Now in its sixth year, the SXSW Film Design Awards remain one of the few events in the world highlighting and awarding Excellence in Title Design.

The annual Title Design Screening took place on Sunday, March 15th in the Vimeo Theater and showcased this year’s 23 finalists (which you can see below).

Jurors this year included Prologue's Simon Clowes, Karin Fong, and MK12's Ben Radatz (also a contributor to this site). Both Clowes and Radatz themselves had title sequences in competition this year – Destiny and Semi-Permanent Sydney 2014 – while Fong’s former company Imaginary Forces had Manhattan in the mix. As a result, both Destiny and Semi-Permanent were ineligible for the Jury prize.

As in past years, the scope of submitted work was outstanding, with sequences from television, film, conferences, and video games represented. In fact, 2015 was the first year in which two game title sequences were a part of the competition. Looks like we may have been onto something last year!

Returning finalists include Elastic (2014 winner for True Detective), Alma Mater (2014 Special Jury Recognition for The Lego Movie), Filmograph, and Imaginary Forces. Joining them this year are Mill+, Sarofsky, Prologue, yU+co, Creative Assembly, and Lobo, as well as an exciting range of newcomers and independent designers (like No-Domain, Coat of Arms, Chris Tozer and Marko Anstice, Jerred North, and Maribel Martinez Galindo.)

This was also the first year since 2010 that Art of the Title hasn't attended the SXSW Title Design Awards. We regret that we couldn’t be there to celebrate this amazing artform. Here’s to 2016!

Let's begin by taking a look at the 2015 finalists:

 

22 Jump Street
Designer: Brian Mah
Studio: Alma Mater

 

Alien: Isolation (view article)
Designer: Jon McKellan
Studio: Creative Assembly

  

American Horror Story: Freak Show
Studio: Prologue Films

 

OFFF Mexico 2014
Designer: Héctor Ayuso
Studio: Outro Studio

 

As Above, So Below
Designers: Aaron Becker & Amador Valenzuela
Studio: Filmograph

 

Beyond Tellerrand
Designer: No-Domain & Ana Gale
Studio: No-Domain

 

Brincante
Designers: Diego Coutinho & Fabiana Fukui
Studio: Vetor Zero/Lobo

 

Captain America: The Winter Soldier (view article)
Designers: Erin Sarofsky & David Mack
Studio: Sarofsky

 

Destiny: Mars Opening Sequence
Designer: Simon Clowes & Ilya V. Abulkhanov
Studio: Prologue Films

 

The Fitzroy
Art Directors: Chris Tozer and Marko Anstice

 

Forced Perspective
Designers: Coat of Arms
Studio: Coat of Arms

 

Godzilla
Studio: Prologue Films

 

Halt and Catch Fire (view article)
Designer: Patrick Clair
Studio: Elastic

 

The Leftovers
Designer: Garson Yu
Studio: yU+co.

 

The Man in the High Castle
Designer: Patrick Clair
Studio: Elastic

 

Manhattan (view article)
Designer: Dan Gregoras
Studio: Imaginary Forces

 

Marco Polo (view article)
Designer: Ben Smith & Bryce Wymer
Studio: Mill+

 

Playgrounds Festival
Designer: Bif
Studio: Mill+

 

Semi-Permanent Sydney 2014 (view article)
Studio: MK12

 

Silicon Valley
Designer: Garson Yu
Studio: yU+co.

 

VR: Letters from the Virtual Reality Frontier
Designer: Jerred North
Studio: Cascadium Pictures

 

We Are the Giant (view article)
Designer: Manija Emran
Studio: Mill+

 

Words with Gods
Designer: Maribel Martinez Galindo
Studio: diecinueve36

 

And now the Winners!

Yesterday evening the winners of the Title Design Awards were announced at the SXSW Film Awards.

The 2015 SXSW Excellence in Title Design Award was given to Dan Gregoras and the team at Imaginary Forces for the main title work on WGN America's Manhattan.

Manhattan (view article)

  

A Special Jury Recognition was also given to The Fitzroy, designed by Chris Tozer and Marko Anstice.

Update Saturday, March 21st: The Fitzroy was also the winner of the 2015 SXSW Audience Award for Excellence in Title Design.

The Fitzroy

 

See the full list of 2015 SXSW Audience Award winners here.