Credits Study #1: The White Lotus

Why the wild opening credits of the series The White Lotus
are an example of Motion Comic,
Italian Renaissance version 𑁍

The opening credits are directed by Katrina Crawford and Mark Bashore, Studio Plains of Yonder

Making a film from frescoes

The source material here isn’t a comic book or a manga: it’s trompe-l’œil frescoes from a 16th-century Sicilian villa, digitized, collaged and remixed to create a 21st-century video work.

The appeal of these animated tableaux? Our gaze wanders as much as it gets lost, guided by dizzying tracking shots, dynamic editing and lighting effects, all carried by the hypnotic music of Cristobal Tapia de Veer.

Bringing us into the universe of the series

The animation is minimalist, almost hidden: a suspicious look, an exploding jet of water, a distant fire, drops of blood being shed.

The actors’ names appear, associated with situations that represent them. The cult figure Jennifer Coolidge is associated with a donkey ride with her husband, foreshadowing the fiasco of a Vespa ride. Theo James is associated with a nude statue and a dog raising its paw, an allegory of the vulgarity of the hunk.

This motion comic opening sequence depicts an eternal repetition of human comedy, but also of art. Which feeds again and again on itself, on ourselves.

It conveys a subliminal message that we dare not understand. Perhaps it gives us clues to the characters’ dire destiny?

A quick behind-the-scenes look at the making of the opening credits: seven months of work, and a lot of work digitizing the frescoes in the villa 📸