Mill+ collaborated with Showtime on "Just Like You," the TV trailer for its new show "Penny Dreadful." Based in Victorian London, the psychosexual horror series weaves together the classic horror origin stories from some of literature's most terrifying characters including Dr. Frankenstein, Dorian Gray and iconic figures from the novel Dracula. Mill+ director Yann Mabille brought the dark and frightening visceral teaser to life by introducing each character while making sure part of each portrait is somewhat present within the next, ultimately bonding the characters together within the same narrative.

Yann explains "I wanted the sequence to be extremely elegant and seamless, so I decided to simulate high speed photography, introducing just enough motion to add life to the iconic portraits while keeping their performances graceful.

"Each portrait was approached with a very composed and graphic visual language, seeking to elevate the actors within their environments. I leaned towards a visual approach close to the great Dutch portrait paintings from the 17th century, which have incredibly rich light and are both staged yet somewhat natural."

The characters are held together along a single thread, which is a constant and fluid camera move. They are revealed one after the other through their own eyes, which become mirrors of the next scene to come, inextricably linking all the actors together.

The Mill's 2D and 3D teams respectively, led by Kyle Cody and Andres Eguiguren spearheaded the VFX with augmented environments and matte painting set extensions. For the final group shot, which was shot on green screen, catacombs were created, adding a sense of claustrophobia and horror to the spot. 3D Lead Andres Eguiguren adds "To seamlessly pull through the eyes, the team overcame camera limitations and rebuilt the actor's faces in CG using scan data captured on set. The eyelashes and internal eye parts were also recreated in detail." The CG was seamlessly blended into the live action plate.

"Just Like You" is a series of immersive portraits showing viewers that no matter what dark creatures hides inside you, there are others "Just Like You."

- The Mill

Date
May, 2014

Role
Lead Compositor

Director
Yann Mabille

Network
Showtime