Creative Directors & Producers: Clara Lehmann and Jonathan Lacocque

Associate Producer: Grace Lawson

Design Director: Ryan Butterworth

Art Director & Senior Motion Designer: Christopher Ray Moberg

Original Design Exploration: Pedro Fleming

Designer & Animator: Peiqing Lu

Music: ‘Ani Kuni’ by Polo & Pan

Sound Design & Mix: BAM Studios & Matt Sauro

Did we make the film to create a title sequence? Maybe!?!? No, the truth is that this title sequence celebrates the art and the artists behind the camera for this feature length documentary film called O Pioneer. Directed by Coat of Arms founders Clara Lehmann and Jonathan Lacocque, O Pioneer poetically reckons with and redefines the American pioneer. The film follows a blacksmith, seamstress, and hospital chaplain from West Virginia as they navigate immense hardship. The film challenges us to re-imagine what it means to be a pioneer in modern times. 

As we began production on the film, we immediately started brainstorming ways to put our title design skills to work. So, we got an early start and began creative explorations. After initial concepts and typography were studied, we paced the refinement of the design and animation to allow the documentary's story to develop and thus guide the titles deliberately.  

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Our intention with the opening titles was to capture the visual style and romance of western classics through a dusty, sepia palette and textures that take inspiration from old maps. We had the creative challenge of determining how to represent each of the film’s main participants without muddying the tone and vibe of the titles. 

As they completed a rough edit of the film, directors Clara Lehmann and Jonathan Lacocque scripted sequences, identifying easter eggs we wanted to celebrate from the film. Ultimately, we built 3D models of important elements or tools each character uses or holds a deeper connection to in the film. In fact, we hope the titles make you want to watch O Pioneer to see how the visuals carefully and intentionally celebrate each person and theme in the film!

First, we conducted an in-depth typography study of the title. Directors Clara Lehmann and Jonathan Lacocque worked with designer Pedro Fleming to define the type. Pedro experimented with many fonts and type treatments before landing on a style that spoke to the content of the film and the general aesthetic we were after. We then moved into creative direction and additional concept development. 

After the film was more defined with a full rough edit, Art Director/3D Motion Designer Christopher Ray Moberg, Design Director Ryan Butterworth, and Design/Animator Peiqing Lu helped further develop the titles, weaving visuals that amplified the story and overall western aesthetics of the titles.

Finding ways to include regional features in the 3D terrain was an early challenge. There were limited pre-built assets so Chris Moberg began building the terrain based on references and map data with World Creator. Pedro experimented with this during the early title exploration as well. Chris brought real topographic maps from the Appalachian region into illustrator to create stylized accents and textures. 

Cinema 4D is where both the 3D terrain and the illustrated maps would come together. Exploring different camera angles revealed ideal compositions for text credit placement or 3D objects that represented the characters from the film. In some cases, round one of exploration would be perfect, while in others, returning to World Creator for further adjustments was needed.

Moving into animation, our team wanted to keep the integrity of the design as realistic as possible. We worked to make the visuals feel cinematic by pairing grand vistas with macro shots and slow camera movements. We spent a lot of time in Cinema dialing in the camera, lighting and materials.

Overall, motion within the scenes was fairly minimal. The hero elements like trains, telescopes and fabric were kept as realistic and elegant as possible. A constantly rotating sun meant moving shadows contributed to motion in the scenes, as well. 

The main element across all scenes was the camera itself and to help make the macro environments feel grander, we tried to mimic the motion of a camera inside or hanging out of a helicopter as if it were gliding over the landscapes.

The track, Ani Kuni by Polo & Pan, featured with these titles was introduced to us by designer and animator Peiqing Lu. Ani Kuni is one of Lu’s favorite songs and our entire team was immediately smitten. Upon further investigation, we learned that Ani Kuni (Arapaho: Ani’qu ne’chawu’nani) is a traditional Native American hymn or lullaby originating from the Arapaho tribes living on the plains of Colorado and Wyoming in the United States. According to some research, this centuries old song, composed by women, was sung when Native people had to leave their lands because of diseases or wars. The track felt especially appropriate paired with O Pioneer’s critical analysis of the extractive histories associated with early pioneering.

Finally, with realistic but subtle sound design, Matt Sauro and a lovely team at BAM Studios helped make these titles (and the entire film) sing with fun little nuggets of sounds like the chug of a train, an eagle’s cry, fabric billows, and wind.

The documentary, completed in June 2023 by Coat of Arms, is currently in its festival run and seeking distribution. O Pioneer premiered at Cinequest International Film Festival in California and received an Audience Award for Best Documentary. It recently played at Richmond International Film Festival (nominated for a Juried Best of Documentary award), and won Best Documentary at Rome International Film Festival (GA).

Our hope is that O Pioneer inspires a sense of adventure while disrupting traditional, extractive, and often narrow definitions of who can be a pioneer. In fact, we believe the stories in this film redefine the modern day pioneer, giving us all more confidence to see our significance. 

You can find out more, read our press kit, and follow along with new screenings at opioneer.com. Thank you for watching! 

Hardware and software used:

World Creator, Illustrator, After Effects, Cinema 4D, Redshift