18 IMAGINARY FORCES

STUDIO PHILOSOPHY

Imaginary Forces (IF) is a design and production company based in Hollywood and New York.Their award-winning work spans the diverse industries of feature film production, entertainmentmarketing and promotion, corporate branding, architecture, advertising, and experience design. Notable work includes the groundbreaking film title sequence for Se7en, the Emmy-winning title sequence to Mad Men, commercials for Pepsi, Microsoft, and Scion among others, multimedia entertainment experiences at the Wynn Resort inLas Vegas, and an installation for the Museum of Modern Art in New York City dubbed “New City.”

MAD MEN OPENING TITLE SEQUENCE

Creative and Production Process Our creative challenge was to connect a 1960s periodTV series with today’s audience. We created an elegant and abstract cityscape of vintage ads fromthe late 1950s/early 1960s. The juxtaposition of vintage ads with contemporary design connectsthe past with the present. We were inspired by advertisements from the time period and followeda very specific brief by the series’ creator, Matthew Weiner.

We approached the Mad Men opening title sequence like a live action film title instead of apurely animated piece. The disciplined use of camera angles combined with sophisticatedgraphics achieves an insight into the main character’s subconscious and the precarious duality ofhis boys club career and perfect nuclear family. The action of falling past endless skyscraper wallscreates a claustrophobia and helplessness that is abruptly cut short by his composed reclining posenow synonymous with the show.

Tools Power PC G5 Mac OS 10.4 (Quad + Dual processors), Photoshop CS, Illustrator CS, AfterEffects 6.5 Professional, Xeon Intel Windows XP, Softimage XSI 5, Final Cut Pro HD 5.04, DVDStudio Pro 4, Quicktime Pro 7

Credits

Directors: Mark Gardner, Steve Fuller, Alan Taylor

Executive Producer: Maribeth Phillips

Producer: Cara McKenney

Coordinator: Michele Watkins

Designers: Jeremy Cox, Fabian Tejada, Joey Salim

Animators: Fabian Tejada, Jason Goodman,

Jeremy Cox, Jordan Sariego

Editor: Caleb Woods