Animating Title Sequence

Since this entire project was a level-up from anything I'd done before, I knew right away I wanted the title sequence to feel elevated too, not just a static text, but something cinematic. I’d been watching The Punisher around the same time and really liked how the intro set a mood, though I wanted something more colorful and modern, not fully black and white like theirs.

The first step was gathering visuals. I chose real images from Pakistan to root the film in its setting, including the exact street I shot on, plus landmarks like a mosque and church. I wanted the intro to feel lived-in and local without being too on-the-nose.

For typography, I kept it clean and consistent with the rest of the film. I used

Montserrat for the main titles and Microsoft Sans Serif for the supporting names. After that, I started building textures. I downloaded graphic overlays and light effects from Envato and YouTube, edited and recolored them in Photoshop, and made different versions to experiment with tone and balance.

Once I had all my pieces, I started assembling everything in Premiere Pro. The actual animation work was a lot of layering and compositing, keyframing motion on the text, adding film flickers, dust overlays, grunge textures, and subtle glow effects. I added directional motion, where the background moved one way and the text moved the other to create depth. The text was duplicated with larger faded versions in the back for a subtle motion trail. Blur, flicker, and light streaks added to the gritty vibe I was aiming for.

Color-wise, it was a mix of muted grunge with bright flashes cutting between text. It started with the studio title, then flowed into "An Original Film Opening" and the actor's name in sequence.

these are all the screenshots i took whilst starting, i forgot to capture the process cus i was too focused in trying to finish this animation out of pure excitement and joy, kicking my feet up behind me typa joy

this frame was inspired by ghost of Tsushima's visuals, one of my favourite games.

the Ghost of Tsushima's animated visuals.

 I also opened a separate timeline for the video background itself, where I layered and graded more visual textures and ambient footage, just to ground everything in atmosphere.

The one part that wasn’t fun: Premiere and After Effects. I forgot how unstable they can get under pressure. Constant crashes reminded me why I love working in DaVinci Resolve so much more. It just… behaves.

That said, once the effects were in place and the music locked in, the animated intro felt like it finally tied the entire film together. It wasn’t just an aesthetic flex. It set the mood before a single frame of the actual narrative began.

I present to you, the final film title sequence: