I Live Here I Give Here

OVERVIEW
Austin-based nonprofit needs a 30-second ad to promote their flagship fundraiser called Amplify Austin Day.

DELIVERABLES
:30 television ad spot

TIMELINE
3 weeks with 1 additional week for social versions if approved.

CREDITS
Animator, Sound Editor, Music Supervisor

Pre-production:
Animatic

I began this project by importing elements provided by the client: a voiceover track (vo), 2D assets and a storyboard. Early on, I suggested a 12-fps format to create a stop-motion effect that matched the cut-out style of their branded graphics.

My first deliverable was an animatic rough cut that gave the client an impression of the final product. I laid out the slides to rough vo edits, then handed it off to the music composer. I instructed him to create a theme to correspond with each section in a three-act style.

Production Challenges

Unfortunately, the 2D assets given to me were not correctly formatted to work in Adobe After Effects (AE) and required additional prep in Illustrator. Leaning on my vector knowledge, I reformatted and exported 100+ graphics for migration into AE and I began animating.

The grackle was a key branding element for this campaign and they wanted it to animate. To bring it to life, I focused on animating the squawk and showing it land in frame.

The white solids emphasized important copy, so I used their hard angles to animate transitions between scenes. This choice opened up creative camera movements to guide viewers through information about the fundraiser.

Final Cut

Extra Credit:
Social Media Versions

Following final approval, the marketing director asked for social media formats to boost their mobile campaign spend. I transformed the original 16x9 aspect ratio into square and vertical frames, the former of which was easy to crop. However, the 9x16 orientation was tricky to achieve. The multi-panel flip transition, specifically, was a pain to realign. By the end of the project, I delivered three products that satisfied multiple channels of their marketing campaign for Amplify Austin Day, which raised $9.7 million for nonprofits in central Texas.