Client: Wall to Wall for National Geographic
Jump was commissioned by Wall to Wall to create the opening logo animation and multiple family-tree graphics for their new National Geographic series – ‘Naming The Dead’.
The series consists of 6 x 45 minute episodes, each focusing on a single Jane or John Doe case. The core of the series revolves around the “Passionate Advocates” from the DNA Doe Project (DDP), who are central to solving these cases. Each episode has a strong social context, incorporating a detective layer focused on identity, a scientific layer explaining the genealogy process, and a social history layer.
Lee Jacobs – Senior Art Director at Jump:
“The role of the in-program graphic is to make genealogical sense of the work the DDP undertakes to find the Jane or John Doe – often delving deep into family trees and showing the complex process of elimination required to solve these cases.
The family tree graphics represent the live workings of the DDP, who were shot specifically for the graphics to be integrated, as if filmed through the screen. For flexibility in the edit, our renders were provided with Alpha and inserted in the online.”
The opening title card is an elegant transition between a skull and a face, referencing the tireless work of the DDP – ‘putting skin on the bones’ of the missing, and giving an identity to the lost.
Callum O’Reilly – Senior Designer at Jump:
“I now appreciate what it takes to be a genealogy expert after having to illustrate some of the most complex family trees I’ve ever seen, going back 4 or 5 generations. It was a heart-warming show to work on, knowing that lost relatives were found in the making of the series and re-united with their families. It was a pleasure to work with the team at Wall to Wall too.”