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Bigstar relied on a mix of tools to create the open for Showtime's Years of Living Danger- ously, including Autodesk Maya and Maxon Cinema 4D. reality show stars, celebrities or sports talent. "People are looking for the human story in entertainment and sports," Norton explains. The human element is very much in evi- dence in the main title sequence that Bigstar created for the new Showtime documentary series, Years of Living Dangerously, from cre- ators Joel Bach and David Gelber. The groundbreaking show about global climate change features a mix of seasoned journalists and celebrity reporters, including Harrison Ford, Don Cheadle, Matt Damon and Michael C. Hall. For the main title, Bigstar intercut clips of international locations and climate crises — droughts, hurricanes, deforestation — with the show's correspondents on the ground, highlighting those featured in the current episode. Clips are layered and mixed with graphical elements; the color palette starts out cool with images of glaciers and ice melt- ing and gradually warms up during the span of the open as the aftermath of climate change is revealed. Bigstar was "fully engaged" from the out- set with crafting the main title. "We had an energetic exchange with the 'Years' team, a vigorous back and forth of concepting, design ideas, storyboarding, narrative intent," recalls Norton. "Climate change is a big story, and this series has huge personalities telling it. We wanted to project a sense of wonder about the planet, present the backstory of research and scientific diligence, and show the tension and drama of what we're up against. And feature all 14 correspondents. That was a very rich challenge for us." Bigstar's cut supplied live-action footage with Apple's Final Cut Pro and used a wide range of techniques to create the graphic elements, including Autodesk Maya, Cinema 4D and After Effects with AE Scripts' Plexus and Red Giant's Trapcode Form plug-ins. Bigstar also provided in-show graphics for the series' nine episodes steering clear of conventional charts and graphs in favor of animations of lakes drying up and salt water invading the Mississippi Delta and a lot of satellite imagery that gives a more experien- tial feel for the audience. "We wanted to display information without taking the viewer out of the physical world," Norton says. "We never wanted to detach the scientific story from the human story." Regina Sobel was Bigstar's producer/art HDMI to HDSDI Converter HDSDI to HDMI Converter EFFICIENTLY CONVERTED Scaling Genlock AES Audio Remote Control Frame Rate Conversion www.doremilabs.com