Dark Ages

As part of a social media campaign for the launch of “Miracle Workers: Dark Ages”, tbs asked Creative Mammals to produce a series of illustrated animations that would accompany their existing interview footage of Daniel Radcliffe. In these spots, Radcliffe walks the audience through some very *interesting* facts and folklore from the Dark Ages.

Our first challenge with this project was making sure that the illustrations we created felt seamless when combined with the existing interview footage. We needed the art direction to be reflective of the time period, and the animation had to convey more of an edgy, storybook vibe, rather than being modern and fluid. Due to the dark nature of the storylines, we also wanted to create subtle bits of comedy throughout each spot.

Not only were we able to create some super visceral visuals via Adobe Illustrator for this campaign, but we also injected loads of humor into the distinct animations created in After Effects. We followed each storyline at its core, but then took it a step further by embellishing the actions and expanding into the realm of fantasy with the visuals. The final result is a series of cohesive, off-the-cuff animations that bring Radcliffe’s storytelling, and the history of the Dark Ages, to life.