THE HIVE SHAPE ‘TOMORROW’S WORLD’ TITLES

LONDON-based 3D animation house the Hive have reshaped the opening titles of BBC One’s ‘Tomorrow’s World’, with new futuristic designs.
The Hive created a new and futuristic home for ‘Tomorrow’s World’ on the basis of the design brief from BBC Executive Producer Saul Nasse. The titles also mirror the opening nature of the ‘Tomorrow’s World’ set and complement the new music score written by Mercury Music prizewinner, Talvin Singh. In addition they had to incorporate the famous ‘Tomorrow’s World’ ‘baby’ icon, which has been an integral part of the titles since 1994.
The piece opens with a fast paced tour around the ‘Tomorrow’s World’ ‘house’, the décor of which is white to give the feeling of an open room with no walls. As it travels round, the camera homes in on a number of unusual objects that are highlighted in vibrant colours to contrast the white backdrop. The final shot pans to a television screen featuring the swimming baby, which becomes full screen. The ‘Tomorrow’s World’ logo then dissolves out of this image.
Nasse described the animation team as: “An intensely artistic team who were interesting to work with and very eclectic in their approach. There was a great creative spirit at the company and that the animators brought some refreshingly different techniques and ideas to the table.”
The Hive made use of a wide range of equipment to complete the project, using Maya as the primary 3D tool, After Effects for compositing and Macintosh to create the new logo. To bring the ‘baby’ up to date, the Discreet flame at parent company VTR was used to create an ambient, organic background. A Quantel Henry was also used for some of the more complex compositing work. The Hive also created the end titles and the programme stings.