This third film in the Cap saga has our heroes deeply divided into two factions: One group, led by Iron Man, supports greater governmental control of their actions. The other, led by Captain America, completely opposes it.  Whatever good the Avengers and Captain America have done vanquishing evil, has come at great cost—loss of lives and a lot of collateral damage.  Iron Man believes government as overseer will lessen the damage. Captain America disagrees. By the end of the film,  battles between the two over this core issue—and with ever-present villains who make matters worse, have left the earth a scorched rubble of ruin. Our melancholic MOE sequence needed to give viewers the chance to reflect on all of this.

Unlike most superhero movies, there was no happy ending. The Avengers have split-up and soul searchingly, must weigh the cost of their involvement in “saving” the world. With that as the culmination, doing a big whiz-bang main-on-end title wouldn’t achieve the right tone. We had to do something more contemplative.

In our shadowy solution, light moves just out of frame, revealing the aftermath of battle–the chunks of debris, the cracked earth, and the deep fissures expanding from both. As the first title is revealed, strongly lit from five angles with spotlights, even the stones cast long dramatic shadows. And then, in the subtlest of poignant design surprises, when the second title appeals, the shadows take on a life of their own, assuming forms that are easily recognized by Marvel fans. Each illuminates a key fact about the titled figures, giving insight into their characters. 

We limited our muted color palette to shades you would see in concrete, stone and shadow, but included steel blue, which is thematically representational of Captain America.

Producing our sequence which is 100% CG and photo-real, we used a blend of graphic illustration, 3D-generated typography, and photorealistic textures. We built all of the 3D in Cinema and then used Nuke to composite and Smoke to finish.