From the creator:
AMC came to Creative Mammals to create an innovative and attention-grabbing conceptual promo for The Walking Dead: Season 11, Part 2. The network's goal for this cross-platform promo was to ignite curiosity for the middle block of the series finale without revealing too much of its storyline. We would be responsible for translating this excitement and anticipation into 60, 30, and 15-second motion graphics animations.
The Walking Dead is an established franchise with 11 seasons and a dedicated fanbase — to create something new and unique for this audience, we needed a thorough understanding of what brought us to this point in the show and how this season is different from previous storylines.
That being said, we couldn't rely on a recap or reminder of the place in time as the new season picks up. We also couldn't create suspense by teasing the series's conclusion. Because we wouldn't be able to take a narrative approach, we would need to focus on creating an ominous, atmospheric, and uncertain mood that would visually represent the inner struggle of each character.
As we began to consider the action and movements for each character, we had to keep in mind that we wouldn't be shooting new footage for this piece. Instead, we would need to strategically choose from existing selects and BTS photography to incorporate different poses and action sequences into the animation.
The concepts of duality and indecision served as the foundation for the atmosphere we worked to create in this animated promo. The contrast between light and dark, good and evil, reflects the characters' uncertainties and moral ambiguity as we reach the middle of Season 11. We combined messy, painterly, high-contrast imagery with dramatic shifts between light and dark to create an intense visual dichotomy. The use of staccato animation and sharp transitions removes any sense of emotional fluidity and adds to the overarching tension.
To further the intrigue for our audience, we included brief moments of disintegration and cryptic, bite-sized audio clips from each character. As their voices echo behind the chaos of the motion graphics, we confront the viewers head-on with apprehension. Why is this happening? What does it all mean?