THE DAWN OF AGATE
The story of how this project came to be could be just about as interesting as the land it's based off of. Pre-production kicked off in early 2020 right before the COVID-19 lockdowns. This allowed for the team to spend time in quarantine to research and consult on scientific information about the landscape from the climate and plants to references for the animal cast - which would be used not only for reconstructions but for animations and behaviors, influencing the scriptwriting in the process.
Storyboarding and rough drafts of the screen play were conceptualized in April of that year and with them complete, the rigorous task of modeling the animal cast began. The team spent many hours designing the animals down to the last detail to bring them to life, ensuring their reconstructions were as faithful and accurate to life as possible. Perhaps the biggest breakthrough during this preplanning stage was the hiring of the project's narrator and composer, Nigel Marven and Sarah Class respectively - Nigel being a renowned British naturalist with experience in the prehistoric world and Sarah an award-winning musician and film composer who is no stranger to working with nature documentaries.
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While this is all certainly interesting the question still remains, "Why Agate Springs?" The answer lies in the featured fauna and the novelty of the environment. While many animals you'll see will seem familiar with some being represented in previous prehistoric nature documentaries, today they lack holistic portrayals within the paleontological world, coupled with the time this is set in. This turbulent period of climatic shift where the last ancient mammalian families survived alongside the basal relatives of modern groups made Agate Springs the ideal location to tell our story. Our aim is to give proper representation to some old and new faces and narrate a crucial point in the history of life on Earth.
Meet the team
Discover the creative heads behind the Agate Project!
Sarah Class
Award winning English composer and songwriter Sarah Class, the lead composer for the Agate project and no stranger to nature documentaries. She has provided the tracks from acclaimed series such as "Africa" and "Madagascar". In 2020 Sarah made the PRS top 100 most influential female songwriters and composers in PRS’ Women Changing Music Top 100 Chart.
Max Bellomio
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Max Bellomio is the director, lead animator, and creator of the project. Having contributed to nearly every part of Agate, this is a passion project accumulated from almost 10 years of 3D animation and modeling experience, much of which has been devoted to a love of prehistory. Currently working towards his art degree, he spends most time not working on animation. Goes by "Digital Duck" online.
Brennan Stokkermans
Christian Halliwell
Brennan Stokkermans is a Scientific illustrator and paleoartist from Cleveland Ohio who is particularly interesting in birdwatching and wildlife photography. On Agate Brennan has lent his skills in videography to inform that the visuals match what a real wildlife documentary would capture while consulting in color grading supplying video and producing concept art for the film.
Christian Halliwell is a lifelong amateur paleonerd who loves exploring writing as a medium for paleoart. Currently a music production undergraduate exploiting higher education as a means to better record a variety of strange guitar noises. Christian is a co-director and one of the project's writers.
Jonathan Harris
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A professional 3D artist with an obsession for prehistoric animals. Jon has been sculpting, modeling and animating for 10 years. For this project he is animating some of the animals as well as doing the groom for a couple.
Philippa Marvin
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Philippa Marvin is a TV animation writer, paleoecology enthusiast and the Production Manager for Forgotten Bloodlines. For almost a decade, she's coordinated on animated series as well as live action documentaries & factual series. Her previous credits include: Zokie of Planet Ruby (Nickelodeon), Corn & Peg (Nick Jr), Somebeachsomewhere: Horse of a Lifetime (Eastlink & Amazon Prime) and Eyes for the Job (Accessible Media Inc.).
Nigel Marven
Nigel Marven, the narrator for the project, a world class naturalist renowned for his nature documentaries and "rising to fame with the :Walking With Dinosaur" spinoffs and "Prehistoric Park" in the early 2000s. Nigel provides a rich sense of fun and professionalism with his narration perfectly capturing the tone of this film.
Bailey
Bailey is a 3D animator very passionate about animals - she is one of the lead animators for the Daphoenodon and has worked on the Cenozoic Survival project.
Aditya Srinath
Aditya is an editor, screenwriter, and research consultant for this project. He practices yoga, piano, swimming, and martial arts to strike a balance between studying environmental science, ecology, and wildlife management. With an ardent devotion towards the natural world (both extant & extinct), his favorite species is Smilodon fatalis.
Cameron Clow
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Cameron is a professional visualization artist with an emphasis in animation and shot creation. Located in Los Angeles, he is a graduate of Chapman University, with a BFA in Digital Arts and an Animation emphasis, along with a minor in LGBTQ+ studies. His career focuses include creature animation and animal anatomy, with past projects including Prehistoric Planet, the MCU, and more.
Midiaou Diallo
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Midiaou is a Guinean, Queens based creative, working in many mediums, among them being music, film and illustration. Midiaou is one of the project’s sound designers, consultants, writers, and concept and storyboard artists.
Benjamin Yoo
Benjamin Yoo is a wildlife enthusiast and amateur artist who has always held a passion for nature, both extinct and extant. He has always had a particular interest in birds, and as such he works as a consultant and concept artist for the extinct birds in this project. Outside of Agate, Ben is an undergraduate in Biology, working towards a career path linked to his interests. He also works as an advisor and animator for the game Cenozoic Survival, or posts his art under the pseudonym ‘RandomPaleonerd’.
Dhruv Franklin
Dhruv is a visual artist currently studying illustration at the Rhode Island School of Design. His (sometimes obsessive) interest in wildlife fuels his artistic practice. As such, he was overjoyed to have the opportunity to work on storyboarding and concepts for Forgotten Bloodlines.