Nexus Studios' halftone heist
Director Daniel Kleinman taps into pulp crime novel aesthetics in a beautifully crafted title sequence for Shane Black’s new action thriller.
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Credits
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- Production Company Rattling Stick
- Director Daniel Kleinman
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Credits
View on- Production Company Rattling Stick
- Director Daniel Kleinman
- Animation Nexus Studios/UK
- Executive Producer Johnnie Frankel
- Production Manager Stuart Butterworth
- Executive Producer Jo Bierton
- Producer Sami Goddard
- Production Manager Edith Chappey
- Studio Lead Bethany Levy
- Art Director/Designer/2D Animator Margherita Premuroso
- Designer/2D Animator: Lorenzo Varisco
- 2D Animator Marylou Mao
- 2D Animator Emma Ehrling
- FX Animator/2D Clean up Denise Dean
- Lead Compositor Jesse Richards
- Editor David Slade
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Credits
powered by- Production Company Rattling Stick
- Director Daniel Kleinman
- Animation Nexus Studios/UK
- Executive Producer Johnnie Frankel
- Production Manager Stuart Butterworth
- Executive Producer Jo Bierton
- Producer Sami Goddard
- Production Manager Edith Chappey
- Studio Lead Bethany Levy
- Art Director/Designer/2D Animator Margherita Premuroso
- Designer/2D Animator: Lorenzo Varisco
- 2D Animator Marylou Mao
- 2D Animator Emma Ehrling
- FX Animator/2D Clean up Denise Dean
- Lead Compositor Jesse Richards
- Editor David Slade
In collaboration with director Daniel Kleinman and Rattling Stick, Nexus Studios have crafted this captivating main title sequence for Shane Black’s new action heist thriller, Play Dirty.
Blending hand-painted imagery and halftone scenes, the animation draws from the nostalgic visual world of paperback crime novels popular in the 1940s to 70s.
Inspired by the distinctive imperfections of vintage print, Kleinman transformed these reprographic quirks into narrative motifs: circular halftone dots transform into gun barrels, bullet holes, and even subway maps, before zooming back out into new imagery.
“One of the challenges was to create a modern sequence while keeping true to the soul of this nostalgic illustrative style, not always using the same media and then making it all animate. I hope the outcome feels fresh and new as well as acknowledging the history of the golden age of pulp illustration,” says Kleinman.
