Dispatches from Dreamland: Framestore's Effect

Alex Gibney’s latest feature documentary, We Steal Secrets: The Story of Wikileaks, releases across America today and here shots' acting US editor Simon Wakelin gets the scoop on the effects job through Framestore’s design team.

Oscar-winning documentarian Alex Gibney has created yet another compelling film with, We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks. The non-fiction takes viewers down a rabbit hole of secrets and lies to render in lurid detail the life of WikiLeaks founder, raconteur and alleged sexual offender Julian Assange.

Premiering at Sundance earlier this year to positive reviews, the documentary contains over 33 minutes of effects created in-house at Framestore’s New York Design Department.

Maryanne Butler, head of the design department, and Marc Smith, senior design director took on the project at an early stage, supervising a team of artists working in After Effects, Cinema 4D and Flame to accentuate the legacy of WikiLeaks on the big screen.

“When we first met Alex he discussed the sinister tone of the film and the importance of creating an esthetic to match that tone,” outlines Smith on the effects work. “As time went by the creative process evolved organically, allowing us to create even more effects. As the subject matter evolved so did we.”

Crash-zoom composites, ‘tweet’ dramatisations, video effects and data exfiltration all work in tandem to unveil Assange as a charismatic man who was so convinced of his own goodness that he’d lie in the service of truth. Other effects include visual representations of bodies of data streams, plus article headlines recreated to track the story of Wikileaks from its first major ‘leak’ through to a batch of shocking rape allegations.

“Our challenge became figuring out how to use these effects to drive Alex’s storytelling,” confides Butler. “One of the most difficult tasks we had was visualising the Internet as it has never been seen before. We almost wanted it to feel like it was a living entity.”

The team eventually rendered over 35 minutes of effects for the film, plus its main title sequence: “That’s a lot of work for a documentary,” adds Butler. “We had to turn around a lot of content in a very short amount of time, unlike some commercial jobs where you have far more leisure time. Plus the cut kept changing as additional footage was shot. It really became a cat-and-mouse game to keep up with the work.”

“Gibney was especially impressed by the chat logs that we created,” Butler continues. “They were used to show PFC Bradley Manning's personal thoughts and struggles while masterminding the biggest leak of classified US military documents to date. As Manning could not be interviewed the chat logs became his character on the big screen, and very emotional in nature. It definitely became one of the most vital elements of the film, and I think we managed to craft the perfect tone for them.“

Beyond Gibney’s documentary, Maryanne notes how there has been rapid extension, growth and interest in Framestore’s New York design department: “The work so far has been very interesting,” she explains. “As the commercial industry is changing we are involving ourselves in projects far beyond the TV screen. We aim to be more direct-to-client when it comes to managing ideas and resolving creative issues.”

Recent work includes logo design for a new agency, an animated project in Time Square created for an audio book company and artwork for a children’s book in collaboration with Penguin Books.

“It’s fantastic to be within a company that has a legacy of high-end work,” concludes Smith on Framestore’s Big Apple dynamics. “It’s also exciting to be part of a department that can grow and adapt to the needs of the market. We look forward to winning work that is outside of Framestore’s regular effects wheelhouse.”

Click on the gallery below for a selection of images from the film.