co-writer of the series, Steve Zaillian, initially contacted Method to see if we would be interested in pitching for the main title sequence for the show. So we had a meeting with him and he was just like, “Look, I know that this is what you do and I totally respect that and I just want you guys to come up with ideas.” He did say, “We don’t want to follow any sort of trend, we don’t want it to look identical to anybody else’s title sequence. We want it to be iconic to the show itself.” It was a very open brief, creatively, so we approached it from many different directions.
Jon Noorlander: We didn’t really want it to reflect the story itself in the show, we didn’t want to give away anything, any key parts of the story, and that’s something that we don’t obviously feature the talent in it…I think that’s necessary.
JL: So from there, he sent us over the first episode so we could get familiar with the show itself and then we went to the drawing board and came up with four or five different concepts and directions for how the title would look and play out. And then we honed in on one specifically that was very photographic and very dark looking, a lot of shadow play, it was very sort of noir and mysterious and there were a lot of aspects that Zaillian really likes in terms of showing New York in a dangerous and abstract, sort of shadowy way. It portrays the city in a very unique way. Very noir based, which the show itself has a lot of references to noir and old New York. We had a core of photographic references that we all talked through and liked and then I went out and spent many, many nights shooting in the nights of New York and captured as many different images as I could that are in that same kind of theme. Anything from shooting on the Manhattan Bridge to shooting off rooftops, like straight down onto streets, shooting in the middle of the streets, shooting underneath overpasses and down dark alleys and all kind of adventures were had.

Decider: So you just went out with a camera and took a bunch of pictures?
JL: For a lot of the images, yeah. The idea is based off of the direction that we ended up going with, there was some 3D elements, some 3D animation, as well as photographic elements. So for those photographic elements, we had to go out and actually shoot these things. Then in post-production, we would go in and actually project those photos that we shot onto various 3D geometry and actually move a camera back and forth or across it to make it look like it’s real, to make it look like it’s been filmed or give it that dimensionality.
Some other techniques that were used as well, we have one shot in the title sequence where there’s just some lights being projected onto a staircase out front of a brownstone, and that was created solely through a technique called photogrammetry. Where you can take many, many, photos of like a scene or an object, and then inside of a 3D software it can basically generate that as geometry, as a model.
So we photograph this staircase, and then we were able to process it in a way that we could bring it into our 3D software and turn it into a real staircase and light it and animate our cameras inside of that space. There were many different kind of techniques that were used to create the overall effect of the title.
Decider: Was there anything, a photo or an image, that you originally had in mind or wanted to put in the titles that didn’t make it in there that you were bummed about?
JL: Yeah there was a lot of photos actually that we didn’t end up getting to use. One specifically, it made it all the way up until the end, and then ultimately I think there was some feedback that came in that was sort of…it was being received in a way that wasn’t desirable. So there’s this female character, which, basically without her, this whole story doesn’t exist. So I wanted to incorporate this female in some way and because there’s a sexual element to it, there’s like a whole scene dedicated to this sexual aspect of that night, and I wanted to represent that in the title, just like I represent the dangerous New York and environment, the drug usage is represented in the title. And so I shot this model and we came up with some really striking photographs that ended up looking really great, but they sort of conveyed the wrong idea about what is this exactly. We didn’t want to portray that she brought this on herself, or she was seducing, or going down that path. So when I photograph this model and incorporate it into the title, maybe it was communicating a few too many things that we couldn’t exactly control. So that was a little bit heartbreaking to see that get cut. But, there were some other really awesome photographs and scenes that we really liked. We shot a New York laundromat that was really an iconic New York sort of a scene. But for one reason or another it ended up getting cut as well. Yeah, that’s always standard isn’t it? During the process to have things fall through the cracks or not get used. But we’re still really proud of where we ended up.
Decider: So you had only seen the first episode when you made the credits?
JL: For the initial pitch. But once we started to hone in on a direction, and this photographic style, and the mood of it all, then HBO sent me the remaining episodes so I was fully familiar with the complete story and how it unfolds and where it goes and where it doesn’t go actually is pretty important in terms of you know, representing the story in the title. Without one, giving anything away, and two, leading in the wrong direction all together.

