The Greatest Title Sequence I've Ever Seen 

I know this video's a bit personal; it's not the sort of thing I normally do. But it seemed like a good story to tell for Christmas.

Here's hoping the guy who moved the compass needle sees this.

I hope whoever had the idea of making that compass spin watches this video

Tom: *talks about how important is the work of those who work behind the camera* The camera guy: *literally walking uphill backwards*

“They bothered to make the compass spin”. This reminds me of a story I heard about the original Lord of the Rings trilogy. The armourers and leatherworkers were so enthusiastic that they engraved the different cultural motifs/insignia on the inner areas of garments/equipment despite knowing it would not be visible on the screen. I think that kind of passion bleeds over into the visible work, and the audience appreciated the authenticity. PS - I only discovered Tom 24 hours ago, and this content is lovely.

Can we just appreciate the dude filming this climbing a steep hill BACKWARDS whilst holding a camera and keeping Tom steady in centre shot

From now on, I'm going to call it "spinning the compass" when someone goes the extra mile

So Tom (and cameraman!) walked that entire distance for a full 18 minutes, did it in one take (even if there were multiple attempts), and arrived at the exact correct point just as the dialogue concluded. That's great work.

Having just watched the "Last" video, I want to say that this is my favorite. On lots of levels. Well done and congratulations.

Hi Tom. The whole thing was a pain in the arse but was also great fun to do. Thank you for noticing the ‘craft’ involved in producing these sequences. I was the designer responsible from No.4 through to 21 years of Alright on the Night and it was always a challenge to produce a new title for each of the shows. I am grateful to Denis Norden and the producer Paul Lewis who supported me even if they didn’t notice the compass!

Final thought...I guess if I were to do it all again the OS map would be replaced with an iPad with google maps, the laser with a transitional glitch, I would have used a drone with a lidar scanner to create a point cloud for the terrain using MR for the scene. Denis would be a digital avatar using body and facial capture generated live from a MoCap studio. If Star Wars can do it then it’s only a matter of time…

I was working in CG in 1996. That title sequence was the subject of coffee break conversations. The thing about VFX is that most of the time we were trying to go unnoticed. We even had a saying, "For 99% of the time, if you can see that we did something its because we did it wrong." It was, and mainly still is, all about selling the shot, making the audience not even think to question what they see. So being able to show-off a bit is a cool gig for an effects artist.

I grew up through the 90s and 00s, I loved the fact that every single person watched that same episode at the exact same time and then going to school the next day and everyone was talking about that particular episode.

"...right after the break" *ad starts* I like that. It's a little nostalgic.

I have never seen a transition as clean as that 7 to the studio floor.

I love how this video made me nostalgic for something I never knew existed.

I love how this guy clearly loves what he does, entertaining and educating people.

More thoughts...When making these sequences I know, that at best, they will only be seen a couple of times, so it’s surprise to discover a young boy would remember them and make a film about one in particular.

The motion graphics director sure picked that hill to die on.

Not a title sequence but James Burke walking along and then pointing to a rocket just as it launched (Connections) was brilliant timing.

This is the EXACT reason why there is a difference between a content creator, and an artist. You, Tom, are an artist.

So the cameraman had to climb up the hill, backwards, filming Tom, deploy a drone, climb down the hill to be out of the shot, and fly the drone for that ending. I feel like thats exactly what Tom was talking about in this video

“They bothered to make the compass spin” should be a phrase that’s used to describe the type of dedication someone puts in for something that arguably isn’t worth it

This was amazing. Tears in my eyes at the End.

Okay, confession time, when Tom mentioned hiding easter eggs in the background, I was kindof expecting an easter egg to be present in maybe the foliage of the hill in the background, or maybe a plane with a flag to fly by or something. Maybe I was actually missing something, or maybe I was just looking for something that wasn't there, but either way, I'm amazed by how easily I was set into a "gotta find the hidden stuff" mindset by just the mention of easter eggs.

Walking for 20 minutes uphill while delivering dialog is a magnificent skill. Props to the camera person too :D Keeping you in frame while walking up hill, mabey even backwards.

