Thunderball Title Sequence
My Role
Storyboarding
Underwater filming
via GoPro
Rotoscoping
Motion Design, Animation
Part of the 007 franchise, Thunderball (1965) follows James Bond through a tropical spy thriller as he hunts down stolen nuclear warheads in the Bahamas.
For this project, the brief was to design a modernized title sequence for a
pre-1980's movie from scratch. All visual assets had to be self-produced or sourced directly from the film's original material.
My take on Thunderball's title sequence draws from inspiration the silhouettes and color blocking often found in James Bond movie titles.
The Beginning
Initial Sketches
On paper, I explored 3 distinct visual directions before selecting one to pursue for the title sequence.
Becoming an amateur diver
Creating Visual Assets
Since my plans involved cutting out water ripples and I couldn't use stock assets, I had to get creative.
Luckily, my friend had a GoPro and our university had a pool.
Using a dark cutting mat as a background (for contrast) and a GoPro, I filmed reflected water texture by splashing atop the pool's surface and submerged the board for footage of bubbles.
The Final Stills
Screenshots from the finished video
Still lookin'?
:)
. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁ © Ella Balhoff 2026