Animated Campaign 3 Opening Title 2022 | It’s Thursday Night (Critical Role Theme) 

After seeing both of the C3 intros, I think we learnt that it will be really difficult to beat M9s animated intro

For those wondering why this doesn’t hit for them, here’s my thoughts as an animator: 1.) The music is not synced correctly. I can’t tell if it’s because of the animation, or if someone messed up when the music starts in the final render. The music being off though makes all the big transitions fall flat, taking away all of audible impact they should have. 2.) Rotoscoping at a low FPS is often worse to the human eye than both live footage and hand drawn animation. This looks like it was done at 12 FPS. Pure rotoscoping like this also takes away many animation principles, such as easing, anticipation, and over-exaggerating. As a result, everything will look really stiff, unless you try to make things look hyper realistic, which requires at least 24 or 30 fps. 3.) Choppy camera movements. The footage they rotoscope is footage with a moving camera. In animation, you can get by with animating at a lower frame rate, but often you still want to keep the camera movements at a high frame rate, otherwise it will make everything look choppy. Think of old school video games on the Nintendo: the characters animations are slow, but the background scrolls at 60 fps, making everything very smooth. Because CR provided footage with a moving camera, the people rotoscoping couldn’t add in their own camera movements, and so the final animation ends up being much more choppy. This is especially noticeable when everyone is at the table. In addition to this, there are times where they could’ve added their own camera movements themselves, but didn’t. The limitation of purely rotoscoping makes the camera feel even more stiff. Adding some camera shake as Orym’s sword flies though the air, or as Sam snowboards would add a lot more movement and liveliness to the action. Adding zooms and slow camera pans to a scene can also make it feel more alive and direct the viewers attention. 4.) This is more of a personal taste, but I really wish they did more with exaggerating the character details. I love the little Travis wolfing out moment, but I wish they went harder and more extreme with those ideas. Taliesin and Liam’s parts are probably my favorite in terms of animation direction. Ashley’s is also just very well animated I think. 5.) Theme. Another personal take. They stuck with a color pallet, but I really wish the pallet incorporated the themes of everyone’s characters to better highlight their personalities. Give Laudna her dark goth girl vibes. Give Taliesin the purple and green and yellow tones of Ashton.

I love how it transitions from Liam/Orym's sword with leaves to Marisha. Seems like a subtle nod to his character's connection to Keyleth.

I feel like they’ve been trying something new with each of the openings theyve done so far. First was indepth realistic cosplays, then it was goofy 80s outfits, then the iconic animated op, and now we’ve had players exploring the new world and at the actual table and lastly, this style that kinda hybrids the players and their characters (even connecting to past campaigns). Each op is trying to be distinctly different, which is neat, but gods doing the powerful and beloved animated one so early really makes it hard to be really in love with the later ones.

We as a community don't talk about Liam's singing enough. I love it I always get chills and it makes me want to restart the whole thing.

Rotoscope is cool, that probably took a while and the result is very artistic.. personally, I really miss seeing the characters in action though, we see the people behind the characters all the time. Campaign 2s intro really set a bar that hasnt been matched yet when it comes to giving the audience a clear and concise look at the movement, mannerisms and emotional competence of these characters that only truly live in the minds of the cast. The main visual we have for them is the info cards that occasionally pop in the bottom left of the stream. What i mean is.. for example, Jesters scene in the intro "your turn to role".. as soon as she flys open that door, with that hopeful, willful, blissfully ignorant face, you just get a grasp of that characters soul, you can already tell how big her heart is and how damn silly she was. Bo catching her hat with that stern but stoic expression.. knott when she hides.. I mean, there is just soo freaking much detail to the characters. When that intro started airing.. it changed CR to me.. I stopped seeing them as just voice actors who play dress up... I started to really see these characters. I had the head cannon to visualize the reactions, the way the walk.. down to the simplest things like the gate of their step. I soo desperately want to see Chetney (travis's characters always blow me out of the water) in action.. how he walks, smiles, how he moves.. FCG, I want to see the mechanisms, the way his wheels turn, how his mouth moves. Laudna and Fearne.. my god, again, really freaking cool characters. I have this image of Laudna, rackety, petite but with an almost floaty elegance to her step... no idea if that is anywhere even close to Marishas vision lol. I know it is insanely selfish of me to say that that is all I want because these characters arent very fleshed out in the world yet, not enough experience for an artist to be able to portray them correctly (aside from travis, he probably knows every single aspect of Chet). I just want it soo badly because until that moment, my mind is just guessing in a hopeful arrogance. All that aside, like I said, this roto is done very well and is insanely stylistic, it really is quite a visual experience.

