Use motion to encourage the reading of Jekyll and Hyde
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Have you read The Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde?
We love a story of good versus evil as is shown in the popularity of the Marvel and DC Universes. We may also know the dualistic tales of good and evil living within one person from the many existing adaptations of Jekyll and Hyde, or even within popular culture such as The Incredible Hulk and Fight Club. However, have you actually read Robert Louis Stevenson's Victorian story of the plight of Dr Jekyll and his sinister alter ego Mr Hyde?
This motion graphic challenges the decreasing exposure to iconic texts as people choose to consume more immediate forms of entertainment, through an audio visual storytelling version of a book cover. As a result of exploring themes of the book such as duality, transformation, turmoil and Victorian Britain along with tension building techniques, the idea to base the motion piece on a ticking clock was developed.
Unlike a trailer for a movie where the plot and characters are revealed beforehand, close crops of anonymous people and items leaves breadcrumbs for the audience to find out more. Photorealistic images and hand written style type produced in a sepia tone reminiscent of the time places you in in the scene of Victorian Britain, while the colourful light leaks and more modern scrolling type provide a binary opposition - much like in the novel.
Since the idea stemmed from a clock, sound was important in building tension. The volume of this had to be raised though the piece and not just a stagnant ticking and when exploring musical options, Mozart's Requiem In D Minor ebbs and flows in the way that was needed.
In order to recreate chaos reminiscent within Jekyll and Hyde, the music was reversed and altered to play alongside the original track, with the sounds of heavy breathing and grandfather clock chiming to a cacophonous climax before settling again to the finale of the piece - a quote on Hyde's evil nature.
Watch the full piece below!