Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold

Titles & Interstitials for Netflix
The Center Will Not Hold is personal profile of the life and time of influential writer Joan Didion. The visual language for the documentary’s opening and graphic sequences was created in close collaboration with the film’s director and nephew of Joan Didion, Griffin Dunne, and aimed to evoke memories of the eras Didion covered.

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what we did

We started with just a yellow legal pad, and worked with Griffin Dunne to create graphics that help tell an incredibly human story. The frustration in searching for connections between past events was captured through close-up shots of furious scribbling, revealed to make up a web of chaos. Archival photos allowed us to capture a moment in time, and as Creative Director Alan Williams put it, “Create an album in her mind.” Watch the interview with Alan Williams and Griffin Dunne below.

 
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credits

  • creative director: alan williams

  • producer: tess sitzmann

  • designer: ana cezeta

  • additional designs: aaron maurer, max strizich, isabell hacker, sunny yazdani

  • animators: max strizich, chris colby

  • editors: rachel ambelang, luca campanale

  • cinematographers: aaron maurer, isabell hacker

  • head of production: aleen kim

  • executive producer: jon hassell