Framestore
Framestore created the Doctor Who title sequence that ushered in the Matt Smith era on the programme.
On their website, they claimed that the job was a particularly harrowing one, begun only three weeks before the transmission of The Eleventh Hour. They credit Christian Manz, Framestore's visual effects supervisor, as the individual who "wrote the treatment, directed and supervised the project" and say that he was responsible for the title sequence's "new font". They also point out that 2D and 3D artists from their Icelandic branch were required to make the project's tight turnaround time. Thus, the 2010 title sequence may be the first time that Icelandic nationals worked, however indirectly, on Doctor Who.
Until 2015, they were the only group or individual to get a specific on-screen credit for creating a BBC Wales Doctor Who title sequence. This was likely because it was the only thing they did; their predecessors, The Mill, and their immediate successors, the Peter Anderson Studio, both had other primary duties on the show. BBC Wales Graphics and Ben Pickles would later receive the same credit for the Peter Capaldi and Jodie Whittaker titles, respectively.
Framestore were credited with "titles" on the following episodes:
- Amy's Choice
- The Beast Below
- The Big Bang
- Cold Blood
- The Eleventh Hour
- Flesh and Stone
- The Hungry Earth
- The Lodger
- The Pandorica Opens
- The Time of Angels
- The Vampires of Venice
- Victory of the Daleks
- Vincent and the Doctor
Nevertheless, their title sequence was used, in its basic form, until it was wholly retired after The Angels Take Manhattan. It's unclear why they received no credit during series 6, where the only obvious change to their work was the addition of Arthur Darvill's name.
Other work
Framestore are a highly prestigious visual effects firm who have provided graphics for television since the late 1980s, and have been been working in theatrical film from 1994 onwards. Amongst their credits are several James Bond title sequences and scenes, scenes in James Cameron's Avatar, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra with Christopher Eccleston, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1, and many others. They have been twice-Oscar-nominated, for Superman Returns and The Dark Knight. They also provided the visual effects for at least the third series of Primeval.
External links
- The main Framestore credits at the Internet Movie Database
- Framestore/CFC merged credits at the Internet Movie Database
- VFX/BBCWales,DrWhoTitleSequence Framestore's page on the series 5 title sequence. If this link fails on your browser, go here, and search for "Doctor Who".
