Andy Hall and Nadia Tzuo (‘The Last of Us’) on their fungus-covered main title sequence: ‘It gives you a texture’ [Exclusive Video Interview]
“It’s almost like the book cover,” describes Andy Hall regarding what makes a successful main title sequence. “It gives you some insight. It gives you a feeling, it gives you a texture of it, the personality.” Hall and fellow creative director Nadia Tzuo worked together to concoct the evocative opening sequence for HBO’s “The Last of Us.” The pair set out to create a visual story that would speak to “both sides” of the audience for the show: those who were familiar with the story after playing the video game, and those who would be experiencing this world with fresh eyes. The pair hopes that this opening sequence sets up both types of audience members for a similar, shared experience while watching the series. Watch the exclusive video interview above.
The credits depict the cordyceps fungus, the cause of a civilization-ending apocalypse in the show, overtaking the world. “It’s largely based on, in reality, how they move,” explains Tzuo of the fungus’ travel patterns. Hall reveals that the team went through plenty of documentary footage to get the textures and motions to appear precisely as they would in nature. “In those moments, you see details that paint something about the context of the show,” he states, “but it is still always grounded in the fact that it’s this fungal matter that’s evolving and transforming and overrunning, essentially.”
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The fungus is “overwhelming and it’s destroying” according to Hall, but along the way it morphs into specific images. At one point the shrooms spread out into a vague shape of the United States. At the next moment viewers will spot the features of a human face being formed by the snaking tendrils. In the final moment of the sequence, two fungal stalks grow towards the sky, with a passing shadow causing them to resemble the series leads Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey). Hall describes these images as “stepping stones” which lead audiences down a thematic path. “Obviously once they see the show, it gives them more context,” he explains, “how it’s overrunning the whole country, how it’s overcoming people and transforming them.” The details in these shapes are fleeting, giving just enough to make a subconscious impression, which may grow clearer upon repeat viewings.
The visuals are driven by the haunting theme music by Gustavo Santaolalla. The plucked strings in the composer’s music not only speaks to the despair and desolation of society, but seems to pull the fungus along. “It definitely affected the cuts, the speed we travel and the pacing for sure,” admits Tzuo. “The two almost kind of play off on one another,” adds Hall, speaking to the symbiotic relationship of the fungus and the music. “It very much informed the visual path we took and how certain things kind of transformed and revealed themselves in certain parts of that track.”
SEE Gustavo Santaolalla interview: ‘The Last of Us’ composer
“The Last of Us” marks the first ever Emmy nomination for Hall and the fourth nomination for Tzuo. She earned previous bids for “American Horror Story,” “Feud,” and “Pachinko.” The artist says that the unique creative challenge involved with dreaming up the perfect main title sequence is what keeps her coming back to this work. The main task, she explains, is “to find what’s the core spirit or the essence of the story. And it feels really good when we finally find it…It’s all these abstract, beautiful visuals. They need just to point at this one thing that’s representing the best of the show.”
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