Neon Genesis Evangelion
Project: Title sequence & branding redesign Role: Creative Director, Producer, Designer & Animator Year: 2019
Five of us (Granger Eltringham, Zach Hixon, Katherine Monday, Lauren Kittle and I) redesigned the title sequence and branding for Neon Genesis Evangelion. I led creative direction and production.
A bigger team let us explore a wide range of techniques: Mandelbulb 3D fractals, microscope videography, Google DeepDream, live-action footage, and After Effects compositing.
Concept
Humanity is redeemed and liberated through its destruction.
“The sun will be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood…” (Joel 2:31)
We framed the opening as the end of the world seen through the angels’ eyes. Not harbingers of death but agents of rebirth, they close an old world so a new one can begin. Biblical archetypes shape the structure; angels, technology, the color spectrum and light shape the visuals.
The Hero’s Journey
- Ordinary world: a distraught, reluctant youth
- Call to adventure: Shinji’s cold father orders him to fight the angels
- Refusal: guilt drives him to save the world anyway
- Supernatural aid: the Evas
- Mentor: Misato
- Threshold: the fight with the fourth angel, where Shinji goes berserk
Visual Language
- Berserk: madness and suffering in saturated red, blood and Eva fluid
- Light: divinity and destruction in flames and cross-shaped blasts
- Biomorphic: life itself in Mandelbulb fractals and microscopy
- Angel: a sublime, majestic cleansing
- Type: monospaced credits that tie into the FUI graphics
Everything aims for a visceral, tactile response, with scratchy lines marking the psyche.
Credits
Direction
Design & Animation