Airside was commissioned to make the opening and closing title sequences for Anthony Minghella's screen adaptation of Alexander McCall Smith's series of books, The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency. The film is based in Botswana so the titles needed to reference the location, as well as depicting the story itself.
We created the hand-made look of the illustrations by doing precisely that - hand painting pieces of wood. The texture of painted wood is used as a background to the animation. It references hand-made shop signs often seen in Botswana. The colour palette is derived from bright African textiles. Key scenes and characters from the film are portrayed as we follow a journey from one title card to the next.