Even though this style isn't really my thing, I continue to appreciate how different all the intros have been. Keep being weird and experimenting!

I definitely want to hear more of Liam and Travis for any future tracks. They sound fantastic.

It's a very nice intro, but I am still hoping for an animated one like campaign 2. I assume it will happen once everyone has some more concrete character hooks to include in an animation

Initial impressions/things I liked: - The playful energy of Laura coming through in the hexagon hopping - The portrayal of Liam acting out Orym's maneuvers with the designs on the blade - Marisha in classic standing-on-chair position*, then flicking Laudna goo off her fingers - Capturing Travis' energy in general - Taliesin taking a big swing in character as Ashton *One of things that made me smile during EXU Calamity was how much this translated to Marisha trying to crawl under the table at tense/scary moments

Everytime I hear/see a new CR intro, I get so emotional. Hell, even the fan art gets to me, in the best of ways. From being a group of people who voiced characters that I grew up with, and seeing all of them be themselves, and loving each other, to creating and supporting a familial community who supports one another. Seeing Matt and Marisha get married, Laura and Travis having a wonderful super child, and Ashley full timing with the group. Being introduced to CR was one of the greatest things to happen in my life. I love all of you 💜

Rotoscoping is absolutely SUCH a pain to do, so it pains me even more for the artists who had to do it when I say this intro just doesn't do it for me... It's just so choppy and doesn't really seem to have any rhyme or reason for being rotoscoped vs live action or fully animated.

My only real critique is that the animation often doesn't line up properly with the musical beats. Some moments would hit harder if they were timed up a bit sooner or later (example, Matt's book slamming shut right before the final "night." That would have much more impact if it came after the line and cut to black on the last drum sound and the logo came up on the denouement. I don't know music terms, forgive me.)

I, honestly, think I preferred the first one. I would say mainly because if there was going to be an animated intro done, why not do it of the games characters? Since it's just the players, the live action one just seemed better for that. But it is what it is. Not like it's bad or anything.

I really love that each intro for Critical Role has been unique in their own ways. The original intro for campaign 1, the low budget cosplay intro. It felt like a bunch of kids that used their pocket money to be able to buy some props to cosplay as their PCs. The second intro for campaign 1, the high budget cosplay intro. It felt like a bunch of full time cosplayers that have the time, money and resources to be able to create cosplays of their PCs. The original intro for campaign 2, the funky 80s romp intro. It invoked the image of a bunch of friends in the 80s heading over to their friend's place to play D&D and have fun regardless of background. The second intro for campaign 2, the legendary animated intro. It really showed the viewers the world and who the PCs are, giving us hints of their backstories, their adventures and what they could face in the future. The updated second intro for campaign 2, just a more grander version of the animated intro. It added details to the already legendary intro. The Exandria Unlimited intro, shows off these beautiful landscapes and stained glass windows that depict locations and significant events in Exandria. The original intro for campaign 3, the explorers intro. It showed the players and DM exploring this temple, a stand in for the world, dressed as stereotypical 19th-early 20th century explorers' gear. And now the second intro for campaign 3, the rotoscoped intro. It blends the fantastical world with the animation with the real world players by animating over their actions. All of them are unique in their own ways yet still feel distinctly Critical Role. Sure some will be more loved than others (everybody will absolutely love the animated intro and the updated animated intro), but you can't say they are bad. They all do their job and do them well. A lot of work would've had to go into each one, and we must accept that. All that said, I look forward to see this intro more, though I do need to catch back up due to IRL obligations, and I look forward to what they end up making for the next intro, as given their track record, it will be unique and exciting. Edit: fixed a typo that completely changed the meaning of a sentence.

To be honest, I prefer the life action intro... Seeing everyone with the explorer outfits was really charming

Dont get me wrong this is awsome but i still think C2 has the best intro

Not seeing the old one anymore saddens me. I loved the high definition slow-mo.

It's amazing, but nothing will ever top Travis's slo-mo, terrified, hair-flopping reaction to Marisha. My wife and I laughed out loud at that part every single time!

I think the one in the jungle is better I just love how elaborate the sets looked even though it was kind of not a right fit it worked awesome

This is definitely the roughest of the openings, but artistic rotoscoping is WAY outside what CR has done before. It’s very splashy and feels like a bunch of watercolor paintings come to life!

