CarlNelsonFranceAdvertising: NatGeo’s Killing Jesus Website Might Be the Greatest Story Ever Scrolled

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

NatGeo’s Killing Jesus Website Might Be the Greatest Story Ever Scrolled

Mullen has created a digital experience of Biblical proportions to support National Geographic Channel's Killing Jesus, a three-hour docudrama premiering March 29, which is Palm Sunday. The show is based on the best-selling book of the same name.

An immensely detailed, immersive website tells the story from three different perspectives: Son of God (the view of Christ and his disciples); Son of Man (the view of the Jewish priests of the time); and Threat to Rome (taking in political/economic implications). Each perspective is represented by a different crown: thorns, religious headdress and Roman laurels. This technique provides users with a panoramic perspective of Jesus's life, allowing them to explore events from every conceivable angle.

"We were looking to tell the story in a way that allowed people to see it from several different vantage points," says Mullen associate creative director Allison Rude. "Our war room on this project resembled the wall from 'A Beautiful Mind' as we pieced together historical fact, religious scripture and custom illustrations."

French artist Bastien Lecouffe Deharme created the impressive artwork, and his hand-drawn contributions grace the site's eight self-contained chapters, which span Christ's story from his birth in a Bethlehem stable through the crucifixion at Calvary. The amount of interactive information and analysis is pretty staggering. Users could lose hours (days?) investigating the various timelines (from three perspectives, no less).

That said, the navigation is intuitive, and all aspects of the presentation (based on my 30-minute spin through the site) seem compelling.

The technical specs are suitable impressive. The site's scrollable panoramas contain more than 3,000 individual images, animated with 14,000 keyframes, along with 185 sound, music and voiceover tracks. All of this was made using 290,000 lines of code, which Mullen says is four times the size of its two previous NGC sites combined. Those sites supported the cable net's Killing Lincoln and Killing Kennedy programs.

But wait, there's more. Supplemental material includes a Killing Jesus microsite with articles, video clips, photo galleries, deleted scenes and cast Q&As, as well as an NGC blog campaign called "Killing with Kindness," inspired, we're told, by Christ's teachings on love and charity, and promoted on social media with the #KillingWithKindness hashtag.

Like Mullen's earlier NGC outings—and The Martin Agency's similar digital work for the JFK Library—this initiative's vast scale can seem overwhelming at times, especially for a story whose elements are so familiar. Still, the bold, multi-view style—respectful, yet rigorously researched and probing—is fairly innovative, and might give users fresh insight.

Given the weighty nature of the subject matter, Killing Jesus's all-in approach seems appropriate and isn't overkill at all.

CREDITS

Brand: National Geographic Channel

Client: Matt Zymet, Executive Director, Digital Media

Client: Ashley Kalena, Digital Media Producer

Agency: Mullen

Chief Creative Officer: Mark Wenneker

Executive Creative Director: Tim Vaccarino

Executive Creative Director: Dave Weist

Associate Creative Director: Allison Rude

Associate Creative Director: Brian Leech

Associate Creative Director: Scott Slagsvol

Copywriter: Eugene Torres

VP, Executive Producer: Tiffany Stevens

Senior Digital Producer: Alyssa Hartigan

Senior Digital Producer: Kim Ryan

Group Account Director: Rebekah Pagis

Account Director: Jessica Zdenek

Assistant Account Executive: Stephanie Costa

Director of Development Operations: Steve Laham

Senior QA Engineer: Ryan Nelsen

SVP, Creative Director/Technologist: Christian Madden

SVP, Director of Interactive: Mathey Ray

Associate Creative Director/Technologist: Joe Palasek

Senior Creative Technologist: Justin Bogan

Creative Technologist: Adam Riggs

Creative Technologist: Stefan Harris

Associate QA Engineer: Amber Archambeault

Senior Production Designer: Terri Navarra

Senior Content Manager: Caroline Roberts

Motion Designer: Jeremiah True

VP, Digital Production Manager: Steve Haroutunian

Senior Creative Technologist: Costa Boudouvas

Senior Experience Designer: Charlene McBride

Senior Experience Designer: Krista Siniscarco

Junior Production Designer: Candice Latham

SVP, Director of Broadcast Production: Zeke Bowman

Animator: Eric Ko

VP, Director of Art Production: Tracy Maidment

Senior Art Producer: Jessica Manning

VP, Senior Video Editor: Jessica Phearsome

Senior Copy Writer: Kelly McAuley

Assistant Editor: Libby Ryerson

Assistant Editor: Nick Brecken

Business Manager: Vanessa Fazio