Technique
CLIENT
Animation Studio
YEAR
We were commissioned by the esteemed Candour Productions to work on all visuals and Title design for their 2 episode documentary about a murder trial in Edinburgh and Leeds. This was a very big and exciting production with a lot of elements and design, developing a strong art direction to all visuals, emphasising the seriousness, sensitivity and depth of the content. Our brief was to receive all visuals – including photos, videos and trial clips – working on Title design, lower thirds and final artwork for the documentary. The most intense and intriguing part of the commission was a deep fake disguise for witnesses during the trial that we had to develop with the help of AI, mixing AI with manual VFX and tracking. The production timeline was several months because the actual live-action production was still taking place.
Tests of text messages appearance on screen and astons Location
One of the biggest challenges was the AI generated deep fake of witnesses. We had to spend a lot of time testing before moving into production and liaising with Candour to find the right kind of disguise. Because of constant movement in several of the trial clips, tracking and rotoscoping took a long time to get right, applying new layers of identity. On top of that, the sensitivity of the content meant several new edits of the 2 episodes because they needed to be approved by judges, lawyers and the family involved. This generated a lot of changes throughout the production and we had to adapt to a flexible process. One of the solutions was a full shot list with every element in both episodes, shared between us and Candour so we could work simultaneously. Furthermore, we designed flexible templates and production manufacturing for the deep fake elements. Testing, implementing and learning new software in the first part of production meant that we had a strong baseline for understanding the complexity of design and animation.
This was a production where assets changed a lot as well as permissions, durations and cuts because of the severeness of the story, but our constant communication with Candour led to a smooth and comprehensible process.
Tests of Title Design
The graphics were developed using After Effects and Illustrator in a more traditional way, we used some motion graphics and tracking to integrate the elements and also some 3D environment to give depth in some of the assets such as parts of the photo sequences.
For the disguise, we started using AI tools and After Effects but soon we had to move to more traditional workflows as the shots were a bit complicated in recognition so we used a combination of manual and automated processes.
During the development of the project, we were asked to go to a more traditional workflow with some of the witnesses and use visual effects workflows instead of an AI face swap but we needed to change the features, which involved a lot of compositing, masking and tracking.
For the deep fake we used a first pass of traditional VFX using After Effects and Mocha Pro and on top of that we did a deep fake with AI tools which we then polished back using After Effects.
Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects, AI tools, Mocha Pro
We are incredibly proud and happy to have been commissioned to work on this powerful production with very strong content. Candour gave us the reins to play around with AI, deep fake and new techniques and we love the final look of the documentary.
Animation Director: Alixe Lobato
Producer: Josephine Amalie von Bülow
Animators: Hanna Vernon, Alixe Lobato
Colour grading: Nadia Khairat Gómez
