Amazing Planet: Born of Lava

Art Direction ○ Concept ○ 3D Design ○ Animation ○ Motion Graphics

As part of our collaboration with National Geographic, we were asked to create a Main Title Sequence for the show, and a 3D visualisation of the Mariana Trench, which would show the depth and vastness of the subduction zone.

With the show focusing on how heat, fire and lava dramatically form landmass from beneath the sea, we wanted to approach the title in an equally dramatic fashion. The words of the title emerge slowly from the swirling lava, creating solid letters reminiscent of how volcanic islands are created.

Creating the Mariana Trench in 3D was an interesting challenge, in particular to make it feel like an underwater environment as opposed to a mountain range. We achieved this by adding a deep blue hue to the whole feature and by manipulating the light source so that it seems like it has filtered through the water.