DUNCAN ELMS - CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Basketball’s biggest stage deserves a grand entrance. Working with ESPN, we built a homage to NBA history, travelling inside the Larry O’Brien trophy and out into a pantheon of the game’s greatest moments.

A different opener ran every night of the series, each with its own theme but built from the same beats. Every game had its own ‘Bullet Time’, freezing an iconic play and orbiting the camera through the moment, and its own ‘Game of Gods’, recreating historic plays from different eras on a single court for the ultimate matchup.

The challenge was the archive. Decades of footage in wildly different formats, curated to each night’s theme and combined so every opener felt like one piece.

For the main title sequence to Netflix’s ‘The Dinosaurs’ we leaned into monumental scale, merging apex predators into the landscape so they read as part of the geology itself.

What first looks like a mountain crag or a valley floor resolves into the spine and silhouette of a giant. They didn’t just inhabit the planet, they defined it.

Opening Title Sequence for the Camp Mograph Conference Australia.

Given an open brief, I put together a team of some of the worlds best motion designers and we all collaborated to craft this ode to Motion, Creativity and Nature.

Where football meets the Grid. We teamed up with ESPN to bring some Tron: Ares energy into Monday Night Football, then took it to the US Grand Prix with a crossover promo for F1.

The aim of this campaign for ‘Simply’ was to seamlessly blend live action and cg to tell the story of the simplicity and beauty in nature. To complement the theme of simplicity in nature, we used an ikebana-style design for the product shots.

Global rebrand campaign for Nissan, a first update in 20 years. We created 2d & 3d logos, End Mnemonics, a launch film, and individual logo ‘expressions’.

The logo was revealed through a film illustrating the dawn of a new day for Nissan. The film introduced a system that allows for contextual mnemonic expressions - the logo can be made from Cherry Blossoms in spring or in winter can be expressed through snowflakes.

A unique six-part PBS documentary series about our futures and how we can reimagine them. It was refreshing to work on a series that showcases so many people making strides in their fields to create a brighter future for us all.

Title Sequence for 'All The Light We Cannot See', the miniseries based on Anthony Doerr's Pulitzer Prize-winning bestseller on Netflix. The story surrounds a blind girl in a small French town in ww2 invaded by the Nazi's. The sequence studies and reveals the wooden model built to help her visualize the town.

2024 Emmy Award Winner for Outstanding Graphic Design for a Documentary

Working with an incredible team of talented artists from varying aesthetics, we flipped the script on the usual product explainer spots by highlighting all the features of the Google Chromebook, each in their own artistic medium.

A spot for ESPN to build anticipation for the College Football Playoff National Championship.

The gold bracket transforms into the trophy, matchups turn and expand, and gold panels lock into place with the precision of a kinetic machine.

Title sequence for 'Life On Our Planet' on Netflix. The series showcases life's extraordinary journey to conquer, adapt and survive on Earth across billions of years.

Ident for iconic horror studio, Blumhouse. The ident features multiple props and Easter eggs from Blumhouse's extensive catalogue of movies and shows.

Title Sequence for 1883, the prequel to Yellowstone. Created by Taylor Sheridan, the series portrays an era of open spaces and constant dangers. We crafted the Titles using tin-type portraits of the cast and footage we treated to live within the same aesthetic. It was a beautiful medium to work within, bringing to life all the imperfections and organic textures of the photographs.

We created the full Show Graphics Package for 'Quarterback' on Netflix. The series follows Patrick Mahomes, Kirk Cousins and Marcus Mariota, both on and off the field.

A love letter to the golden age of the ’90s summer blockbuster. When Jon Bokenkamp came to us for the titles, the brief was clear: make it feel like a big espionage thriller. Pure escapism.

We leaned into that nostalgia and built an action sequence that mixes show footage, VFX, 2D design and the Alaskan landscape.

Promo for the 2028 LA Olympics, featuring the Black Mamba. This campaign is designed to inspire young athletes to start training now, reminding them that time is running out to prepare for their Olympic dreams.

A campaign that is a tour of a more optimistic tomorrow, inviting people to stroll through a Wonderland of innovation that HPE is a resident of.

We created 3 spots that guide us through these fantastical and innovative dreamscapes.

Main Title work for Tit Mouse and AMC plus's first animated series, Pantheon. As our lives become increasingly digital, are we getting closer to the day when we can upload our consciousness?

We used a tactile, layered design approach that combines vintage illustrations and designs from medicinal, biographical, organic, and art nouveau styles and combines them into a sequence inspired by the Wallpaper in the First Street House. Within the canvas we see glimpses of the Mayfair family tree, subtly revealing names from the lineage of the witches. We also see hints of the different witches, represented via ornate illustrations layered into the designs.

The show runners wanted to do something that stood out from the traditional graphics style of true crime documentaries, so we went with a vintage illustrative look that spoke to the era. Working with a pared back aesthetic with lots of negative space and a minimalist color palette, we showcased iconic imagery relating to Lennon, Mark Chapman and the story surrounding the murder.

'Slay the Dragon' is a documentary film about the use of Gerrymandering in US elections. We created the Main Title and in documentary graphics.

slaythedragonfilm.com/

Title sequence for AMC’s Dark Winds. Spiritual and natural forces together with the earthy textures and colors of the South West were used to create compositions and imagery invoking the themes of the show.

