Recreating the LOST Title Sequence in After Effects CS4

I'm a huge LOST fan. And if you're like me then you've probably recreated a popular movie or TV show intro sequence and modified it to suit your audience...perhaps for a fun work, birthday, or wedding video. I was unable to find a tutorial on how to recreate the LOST intro sequence, so I thought I'd create one for anyone else out there who might be interested.


Background
The opening title was created by Co-Creator/Executive Producer J.J. Abrams on an Apple laptop using After Effects during the filming of the pilot episode (according to the producer’s commentary on the Season 1 DVD extras).


What you'll need
After Effects CS4 (untested in other versions - leave a comment)


Prep Work
Get these things taken care of first and once you're in After Effects you will have everything you need to complete your own title sequence.

1. Download and Install "Futura Medium" - Download | How to Install a Font
2. Capture sound (or search for it on Google) - How to Capture Sound | Where to capture the sound from


Step by Step Guide
1. Start up After Effects and create a New Project

2. Create a New Composition with the following settings

Width: 720px
Height: 486px
Pixel Aspect Ratio D1/DV NTSC (0.91)
Frame Rate: 29.97
Resolution: Full
Start Timecode: 0;00;00;00
Duration: 0;00;14;00

3. Create the Text

a) Create a Text Layer

i) Enter your text: LOST
ii) Highlight the text
iii) In the Character Tab set the following properties

Font: Futura Md BT

Font Style: Medium

Fill Color: White

Stroke Color: Transparent

Size: 192px (Why so big you ask? The bigger the font size, the smoother the O & S shadowing looks when zoomed in close on them)

Leading: Auto

Vertically Scale: 100%

Horizontally Scale: 95%

b) adjust tracking between each pair of letters

i) Highlight the L & O and in the Character Tab set Tracking = 200

ii) Highlight the O & S and in the Character Tab set Tracking = 250

iii) Highlight the S & T and in the Character Tab set Tracking = 300

c) Center the text in the middle of your composition Set [Text Layer\Transform\Position] = 40 310

d) Hide your text layer

e) Create a New White Solid Layer

f) Mark the White Solid Layer as a 3D Layer

g) Apply the Shatter Effect to your Solid Layer (search for Shatter in
Effects & Presets, then drag "Shatter" onto your Solid Layer)

h) Set Shatter Effect properties

i) Change [White Solid 1/Shatter/View] to "Rendered"

ii) Change [White Solid 1/Shatter/Shape/Pattern] to "Custom"

iii) Change [White Solid 1/Shatter/Shape/Custom Shatter Map] to LOST (Your Text Layer)

iv) Change [White Solid 1/Shatter/Shape/Extrusion Depth] to 0.50

v) Change [White Solid 1/Shatter/Force 1/Strength] to 0 (prevents shatter effect)

vi) Change [White Solid 1/Shatter/Force2/Strength] to 0 (prevents shatter effect)

vii) Change [White Solid 1/Shatter/Physics/Gravity] to 0 (prevents shatter effect)

4. Add Movement to the Text

a) Set [White Solid 1/Shatter/Camera Position/X Rotation] = 0x -25.0

b) At 0;00;01;06 set [White Solid 1/Shatter/Camera Position/Y Rotation] = 0x +50.0, create keyframe

c) At 0;00;01;06 set [White Solid 1/Shatter/Camera Position/Z Rotation] = 0x +25.0, create keyframe

d) At 0;00;01;06 set [White Solid 1/Shatter/Camera Position/Z Position] = 4.00, create keyframe

e) At 0;00;08;22 set [White Solid 1/Shatter/Camera Position/X,Y Position] = 360.0, 243.0, create keyframe & toggle easy ease (Press F9)

f) At 0;00;13;00 set [White Solid 1/Shatter/Camera Position/Y Rotation] = 0x +10.0

g) At 0;00;13;00 set [White Solid 1/Shatter/Camera Position/Z Rotation] = 0x -55.0

h) At 0;00;13;00 set [White Solid 1/Shatter/Camera Position/X,Y Rotation] = 410.0, 200.0

i) At 0;00;13;00 set [White Solid 1/Shatter/Camera Position/Z Position] = -0.06

5. Apply Lighting to the Text

a) Set [White Solid 1/Shatter/Lighting/Light Position] = 63.0, 628.0

b) Set [White Solid 1/Shatter/Lighting/Ambient Light] = 0

6. Fade the text in at the beginning

a) At 0;00;01;00 set [White Solid 1/Transform/Opacity] = 0%, create keyframe

b) At 0;00;01;14 set [White Solid 1/Transform/Opacity] = 100%

7. Create blurriness with Depth of Field and Gaussian Blur

a) Create a Camera Layer

b) Set [Camera 1/Camera Options/Depth of Field] = On

c) At 0;00;08;00 set [Camera 1/Camera Options/Focus Distance] = 200, create keyframe

d) At 0;00;10;00 set [Camera 1/Camera Options/Focus Distance] to 300

e) At 0;00;11;00 set [Camera 1/Camera Options/Focus Distance] to 200

f) Add a Gaussian Blur effect to the Solid White Layer

i) At 0;00;01;07 set [White Solid 1/Effects/Gaussian Blur/Blurriness] = 15.0, create a keyframe

ii) At 0;00;09;00 set [White Solid 1/Effects/Gaussian Blur/Blurriness] = 0.0

8. Add Sound

a) Import your sound into the Project

b) Drag sound from project into your Composition

c) Hint: Press . on the keypad to get an audio only preview

9. That's it, render and you're done.



Comparison
Actual Intro: View
Our Finished Product: View

Things to try
Try changing the text. (make the font size smaller so that all text fits inside of the comp viewing area, otherwise you will get text that is cut off). If you need it to be larger than the comp window for whatever reason without getting cut off, try creating the text in Photoshop or Illustrator and then import it into your project. Simply follow the same steps, just replace the Text Layer with your PSD or AI file layer.


I hope you found this helpful.  This is only one of many ways to accomplish the same task, so please leave a comment and let me know if there is a better way to do something, if I haven't clearly explained something, or if you have any other comments.  Now maybe a recreation of the Room 23 video is in order...