NBC News Studios
The Sing Sing Chronicles
The Sing Sing Chronicles is a four-part docuseries directed by Dawn Porter, following five wrongly convicted men as they fight for justice within the New York judicial system. With Dateline’s Dan Slepian bringing national attention to their cases, the series exposes systemic failures, the slow grind of justice, and the resilience of those who refuse to accept injustice.
Visually, the series faced the challenge of working with elements often associated with sensationalized true crime television—documents, archival footage, and contemporary interviews. Without careful handling, these elements could have felt formulaic or even exploitative. To counter this, the art direction had to be intentional, ensuring the visuals aligned conceptually with the stories of exoneration. Our approach needed to be cohesive, cinematic, and, above all, authentic.
"Now I am become Death, the Destroyer of Worlds."
Title Sequence
We knew the title sequence was the perfect opportunity to elevate the series cinematically while introducing the tactile art direction that would be a crucial part of the narrative. Conceptually, it plays on the cliché that “everything falls into place.” But what if everything falls out of place? What if the space once meant for freedom is instead consumed by captivity—leaving no room at all?








Challenges + Solutions
Animated sequences of photos and documents were created to convey information and visually connect the investigative dots of the narrative. It was imperative that these graphics felt realistic and authentic to the story being told.









Title Sequence
The title design needed to be simple, clean, and focusing solely on the men whose lives were irrevocably impacted. MAMMAL adopted a minimalist approach, emphasizing emotional resonance by switching between old family photos to their mugshots. Similar to the document and photo sequences, the use of paper textures grounded the visuals, creating a raw and tangible connection to their stories.
Document Treatment
Like the photography treatment, the documents needed to feel grounded in a real environment. While visual cohesiveness was important, authenticity was essential. These are real stories about real people, with documentation that varied wildly in quality and resolution. To maintain clarity, some documents had to be recreated—but with legal records, there’s a fine line between reconstruction and falsification, which meant every decision had to be carefully considered.