The Projection Booth

Special Report: Digital Kitchen's Titles for Smoke and Spider-Noir

September 25, 2026·38 min
Episode Description from the Publisher

Digital Kitchen's Mason Nicoll and Andrew "AJ" Julien talk with Mike about designing the Emmy-nominated title sequences for Spider-Noir and Smoke. They walk through the studio's pitch process, from log-line-only briefs to full pilot screenings, and how Spider-Noir's period-accurate 1931 noir look came from surrealist photography, Man Ray, Seconds, and a Lady from Shanghai homage they didn't know the show was making until after the fact.They dig into Smoke's objects-as-characters concept, physically burning items in reverse to stand in for Taron Egerton's and Jurnee Smollett's characters, and the different approval chains between a Marvel/Sony/Amazon property and an Apple show built around a pre-selected Thom Yorke needle-drop.Nicoll and Julien also trace their paths into title design, from Digital Kitchen's early work on Six Feet Under to AJ's start in sports graphics, plus war stories from Yellowjackets, Dead Like Me, and a font fight that got Nicoll pulled off a project.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-projection-booth--5513239/support.Become a supporter of The Projection Booth at http://www.patreon.com/projectionbooth

Podzilla Summary coming soon

Sign up to get notified when the full AI-powered summary is ready.

Get Free Summaries →

Free forever for up to 3 podcasts. No credit card required.

Listen to This Episode

Get summaries like this every morning.

Free AI-powered recaps of The Projection Booth and your other favorite podcasts, delivered to your inbox.

Get Free Summaries →

Free forever for up to 3 podcasts. No credit card required.