The Hunt with John Walsh
Maps, recreated chats and texts, and effects shots for a CNN true-crime series
Lead graphics, VFX and compositing artist on seasons 1 and 3 of CNN's The Hunt with John Walsh: immersive map graphics, recreated texts, emails and instant messages, and blood, smoke and blurs added into shots.
No fixed pipeline: each episode brought a different graphics or VFX problem, from maps to recreated conversations to effects inside the shot.
CNN’s The Hunt with John Walsh profiles wanted fugitives and asks viewers for tips; Zero Point Zero edited the series. I was the lead graphics, VFX and compositing artist on seasons 1 and 3. The job covered immersive map graphics, recreated text, email and instant-message conversations, and blood, smoke and blurs added into shots. Working on the show meant handling whatever problem the next episode presented.
The clips below are excerpts from aired season 1 episodes, so each graphic is shown in the picture it was made for. Maps, recreated screens and headlines come first; the effects shots are at the end. Every clip is silent and loops. The key art beside the trailer is CNN’s for season 3.
The Hunt with John Walsh
A CNN original series. The episode 1 trailer is CNN's own upload; the key art is CNN's for season 3.
Map Graphics
Maps place each story: a county outlined on an aged paper map, and a route drawn state by state over driving footage.
Recreated Screens and Headlines
Online conversations and printed pages rebuilt for broadcast: an instant-message thread typed out on a scanlined screen, a text thread on a phone, an early online chat service, and headlines set over newsprint.
Effects in the Shot
Blood, smoke and blurs were added into shots across the series. Shown here: blood dripping off a stair rail, and a neighbor blurred out and identified only by a first name.
Project Elements
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