When I saw the "advert break incoming" symbol I was half way to the kitchen to make a cup of tea before I stopped myself. Old habits die hard.

Some of Toms videos are genuinely rewatchable like episodes of your favourite TV program

Every once in a while I come back to this video and just smile. I don't know why, I have never seen the show and I am not a Brit, but the video just makes me smile. Cheers to you Tom.

Who else loved the small detail of the spinning black and white bars just before the break

Some people say Tom Scott is still walking to this day.

Adding the “cue marker” before a mid roll Ad kicked it was a great little bit of nostalgia and a great Easter egg ! As soon as I heard the words “Alright on the night” I heard the theme tune in my head, I had no idea it was still going passed the 90s !

"It's also a warning how youtube won't last forever" I'll be honest, i can't imagine life without youtube. So many youtubers make me howl with laughter, amaze me with their musical skills, or damn good video's. I know it won't last forever, but... would it end within our lifetime? I think not to be fair

Tom: 'Let's go for a hike up cockup hill.' Tom's mate: 'Cool let's go' Tom: 'You'll be walking backwards carrying a camera.' Tom's mate: !?!?

I'm more impressed that Tom's walking up a fairly steep hill not even getting out of breath while delivering his monologue. Thanks to working from home I can't get off the sofa without breaking a sweat

"I didn't need to ... but I did." Your joy in these memories and this discussion is obvious and infectious. Even to those of us who had never even heard of the original show.

You kept me for 18 min on a show I've not seen or heard of before. That's how good it was. Thank you for putting this tribute together and expanding my horizons a bit

Tom, we dont care if your videos are personal or not, as long as they're interesting (they always are). So feel free to make any content you like!

Wow. I never expected to be watching an 18 minute video of some stranger walking up a hill talking about the title sequence of a show I'd never heard of, and yet here I am -- and it was worthwhile! I share your appreciation of creative individuals who go above and beyond to make something special. I hope that whoever created that title sequence is still around, and that they get to see this video.

Absolutely love how in most- non location based videos you’re just kinda going for a hike. Makes it feel like I’m hearing facts from a buddy while we go on a walk!

Thanks for your historic recognition of the thousands of people who worked on the title sequences in the 90s I was one of those unsung heroes. Lots of technical skills have been lost. It was nice to see at least one person noticed

You know the year is almost over when tom wears his grey hoodie instead of his red shirt

This brings to mind how Pixar actually rendered a blooper reel for Monster Inc.

I was about 14 minutes in when I realized why he was walking and where he was and it put the biggest smile on my face. What a great payoff!

Hey Tom, I think at 6:27 you can see the transition from CG to film set you said you were looking for! I believe that the red circle with the 7 is CG all the way until around 6:27, then you can see the tip of the 7 suddenly shift and seemingly move to the actual position.

I had a dream the other night where Tom Scott, I can only assume snapped, and uploaded a RU-vid video that began "I'm sitting here in this empty train car, and I'm going to yell profanity at these seagulls outside" and did just that.

Of all the incredible videos you've masterfully produced Tom, I have to say this has been my favourite. You've captured the essence of what makes creativity so rewarding and vindicated artists, creators and compass animators the world over, who've ever wondered "Will anybody appreciate the attention to detail if I go the extra mile?"

This made me cry openly -- which is probably a weird thing to read, but there's a subtle distinction that needs to be made: I could have cried because TV really has passed its peak (and with it, surely, so have I), and I could have cried because Tom did such a lovely job of celebrating everything he celebrates in this video, comme d'habitude. But what made me cry is the realization of something much more specific and, in its way, much more personal: When he was a child, Tom Scott saw that episode and -- by the kind of cosmic chance that these things always have to be -- he JUST. HAPPENED. TO. BE. LOOKING. AT. THAT. COMPASS. And it quite literally changed his entire life. Let that sink in for a moment. Had someone said something at that same instant -- had the family dog walked into the living room and nudged his shoulder, had a car horn blared outside, had someone so much as sneezed -- he would have missed that compass, just as we all did. Instead he saw it. He was looking right at it. And in that one frozen eye-blink of his life, his life was changed. Would he have gone on to be a RU-vidr? Eh, maybe. But would he have gone on to be Tom Scott? Not a chance. Love the tiny moments that happen to you like this. Don't just "savor" and "appreciate" them, the way people tell you to -- that part's so easy as to almost count as just the opposite. No. LOVE those moments. Nurture them like children, trust them like brothers and sisters, listen to them like mothers and fathers, follow them like whispers from the Gods. Because that's exactly what they are.

