Digital Kitchen has again collaborated with showrunner Chris Brancato–this time to produce the main title sequence for MGM+’s new crime thriller series, Hotel Cocaine. Digital Kitchen earlier teamed on Emmy-winning (2020) and Emmy-nominated (2016) main title design sequences for Brancato-produced series Godfather of Harlem (Epix) and Narcos (Netflix), respectively.
Set against the pulsating backdrop of Miami’s cocaine boom in the late 1970s and early ‘80s, Hotel Cocaine tells the compelling story of Roman Compte (Danny Pino), a Cuban exile and the general manager of the Mutiny Hotel. This establishment was not merely a hotel but the epicenter of Miami’s cocaine trade, attracting a diverse crowd from Florida’s elite businessmen and politicians to international narco traffickers and figures from the CIA and FBI. Rounding out the cast is an ensemble featuring Michael Chiklis, Mark Feuerstein, Yul Vazquez, and more.
Digital Kitchen’s main title sequence, setting the introduction of Hotel Cocaine to audiences, is a visual and auditory journey that evokes the evolving landscape of late ‘70s Miami, a city on the cusp of a seismic shift in culture, fortune, and crime. The design studio’s creative team aimed to encapsulate a historical juncture between Cuba and the USA, employing archival images from key moments preceding 1978. This artful juxtaposition serves to capture the divergent realities and immerse the audience in the era’s ambiance, characterized by an amalgamation of drugs, greed, politics, crime, luxury, money, death, and perpetual partying.
“Our creative goal with the title sequence was to transition from the whimsical and innocent to an unstoppable crescendo, mirroring the cocaine experience,” explained Mason Nicoll, executive creative director at Digital Kitchen. “The typographic treatment, reminiscent of the era, is infused with the edit’s frenzy, incorporating repetition and a sense of unbridled chaos to harmonize with the overarching emotional tone, all brought together with a vibrant theme created by Swizz Beatz.”
The Digital Kitchen team sought to evoke the feel of a Florida tourism advertisement from the late ‘70s while delivering on the central premise that “every pleasure has a price.” This involved leaning into the “hardboiled” aesthetic of the American New Wave in filmmaking, coupled with the excess and lifestyle of the “Me Decade.” A significant challenge was sourcing the right footage, requiring countless hours of trawling through stock and old news footage to find perfect clips to craft a 90-second sequence.
The technical challenges were also considerable. The Digital Kitchen team created a digital pipeline to enhance and correct the stock footage, much of which was only available at SD resolution. This necessitated extensive upscaling and degradation to ensure a consistent look across 40+ shots.
CreditsProduction/Creative/Design Digital Kitchen Mason Nicoll, executive creative director, editor; Peter Pak, art director; Ana Criado, designer; Rachel Brickel, designer/photographer; Jodi Tripi, stock researcher; Matthew Lynch, sr. producer; Ally Malloy, head of experiences. Main Title Theme Music Swizz Beatz
NHS England, M&C Saatchi UK, Director Tom Tagholm Team On PSA Highlighting The Overlooked Signs Of A Stroke
National Health Service (NHS) England has unveiled a multichannel campaign, “Act FAST,” to raise awareness of the individual signs of a stroke and get people to call 999 as soon as they suspect they may be experiencing any one symptom. The push, which is part of the ongoing “Help Us, Help You” campaign, was developed in partnership with M&C Saatchi UK.
The campaign depicts everyday situations where everything might seem relatively normal, but where there’s the sign of someone experiencing a stroke.
A key component of the campaign is this :30--directed by Tom Tagholm of Various Films--which sets up the idea that initially, a stroke might not seem like much, highlighting key symptoms: from struggling to use a paint roller, to not being able to smile when watching TV, to slurring your speech when reading a story to your grandchild. The PSA emphasizes that time is critical, ending with the line: “Face or arm or speech, at the first sign, it’s time to call 999.”
Jo Bacon, Group CEO, M&C Saatchi UK, said, “We want to ensure people take action on the first symptom, rather than waiting for more conclusive signs. To help them understand that even when everything seems normal, something serious might be happening.”
Matt Lee, executive creative director, M&C Saatchi UK, commented: “This is important work. We wanted to explore that precise moment when your world shifts, quietly yet powerfully, off its axis during a stroke. We highlight how a tiny external moment can actually be seismic—an extraordinary gear change, framed in a really ordinary way.”
Director Tagholm shared, “My Dad suffered a stroke a few years ago and was saved from the worst by acting quickly, and by the work of the NHS. So there’s... Read More