Motion by design case studies.
ABC 'Yellow and black" by Troika Design Group (aired between 1998 and 2002)
Troika - A design and branding agency in Hollywood using design to give "a distinct expression of a brands position and value" (Graphic design, writing, filmmaking, animation and music)
"A reductive design aesthetic that was inspired by Paul Rand, the designer of the ABC logo."
Four rules - Be real, be honest, be smart, be fun.
flat black, white and yellow
shots of the people in a cinema verite style (the camera is acknowledged in order to reveal the truth in cinema)
"The graphic elements were reduced to the circles that form the ABC logo. No gratuitous information or decoration was included in the design."
"The animation was raw and full of quick cuts driven by percussive musical tracks in an eclectic range of styles that always concluded with the networks four-note mnemonic signature."
"A traditional 'hard sell' voice-over was eliminated in favour of more entertaining, musically driven scenarios."
"This identity was evolved each season to align with the networks marketing goals while keeping true to the creative guidelines." - What were the creative guidelines and how did these shape the evolution of the ident?
"The evolution enhanced the strength of the brand by sticking to its raw elements: no voice-overs, a yellow colour palette, black and whit photography and a no-frills approach to it's clean, spare design."
"From a designers standpoint, the creative limitations that are imposed by these rules appear stifling at first. But in fact the opposite is true. The rules stimulate creative solutions because they bring focus not only to the brand but also to the creative process. A well defined restricted palette guides design decisions, and sources one to be even more innovative." - Dan Pappalardo (co-founder of Troika. creative designer / director of the project)
After effects, Illustrator, Photoshop, Final Cut Pro.
ESPN - SportsCenter, Trokia
"The theme that ties the elements together is 'Revolution', represented by a massive 3D turbine that symbolises the '360 degrees' of sports coverage on ESPNs flagship show."
"The turbine visually articulates the tension and dynamics of sport and the range of emotions an athlete or fan experiences, from power and agility to anticipation and exhilaration." - Mark Bohman (Trokia co-founder and creative director)
"The new parameters of HD challenged Trokia to revisit conventional design and motion options that defy to capabilities of NTSC." - what were these options?
"Down conversions and centre extractions for standard definition needed to be factored in"
the result is "amazingly detailed and adds function to the programming itself."
"Delivery of elements was complimented by detailed usage guidelines to maintain consistency across the show and its franchises. Explaining the concept and branding principles to allow for the growth and evolution of the package."
After effects, Illustrator, Photoshop, Alias Maya, Final Cut Pro.
Addikt Design Movement, 2004 leader (for their showreel)
Not exactly a TV channel Ident, but a piece of work which aims to portray the creative abilities of the company, combining 2D and 3D animation techniques, with an international appeal.
"The style was much more important than the storyline, which is about a journey through a semi-graphic 3D world in search of the (former) Addikt logo."
"The idea was to make the animation slightly surreal by using a combination of live action, photorealist elements and pure graphics."
Production process:
Photographed well known buildings in Amsterdam
roughly modelled them in Maya
Camera mapping to place the images over the models "so the buildings and the car were not really mapped in 3D"
The ally scene - shot with a sony DV camera
Keyed in after effects
motion tracked in PFHoe
graphics applied to the wall in Maya
Scene set up and camera movement was done in maya
everything composited in After effects.
After effects, Illustrator, Photoshop, Maya, PFHoe
Addikt Design Movement, 2005 lead
"'while commercial work usually needs to be slick and polished, self-initiated work can be as rough as you like.' To show their stylistic flexibility, Addikt combined illustration with toon-shaded 3D animation for there 2005 DVD reel."
"The focus was on creative mayhem and on illustration."
the building with the carousel was modelled in maya
All illustrations were hand drawn and scanned in.
Camera path animation done in maya, imported into C4D as .fbx then into After effects as .aec "It was kind of a hassle, but it tied the whole project together, enabling us to work in Maya, C4D and Afx simultaneously with the same camera."
Illustrations added in after effects
trees and bears done in C4D
After effects, Illustrator, Photoshop, Maya, C4D
Je Ne Saia Quoi, 'Station to station' Joakim Oscarsson
"In the motion design world, anything is possible; the only limitations are those set by your own imagination." - Joakim Oscarsson.
"You could say that the video and the song are a critique of modern urban life, asking "Where are we going?""
working closely with the band "resulted in a product that communicates exactly what the band wanted to say, the way they wanted to say it, and that is something i found important in this project."
a lot of animation - constant feeling of moving forward
"I wanted to give the video a repetitive feeling, a feeling of something going on and on. That is to some extent what i think the song, the video and maybe the life that some people lead today are all about - a journey from station to station, a constant striving towards the next goal in life. But is this just a rat race, creating ever greater levels of stress?"
Working to a tight budget and cheap camera - producing a professional looking music video became a challenge.
DV camera, digital still camera, After effects.
Fameless, show packaging by Bl:nd
the show is about "'might-have-beens' who missed the chance for stardom at the crucial moment."
"Conceptually their clients approach had affinities with comic books, in that they were seeking a very stylised method of storytelling"
"Comics are an amazing medium in which design, cinematography and illustration naturally combine. Creatively, this was a great starting point in terms of thinking how to design the show package."
"Our aim was to create a product that conveyed the idea behind the show, but which additionally served as a memorable toolkit."
"We wanted to get a style of animation that would look like an excerpt from a comic book. We modelled all the characters and elements in 3D and shot a few of our creatives (with DV cam) by acting out the scenes outdoors. This footage served as a rough version of the motion captured in the animation."
