K-Ville's opening sequence is a 'Made in Louisiana' product

Posted by Dave Walker, TV columnist


Conceived as a virtual NOPD ride-along through the streets of New Orleans, the opening credits sequence for the Fox cop drama "K-Ville" sets the tone for the whole show.

With motion in every frame -- including, yes, the kind of motion by which female tourists obtain beads in the French Quarter -- the sequence is a kinetic overview of life here post-K: Criminals and cops and crumbling shotguns, but also hard work and families and good music and grown-up fun.

Some weeks, the credits, backed as they are by a funky Dr. John track doctored with a sly hip-hop beat, have been the highlight of the hour.

Not this week. "K-Ville" is on leave Monday while the baseball playoffs play out. The series returns with an original episode Oct. 22.

Stir the roux slowly, you gumbo party animals.

Surprising, perhaps, but the "K-Ville" credits are homegrown, the creation of the Baton Rouge company River Road Creative.

A Baton Rouge native and Catholic High School alum who made his way gradually west until working his way into the high-end world of advertising, then motion-graphic design, Richie Adams founded RRC about two years ago.

While in Los Angeles, he'd worked on coming-attractions trailers and/or title sequences for such high-profile projects as "The Last Samurai," "Babel," "Mr. and Mrs. Smith," "Hide and Seek," "Star Trek: Nemesis" and "S.W.A.T."

Around the time of the hurricanes, he decided to move home.

"Louisiana was becoming a serious player on the film landscape," he said, adding that the outpouring of person-to-person support he saw his hometown provide storm victims was head-turning. "On a human level, I said, 'I think it's time to move back home.' "

Adams and his staff total four. Thanks to their talent, his established connections in Hollywood and contemporary computing power, River Road Creative operates on the premise that it can do anything larger coastal production houses can do -- but all while within walking distance of a Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers Caniac Combo. (See for yourself here: www.rrc.la.)

"It all can be done just on a basic souped-up Mac," he said. "Our biggest struggle (has been) convincing studios . . . that the usual Hollywood-caliber work can be obtained in Louisiana."

RRC was one of several companies that pitched for the "K-Ville" job, said Adams, adding that Jonathan Lisco, the series' creator and executive producer, was the foremost advocate for keeping the work local.

"It's almost a bake-off," Adams said. "(Lisco) played a huge role."

Racing toward a mid-September premiere, the two-day credits shoot didn't happen until late August. Clips of stars Anthony Anderson and Cole Hauser from the "K-Ville" pilot were edited into the original footage shot by RRC.

A lot of the credits imagery, which was captured on a combination of film and high-definition digital video, is shot through raindrop-splattered car windows.

"The idea is kind of a day in the life, riding with these guys," Adams said. "Jonathan's biggest concern was that he wanted this to feel like it was authentic, (that it) basically showed what New Orleans was like right now.

"You couldn't ignore the fact that the flood took place. The point was to see where it (happened), and the end shot is where you see the kids playing, and then it's that long shot over the 9th Ward. That's right where the canal broke, right there, one of the biggest points of devastation, and for us it was poignant.

"That was one of the things we sold Jonathan on. (Fox) responded to the point that we were showing actual places in New Orleans where the devastation took place.

"But we wanted to finish with a sense of hope, which is what that last shot is about."