Shortform & VFX | Post Production

Fugitive: The Mystery Of The Crypto Queen is a Channel 4 production, and tells the story of Ruja Ignatova, the Bulgaria-born German entrepreneur and creator of the pseudo cryptocurrency OneCoin. Ruja disappeared in 2017 along with billions of dollars of investors’ money, catapulting her to the top of the FBI’s most wanted list. What happened to Ignatova? Has she changed her appearance or is she hiding in plain sight? Is she still at large? Is she still alive?

Sky Post Production were delighted to be asked by Dare Pictures and Tondowski Films to provide offline, full post and graphics for a story described by The Times as ‘one of the biggest scams in history’. The motion graphics were a huge part of the job and support the driving of this complex and twisting narrative. Read on to find out how we did it:

Oliver Bramley – Post Producer

Dare Pictures and Tondowski Films approached us about delivering 3 x 45-minute episodes of this intriguing series, all in HD and 5.1 for Channel 4, Fremantle and Sky Germany. The project had been in the works for a number of years and in Edit for quite some time, and they were looking to us to finish the Offline and to provide Final Post as well as full Motion Graphics.

It was really exciting to be engaged to provide full Motion Graphics, so I put together a team of three of our finest VFX artists to be across the project. This team were an important presence throughout the Offline as their Graphics were key to the storytelling, and during the Online for any final tweaks and additions.

Nick Pugh – Motion Graphics Lead

I put myself forward for the project because I knew that it would be an interesting and artistic challenge. The brief mentioned a dozen or so templates and elements that would need to be built to convey key dates, bogus websites and fraudulent social media posts, but the sheer volume of work that would be needed only became apparent as we dived deeper into the project. With the main protagonist of the documentary literally out of the picture it was vital to convey much of the story visually. And when trying to explain how abstract concepts such as cryptocurrencies, blockchains and other cyberspace processes work, there was no footage we could use, so graphics really were the only option.

The Director, Alex Tondowski and I worked closely together to come up with a set style which would suit the subject matter and tone of the series. Initially, my colleague Luke Smith and I kicked off the graphics and decided between ourselves how to divide the work based largely on individual skillsets and the most effective way to hit our deadlines. We then brought in our colleague Mark Sison as the workload began to increase further. Many of the things you will see in the documentary were built by us; for example I re-created the OneCoin website which no longer exists, relying on a handful of still images supplied by Sabine Kues, the project Researcher. With the three of us focusing on different parts of the programme it was important to pull together with the Director to make everything conform to a single style and to be able to place elements within the wider context of the Online and Grade.

Luke Smith - VFX

I spend a lot of time on fast turnaround, graphics-heavy, sports openers which are exciting but can be limited by time constraints and aesthetics. Having the time to develop ideas more fully over the course of several weeks on a job such as this was not only a welcome change but also very exciting and a great test of my abilities.

We were asked for a set of fast-paced graphics akin to Netflix docos such as Don’t F**k With Cats. Given that the doc was based primarily around social media interactions, there was a call for lots of graphics to bring these to life. We needed to make things visually interesting and informative, and to communicate fairly substantial chunks of information such as the content of emails or messages. The graphics also needed to be punchy and aesthetically pleasing and to mirror the social media platform they were originally created on such as Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter, whilst at the same time not looking too similar to infringe copyright. The constant dynamic between looking good, being informative and reflecting multiple platforms was the biggest challenge of the whole project. To get things 100% correct there was constant reciprocal feedback and adaptation between the three of us and the Director.

The main job was compositing elements together to look cohesive and then adding interesting moves and the use of depth of field to blur any information we couldn’t show such as profile names and ‘@’ handles. This could be a real challenge at times as we would often need to blur a person’s picture and handle while keeping the body of their message readable. Rather than use a simple garish box blur we aimed to make this look as natural as possible with camera angles and selective focus. The show really does tick all the boxes for a riveting, fast-paced documentary expose. The only downside is that from working on it, I already know how the story ends… so far.

Mark Sison - GFX

I was brought in as an additional Visual Effects Designer to help spread the graphics demands for the show. There had been a huge amount of prep and set-up even before I joined the project and nearly all the shots had been planned out with the main style and look already established.

We were given a mood board and documents from the Director that described the feel and style of the project including examples from other shows like The Tinder Swindler among others. The main steer I was given was to establish the digital world of social media and crypto websites and then to follow the rules within that world. The graphics had to assist the story and to accentuate whatever was being said. It wasn't enough to create a graphic of a tweet and leave it stagnant because the graphics had to guide the viewer’s attention.

At the point when I joined, Nick and Luke already had some incredible graphics, and I was there to help with the sheer volume. It got a little complicated at times, but we helped each other out and I am very pleased with the results. I have a particular soft spot for docs about scams so I’m really looking forward to watching this go to air too.