A fantastic brief came into Elastic from Remedy Entertainment for a dark, mysterious thriller with unexplained phenomena. With themes of brutalism, transformation, and contrast.

A terrifying alien force has infiltrated the 'oldest house', the headquarters of a secretive US government agency and the player needs to take back Control.

We focus on the secret rooms and files of the bureau, and the birth and evolution of the alien force named 'the hiss' visualized through practical elements created by Susi Sie.

remedygames.com/games/control/

The topics of explorations on Cosmos Season 2, are vast, exploring and examining natural phenomenon on earth as well as in space. We wanted to create a sequence that paid homage to this by showcasing the wonders of the universe via the diverse range of imagery that can be found within it. To capture this diversity, the Elastic and Cosmos teams worked together with a curated list of international artists with varying aesthetics and techniques. The aim was to create a cohesive set of imagery from various styles that flowed together to create a cinematic journey.

Thanks to the Cosmos team and everyone who contributed work to this project.

A collection of work created for the launch of 'For All Mankind' on Apple TV +. This work helped establish a language for future shows on the platform.

Main Title Sequence for 1923, an epic Western drama, the sequel to 1883, streaming on Paramount+. The show takes the viewer to exciting and diverse settings and subjects, including The West, Africa and WW1, so it was important to create an epic feel, something that complemented 1883 but was also a fresh interpretation of the style and a reflection of the photographic technology of the time.

Product Launch Spot for the Fall/Winter Adidas 'Deerupt' .

Man In The Arena: Tom Brady on ESPN +, was a project two plus years in the making, encapsulating the story of one of the greatest Football players and athletes of all time.

Our design team worked relentlessly to ensure a consistent quality and level of detail across the entire series. Creating over 3,400 different shots touched by bespoke design, animation, editorial montages and visual effects.

The series won a Sports Emmy for outstanding documentary series.

Studio Ident for 343 industries.

This docuseries takes a look at stories of scandal and corruption in business, exposing acts of corporate greed and corruption.

Created with the very capable team at Elastic.tv

Title sequence for Amazon's, 'Lore Season 2'.

A voyeuristic gaze through a smoldering forest used to showcase visual motifs from the show.

Main Title for AMC's 'James Cameron's Story Of Science Fiction'. Created with the talented team at Elastic.tv

The concept was Inspired by the set lighting used for the in show interviews. The series had 6 episodes with the themes, Alien life, Time Travel, Space Exploration, Dark Futures, Intelligent Machines and Monsters. We created compositions that related to these themes and could be combined to tell the Story of Science Fiction.

Following on from our work on 1883 and 1923, this is our title sequence for Lawman: Bass Reeves on Paramount +. The incredible story of the first African American Lawman West of the Mississippi.

Title Sequence for AMC's, 'Eli Roth's History of Horror'.

The sequence is a stylized recreation of famous and iconic horror scenes and imagery.

Product Launch Video for the new Kit Kat Duo, Mocha + Chocolate

Created for the Netflix documentary - Turning Point: 9/11 and the War on Terror

An exercise in minimalism. Director Matt Reeves wanted a Main Title that would compliment the opening of the film and contrast with most Super Hero Movie openings. So we crafted The Batman Main Title using only the ingredients of film grain, light, lens blur and a hint of camera movement.

For the Main on End we used the street lights of Gotham to create a minimalist film noir aesthetic.

A deep dive into the fraudulent methods used by Rick Singer to get the children of rich and famous families into top U.S. universities. As well as the photoshop forgery sequence, we created a number of realistic FBI screens to represent the wire taps they used to prosecute the people involved.

Working at Elastic.tv for Lee Lodge and Chase Simonds, I was the Design Director for this broadcast and live event package. We created a long list of deliverables including screen content for the venue, award nomination packages, show bumpers, and logo animations.

In a year that celebrates the original launch of MTV and it's iconic Moonman, we take the viewer on a journey into a psychedelic liquid landscape that fetishizes and exalts the iconic Moon Man. This is a collection of our best work from the night.

In this spot for Stella and Chewy, we created a dog’s dreamworld. A luscious, colorful and surreal playground for our friend to run free within their imagination.

This video explains how Bitcoin works in 3 minutes. See more of our videos about cryptocurrencies here Cryptocurrency Videos

Updated in September 2014. Original video here - youtube.com/watch?v=SEbCbp1vc9Y

Bitcoin is constantly changing, therefore some of the stats may not be up to date. For more info please see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitcoin.

Highlight reel of the graphics created for the Netflix documentary, Struggle: The Life and Lost Art of Szukalski. Created at RPS and Elastic

'Struggle' is a documentary about the unlikely rediscovery of Stanislav Szukalski, a visionary Polish artist and sculptor, who lost his life’s work during WWII and has since been mainly forgotten. 

The documentary showcases a large number of images and photography, so we constructed a visual mechanic that lived within the world of the artist while helping to drive the narrative. This personal “scrapbook” design style allowed us to display the full breadth of his varied and formidable work, as well as show his own changing circumstances over time.

Promotional video for KPMG, the film highlights three key time periods as examples of KPMG’s influence over the path of history since the start of the company, which dates back to 1870.