Big Train DVD Menu's

We were commissioned by Talkback to do the DVD of Big Train. This was a 2 disc release, including Series 1 and Series 2 as well as a raft of extras. The design department were briefed by the writers of the show, Graham Linehan and Arthur Mathews. The brief was simple, yet extremely difficult - to emulate the surreal aspect of the show within the menu design.

 

We came up with 3 different ideas, but the most popular by far was recreating characters and sketches from the show as 1:72 scale models and re-locating them within two 1:72 scale model railway sets - the Bourne countryside for disc 1 and the Croydon Tramway System for disc 2.

 

The design department spent 2 weeks sourcing the models and painting / adapting the tiny figures to resemble Big Train characters. They crewed up for a one day studio shoot, set up all the models and shot all the material for the menus on Super 16mm, including 'Train Cam' and 'Heli Cam' shots.

 

The footage was TK'd in Spirit at Framestore, and then all the menus were created in Inferno. Continuing the model theme, the menu options were made to look like decals (stickers) and plastic kits. Helicopter shadows, explosions, fire and lasers were all added in Inferno.