ECD Mason Nicoll and the Digital Kitchen team (whose work you should watch here and here) weave distressed found footage into a menacing mix of nostalgia and psychological angst in their titles for S3 of the Showtime drama Yellowjackets.

Mason Nicoll: “The goal was to create a sequence that feels as if it were self-documented by the younger Yellowjackets, capturing their camaraderie and innocence before it all unravels. But within that, we wanted to hint at the darkness creeping in, the psychological toll of their trauma, without ever giving too much away.

“It’s all part of the psychological game the show plays with its viewers. The sequence is more than just a title card, it’s a puzzle, a warning, and a descent into the fractured psyches of the characters.
 

“The sequence is more than just a title card, it’s a puzzle, a warning, and a descent into the fractured psyches of the characters.”

 
“We worked closely with showrunners Ashley Lyle, Bart Nickerson, and Jonathan Lisco, to build the sequence around a singular question: What if we were watching a collection of lost tapes filmed by the Yellowjackets in ‘96 during their run-up to Nationals?”

Rachel Brickel, art director and cinematographer: “The team leaned into the tactile authenticity of the 1990s, filming on actual Mini DV and Hi8 camcorders. We pushed the footage through vintage video mixers to fragment and degrade it, then shot it off a CRT screen to introduce organic distortions.”

Art Director, Peter Pak: “As the static and glitches build and overtake the screen, we start to oversaturate the colors, making it feel even more erratic, creating a sense that the nostalgia is fracturing into something more sinister.”
 
 

 
Client: Showtime

Production: Digital Kitchen
ECD: Mason Nicoll
Art Director/Cinematographer: Rachel Brickel
Art Director: Peter Pak
VFX/Processing: William Robertson
Editor: Justin West, Zachary Kinzinger
Senior Producer: Matthew Lynch
Head of Experiences: Ally Malloy

Music: Craig Wedren, Anna Waronker