Animated Webisodes + Motion Graphics for NBC'S Dracula Show

NBC’s
Dracula Rising

Fox Sports approached us with a compelling project. After spotting our animation work for NBC online, one of the top producers for the Fox Sports 1 TV show contacted us about a murder mystery. We denied all involvement. Then he explained he needed illustration and animation help for his documentary story on the unsolved murder of former NBA star Lorenzen Wright.

Sketch

To start sketching, all we had to go on was the first, top-secret episode of Dracula, which was to first air in two months, and the scripts of the webisodes that were all written by the show’s creator, Cole Haddon. The rest was up to us.

Concept
Art

NBC sent over some reference material. We then dug in and did our own research on the legend of Vlad the Impaler, and 14th-century Transylvania and Romanian castles. We began sketching the main figures in the scripts, developing the look, feel and mannerisms of the characters.

• STYLE CONCEPTING

• STORYBOARD DEVELOPMENT

• CHARACTER DESIGN

• BACKGROUND DESIGN

• COMPOSITION

• TEXTURE APPLICATION

• ORIGINAL • ILLUSTRATIONS

• MAIN TITLE SEQUENCE

• ANIMATION + MOTION DESIGN

• FINAL EDITING + PRODUCTION

Storyboards

On the Revolution project, we had just one illustrator working on the storyboards. With even tighter deadlines for this go-round, we brought in an additional top-notch artist to help out. Before we started rendering any final art, we finished all five of the storyboard series with over 20 sketches each.

Refine

Needing dozens upon dozens of scenes, we cranked away on the illustrations, refining ideas from the storyboards and bringing the characters to life.

Final
Art

Evolving the techniques we used for the Revolution webisodes, we made the final art come alive with more visual elements like smoke textures and glowing particle effects. We added atmosphere with texture, shot shading and better overall compositions that differed frequently.

Motion
Design

Then it came time to put the final art in motion. We designed and animated the main title sequence, with custom-created type design, dripping blood and falling leaves.

2D-into-3D

In Revolution, we mostly used X and Y but no Z spacing – in effect, we faked it. But with Dracula, we used a lot more Z space, terrain separation and sense blurs, using 3D camera movements for a look with much more depth. By exploring more of the 3D space on 2D surfaces, we achieved the look we were striving for.

This is gorgeous and amazing. Thank you so much. Feedback has been super positive! Love the title sequence idea. And please express my thanks to the whole team for the hard work on this series. Turned out really beautiful (despite the subject manner!).

—–Carole Angelo, NBC Universal

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