Spacesuited arm reaching across the amber-lit control panel of a darkened space capsule

Gravity: Title Sequence

Styleframe sequence design

In the film Gravity, Dr. Ryan Stone is the sole survivor of a space debris avalanche. As she tries to make her way back to Earth under extreme physical conditions, she begins to hallucinate and starts to relive what life was like back on Earth. By using the framing device of a shift in reality, Ryan travels back to the memory of when she would aimlessly drive to work after losing her daughter. Through this brief flashback, Ryan now has the determination and strength to keep moving forward.

Collaborative project with illustrator Jamie Kim ‼️

→ Graphis New Talent Awards 2024, Honorable Mention

Sequence

Hand on the steering wheel in the morning sun, the car stereo reading Heyday Films
NASA parking pass for Sandra Bullock hanging from the rear-view mirror over a sunlit street
Hand reaching across the dashboard as a water bottle and papers start to float through the car
Spacesuited arm reaching across the amber-lit control panel of a darkened space capsule
Green Russian docking-procedure manual tumbling through a beam of light inside the capsule
Blue Gravity screenplay by Alfonso Cuarón drifting across the console — the closing title frame

Process

Blender workspace with the toon-shaded car interior beside its clay viewport and shader nodes

Blender was used as the base layer for the sequence, utilizing toon shading to create a 2D look inside of 3D.

Photoshop canvas with the capsule frame and the painted foreground elements stacked in layers

In Photoshop, the foreground objects were painted over the renderings to create a foreground-background separation.

Special Thanks:
Jamie Kim, Vicky Lin, Ming Tai