This is probably the greatest and most genuine tribute to anything I’ve ever seen, and it still matches the rest of your content while honoring the show and being something you personally enjoyed. Love to see it Tim.

Gotta love that heavy on the sax, generic, 90's music that they still play at Chinese buffet near you.....

The compass anecdote reminds me of "Bumping the Lamp", a term in the VFX/Animation industry for "Going above and beyond expectations". It refers to the scene in Roger Rabbit where Roger and Eddie are cuffed, hiding in the Speakeasy's old smuggling room, and one of the characters bumps the overhead lamp. This causes it to swing, meaning every single frame of Roger's animation needed to have the painted shadows move to a unique position relative to the lamp's constantly changing angles, a ridiculously difficult task that technically contributes nothing to the story and most people won't even notice, but was done anyway because -Richard Williams is a madman- the animators were just that dedicated.

As someone who was lucky enough to work through some of those golden years of TV, I salute you Sir. This isn't just personal, you nailed it... Thank you. 👍 (just sorry it took so long to find your work)

I think this might be your best video ever Tom. It has such personal importance while showing the impermanence, as well as the value of the medium you use. Even though it is only just shy of 18 minutes, it feels like an odyssey, even in a landscape of excessively long youtube videos. Thank you very much for this, and here's to 10 years of Tom Scott expedition videos.

The only reason this had two parts is the fact that Tom needed to BREATHE at some point!

The real hero is the guy behind the camera climbing the mountain walking backward.

That I can only 'like' this once is a travesty. So many layers to take inspiration from, not least the great comments. Of all your great videos, this has left me most emotional.

I love it when you can tell someone had fun making something. You can tell that those intros were someone’s passion project, someone’s baby that they slaved over, dedicated to making it good. Humans are great sometimes.

I like to imagine that the cameraman was just some dude trying to enjoy nature, when Tom Scott suddenly approached him and started talking, to which the cameraman carefully stepped backwards while always maintaining eye contact for 20 minutes. Edit: Wow this blew up!

We got _It'll Be All Right On The Night_ televised here in New Zealand when I was growing up, I loved watching them. This is an awesome tribute.

Mother of everything unholy, this video was a blast to watch. As someone being born quite abit later than you (and not being british) I have had no idea this show ever existed to begin with, but the inspiration you've drawn out of it is amazing and the homage you're paying with the ending actually made me shed a tear of joy. After binge-watching your videos for 3 or 4 days now, I am convinced that having subscribed to your channel is atleast 10x more benefiting for me than it is for you, cause you actually made this week so much better for me. Thank you very much and for the love of whatever you may believe in, please keep it coming.

Saying "Merry Christmas, Denis Norden" is like how people who blew a take in a Tarantino film said "Hi, Sally!" to his late editor.

I swear Tom Scott has been saying that youtube won't last forever for forever.

You can hear him get more and more out of breathe as the video goes on. After watching a few of your videos I'm sure that there will always be people willing to go above and beyond even if only a few people will really appreciate it.

Okay, I give up, I apparently can watch Tom talk about anything. I've been avoiding this video for awhile because it didn't sound interesting. Who am I kidding, Tom makes everything sound interesting.

The black and white ticker before the ad break really took me back to sitting in front of an old CRT screen on a Sunday night!

The ad break might have been the best Tom Scott easter egg so far, and I'm not using that statement lightly.

You are right about changes in the world of entertainment. Now with 'drones', there is not much need need for helicopter shorts. Excellent video, thank you.

had to revisit my favorite tom scott video with the recent updates. thank you for being so dedicated to the craft

I had a similar experience back when Pixar was still jaw-dropping amazing and at the end of "A Bug's Life" there was the "blooper reel" with the credits [a la Canonball Run] and I sat there amazed that the entire crew, from writers to animators and editors and actors created _intentional mistakes_ to tack onto the end of the movie to entertain people watching the credits while filing out of the theater. and since these clips required just as much effort n resources to create as the running movie, the producers paid for people to make these mistakes and then paid for the computing power [bleeding edge expensive] to render it all.