After effects, Illustrator, Photoshop, Maya
FUSE, indents by Bl:nd
Music orientated cable TV channel
idents for new schedule of home grown talent
"The look of the ad was designed to be eclectic and fun, combining 2D-sketched elements and photographic background the the 3D robot."
a metaphorical piece in which a rock robot trashes a city of 'squares' beneath it. "inspired by the guitar smashing rock stars"
robot modelled and animated in Studio Max
2D animation and digital photos combined in After Effects.
After effects, Illustrator, Photoshop, Maya, Studio Max.
Beija Sapo (kiss the frog) show opener by Buraco de Bala for MTV Brazil
"The opener had to relate in a classical way the fairy tail suggested by the programmes title."
"As he spoke, we swapped ideas amount ourselves - things like "medieval art" and "automata" - and these actually encapsulated how the video turned out.'
"Beija Sapos opener grew out of the fact that Buraco de Bala had a limited amount of time to produce what was then their most important job to date, and they needed to show what they were capable of. So they decided that by using simpler, more automatic animation techniques they would be able to concentrate on refining the visuals in order to create a high-quality final product."
"Since we were dealing with the plot of a fairy-tale, 14th century etching and Jieronymus Bosch suggested themselves as sources to establish the mood."
all based inside a virtual music box
"The overall look, the music box and the music all helped create a 'once upon a time' atmosphere"
3 week schedule to create: logo, bumper stickers, various styles for characters displays, a video panel for the shows background, closing credits and the show opener itself.
8 people in a production line producing the drawings
2 people animating in 3D
they used "just a rough drawing of the music boxes components and machinery, instead of a storyboard."
"The whole narrative is based on how a real music box would behave"
"Production and creative processes really go side by side in our working method; production being a matter of transforming the planning into the finished product, with every detail sharp and crystal clear."
Photoshop, After effects, Audition, Illustrator, 3D max
MTV A-cut, by foreign office
loose but simple brief: "To illustrate in the packaging of an MTV programme the process of taking an unknown band and 'making it into something'"
the studio "Hooked onto the concept of transformation and used this as its conceptual base."
existing audience of 15 - 25 year olds - attract them to a competition
"The Overall philosophy was one of inclusion, where they would feel compelled to participate: a creative process that targeted the inner vision, dreams and fantasies of the bands, brought to life through the use of animation over live action."
Had to keep within the established style within MTVs format.
initial presentations focuses on combing in illustration with live action. Client feedback shifted the focus towards characterisation reflecting the size of each bands ambition.
final presentations had the illustrations drawn straight onto the live action.
Moment and inspiration came directly from the footage
deliverables: Logo, identity, title sequence, bumpers (front and back clips that lead into and out of programming material) and an end board.
After effects, Flash, Wacom digital tablet
"We are surrounded by media: magazines, advertising, radio, television and the internet. Of these, television has the greatest impact."
ESPN NBA by V12
NBA were seeking "new and completely original in terms of basketball broadcast graphics."
"V12 tapped into the 'super-slick, stylish, jazzy roots of the NBA'. Swooping shapes, generals use of black negative space and creative typography are the hall marks of this package: 'high end billing for a cool and unpredictable sport'.
After effects, Illustrator, Photoshop, Avid symphony, Maxon Cinema 4D
Encore Networks by PMcD Design
a series of channels - one flagship and six genre titled
brief: to design the overall look and feel of the brand then use it to bring together all the networks.
"For the feature openers PMcD chose visually to play with iconic elements that are part of the cinematic experience for each genre while still articulating their relationship to the overall style. bold poster type, rich cinematography, vignetting, contemporary letterbox and complementary palettes were used to highlight the personality of each genre, while keeping a familial relationship to the Encore brand."
"original photography was primarily used to create iconic imagery for each genre."
"Animation of the logo into the scenes reflected the mood and tone of each genre."
"Editorial decisions were made early to allow tracking and rotoscoping of integrated graphics."
"A glossary of words and phrases captured each networks attributes."
After effects, Illustrator, Photoshop, Final Cut Pro, Quantel Paintbox
Starz Networks by PMcD Design
movie channel looking to brand the feature opens
"Establishing a new logo was crucial to the client."
similar to the Encore networks - One core brand with various genre tainted variants.
Focusing on a star (as suggested by the network title) "Compositing graphic elements with live action, we wanted to make these stars ignite, tease, beguile and energise us - much like big screen movie stars and events do."
"Each of the genre sub-brand feature openers are conceived in its appropriate cinematic style, in turns art-house, mysterious, soulful, absurd and late night cool."
"The design for each of the stars genre channels is strongly linked to the main service, while the palettes and live action clearly delineate their individual personae.
After effects, Illustrator, Photoshop, Avid, Flame, Soft Image XSI
MEGA by Velvet mediendesign
redesign of the MEGA channels identity
"The MEGA world is represented through its MEGAlicious lady with the MEGA logo, which morphes into five different creatures representing the strands of programming: Love, Joy, Curiosity, Desire and Suspense."
Discreet Flame
Arte TV, 10 ans, by Electrorouge
brief: "To create 'eye candy' credits to celebrate its tenth anniversary"
"Electrorouges design philosophy is to approach a project from the opposite view to that of the client, thereby bringing a fresh outlook to the entire proceeding."
"For this european cultural and niche market channel, the choice was difficult because of the enormous range of topics covered over those ten years, and I rather preferred to express a "happy smile". I decided to choose the marvellous graphic style in gouge at the time of my own tenth birthday in the early 1980s"
vector art shows the world "being discovered through the cultural medium that this TV channel represents."
"The process of gradual revelation was they key to the message: Arte is a channel that never failss to arouse the viewers curiosity."
"The sharp colours were chosen to convey an upbeat mood."
"To emphasise the process of revelation the studio directed this vector-based piece with simple motion effects: wipe and slide."
After effects, Digital editing station.