Choosing a book to adapt for a Title Sequence

In order to start work on my title sequence, first I had to choose a book to adapt. I decided early on that I wanted to adapt a graphic novel, as this would give me some sort of visual reference as a starting off point and allow me to prioritise interpreting different visual styles. Plus, to my detriment, I'm not a massive reader.

Whilst browsing book shops for graphic novels with interesting visual styles I stumbled across The Wrenchies by Farel Dalrymple, a comic about a comic which provides escapism for an outcast young boy. What drew me towards this book was the visual style, the washed out watercolour aesthetic and apocalyptic iconography reminded me of 'Mad Max' and 'Lord of the flies.' Something about the breakdown of order and anarchic character designs really drew me in. The idea of a band of estranged kids reminded me of 80s films such as 'The Goonies' and 'Lost Boys', and as a fan of that sort of 80s cinematic aesthetic, the book seemed like a real get. However upon finishing the book, I decided while aesthetically very interesting, thematically there was not all that much going on. In the creation of my title sequence I really wanted to explore things on a more thematic level as well as on a more aesthetic one and the this book didn't exactly have it in spades, at least upon my first read. Also, the visual style, while something I do wish to emulate in the future, was a little complicated to adapt into a title sequence in the limited i have to complete the tasks, as I am not all that well acquainted with watercolour paint.

After deciding against adapting The Wrenchies, I looked in the college library for another book, which is where I came across Joe Sacco's Palestine. I had read Sacco's satirical comic 'Bumf' before and the idea of adapting a very politically charged journalistic graphic novel appealed to me greatly. I was all ready to go, however after a word with the lecturer's and upon reflection, the situation in Palestine, which the comic depicts requires nuanced and deep understanding of the wider political and social context, which I do not feel I have the ability to explore in all that much detail in a thirty second title sequence. As well as that, while in the context of the novel it makes sense, Sacco's caricatures of certain sides of the conflict in Palestine can be a little...unflattering. Not wanting to deeply offend any particular groups, I looked elsewhere for material to adapt.

Which is where I came across Emily Carroll's 'Through The Woods', an anthology of illustrated short stories, loosely based stylistically off Grimm's fairy tales. The art style immediately appealed to me, a mix of graphic vector backgrounds with a handmade feel and more traditionally drawn but digitally coloured characters. One of the stories that attracted me in particular was 'The Nesting Place', the story of a young girl visiting her in-laws while on a break from boarding school. The short story explores themes of anxiety and estrangement from the family through almost Lovecraftian inspired horror, though the book itself is fairly tame, aimed at a young teenage demographic, it does not shy away from depicting these horrors in a meaningful context. The story also offers up lots of striking imagery and visual motifs, such as apples and descent, which I feel would really lend themselves well to a title sequence, which is why I have chosen to adapt 'The Nesting Place' in particular for this task.