Working with director David Ayer (Training Day, Suicide Squad), the Filmograph motion team opens action feature The Beekeeper with a tense tapestry of antique engravings, macro photography, CG, and an infinity of hexagons.

Filmograph CD Aaron Becker: “These titles are the true result of a creative hive mind, from our clients (David Ayer and his team of producers) to our internal group contributing in multi-faceted ways here at Filmograph.

“The creative brief was to emphasize the importance of bees in human culture over the centuries leading all the way up to the present, where the power of their symbolism has been adopted as a moniker by a shadow organization embedded among our most established government institutions.
 

“These titles are the true result of a creative hive mind, from our clients (David Ayer and his team of producers) to our internal group contributing in multi-faceted ways here at Filmograph.”

 
“This led us down a road of research and image gathering, sifting through online archives, books, and footage as we began to assemble rough cuts in the edit room, where we took particular stock in the compositional opportunities presented to us via hexagonal match cut transitions.

“One of the biggest challenges was ‘filling in the gaps’ where no imagery or footage would suffice, which had to be done with CG models and animation – for example, when we dive through a series of hexagonal, honeycomb-like shapes near the beginning, or when bees are actively swarming the American flag-shaped brood chamber near the end of the sequence.

“Finally, typographically, we employed a hexagon shape for the “O” characters, as well as bee-like twitches to some of the letterforms’ legs as a finishing touch.”
 
 

 
Client: Amazon MGM Studios, Miramax, Cedar Park Entertainment, Punch Palace
Director: David Ayer

Production: Filmograph
CD: Raffi Simonian, Aaron Becker
EP: Seth Kleinberg
Producer: Troy Miller
Editor: Pascal Leister
Designer/Animator: Mike Lo, Hsien Lun Su, Joseph Ahn
3D Modeler: Eric Keller
Additional Design: Li Yu Chen

Special Thanks: Michael Tinger, Anthony Scott, Chris Long