Since TV host Samantha Bee went “Full Frontal” with her satirical views of the news, the tiny Titan has tilted at dozens of giants, building a huge following for her late-night show. Fast-talking, smart-assed and funny, Bee’s stingers hit so many targets President Trump wanted her canceled. Instead, making even more of Bee’s moxie, show producers asked us to shape a new opening sequence for Full Frontal with Samantha Bee—presenting Bee the way the world sees her: A fearless, surefooted giant in America’s chaotic cultural landscape.

Our chosen approach combines a “punk rock poster” aesthetic with the gigantic Samantha idea. The chosen scenarios we crafted set a colossal Samantha in familiar terrain: standing up for human rights, important legislature, female leadership, representation and activism.

Donning her signature blazer and black stiletto pumps, Bee strides through neighborhoods and cityscapes, passing monuments and crossing bridges.

She shakes hands and “fan girls” with the Statue of Liberty, takes a bite out of the border wall, spies inside the White House and Capitol rotunda, and battles a five-headed hydra of pundits.

Hands planted firmly on hips, she backs a woman’s march with smiling approval and strides on, defacing a poster of herself in one last irreverent gesture as she walks offstage.

In the offline edit we defined the timing, shot selection and plate selection. With that completed, we moved all of the assets into After Effects. There, we did the animations and set the look—dropping frames to give Samantha’s performances and facial expressions a steppy stop-motion feel. 

While the backgrounds for the main titles are either stock or computer-generated 3D, the footage of Bee was shot in one day on stage in Vancouver.

“We had a lot to capture that day, and we also did a ton of improv work,” says Erin..

Director of photography Mike Bove (Friends from College, Animal Kingdom) designed the lighting and a green screen, then shot in 4K resolution to capture the clean images ideal for VFX artists.

A post production team added animated elements to create a stop-motion feel for Bee’s performances and facial expressions.

Along with the 20-second opening, Sarofsky created 10-second and three-second versions of the main title with alternate endings and captions. These were rolled out across television and online platforms and used for out-of-home-marketing, (including billboards,) throughout the season.