Better Worlds
Role:
Creative Direction
Role:
Creative Direction
The Verge’s Better Worlds is a series of 11 original fiction stories, with five animated adaptations and five audio adaptations, by a diverse roster of science fiction authors who take a more optimistic view of what lies ahead in ways both large and small, fantastical and everyday. This was a large, ambitious project that included multiple writers like John Scalzi and Justina Ireland, several animation studios, sound designers, and illustrators. My role included crafting the overall tone, visuals, and branding, hiring and partnering with all animators and illustrators, adapting the short stories into scripts, and lending my voice for a few minor roles.
Better Worlds on The Verge
Better Worlds on Youtube
Better Worlds on The Verge
Better Worlds on Youtube
A Theory Of Flight
Justina Ireland’s story “A Theory of Flight” imagines a future in which one woman recognizes the barriers in getting to space, and takes the issue into her own hand with an open-sourced rocket and kickstarts a revolution to open up the skies to everyone.
Production: All In Pixel
Creative Director: William Joel
Screenplay: Laura Hudson
Narration: Andia Winslow
Music and Sound Design: Ambrose Yu, Sonos Sanctus
Justina Ireland’s story “A Theory of Flight” imagines a future in which one woman recognizes the barriers in getting to space, and takes the issue into her own hand with an open-sourced rocket and kickstarts a revolution to open up the skies to everyone.
Production: All In Pixel
Creative Director: William Joel
Screenplay: Laura Hudson
Narration: Andia Winslow
Music and Sound Design: Ambrose Yu, Sonos Sanctus
A Sun Will Always Sing
In Karin Lowachee’s original short story, a spacecraft carrying precious cargo embarks on a lifetime journey to a better world.
Production: Yeah Haus
Creative Director: William Joel
Screenplay: Laura Hudson
Music: Ambrose Yu
Sound Design: Sono Sanctus
In Karin Lowachee’s original short story, a spacecraft carrying precious cargo embarks on a lifetime journey to a better world.
Production: Yeah Haus
Creative Director: William Joel
Screenplay: Laura Hudson
Music: Ambrose Yu
Sound Design: Sono Sanctus
A Model Dog
Video by Joel Plosz
An overbearing CEO demands that his employees engineer a solution to his dad’s aging dog.
Directed & Aniamted by: Joel Plosz
Creative Director: William Joel
Screenplay: Laura Hudson, William Joel
Narration: Marissa Lenti, Erick David
Sound Design: Ambrose Yu
Video by Joel Plosz
An overbearing CEO demands that his employees engineer a solution to his dad’s aging dog.
Directed & Aniamted by: Joel Plosz
Creative Director: William Joel
Screenplay: Laura Hudson, William Joel
Narration: Marissa Lenti, Erick David
Sound Design: Ambrose Yu
Overlay
In Elizabeth Bonesteel’s original short story, a father’s dangerous mission to save his son isn’t what it really seems in “Overlay.”
Produced by: Device
Creative Director: William Joel
Screenplay: William Joel
Voices by: Kyle Stewart and Michael McDaniel
Music: Sono Sanctus
Sound Design & Mixing: Ambrose Yu
In Elizabeth Bonesteel’s original short story, a father’s dangerous mission to save his son isn’t what it really seems in “Overlay.”
Produced by: Device
Creative Director: William Joel
Screenplay: William Joel
Voices by: Kyle Stewart and Michael McDaniel
Music: Sono Sanctus
Sound Design & Mixing: Ambrose Yu
St Juju
In Rivers Solomon’s animated short story “St. Juju,” a young woman must choose between her secure enclave and the one she loves.
Directed & Animated by: Allen Laseter
Creative Director: William Joel
Screenplay: Laura Hudson
Narration: Andia Winslow
Music: Wesley Slover
Sound Design & Mixing: Trevor Richardson
In Rivers Solomon’s animated short story “St. Juju,” a young woman must choose between her secure enclave and the one she loves.
Directed & Animated by: Allen Laseter
Creative Director: William Joel
Screenplay: Laura Hudson
Narration: Andia Winslow
Music: Wesley Slover
Sound Design & Mixing: Trevor Richardson
Monsters Come Howling In Their Season
An island commonwealth integrates an AI to defend itself against a worsening hurricane season.
Illustrations by Corey Brickley
An island commonwealth integrates an AI to defend itself against a worsening hurricane season.
Illustrations by Corey Brickley
The Burn
As people around the world fall victim to The Burn, AR researchers begin to suspect a pattern.
Illustrations by Arik Roper
As people around the world fall victim to The Burn, AR researchers begin to suspect a pattern.
Illustrations by Arik Roper
Skin City
A street performer gets into trouble after falling for a radical privacy devotee.
Illustrations by Deborah Lee
A street performer gets into trouble after falling for a radical privacy devotee.
Illustrations by Deborah Lee
Move The World
Once in your life, you can choose to pull a lever that resets the world — but will it make things better?
Illustrations by Zoë van Dijk
Once in your life, you can choose to pull a lever that resets the world — but will it make things better?
Illustrations by Zoë van Dijk
Machine Of Loving Grace
An AI designed to moderate video games takes on a life of its own.
Illustrations by Benjamin Currie
An AI designed to moderate video games takes on a life of its own.
Illustrations by Benjamin Currie
Online Reunion
By Leigh Alexander
A young journalist chronicling a vintage e-pet reunion gets more than she expected.
Illustrations by Marcin Wolski
By Leigh Alexander
A young journalist chronicling a vintage e-pet reunion gets more than she expected.
Illustrations by Marcin Wolski