We were commissioned to create the opening credit titles for Zelda Williams' "Lisa Frankenstein". The brief was to animate the lonely Victorian backstory of the hero character "Creature" before his afterlife and zombie resurrection. What might his existence have been like, and how did he end up in the sad, abandoned cemetery that the film's heroine, Lisa, would find him in?
The things we learned about him were that he was a musician with a love of poetry. He loved a girl but had his heart broken and after that his daily life would eventually wear him down.
In keeping with the Victorian era in which he once lived, the sequence was inspired by the shadow puppets of that age. We incorporated the credits into the shadow puppet sets, and all transitions occurred seamlessly, mirroring the fluidity of a shadow puppet play. The animation of secondary characters provided a sense of amusement, as they met rather bizarre fates without the main character noticing, consumed as he was by his outsider status and emotional state.
Credits:
Creative & Animation Director: Marc Moynihan
Creative Executive Producers: Ree Treweek & Nina Pfeiffer
Creative Executive Producers: Ree Treweek & Nina Pfeiffer
Storyboards:
Marc Moynihan
Animatic:
Christiaan Venter
Edwin de Swardt
Edwin de Swardt
Design:
Marc Moynihan (Lead)
Monique Malan (Design Assistant)
Kleanthi Tselentis (Design Assistant)
Keiare Reddy (Design Assistant)
Monique Malan (Design Assistant)
Kleanthi Tselentis (Design Assistant)
Keiare Reddy (Design Assistant)
Animation:
Marc Moynihan (Key Poses)
Charl Thorn (Lead)
Monique Malan (Clean up artist)
Charl Thorn (Lead)
Monique Malan (Clean up artist)
Compositors:
Christian Venter (Lead)
Janine van Schoor (Assisting)
Marc Moynihan (Assisting)
Janine van Schoor (Assisting)
Marc Moynihan (Assisting)