Digital Kitchen has been making great work for many years … from when I first knew of them 20ish years ago until now. Always worth looking at their latest (their website is fun to explore) and this piece is worth coming back to.
The opening title sequence for Apple TVs “SMOKE” is “slow-burning visual … in reverse, revealing each object only after it’s been consumed by fire.”
“Digital Kitchen’s concept approaches fire not as spectacle but as psychological portraiture. Each item, from a police badge to a potato chip, was filmed burning in real time, then played backward to create a visual puzzle.”
They shot with RED and Blackmagic cameras, choosing in-camera shots over VFX … The type animation is excellent too.
There’s an elegance and mystery in these frames – the shuddery movement in the burning of objects and animation of titles. I am inspired seeing examples of how in-camera work can challenge VFX work, and vice-versa.