Hysteria! was a limited series on Peacock that streamed weeks before Halloween. The story takes place in a 1980s high school where a beloved varsity quarterback disappears. A heavy metal band of outcasts realize they can capitalize on the town’s sudden interest in the occult by building a reputation as a Satanic metal band, until a bizarre series of murders, kidnappings, and reported “supernatural activity”. Although it only ran for one series, it seemed to mimic the overall tone and genre of Netflix’s Stranger Things.
I was not involved in the early stages of this campaign (key art shoot and design, trailer production, etc.) – I was brought in to help bring the finished key art to life by adding motion, which was then repurposed and used across all out-of-home placements. Often times it’s hard to shoot motion on set because we don’t know which piece of art will be approved that will guide the design language the marketing campaign. Luckily, by combining a bespoke shoot with talent and by adding animation to the art, we were able to build a campaign that fulfilled all the media buys.
Skills Involved
Motion Graphics Animation, OOH Design and Direction, Versioning
Agencies / Studios
Peacock Creative (Internal), Art Machine/Trailer Park
When
September – October 2024
OUT OF HOME
Peacock Plaza
This sonic based :15 placement combines motion character portraits of Julie Bowen, Bruce Campbell, Anna Camp with footage from there trailer, which then all resolves to the hero key art that I animated. I worked alongside Trailer Park to help version this out for the many unique screens across Peacock Plaza, designing how the art and title would reveal, all timed with the AV and tune-in messaging.
Key Art
The cinemagraph (on the right) is what I built in-house using After Effects and Photoshop. The PSB file was an extremely detailed and heavily layered piece of art. Therefore, just getting the assets into AE (with the correct blending modes) and in 4K, turned on to be a challenge in itself. Knowing when this series takes place, I leaned into the 80s/retro style with the title reveal and that old VHS banding effect. The fire, embers, flickering headlights, and other small details, helped the bring life to the art and ensemble.
HERO ART
CINEMAGRAPH
OUT OF HOME
New York – Times Square
OUT OF HOME
Times Square
Each OOH placement is unique and needed to be re-designed to fit the space. Bruce Campbell and Julie Bowen were big star sells for this title so each was carefully placed on either side of the bend in the screen. This cinemagraph was accompanied by footage (with no sound), similar to what was used in Peacock Plaza (above).
OUT OF HOME
Urban Panels
The Urban Panels have no audio but are visible as commuters enter the NYC Subway. With this horizontal animation I added additional details like the kids strumming the guitar and Bruce moving the walkie-talkie. I tend to favor a GFX lead asset in this placement (over footage) because it’s such a quick read.
