SWITCH

In the realm of filmmaking, design should always serve the narrative, not overshadow it

Elements like astons and maps played pivotal roles in conveying crucial information within the film's narrative. In our initial explorations, we integrated Malayalam text into the name astons to forge a visual connection with the speaker's mother tongue and to celebrate the devnagri script.

But after careful deliberation and testing, we recognized that including Malayalam text might distract from the astons primary purpose – to define character identities and roles in relation to unfolding events. Thus, we intentionally chose to remove the Malayalam text to maintain narrative focus and clarity.

Similarly, the portrayal of the map underwent multiple refinements. Through iterative adjustments, we shaped a version that seamlessly aligned with its purpose within the storyline.



.o.y.studio .naduthodi .color

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The design process is iterative with a clear intention of communication. Poison being the weapon of choice in Curry & Cyanide, initially we played with acid treatment on photos. Then we explored a polaroid approach considering the years that the murders occured - hinting at a pre-smartphones era. But all of them felt quite ‘motion graphic-y’ and CGI and seemed to stick out of the rest of the shots in their design language.

The approach of Cinematic Motion design led us to thinking of the narrator telling the story while simply placing photos on a table.

Archival photos are rarely consistent in their quality and design comes to the rescue often in such situations. We also used some AI upscaling and colour grading. The use of light and shadows as a layer over these table-top setups changed the overall emotion of the shots with a dappled ‘in-camera’ feel.

It was fantastic fun to be in conversation with James Haygood Moumita Sen and Aswathi Naduthodi while developing the approach for these to create one cohesive film.

Trailer Alert! Save the Date!
New Work Releasing!
Curry & Cyanide: The Jolly Joseph Case, streaming from 22nd Dec, only on Netflix in Malayalam, Hindi and English.

Main Titles, Factual Animation, Motion Design System, design for documentary such an intense project!

The Film : A small town in Kerala is shaken by a series of murders and all evidence points to Jolly Joseph. Did the chatty, friendly, much loved Jolly really play a game of secrets, lies and poison?

Aswathi Naduthodi
Sen

Oona Upasana
Saurav Roy
Gomes

Production .j .o.y.studio .naduthodi .color .sukumaran13 .ahuja06 .vfx .annie.meryl._ .rythm .motionster .khursade

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