LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA/OPENS BRIGHTLY

A movie without an opening title sequence would be a sorry sight. For Cholera, London’s VooDooDog supplied the colour.

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The story is simple, if tragic: two lovers are separated until their dying days.

What kind of opening sequence does that call for?

Actually, it was the location – Carteghena, Columbia – as much as the plot that determined the style.

VooDooDog’s Paul Donnellon, who created the sequence, explains: "The idea was to give a feeling of the colors and atmosphere of South America for the audience.

Cue flowers. Indeed, a whole forest of flowers, bright, bright exptoc. jungle flowers, not merely staring youi in the eye but constantly emerging, to give the feel of a moving oil painting.,/p>

Easy enough to say. But how do you actually do it?

With considerable difficulty, it seems. as each frame of the beautifully rendered flowers had to move in a different way, rather than some mechanical animation.

To achieve the luscious effect, the team studied time-lapse footage and went for painting-like foliage with an accurate moving feel.

Even then, it required half a dozen animators to get the job done.

The results are on www.voodoodog.com