I will miss not seeing real pure chaos at the table, but the colors in this are unbeatable

I love how each player got an aspect of their character represented in this. Werewolf Travis looks so happy!

I just realized on this rewatch (I keep trying to love it… I’m not sure it’s working) there are a BUNCH on nods back to their campaign 1 characters. Travis in the Strongjaw Ale and VM shirts, you can see Liam’s raven tattoo really well, and then when he casts gust it blow’s Marisha’s hair and she smiles, the rock Tal hits is residuum (I think), I probably missed more. I think it’s maybe pointing out how closely C3 is connected to C1? (Though we’re starting to get more nods to C2 now too.)

I dunno about anyone else but Travis in transformation just...Sends me.

Critical Role made the mistake of making the C2 Intro so damn good. This is great, the animation is awesome and the style is cool... It's just hard to compare with actual perfection.

Understanding the difficulty of appeasing a large demographic. I dislike this opening as compared to the previous one. Season two opening was amazing, and I like the live action of the first season 3 opening! Even though it doesn’t really relate to the player characters! If they had made this opening more relatable to the PC’s it would have been better!

I’m mixed on the intro because while it’s very cool and the colors are amazing and all the little details are amazing, I’m still obsessed with the original intro. I feel like we didn’t have it for a long enough time. Also, this song is so good! Still so epic! But, Your Turn to Roll will never be topped. I do still miss that intro and that song. But, new campaign, new song, new intro, and all of them are amazing! Love it all! I look forward to an animated intro of the characters once we get far enough into the series!

I'm gonna miss seeing the *incredible* slo-mo sections of the old intro, but this is fun too!

Audio sync is definitely weird in this version, but that seems like something they’re likely to clean up. I love the animated “fantasy” parts, but I miss the real faces in the table shots.

While I appreciate the artwork and colors. I found that the perspective and camera angels of this made me dizzy. I feel that the previous intro was a lot smoother, and it didn't feel as "rushed." I also think that with the previous intro it better explained "What and Who is Critical Role." If someone was watching this for the first time it doesn't really make sense. I don't hate this but I don't love it either.

I love that theyre getting to be artists and do so much. Thank you to everyone on the CR team for everything you do. it means the world to me.

This is like Take On Me by A-ha made for nerds and I love it. (p.s. thanks for including Dorian, Bertrand, Eshteross and Dusk in it. It's very sweet)

Although I respect the time and effort that has gone into this, this doesn't grab me like the other openings have. The others followed a clear theme and this one doesn't seem to know what it wants to be between the blend of live action players, character traits and abstract colours and shapes.

When i noticed their signatures, it felt like the cast is presenting who they really are, not just their characters.

Very creative and interesting to watch. I think adding a little sound design through out the whole video would improve it a lot such as a clapping sound of some sort when Matt claps his hands in the beginning or a thud when Marisha jumps from her chair and so on.

I'm not big fan of this intro - I don't feel like it sets the mood for the table as well as other past intros, but I also don't watch CR just for the intro so it's fine that it's not up my ally. Just like it's fine if it's not up yours. It doesn't take away from the show itself, even a bit.

Considering the bar set by the M9 intro, the live-action one was better imo. I think they should have waited and commissioned an animated intro like the one for C2, with the characters actually being in it and doing their things, giving them personality. Others have said the same thing, so I'm just adding my agreement to them.

Don’t mind me getting emotional at how happy they all look doing this. They always have so much fun together. It’s wonderful.

You just know Travis was stoked to get a werewolf scene! Great intro as always!

i guess what hooked me in C2's opening title was that you got to see more of how the characters interacted vs how the players looked. we see the players regularly in watching the show and its our collective imagination that builds that world around us but to have a visual identity with each character, between seeing knot run into an alleyway or jester playing with the traveler, it gave us a visual ground to stand on. now in C3 we are seeing the players and the characters act out their roles as if theyre the same and while an argument can be made that they are since it is DND, it still makes it hard for me, a viewer to connect with them on a fantasy level and therefore a personal level. And i understand as VAs you want to be seen more than heard, but to me, and maybe im wrong, idk, but to me, you are AMAZING VAs because you bring life into existence with your voices, you dont NEED to be seen. we love you for everything youve done and brought into the world and shaped the community but after setting the bar so high from C2 opening sequence, its hard to meet it in C3

The retro theme one is still my favorite with Sam in the rainbow suspenders, Matt as the goth kid, and Travis the jock. It was just silly and fun!

Very very cool! I love that each intro has been totally unique & something new. Definitely a favorite of mine!

