I thought I'd share my latest music video which was created almost entirely in AE.
The singer's PR team asked me for some information about the creative process etc which I've copied below in case it's of interest to anyone.
It was produced in collaboration with art director Cathy McDougal from The Rabbit Hole Group.
Cathy's vision for the music video being set in a puppet theatre really fired my imagination, as I loved art and craft when I was a child - I made my own cardboard theatres, and loved TV programmes like 'Button Moon' when I was young. I spent my teenage years involved in amateur dramatics too, so this project was a chance to relive my youth!
Whilst it would have been great to construct and film a real puppet theatre for the music video, it would have been very difficult to do a good job in the short timeframe (about two weeks) and with only Cathy and I working on the video. So it was all animated on computer using After Effects, but we were determined to make it feel as authentic as possible by using real-world textures and objects throughout the video.
For example, the origami birds, flowers and stars which appear in the video were all handmade and photographed or filmed. Cathy drew some of the artwork from scratch, and some started out as stock imagery which was then adjusted to fit our needs. I then added a paper texture to the vector artwork in Photoshop before importing into After Effects.
For each of Cathy's ideas in the storyboard, I tried to find a way to make the 'mechanics' work in a way that could work in a real-world puppet theatre - for example, adding strings and sticks to characters and scenery, and making some of the movement a bit wobbly and random to suggest the show is being operated by human hands.
To make the scenery 'magically' change from monochrome into colour, I used lighting effects, as this would be the obvious way to achieve an effect like that in theatre. So to make the leaves appear on the trees, I made them light up as though they were green pealights. To make the flowers change colour, I put a torch bulb in the middle of my origami flower and filmed the lamp fading up, then coloured the footage in After Effects.
When the 'rocket plans' backdrop comes down in front of the bunnies I wanted to smooth the transition, and came up with the idea of making the backdrop start off semi-transparent and then become opaque, similar to 'gauze' backdrops used in theatre which become opaque when they are lit from the front and the light behind is dimmed.
For a rocket launch scene in a real theatre you would no doubt use a smoke machine to add atmosphere, but in a small puppet theatre I figured we needed something paper-based, and came up with the idea of having smoke cloud shapes moving as though they were driven by a mechanical/motorised system.
For the journey to the moon I tried to create the look of a scene lit by ultraviolet lights with all the props painted in fluorescent colours, which you often see in theatre productions.
The theatre frontage was the only component that wasn't 'flat' - it was modelled in Maxon Cinema 4D but rendered within After Effects via Video Copilot's Element 3D plugin. Although it's not that noticeable in the video, the theatre was textured to look like painted wood - I used colours from the album artwork which gives some continuity between the music videos for the album.
The only live action components were Peyton's head, the lips, the puppeteers hands and the audience members which were all shot against a green screen at "Studio Manchester" which is close to my studio in Manchester City Centre. It was a simple shoot using a 4K DSLR camera (Panasonic DMC-GX80). Large quantities of green facepaint, and a green neoprene 'bib' were used to isolate our model's lips and Peyton's head!
Something that has impressed me both times I've worked with Peyton on music videos is his ability to switch on 'performer mode' as soon as he's in front of the camera, and even when his movement is limited to just his face he manages to pack so much character and expression into his performance which really brings our paper puppet to life.
The Cartoon Effect within After Effects was applied to Peyton's face which helped blend him into our paper world, and also gave some continuity from the video for When They Go Low which also used that effect.
The 'Burning Moon' scene was particularly tricky because there was so much action to cram into a just one very short scene. To help maintain focus I decided to use the camera to gradually reveal the stage set, in contrast to the rest of the video where I've used simple camera movements and framing to maintain the feeling of watching a theatre show, where you can see all of the action at once.
I particularly enjoy adding layers of detail into a video like this, which people might not notice the first time they watch it. For example, in the 'Burning Moon' scene, I created a couple of alien backing singers to stand behind Peyton and 'sing' part of the song!
With me in Manchester, Cathy in London, and Peyton constantly travelling around the world performing, I use
http://Frame.io for sharing and reviewing the video as I worked on it.
Frame.io has been (working) life-changing for me - it's well thought-out and easy to use, allowing my clients and collaborators to comment on specific frames of a video, even allowing them to 'paint' directly on a frame to illustrate their comment. I can then work through their comments, checking them off as I implement any changes and upload a new version. It's so much quicker, easier and neater than using file-sending services and emails.
The two music videos that I've produced with Cathy for Peyton have actually been the first time I've collaborated directly with another designer in my 12 years working as a motion graphics designer, and it's been a really enjoyable experience. Peyton introduced us, with the idea that we'd compliment each other well and it couldn't have worked out better. Cathy's great at coming up with original (and crazy) ideas for a story - ideas which would never have crossed my mind - and I find it very easy to take these ideas and bring them to life. We've already started work on another collaboration, but I can't say any more about that for now!
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Phil Bearman
Phil Bearman Creative Media Solutions
Motion Graphics Design
PhilBearman.co.uk
0161 236 2581 - 9am-5pm, Monday-Friday
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