The Thing is arguably one of sci-fi’s finest masterpieces, of that there is no doubt. Released in 1982, its creators didn’t have access to even the most modest of modern CG tools that can run on just about everybody’s desktop or laptop computer today. They had to do things practically. For real. In-camera. Amongst those things shot practically is the initial opening title sequence. After initially seeing a ship hurtling towards the earth, the words “THE THING” are burned into the screen. But how exactly was it done? In this video, Tommy and the team at InCamera walk us through a recreation, sticking as closely to the original techniques as possible.
For comparison, here’s the original opening title sequence for The Thing from 1982.
The entire InCamera YouTube channel, as the name suggests, is centred around doing visual effects in-camera rather than on the computer – and they have a video coming soon for the other part of The Thing’s intro sequence showing the Earth – and while it’s a fairly new channel, it’s kicked off with some promising content. In the case of this particular title, we’re walked through the process of how they recreated it, the experiments they performed to test different methods, and how you can adapt the process to create it for yourself at home. Although, they set fire to some plastic bags to recreate that literal burn-on effect from the original sequence. So, if you’re going to give it a go, do it in a well-ventilated area. And, naturally, you do so at your own risk. Even if you don’t have a go at recreating this title in its entirety, the video mentions some very cool in-camera tricks you can try out safely. Without having to set fire to anything!
