Responses by Mason Nicoll, executive creative director, and John Van Unen, senior motion designer, Digital Kitchen.

Background: Before is a psychological thriller built around themes of grief, loss and the characters’ haunting connection to the past. Our aim with the title sequence was to set the tone and atmosphere for the mysterious elements layered within the show while alluding to the converging worlds of the two leads.

Design thinking: We explored the idea of a dreamscape where time has no direction, a journey that takes us through memories of past lives. Time ebbs and flows, blending together, jumping forward and moving in reverse—as if we are tuning a radio.

Challenges: With the conceptual approach, we wanted the sequence to feel both archival and modern at the same time. Therefore, we made the decision to shoot as much as possible using a variety of digital infrared cameras combined with vintage camera lenses. This approach required lots of (fun) experimentation to validate the technique.

Favorite details: Blending the modern and archival look of the title and experimenting with high-tech infrared cameras and vintage lenses to create the otherworldly dreamscape visual style.

New lessons: We learned a lot of interesting tidbits while we were shooting. For instance, LED lights will not work with an infrared camera: Nothing shows up. It’s as if the light isn’t even on. To get the best dandelion blow, use a hair dryer. Or if you want to get good seagull footage, bring food.

Beyond all these small things that are incredibly niche in their use, we learned with the distortion-based style of shooting that we used, it’s usually the simplest things that work the best. And we learned to give ourselves time to experiment before we dive into the entire sequence. We found the techniques that gave us the look we were after on our first day and stuck with those through the entire shoot. This helped keep the footage feeling consistent despite switching between a variety of cameras and lenses.

Visual influences: One of the early visual influences that helped drive both the look and concept of the sequence was old home videos. From a sentimental and emotional standpoint, they tie in well to the larger themes of family and grief within Before but also in the way home videos are viewed. Time is scrubbed through, moving between the years or even decades with ease, unsure when you’ll jump to next. It feels akin to what the main character Eli goes through in the show, his past and present bleeding together. Our concept ended up revolving around this idea of time being fluid when dealing with grief, that old memories arise and everything blends together.

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