May 16

A portrait of True Blood’s return.

Posted in: American TV, hbo, six feet under, true blood, Videos: TV

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If there’s one thing I love more than a good cast photo (like the cast of the Sopranos on a boat, or the cast of Scrubs.. also on a boat), its a good cast promo.

Full or overly symbolic references and imagery, its the kind of stuff you can only get away with when your playing outside the bounds of the shows usual narrative (or at least a dream sequence) and quite frankly no one does it better than HBO.

Take for example the series return of True Blood, set to the Bob Dylan track “Beyond Here Lies Nothing” is a beautiful moving portrait, open to intrepretion of what we might be able to expect from the latest instalment of the vampire thriller.

Another show that was rampant in there use of seasonal teasers was Six Feet Under, watch some examples after the jump.

Season 5, featuring the song “Breathe Me” by Sia.

Season 4, featuring the song “Feeling Good” by Nina Simone.

Season 3, featuring the song “A Rush Of Blood To The Head” by Coldplay.

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Sep 10

From the makers of Six Feet Under: True Blood.

Posted in: American TV, hbo, six feet under, true blood, Videos: Openings

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True Blood is the latest creation from Alan Ball, the creator of Six Feet Under and American Beauty screenwriter. Just like Six Feet Under, the main titles for True Blood have been designed by Digital Kitchen, who also did the opener for Dexter.

The high concept premise behind True Blood revolves around the co-existence of vampires and humans in the southern US state of Louisiana. And from the pilot episode at least, it appears Ball intends to draw on vampires and their recent “outing” into mainstream society as an allegory for the struggle to achieve homosexual rights, racial equality and acceptance.

The gritty and compelling opening sequence, accompanied by the track Bad Things by Jace Everett, even goes so far to feature a sign saying “God Hates Fangs”, an obvious play on the famous protest signs of the Westboro Baptist Church.

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Jul 09

Darkly dreaming of the dearly devoted Dexter.

Posted in: dexter, six feet under, ten, Ten Network, title design, Videos: Openings

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Did you know there was an Emmy for best main title design? One company that knows all about it is Digital Kitchen, who in 2002 won for their stunning work on the Six Feet Under opener, and scored big again last year with the titles for Dexter.

Dexter made its free to air debut in Australia this week, but both seasons were already over with on subscription television, with Foxtel’s new Showcase channel launching itself on the back of everyone’s favourite serial killer.

I watched both seasons of Dexter over summer, and became enthralled with the adventures of the dysfunctional Dexter Morgan, which brings me to my question..

Why didn’t Ten just pick this up in the first place? Free to air television isn’t exactly proving its relevance by letting Dexter (and others) make their debuts on pay TV.

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