Dark Phone - Murder by Text
Maps, On Screen Graphics and Explainer Graphics
Visualising the Encrypted Underworld
When international law enforcement cracked EncroChat, the secret, highly encrypted mobile network used by organised crime groups around the world, they unlocked millions of real time messages detailing drug trafficking, gun running, and murder plots.
For Channel 4’s flagship four part documentary series Operation Dark Phone: Murder by Text (produced by The Garden), our brief was to transform thousands of raw, encrypted chat logs and data points into a tense, immersive visual narrative.
The Design Challenge
How do you build prime time documentary tension when the core evidence consists of text messages sent across bespoke and screenless devices?
We needed onscreen graphics that felt authentic to high tech covert surveillance: visceral, dark, and urgent, while keeping complex network maps and multi person group chats crystal clear for viewers.
Network & Intelligence Mapping
We turned flat criminal family trees and network charts into bold 3D visuals. By adding depth, camera motion, and clean typography, we made complex gang structures easy to understand at a glance while keeping the show exciting and great to watch.
3D Global Network Mapping
We engineered a flexible 3D mapping pipeline in Blender to visualise international criminal networks. Using a custom Geometry Nodes setup, we scattered thousands of data points across global maps, clustered nodes by region, and animated glowing connection lines to illustrate how intercepted EncroChat messages linked gangs across borders in real time.
“Bait produced some of the best graphics sequences I have seen in 25 years of making documentaries. The brief was ambitious and included multiple builds in "3D". These included "family trees" of organized crime groups - which the "camera" could move through to reveal how they were connected by a secret dark phone network - and a planet earth model which could camera-move from satellite view to birds eye view, showing activity on the phone network as it was revealed by the police investigation. Helen and Paul were brilliant to work with. Communication was clear and strategic. When there were challenges or bottlenecks, they were clear about the choices and the balance of ambition and delivery, or somehow found a solution. They worked incredibly hard and smart to meet the ambitious brief and delivered something genuinely stand out. I'd really recommend working with them.”
— Zac Beattie, Head of Documentaries, The Garden
