Ainsley's Meals in Minutes (1999)

Concept and creative process

Celebrity chef Ainsley Harriott showed how to rustle up something tasty in a matter of a few minutes in this series. Time was of the essence and this became the core idea behind the title sequence for this fast-paced cookery show. The screen was divided vertically and diagonally into brightly coloured action areas which became the backgrounds to Ainsley’s day as he shopped for ingredients at breakneck speed. His action in each vignette began and ended with him as a blur with the other part of the screen filled with clocks of all kinds ticking away the minutes to the time when he would start preparing the meal. All of the action, the clocks and the little dog were shot on videotape against green screen and composited in a post-production editing suite.