The original film’s Title Sequence is just the title presented plainly shortly after the opening scene. There is no animated title sequence. The movie mostly relies upon on its opening scene to set the scene for the theme of the whole movie.

There is an animated sequence for the Studio’s logo but not for the movie’s title itself. As is, the lack of an animated title sequence is acceptable due to the powerful and controversial opening scene.

The title sequence is just the main character and main movie’s name that appears after the opening sequence sort of acts as a response to the violence shown minutes earlier.

The inspiration for the alternative film title sequence is based on a promotional animatic made for the 2024 game “Helldivers 2”. The simple but patriotic and call-to-action-like theme seems fitting for a title sequence for Mat Kilau which frequently attempts to convince the Malay people to not accept colonialism.

The animatic that inspired the alternative film sequence is not overly animated as well so it was chosen so it would be easier to replicate.

The alternative title sequence’s intention is to set the mood for the film and to provide context to the historical setting the movie takes place in without the need for walls of text and using simple visual language.

The animations are made to provide a sense of dread for the might and tyranny of the British Empire and the desperation and frustration of the Malay people as their land is forcefully taken from them and the invaders frequently attempt to upend their culture, religion and any sign of identity that did not fit the Western philosophies and values that they were forced upon the people.

The Silat warriors then appear as a response to the tyrannical British Empire and inspire others to stand and fight against their oppressors.

Pre-production for the project really began sometime around the 15th of March. Choosing the correct Malay film or TV series proved to be more time-consuming than the actual production process. 

The Production process then really began around the 19th of March but came across many hiccups caused by many things that were supposed to be in the project being too complicated to implement.

Post-production and editing really then began in the 21st of March. After all the elements were compiled and checked for copyright usage, it was only a matter of putting them into After Effects to be animated and credits added.

Every image and art used in the Alternative Title Sequence falls under Creative Commons or Public Domain. The picture above is attributed to “Bukhrin” (no changes) while the other images with the Creative Commons copyright are Attributed to the Government of the United Kingdom for the UK flag (no changes), Author Hellerick for the map of Western Malaya (changes include excluding Sumatra and keeping only mainland Malaysia region), and Author Ahmad Ali Karim for the flag of the Sultanate of Johor (no changes). Every other image seen in the Title Sequence is in the Public Domain.

While the work is satisfactory in my own personal opinion, there is a lot I wanted to accomplish especially through the usage of rotoscoping technology for a lot of the Silat moments which I initially wanted to include in the final product. I also wanted to rotoscope animation for the British soldiers seen in the opening title sequence but getting the British costumes and prop guns as well as the actors for that would be frustratingly annoying.

Furthermore, more variety when it comes to visual storytelling through actual animated elements would definitely prove to be more engaging than the still pictures that we zoom in and out of in the final product.

Other than that, I feel I have properly directed the title sequence to the best of my abilities with my own lack of production skills acting as a bottleneck for my full vision of the perfect title sequence.