Soo good 😊 I love that the intro gets changed sometimes and we get to experience new and interesting things, but we can always go back and watch the old ones

I still miss seeing the characters in the animation just like season 2, because we always see who plays in the stream anyways. But this is just amazing and really loved the new opening

I still like the live action one better, but it's not bad to mix things up. Honestly, I wish they'd rotate all of them.

Love you guys, great intro, great as always!!

Of all the CR intros this is definitely one of them. It's got music and everything.

I love the hints of their previous characters blending into their current characters. Laura doing a Jester like skip before the Imogen magic starts closing in. Ashley cutting in with a two handed greatsword before being surrounded by flowers (still feels Yasha-ish, but also... Druid.) Taliesin grabbing Cadueces' crystal before smashing it like a barbarian. Travis using magic to defend himself with magic like Fjord before turning Chetney feral. Sam's is a little weak since he's riding a sword like Yasha did and there is little FCG in there. But then Liam comes in with a background of Caleb Amber as he grabs Orym's sword. And last we have Marisha doing a Beau toughman walk before shooting out Laudna's ichor and weirdness. LOVE IT!!! Edit: @BethWood01 pointed out that there is also a Orym - Keyleth connection with the leaves blowing from Liam to Marisha. and @our Adventuring Party pointed out the cogs in the background of Sam's entrance, just above the mountains. NICE!

It's not that it is bad, but.. i really like the old intro SO MUCH MORE !!

This is like... Better than I could do for sure! But it feels underwhelming after the others.

In terms of C3 intros I prefer the first one, not that this isn’t cool! But, what was cool about the first one was that they could slot the guest into that intro, like they did with Robbie. All they would have to do is get the guest to dress like their in a safari and shoot something simple and voila, their in the intro. An animated intro with all the characters is probably the most ideal intro you can get though, because nothing has yet beaten the C2 animated intro. They might think it’s still too early for that though (C2 animated intro premiered in episode 44)

I have mixed feelings about this one. I absolutely love the concept and the colours however it still feels rough (weird jumps in the animation) and like it needed a bit more time

Very well done! I like the art style a lot and love that they put thier PC physical traits on themselves. - Hector

This is fantastically animated props to whoever worked on it, great work.

Ahhh, I was also hoping for it to be more like the C2 animated version with the characters. 😅 That was the best, you guys. This style is ok but I think you all peaked with the combo of “your turn to roll” and the character animation style. I do love Travis always repping Grog no matter what. ❤

They should have had their animated selves morph into their characters.

This is… weird… The live action one was much more in sync with the song and, although its theme was really generic, it was incredibly well made and impactful. It's not a big deal, but I hope they make another one.

That was... a lot of rotoscoping. I feel like this would have benefitted from being a combination of fully live with animation rather than all animation. 0:52 to 1:05 was particularly uncanny, and it genuinely took me a moment to recognize that as Liam at 1:12. I also found it jarring to see images of other characters in a completely different art style at 1:31. It feels like they were in too much of a hurry to replace their previous opening...

I like how they added flair of each person's character to the intro. Travis having a bit of a werewolf transformation, Marisha having the black dripping from her fingertips, Taliesin swinging his character's hammer. Nice touches that hint at the characters they are playing.

Still doesn’t beat the Your Turn To Roll intro imo. I miss that song…

This was fantastic!! Feels unique and they did a great split of real actors with characters ♡

It's incredible how much this intro grown up to me. It turned to be one of my favorites and really love it now!!! The music is just perfect

This is a big artistic swing and I applaud them so much for that! There are some really cool things in it. I also hope we'll get a character focused intro later on in the campaign, I love those.

So thankful for a shout out to Dorian and Bertrand. These guys really know and love their fanbase. I feel I'm starting to become a full blown Critter. Best wishes from Poland.

breathtaking, the first one was awesome and gave off the questing vibe, this one gives off the roller-coaster vibe that a good combat scenario has. thank you for making us so many awesome memories

As someone that only gets to listen to the podcast version, that was everything I wanted it to be.

D&D beyond 80's action cartoon is still the best, but this is fantastic too! Always great stuff coming from the CR studio.

I’m afraid this one doesn’t quite donut for me. There are some neat ideas in it, to be sure. But what i mostly don’t like is how the music doesn’t sync up anymore. In the live action one, in the verse you could see the cast solo. And in the chorus (which they all sing together) you see them at the table. It works and I like some parts of it. But I hope they keep the live action one as well. Maybe take turns with the intros.

