Responses by Tom Hingston, founder and creative director, Hingston Studio.
Background: The Day of the Jackal is a new thriller TV series based on Frederick Forsyth’s iconic 1971 novel and subsequent film. Featuring lead actors Eddie Redmayne and Lashana Lynch, this ten-part series sets the world of The Jackal in the present day.
Design thinking: We created a graphic sequence derived from the letterforms that make up the main title. Taking the word jackal as our primary element, we deconstructed its individual letters, fracturing, splicing and distorting them; these isolated fragments pass through the frame, forming a sequence of moving elements that reveal apertures into the world of the show. Playing with this graphic device enabled us to continually shift perspective depending on who is hiding from (or hunting) whom. Like a moving jigsaw puzzle, these fragments gradually converge throughout the sequence, resulting in a reveal of the main title.
Challenges: The marriage of old and new. From the outset, we wanted to create something that embraced the enigmatic essence of The Day of the Jackal’s world, to craft an opening sequence that would make reference to the era of the original film but presented with a contemporary perspective. It was important the visual language felt stylized and emblematic, mirroring the aesthetic qualities of the show itself.
Favorite details: There are a few, but one of the things that comes to mind is the seamless choreography between the graphic components and score. In many ways, it’s like a dance, pushing and pulling to create an emotional tension. Working with the song “This is Who I Am” by musical artist Celeste, we established a visual synergy with the exact movement of the on-screen geometry responding to the strings and vocals.
Visual influences: The whole sequence is evocative of noir thrillers that we all know and love, but there are a number of influences—for instance, the grade and texture of the footage references ’70s cinema with creamy highlights and cyan mid-tones, but it’s a modern take on that. The Tribe lenses we used to shoot the portraiture have similar characteristics of uncoated prime lenses from that era.
Time constraints: We were brought in quite early on in the process while the team was in the pre-production phase, so there were a number of different approaches that we worked through with the shows’ creators before landing on the final idea. Our studio worked on the project for around eight months, so thoughts and ideas had incubation space to develop and evolve.
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