This Is Tomorrow

The bombing of London’s South Bank by the nazis is visualized in the animated title sequence for the documentary This Is Tomorrow. The opener tells the history of the South Bank site in London, from the bombing and leading up to its redevelopment for the Festival of Britain in 1951. The South Bank is an area located south of the river Thames. The titles were created by illustrator Rob Jones of Imperial Leisure and scored by the English band Saint Etienne.

Title designer Robert Jones: “The style of the illustration and typography were very much influenced by the illustration, typography and colour palette used to promote the The Festival of Britain.” Jones refers to the renowned British graphic designer and former Official War Poster Artist Abram Games (1914–1996) (www.abramgames.com), who created the iconic emblem and poster for the Festival.

“The director of This Is Tomorrow, Paul Kelly, wanted to show the destruction of London’s South Bank and the optimism of the Festival of Britain in 1951 as an introduction to the more recent refurbishment of the Festival Hall. Because they didn’t have access to suitable archive footage, a more creative approach was needed. Paul and the band Saint Etienne are big fans of title sequences by designers like Saul Bass, which use the space at the front of a film to tell a story.”

RV: Did you animate on the soundtrack by Saint Etienne?
RJ: “Paul provided both myself and Saint Etienne with style references from Festival Of Britain and also the music from the dogfight sequence from ‘The Battle of Britain’ [Hamilton, 1969].”

“Based on these, Saint Etienne produced their first draft of the title music and I began work on the illustrations. The music and the title animation developed together.”

The title sequence was created with Adobe illustrator and After Effects.

Article: Remco Vlaanderen, © Submarine Channel, 29 February 208.