NBC | Survival Mode


During my internship at MAMMAL, I had the opportunity to create my first ever concept pitch for NBC's new documentary, Survival Mode.


The nine-episode series delves into the disturbing reality of natural disasters across America. Events marked by fear, devastation, and irreversible change. My pitch had to honor the emotional gravity of each story, providing a cohesive visual thread that guides the viewer through the chaos.


Watching the rough cuts, I saw recurring themes of disorientation and the surreal experience of altered landscapes. I decided to pitch a softer approach, utilizing gentle blurs, painterly textures, and slow-motion animation to evoke the dreamlike. My pitch ended up being chosen by the NBC team, setting the narrative for all nine episodes.

Character Maps


To bring each person’s story to life, we used photo frames, locators, and maps to trace their movements and deepen the visual narrative as events unfolded.

Explainers


Each story included moments that called for added visual clarity. Through dotted lines and carefully recreated settings, these graphics provided helpful visual context and guided the viewer through key details.

Trackers


In the series' storm-related stories, we tracked each path of destruction to convey a stronger sense of urgency and clearly illustrate the passage of time throughout the episode.

Process


Ideation is the most important part of any project. Here is the moodboard where my pitch began. I called it “Blurry/Eerie” and used it as inspiration in the creation of my styleframes.

First Iterations


Using the blurry/eerie moodboard as inspiration, I created these styleframes for the pitch focusing on the pilot of the series, Hurricane Ian.

Further Iterations


As we received more specifics on project needs, the styleframes evolved to show characters, locations, and the hurricane.

The Rest was History


When the pilot graphics were approved, we created a system to keep all graphics consistent across episodes. Utilizing After Effects toolkitting methods, we created templates for text, maps, and character images. The result is a consistent graphics package telling the stories of those affected by unimaginable disasters.

Studio ––

MAMMAL



Contributions --

Ideation | Design | Animation | Editing | Compositing | Sound Design