Love the transition from Liam to Marisha! Great way to acknowledge the connection between two of their characters. 😊

I'm not even on C3 yet but this opening has me in tears of joy. It sparks so much emotion. Love it

I appreciate how each opening is like a completely different style and vibe from the previous ones.

Personally for now I like the old one better but this will definitely grow on me I mean it already has so it definitely will even more

this opening song never fails to get me teary-eyed. such an epic blast.

I tell you what, the Oxventurers Guild is my fave, but I'll be danged if this song doesn't slap so hard my twin brother felt it and he hadn't even heard it yet

I'm a big fan of the first version, it connects to the song more. This animated version is beautiful, but I think suffers from an emotional disconnect that happens caused by the uncanny valley of rotoscoping. Looks great! A solid entry, but boy I just really got a kick out of the first version. I'm sure others will find that this version will hit them in a special way too.

Rotoscoping was certainly a unique decision. Idk how I feel about it tbh. It gives some serious uncanny valley vibes for me

While it may not be a lot of people's favorite, I like how they're trying different things and doing things that can be cool in their own way. :) The signatures are a nice touch, and the animation style is neat in a kinda unique way, the subtle player/character details are pretty sweet too. Would love full-on transformations into their characters, but I think it's actually a pretty decent intro. :)

Oh I love this style! I really appreciate what they are doing here very beautiful art and animation

love the song! not sure how I feel about the actual animation, but it'll grow on me!! I know how long rotoscoping takes haha. keep up the good work

I don't know about this one, previous intro and C2 intro were so much better than this. It feels like some early 2000's nickelodeon intro for a kids show xD. Hope they go back to animation or live action in the future!

I actually love this animation style. I love how it puts emphasis on the actual people but still has little hints of their characters. The animation style is very different from the anime or cartoon action style of the mighty nein intro, but this style is very pretty and very smooth in the transitions. The lean toward realistic makes the references to the characters look like they are actually there. For example, the vine going down liam's arm is just as detailed as he his. The shadowing just makes it all come together. Add in the amazing song, and this intro is wonderful. 😊

Delightful, well done guys!!!

i still miss the campaign 2 intro (it was just soo well animated) but this is pretty fun!

At first, I got stoked to see the animated characters. As it stands though, the rotoscoping is neat and the colors are pretty, but I much prefer the live action intro.

Beautifully and brilliantly done.

I love this so much. Great work gang & crew 🥺

I miss the animated C2 intro with the in-game characters featured. I think that's what we all want to see!

Everyone's faces look REALLY uncanny. The rotoscope just makes their faces look like a poor Snapchat filter :/ Hopefully it grows on me!!

I think this is great! It's really beautiful, and everyone involved did a fantastic job!

This is the dopest intro thus far. I have to say every time yall make a new one, it blows the others out of the park. Can't wait to see what the next will look like..

Looks like the audio is off by a couple seconds. Either way, I still like the live action more. The table scenes were fantastic.

Nothing will beat the animated Campaign 2 Mighty Nein intro. That shit was legendary. This is alright though!

It's Beautiful you guys. Well done all around.

I actually really like the opening The rotoscoping combined with the sort of.. choppy feeling is kind of cool. It reminds me of old school claymation and has a cool /art/ filter that reminds me of a version of cell shading. I like that they're diverging from characters to the actual players again, showcasing the people that come to the table and are making all of this possible for us to consume (content). This all reminds me of a very VERY 90s style of art too in a way that makes me sooo happy to see in nostalgia. There's also a very cute video game feeling with the set floating and everybody being super giddy and celebratory. Everybody has a little flair closer to their characters and how they play those characters. I love how the player embodies the character throughout this. It's nice to see a throwback to one of the original cosplay animations but in a fun twist.

The new one was okay but prefer the one they made it fit the song better.

Gotta admit, I much prefer the live action sequence. I'm actually a little disappointed that it's been swapped out already to be honest. The animation and style is nice I suppose, but for me, the fun and mischievousness shown in the live action intro is just brilliant. Ah well, I guess that's two minutes saved now...

The animated C2 intro gave me genuine gooseflesh and tears when they'd show Molly's robes flapping in the breeze over his grave. This... doesn't.

very cool, guys. well done. I like the style.

This is very cool but it's a hard fight to try and improve on "your turn to roll." The song was fucking awesome and seeing the characters animated was always the coolest thing. Plus all the homages to Molly, and the NPC'S, i wish we had something more like it's style