Gonna have to ‘fess that I haven’t read or seen any of this series, but judging by this pretty special title sequence, I might just have to start.
From Creativity Online:
The opening sequence for David Fincher’s version of Stieg Larsson’s “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,” created by Venice, Calif.-based Blur Studio is a mix of live animation with abstract imagery and visual metaphor, all set to the haunting sound of Karen O and Trent Reznor’s cover of “Immigrant Song.”
Conceptualized by Blur CD Tim Miller and Fincher, the brief was to simply make a title sequence that dashed all expectations of what any opening credits should look like. The story of the trilogy is told in the two-and-a-half minute sequence, through imagery from the books, such as a tattoo, a pressed flower, a wasp and things bursting into flame. The sequence was shot through 26 different vignettes, each telling a separate story, which were then shuffled and played out in a non-linear way.
Built in CG with a multitude of different angles, the sequence also uses scans of the actors in the movie. Finally, black ooze was placed into every scene, unifying the sequence.