Case Study - Attack of the Zombie Fungus

As one of the few who hasn't played the Last Of Us games of watched the show, I had no idea what I was being asked of when approached by Producers to work on their new show called "Zombie Ant Virus." A documentary about the reality and threat of Cordyceps on ant populations. I can safety say I haven't slept the same since.

Title Sequence

Besides the various animations and maps they asked me to create, they also needed a title sequence. Something creepy with terror vibes. I mocked up a few options for the title sequence including several title treatments. The original title was suppose to be "Zombie Ant Virus," however one of my mockups was a beautiful homage to 50's horror film posters with giant looming text that read "ATTACK OF THE ZOMBIE Fungus!!!!." This poster went over very well but didn't quite fit the feel for the show. But the title stuck and was changed. The Producer loved the Last Of Us font and asked for that to be the final treatment and the rest was up to me to make it spooky. I really liked how it came out. Everything was done in Cinema 4D and After Effects.

Show Animations

I like to start a project by asking the Producers and Show-runners to put together a wish list of all the animations they would love to see and a deadline. I always want them to shoot for the stars and I will be the bad guy who says what can be done within the time frame and pull them back down to Earth. They came-back with a large dream list of animations that included ants getting infected, internal fungi growth, map animations and a title sequence. After a couple of rounds of storyboards and discussions with the experts to make sure we were being as accurate as possible, we landed on what I think are some terrifying shots on the process of the spore attaching itself to the host and taking it over.