Yellowjackets Main Title

For the title sequence for Showtime’s Yellowjackets, our intent was to capture a story set across two distinct time periods with a dark and twisted narrative – introducing the attitudes of our characters and planting the viewer in the time and place of the show.

All without giving away any spoilers.

Working with showrunners Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson, we developed a foundation for the main title built around the younger version of the Yellowjackets - what would it feel like if they documented their journey to the Nationals – capturing the candid behind-the-scenes moments leading up to that tragic flight.

Using consumer camcorders, actually from the mid-90s era, the title delivers a frenetic haphazard energy—part music video and part found footage montage.

Throughout the title there’s a dark undercurrent which builds and begins to overtake the edit. These moments start slight, hidden within a flicker or static cut, but as we get closer to the end these darker, ominous scenes featuring the tormented present-day characters become more frequent.

Using these old DV camcorders and applying some experimental analogue glitch processing, we combined a mix of live-action footage and b-roll captured on the film set to craft the grungy-pop, dirty look of the title sequence.

The soundtrack “No Return,” written and performed by Anna Waronker, of the bubblegum alt-rock band that dog, and Craig Wedren of the glammy post-hardcore group Shudder to Think, ties the sequence together.