Illumina — TruPath™ Genome
Roles: Creative / Art / Animation Direction, Design, Animation and Compositing.
This project translates TruPath’s genome-scale architecture into a cinematic system that demonstrates how rare disease variants can be confidently detected, even within the most complex regions of the genome.
Understanding how TruPath™ works was essential. To design and animate anything with integrity, we first needed to understand the technology in depth. We worked closely with Illumina’s experts, who guided us through the mechanics, logic, and constraints of the system.
The Challengue
How do we create an engaging cinematic film that:
→ Reflects mapped read technology
→ Maintains scientific fidelity
→ Aligns with Illumina’s brand language
→ Passes internal scientific review
The solution began with structure graph and storyboards.
Storyboards became the working tool that kept the project aligned, both visually and technically. It was the anchor that kept the film visually clear and scientifically accurate.
Once the structure held up under scrutiny did we move into full production, where the visual system began to take shape.
STORYBOARDS
First explorations
Sequence 01
Sequence 02
Sequence 03
Sequence 04
Sequence 05
STYLEFRAMES
R & D
Soundtrack
Part of the research led to the idea of DNA vibrating at about 2 GHz. Transposed from that microscopic speed into sound, it would register at roughly 500 Hz, between a B and a C.
Made a visual of map for the editing and passed the ball to long time collaborator Pim van den Heuvelto tailor the right soundtrack.
Pim van den Heuvel
Music always has a concept that provides creative restriction, inspiration and value to the image I’m scoring. As DNA was the concept and DNA strands are based on letters C, G, T and A.
This was a great starting point. The musical alphabet contains letters A,B,C,D,E, F & G.
Naturally the C,G and A can already be used as notes.
As T isn’t a musical pitch I decided to use E, the Third of C and fifth of A.
Harmonically speaking we can create several chords from this base:
Together the letters A-C-G form an Am7 chord.
Alternatively C-(E)-G-A form a C6 chord.
After creating this theoretical framework I mapped out the shape of the piece - where do we build towards, what is the intention of the video. Juan created this structure for me already in this case, so I set up a tempo map and created markers that mimicked his thoughts.
I then carefully selected sounds that fit the technological world we’re building and named them by function.
Through play and deliberately choosing to break free of the design constraints I developed a theme and sound that fit the technology and its narrative.
Production Company
Morea TV
Executive Production
Kevin Pham
Associate Production
Marcos Medvedov \ Viartco
Creative / Art / Animation Direction
Juan Behrens
Desin / Animation
Gautier Sire
Juan Behrens
Audio
Pim van den Heuvel