Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Title Design

Our team collaborated deeply with Marvel Studios on Black Panther, conceptualizing all of Wakanda’s technology and designing the main on end title sequence. Our partnership on Black Panther lasted 2 years, with our contributions becoming helping to extend and evolve the story of Wakanda in the world since Avengers: Endgame. It was this history of collaboration that sparked our collaboration on Black Panther: Wakanda Forever for both the technology design and the creation of the main on end title sequence.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever revolves around grief, mourning and healing. Throughout the film, the characters are dealing with changes to Wakanda. The film is steeped in loss and acceptance, and we needed to acknowledge that. It became the lens with which we explored title sequence concepts. A bright, energetic sequence celebrated the hope at the end of the first film, but Black Panther: Wakanda Forever needed to strike a different note. This title sequence would be a period that allowed the audience to reflect on the film and process their emotions, just as the characters in the film had. With this in mind, we began crafting our concepts.

The last scene of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever shows Shuri burning her funeral clothing, something she has put off doing throughout the film. The burning of the cloth symbolizes the acceptance and passing of the sadness that the characters feel, so this moment is extremely cathartic. The emotion of this scene immediately struck our creative team. Our Chief Creative Director, Doug Appleton, first proposed the idea of bringing the audience into this ritual with Shuri.

First, our team shot a proof of concept and put together a short edit of this title sequence to capture the mood, tone, potential pacing and visual style. This was filmed by our Art Director and Cinematographer, Christian Haberkern.

When the team at Marvel Studios was presented with this proof of concept edit, they immediately loved it and included it in their friends & family screening of the film. Even with just a short animatic, the audience loved it and made comments on how fitting it was for the film.

With this title sequence now sitting in the middle of two imperative scenes of the film, Autumn Durald Arkapaw, Director of Photography on Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Loki, put together a special camera and lens package for us through Panavision tailored specifically for this title sequence. To film the title sequence, we used a Panavised Sony Venice 2 camera with Panavision Auto Panatar Super Speed Anamorphic Lens.

After receiving this incredible camera and lens package, Christian and our Creative Director, Greg Herman, went on a second shoot for the title sequence.

Since Shuri’s funeral clothing is the main focus of this title sequence, we wanted the cloth we used to be as close to her costume as possible. The costume department at Marvel Studios was gracious enough to send us the actual wardrobe worn by Letitia Wright during the ritual of mourning. We studied the fabric, its weight, how it feels and flows.

Because our team was using real flames instead of digitally imposed fire, we were working with an uncontrollable element. Fire is unpredictable and you can’t tell it what to do. With this in mind, we began inventing ways to control the flames so they burned the way we wanted.

The music was another big element of this title sequence. While crafting this sequence, Marvel Studios informed us that the titles would be overplayed with Rihanna’s new song, “Lift Me Up”. We worked early on with a temp version of this track, but were excited to hear that Rihanna would be providing vocals for the final version of the song. This emotional, tender song offered the perfect beats and timing for us to pair this sequence with. When Rihanna sings “lift me up”, it was timed perfectly so Ryan Coogler’s name would appear on the beat. Along with this, the first time she sings “burning”, the flames begin to ignite on the cloth.

We often talk about the marriage of a film to the title sequence we create and we always try to make something that feels like it couldn’t exist without the film it was made for. After viewing early cuts of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, there was definitely an energy in our studio that this title sequence was born out of. It reflects how the audience feels and ties with the themes of the film. People will feel everything the characters have felt. This title sequence is about being present and letting yourself feel those emotions.

Our team also designed the Chadwick Boseman themed Marvel Studios logo animation that precedes the film. We crafted this animation after Chadwick Boseman’s passing to play before Black Panther on Disney+ in 2020. For this film, we changed some of the clips and concept work to update it for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

As a final wrap on this project, the incredible team at Marvel Studios sent us a signed Black Panther: Wakanda Forever poster, celebrating this 2 year long collaboration to bring each and every element of Wakanda to life!