Unironically, one of the best videos I’ve seen this year. Thank you Tom and the team for making these high quality education videos. And of course, Merry Christmas :)

I always found Dennis Norden really relaxing to watch and listen to.

Cue dot! Love your work Tom, you painted a very personal picture on how art and attention to details mean something and can change a person. Inspiring.

The god of the single take has returned.

17 Minute Tom Scott?????? LETS GO

I always love it when someone or something in the foreground obscures the on-screen text. Sure, if I knew anything about digital video-making I might think "oh hah, that trick" but seriously every time I see I just really like it. For me, it always adds a nice feeling to the vid.

y'know, it's rather funny to think about the fact that at some point, someone like Tom's gonna see one of his videos in the future and have the same exact thoughts that Tom did seeing that Title and do similar things, and then keep the line going themselves. It really is an unending line when it comes to inspiration isn't it

As an actor, I noticed. You learned your lines rather damn well.

Okay I massively enjoyed the “adverts coming up” marker in the corner and “I’ll tell you after the break” and then actually having adverts there!!!

11:54 I didn't even realize the break was an actual RU-vid integrated ad, I was like "break? What break", then skipped the ad and saw 'part two' "Ooooh..."

I love the ad break in the middle, complete with barbershop barcode thing in the corner

The moment you said "becasue 25 years ago someone bothered to make a compass needle spin" made me tear up a bit. I can't describe why, but I thought I'd share.

I don't quite know why but this made me emotional. I'm too young for TV's golden age, but there's a lot of weird and wonderful internet content that has inspired me in a similar way, and that includes your videos, Tom.

I love the fact that an ad played right after Tom said "as for how that all fell apart? We will tell you after the break."

“They bothered to make a compass spin” should be a household quote tbh, id have it on a shirt or a poster

Loved that black and white flashing "the adverts are coming" thing on the top right. Nice touch. I've not seen one of those in decades.

Gosh, this was so sincere I got choked up at the end. I've never even heard of the show, but Tom's delivery and narration was so engaging, and even touching, I started to feel nostalgic for it. Merry Christmas Tom, and merry Christmas Denis Norden. 💜

This is probably my favourite video on all of youtube.

You see why the sun never set on the British Empire? A populace who not only care enough to ‘make a compass needle move’ but also an audience (including children!) astute enough to notice the big little things so to speak. From Houston, Texas USA. Thank you Tom Scott and Denis Mostyn Norden RIP

[legally-distinct theme tune] I'm glad the subtitles made that clear.

Still can’t imagine Tom as a child..

"I'll tell you after the break" - right before actually getting an ad

I've watched this video multiple times and I got to say that this is one of the best videos ever from this channel and maybe even the entire platform. And it's mostly just about a title sequence for a show I had no knowledge about or connection to as I'm not from the UK. Still the 18-minute long video does not feel boring at any moment. Everything starts by talking about a very obscure subject and in the end it's something much bigger. It's just fantastic.

This video gave me chills! Brilliant work, Tom.

Climbing a hill to talk about television production minutiae: peak Tom Scott ;)

100% perfect ad placement

Not quite sure why. Maybe it’s because I’m getting old but that was actually a bit emotional. Thank you Tom 🥺

Shoutout to the camera person walking backwards up hill the entire time

I'm a motion graphics designer working on a big television network. This video brought tears to my eyes. It's so hard to do things for yourself when you're working around tight deadlines and the will of people who don't know what they're. The spinning compass is hard to pull off. We all want it, most of us need it to just keep getting out of our beds, but we just don't have the time and most of the time, the energy to do so. Knowing it'll be cut out or "someone might not like it" just drains you, if you work with creativity.

I’ve watched this several times now and this vid is just an absolute masterpiece and one of your best, Tom. Thank you for being as much of a nerd as I am.

Thank you for making this. Always brings me joy.