Design in motion

I chose opening credits as an example of design in motion. I had just finished working on a project and I started noticing this kind of work more closely. I am a fan of HBO's True Detective and I finally had a chance to watch season two. I immediately fell in love with the opening credits. Credits for this kind of show usually give an idea of what the story is going to be about. It may be a upcoming scene, or pictures of the stars of the show in character.

True Detective season 2 opening credits

I like how the pictures play around with the law of similarity, law of proximity, law of pragnanz, and law of closure. The first law that works as we watch is pragnanz,"reality is organized or reduced to the simplest form possible." The law of proximity, similarity work, and closure, work hand in hand as we see the shape of someones face is in a picture of something else. We even see eyes open and close. The law of continuity is left alone and it flows really well from one image to the next. Personally I love the color pallet that was used and the song works well too.

I really couldn't find anything close to compare this to, so I decided to stay within the HBO family. I am comparing it to the opening credits to season one of the same show. Warning! This one is rated R.

True Detective season 1 opening credits

This does the same thing as season two and it works. I think they did a good job on this. The color pallet is more muted and gives a moody feel. Its actually a little bit creepy, which is intended. I like what they did, but I think season two is much better. I think it has to do with the color pallet. I get a little bored half way through season one's credits. Too much of one color, especially grey can get tiring. The music chosen to go with it works really well. You can tell this story takes place somewhere in the South.

I looked at some of the comments people had and it all came down to preference, in comparing the credits. Some people found the music in season two was too cheesy, but loved the song for season one. I like how at the end of season two's credits you are kind of left wondering what the story is going to be about. At the end of season one credits you pretty much already know.

Which season did I like best?
I like season one the best because of the storyline. It had closure. It was more gritty than season two. Season two did have strong roles for women, but I had a few questions that didn't get answered at the end. I had a hard time watching Vince Vaughn be a "bad" guy at first, but after a while he made the role believable.