Concept and creative process
‘The Onedin Line’ was a popular period drama in eight series which ran from 1971 to 1980. It covered the fortunes of a fictional shipping company and through its plot lines and characters mirrored the social, technological and political changes in the shipping industry in the latter half of the 19th century. For the titles for series 7, a choice of live action shots was supplied by the programme editor together with the well-established music. I edited the live action with the graphic design in-house editor, so that the skeleton of the sequence was prepared. Artwork for the border was created and mounted onto brown Pantone paper with a clear space in the middle. The border was photographically enlarged in stages to create animation pegged artwork. The lettering was created in red and black on clear cels and pegged together slightly offset to create the drop shadow effect. The whole sequence was shot 'aerial image' on a film rostrum set-up with the live action projected via a mirror and the artwork shot top-lit to create the combined image.
Graphic Designer and Creative Director - Liz Friedman.