National Geographic Channel to Launch KILLING JESUS Second Screen Experience

National Geographic Channel today launched the second-screen experience for the upcoming three-hour television event KILLING JESUS, one of the network's most ambitious digital undertakings ever. Available now at natgeotv.com/killingjesus, and designed in collaboration with digital agency Mullen, the site builds on the story depicted in the film by providing an interactive, multi-point-of-view experience.

The site - created by the Emmy-winning team behind the network's LIVE FROM SPACE digital experience, the Emmy-nominated team behind Killing Lincoln and the multi-Cannes-Lion-winning team behind KILLING KENNEDY - is designed to give viewers an even deeper dive into the time of Jesus from three key perspectives, each symbolized by a different crown: the crown of thorns representing Jesus and his followers, a crown of laurels representing the Romans led by Pontius Pilate and a headdress representing the Jewish high priests of the time.

The site is broken into eight chapters, reflecting pivotal moments in the story of Jesus: The Birth, Boy or Messiah?, The Prophet, The Tables Turn, A Challenger, The Last Supper, Jesus on Trial and Crucifixion. Each chapter contains three or four key scenes that can be explored through the three different viewpoints.

"Giving the audience the power to transition between these key perspectives in each chapter provides a 360-degree view of Jesus' story, reflecting the film's approach of exploring the political, social and economic forces that led to the crucifixion," said Matt Zymet, executive director of digital media and digital content for NGC.

Each of the more than 72 interactive scenes is brought to life through 2-D photo-realistic original illustrations created by French illustrator Bastien Lecouffe DeHarme that capture the faces, scenery and costumes from the film, immersive soundscapes and cast voice-overs. The scrollable panoramas were created with 3,080 illustrated images and animated with 14,364 hand-placed keyframes. As users scroll through the chapters, they can explore expanded TIMELINES that provide fascinating archaeological, historical and sociological bonus content, allowing an even deeper dive into the story.

The site contains a whopping 290,094 lines of code, which is four times the size of NGC and Mullen's previous two sites together, Killing Lincoln and Killing Kennedy, combined. The audio for the site is composed of 184 custom soundfx, music tracks and voice-overs.

"We were looking to tell the story in a way that allowed people to see it from several different vantage points," said Allison Rude, VP, associate creative director at Mullen. "Our war room on this project resembled the wall from 'A Beautiful Mind' as we pieced together historical fact, religious scripture and custom illustrations to provide three unique perspectives in the most innovative way possible."