The Netflix feature-Length special Hilda & The Mountain King opens with these titles by Giant Ant, a “software-agnostic” mix of 2.5-D and cel animation designed to “give the audience a taste of what’s to come without any big spoilers”.

From the team at Giant Ant in Vancouver: “As big Hilda fans, it was a dream to work with Mercury Filmworks, Silvergate Media, and [Hilda creator] Luke Pearson.

“We were given a delicious amount of freedom to sculpt the story of the title and opted for a three-act structure that abstractly laid out the tensions of the film — inner conflict, interpersonal conflict, and inter-community conflict — while introducing the key players and their roles in those conflicts.

“Before putting pen to pixel, we spent a good chunk of time breaking the film’s themes down into a 60-second microcosm of the graphic novels.

“We knew we wanted the piece to feel fresh and weird, and it took a lot of experimentation to get there. After trying some traditional 3D approaches and discovering that it felt too ‘correct’, we opted for a looser, more physics-defying approach to depth and perspective.

“Ultimately, we aimed to create something that was more representative of the quirky surreality of Hilda’s world.”
 

 
Client: Silvergate Media, Mercury Filmworks

Title animation: Giant Ant
Executive Creative Director: Jay Grandin
Executive Producer: Teresa Toews
Producer: Melissa Buisán
Creative Direction: Jay Grandin, Eric Pautz
Concept Development: Jay Grandin, Eric Pautz, Conor Whelan
Written Treatment: Jay Grandin
Art Direction: Eric Pautz
Storyboard: Eric Pautz, Conor Whelan
Illustration: Eric Pautz, Hugo Baurens
Animation Direction: Conor Whelan
Cel Animation: Sitji Chou, Esther Cheung, Diego Maclean, Johannes Fast, Conor Whelan
Additional Cleanup: Hugo Baurens, Fabio Valesini, Diego Maclean, Michelle Cheng
2D Animation/Compositing: Conor Whelan, Eric Pautz, Diego Maclean

Music: Ryan Carlson