About the Project

"Then I Woke Up" is a series on Amazon Prime Video's YouTube channel that  combines live action footage with animation to visualize  stories told by the stars of Amazon Prime Video's biggest shows. The episode I worked on features interviews with stars of The Expanse Dominique Tipper and Steven Strait. I was tasked with creating the visual style and showcasing the talent's stories through 2D animation.

The biggest challenge and most exciting part about the project was visualizing dream sequences based on real dreams the cast had. I created characters in the likeness of Dominique and Steven, storyboards, and the final animation used in the series. Dominique's dream showed her as a child running away from zombies and Steven's dream depicted a massive tidal wave.

My Role

After listening to the actors describe their dream and deciding which moments should be animated, I chose a color palette and designed the characters and their environments. I created storyboards and collaborated closely with the director, editor, and the brand before finalizing animation.  I aimed to create visuals that matched the tone of Dominique and Steven's nightmares.

I used greens and pinks and incorporated lighting and blur effects to accentuate the surrealist nature of the dreams and design a world that felt a little uneasy with a heightened sense of drama. My goal was to create an immersive experience for the viewer. Using extreme close ups with heavy shadows. drastic transitions, and footage combined with animation I was able to blend the real and imagined in a fun and interesting way. The project was created using Photoshop and AfterEffects.

Impact

The artistic direction and animation I decided to go with contributed to the overall tone of the YouTube series and promoted the upcoming season of The Expanse on Amazon Prime Video. It was a fun way to explore the psyche of the cast members, the limitless potential of animation, to get people interested in the show, and to generate content for multiple platforms including YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram. This project was a successful campaign for Amazon Prime Video and a personal dream come true for an animation dork who loves sci-fi like me.