Decider: Some of the coolest things in the credits are the necklaces and the glass shards and the beads in the doorway to her room. Did you use the actual props that were used in the show or items that looked very similar?
JN: We did a motion test for the breaking necklace and we just made a necklace in 3D, but the idea of going forward with our necklace shot, that went back and forth a few times for me. And we were happy that it stayed. And then we actually got the necklace from the art department, they sent it over to us so we remodeled the necklace to match the same necklace the girl is wearing in the shot.

JL: Yeah, they sent us the actual necklace that was on set that she’s actually wearing in the scene, and we recreated it in CG and then animated it on our end. And that whole shot is completely CG.
One of the interesting things about sort of the initial creation of this sequence is the shot with the pills, was just a frame that I created very early on, before I had done any of the photographic treatment. It was kind of like an outlier, I was debating on whether or not to even include it in the pitch, to show it in the first place. Because the thing is a little bit out there, it was just like, “Oh I don’t know if he’s going to go for these ecstasy pills flying through the air”, you know it seems a little bit crazy. But he really liked it, he really responded to it, and I could not have anticipated that because it was such a wild card in our initial creative process. And because we did decide to include it, it sort of rounded out the title sequence in terms of breaking away from these sort of photographs and yet we can then cut to these animated elements that sort of take a part of the show and put them into almost a fake studio environment, it isolates them in a way. Once we had the pills established then we thought about, well what else can we put into a space like this. And then we come to the necklace, and we come to the broken glass, and a couple of those other shots, and the blood dripping down as well.
Decider: Was it intentional which cast member name was paired with an image?
JL: No, there was an edit that was built first before any of the names that were tacked on, that is intentionally sort of placed. I know when you see Riz’s name next to the prison bars, it kind of matches doesn’t it? But there was no intention there.

Decider: As far as the New York City landmarks, did you choose ones that you just like to photograph that you think capture the city, or were there any essential shots that needed to be included?
JL: I think one of the things we definitely tried to stay away from is actually not really showing that many landmarks. In terms of trying to make it look like a New Yorker’s New York, you know? We’re not showing the Empire State Building or Washington Square Park. Like the shot with the cat, it’s sort of like a dark street, and some store shutters pulled down. The second-to-last shot for the titles is just that cobblestone street, which I actually photographed. That was the sort of the mission there, to create a New York that feels authentic without it being like, “Here’s the Empire State Building, here’s the Statue of Liberty”.

JN: The overhead shots are very iconic Manhattan, but in this show they live up in Queens, that’s where you get underpasses and stuff, and get the feeling of the suburbs a little bit more, not actually in the city.
Decider: How long did it take you to make the credits? Was it a lot of drafts? What’s that process like?
JL: We probably went for two or three weeks in terms of talking with Zaillian and coming up with different concepts and directions for him. And then once we were locked in on one concept, how long do you think we worked on it? Probably two months?
JN: Two months, I think.
JL: Yeah two months of a little bit of back and forth, and all the changes, and all the shooting, and sort of locking down the edit and that stuff. Which two months, that’s a decent amount of time. We weren’t rushed by any means. Some jobs it does come down to that, you only have two weeks to pull something off and you don’t really know what to do with yourself. It was smooth sailing, pretty much.
JN: We had enough time to fine edit for each frame, which is nice.

Decider: The instructions from HBO were just make it something that’s very different, were there other opening credits from shows or movies that you did draw any inspiration from?
JL: Saul Bass’ sequence for Spartacus actually, compositionally, is something I’ve always been inspired by, so when I look back now it’s almost like I can see that influence in terms of creating and the composition and the photography with that heavy-used shadow and that’s such an iconic title sequence in itself that that’s something that comes to mind. It wasn’t used specifically as the inspiration, but for me personally, I can look back and maybe subconsciously I was probably referencing some title sequences similar to Spartacus, and some of the stuff that’s been done.

Decider: Are there other shows that you guys have done credits for that we would be familiar with?
JN: Less TV, more film, actually. One big thing is the first Avengers, that was done in 2012 from our LA office. So that was quite some years ago now.
JL: Captain America: The First Avenger as well, the first Captain America film from Marvel we did the opening titles for that as well. We’ve done some title treatments for video games as well, so we’re open to working at all mediums. We’re not just locked into television. We’re in film, we’re in video games, we’re kind of all over the place which is how we like it.
[Where to stream The Night Of]