THE ART OF THE START
Opening titles on hit drama sees designer shortlisted for Emmy
Jennifer Aniston might be favourite to pick up a coveted Emmy award for hit TV series The Morning Show but she’s not the only member of the drama’s team hoping for stage success.
Hazel Baird, who grew up in Ayr, has been shortlisted for an Emmy for the work she did designing the show’s colourful opening titles.
She is now one of Hollywood’s most in- demand des ign directors, working for the firm that created the opening sequences for Game of Thrones, The Crown and hit Netflix series The Innocence Files.
She sa i d : “I hones t ly sometimes have to pinch myself because I can’t believe how lucky I am to do the job I do.
“I wasn’t academic at school. The only subject I was good at was art. Someone came round offering advice on what jobs we could do and it was suggested I consider graphic design. At the time, I didn’t know what it was.”
The former Belmont Academy pupil was refused a place to study fine art at the Glasgow School of Art and enrolled in a graphic design degree course at Swindon School of Art and Design in Wiltshire. As a student, she began to love cinema and watching the opening credits for iconic f i lms such as Se7en, starring Brad Pitt, and The Age of Innocence, with Daniel Day-Lewis and Michelle Pfeiffer.
Hazel, 46, said: “There was something about the opening sequence for The Age of Innocence that was just so absolutely beautiful.
“It was designed by Elaine and Saul Bass, who had done the intros for films including Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho.
“As I watched the sequence, I knew then that’s what I wanted to do. Then I saw Se7en and the title sequence just blew my mind.
“Years later, I emailed Kyle Cooper in the hope of working with him. He worked on films including Iron Man and Mission Impossible.
“He invited me to his studios and I ended up working with him on the f ilm Kong: Skull Island.”
Hazel’s graphic design career – with her talent t for motion design as well l as animation and title e design – has seen her r work f rom bases in n London, San Francisco o and Los Angeles, where re she now lives w i th her w i f e N e r id a h
Leembruggen and their pet dog. Her first job was as a designer on the hit Channel 4 show The Big Breakfast, which at the time was being hosted by Johnny Vaughan, Liza Tarbuck and Denise van Outen.
She said: “The show was wonderful ly crazy. It was my job to come up with whatever live graphics were needed, from animations to silly effects. You would be working at the hou s e , ha v i n g breakfast next to one of the guys from
The Monkees.”
Twent y yea r s on , her wor k centred on a fictitious breakfast TV show has seen her receive her
third Emmy nomination. Hazel, who was disappointed the Covid pandemic stopped her returning to Scotland on a planned visit earlier this year, said: “I won my first Emmy in 2013 for my work on the documentar y f i lm World War II From Space for The History Channel.
“Last year, I was nominated again for my work on the opening title of basketball player LeBron James’ documentary Shut Up and Dribble.
“I’m so happy to be nominated again for my work on The Morning Show.
“For any opening title, your job is to tell a story. In this case, Michael Ellenberg, the executive producer, gave us not just the scripts but the first three or four episodes of the show to watch, perhaps a year before it aired. “The show stars Jennifer Aniston, Reece Witherspoon and Steve Carell, who play characters in the world of morning television, giving an inside look at the lives of thee people who help America wakee up.
“ThThe openingi titlestitl telltllththe story t not in the way they are telling the story but in a more symbolic way.
“We came up with the idea of a sphere – gender neutral and not intending to represent either Reece or Jen n i fer ’ s characters in particular.
“We follow this one black sphere as if following the storyline. It was fun playing lots of different scenarios out. Apparently Jennifer loved it and so did Reece.”
Winner s of t he 2020 Emmy Awards will be announced on September 20.
Both Aniston and Carell have been nominated for their lead acting roles on the show.
Hazel and colleague Angus Wall, who is the founder of leading design company Elastic, have been nominated for the Outstanding Main Title Design award for their roles as creative directorsdirectors for the opening sequence.
Hazel is no stranger to award ceremonies. In 2017, she worked as art director and designer at the 89th Academy Awards.
Among other roles, she helped design the broadcast graphics that flashed on screen to show the Oscar nominees for awards ranging from Best Actress to Best Picture.
She said: “In the lead-up to the Oscar ceremony, I would be in meetings with these amazing directors talking about what person was going to be where – and I couldn’t believe I was sitting there.
“It was the year where they got the winner of the Best Picture wrong – but that had nothing to do with me.
“In LA, you get used to famous people being everywhere. I love my job and it will be something special to look back on.”
I couldn’t believe I was there with all these amazing directors