Nocturne
Client
For Apple TV’s Nocturne, we created a title sequence rooted in the forests of western Pennsylvania, where a homicide detective races to find a serial killer’s last missing victim. The sequence explores the darkness lurking beneath an apparently peaceful landscape. A sun-drenched town, glimpsed through the delicate veins of a leaf, gradually gives way to the Allegheny forest. Trees act as silent witnesses, seemingly absorbing the secrets, violence and history that drive the story.
Timelapse shadows move across leaves, trees and landscapes, transforming familiar natural imagery into something increasingly ominous. Their movement becomes a metaphor for time and the desperate search for someone still missing, while reinforcing the idea that darkness often hides just beneath the surface.
Visually, we moved away from photorealism, drawing on the elemental language of shadow plays, silhouettes and folklore. The result is a dreamlike world between fairy tale and nightmare, grounded by textures scanned from real trees in our own backyards.
The title reveal brings the concept full circle: shifting shadows align across a tree, and through parallax, the NOCTURNE logo emerges from what initially appeared to be unrelated shapes—something hidden in plain sight.
