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Welcome to the commentary section. For those of you unfamiliar with our past work, this is where the Ghost Division rants about the production process that went into creating ADV’s promotional websites. We feel that it gives the fans a nice look behind the scenes at some of the creative process that goes into our work. After all, if directors get commentary tracks, why not us lowly website janitors? :)

Production began intermittently on Project Noir all the way back in July of 2002. Once we had managed to secure copies of the series, our impression of Noir turned out to be quite favorable. While the series was mostly episodic, it possessed the right mix of action, suspense and intrigue, backed up by gorgeous animation and a great soundtrack that had us both looking forward to working on it.

Our initial orders concerning the website were to make it simplistic and reflective of the Region 2 artwork. Presented here is the first draft of the website’s design.

Original Design

Splash Design	Internal Design

We opted to go with a French theme for the menu layout, due to the bulk of the series taking place throughout France and Western Europe. Take note of the first Splash image where you see Mireille in front of the fan-blade. Taking that from the opening animation, our plan was to have the fan-blade spinning in order to give the page some life. Also, we were planning on having the main image cycle through a series of 5 pre-selected images; two of which we have posted below.

Second Splash Designs

Image 1	Image 2

As production progressed and the site neared completion, we came to the conclusion that we just didn’t like this simplistic design. It wasn’t very reflective of the series, nor was it very user-friendly (Not to mention production-friendly). Having no desire to publish the website in its previous incarnation, about a week prior to the website’s intended launch date, we just went ahead and redid the entire thing to its current manifestation.

Unused Place-Holder Splash

Deux Vierges

Aside from Project Noir, we also had the task of doing WhatisNoir.com. That site was designed to play off of the mystique of the Noir series and get people talking. Before that launched, Ash had designed a placeholder based off of the cryptic Soldats document from the show. Given the rapid speed that the design for WhatisNoir.com was completed however, it was never used.

Website Credits

Executive Producers: Kenneth Wiatrek
                     Alice Fluker                    

   Executive Idiots: Mark Clark
                     Brady Hartel

            Writing: Mark Clark

     Website Design: Brady Hartel

 Additional Content: Brady Hartel

           Proofing: Emily Martin
                     Kevyn Weiner
                     Corey Henson

       Beta Testing: Maceo Ward III.
                     John Fleming
                     Michael Lawrence
                     Clifford Coryea
                     Emily Martin
                     R. Taylor 
                     Kevyn Weiner
                     .. and the other
                     Myragumi.

 Website Management: Douphitt Briggs
                     Chad Lee

     Special Thanks: Matt Greenfield
                     Tiffany Grant
                     Monica Rial
                     David L. Williams
                     Larry Koteff
                     Andrew Kent