Concept and creative process
‘Between Ourselves’ was a series of documentaries produced in Wales focusing on everyday stories of life in the country. The concept for the title sequence came through lateral thinking around the interpretation of the words of the series title. It was inspired by figure-ground perception, the ability of the eye and brain to see certain illusions in one of two ways. The object used in the titles was a sand timer formed not in the conventional hourglass shape, but in the shape of a Rubin vase. Depending on whether the eye sees the black silhouette as the figure and the white as the background or vice-versa, the eye may perceive it as two profile heads facing each other nose to nose. What began conventionally with a close-up of falling sand was transformed into something quite different as the camera tracked out to reveal the three-dimensional lettering of the title arranged on the floor, and the key light moved to turn the sand-filled glass into a black silhouette.