"Fresh Delivery" for Plumtv.com

So this has been a really great week here at the H.macdo Studio. I've just completed a new spring promo for Plumtv.com in NYC. This was an incredibly fun project and client to work with. I'm happy to see it come into full fruition as Spring is certainly in full bloom this week! Stay tuned as I am excited to be working on several really cool new projects and commissions for later this Spring and Summer.

H.macdo Animation & Illustration Studio presents a brand new Spring 2010 motion graphics promo spot for client: Plumtv.com in New York City. All design elements, artwork, original concept development and animation created by H.macdo Animation & Illustration Studio for Plumtv.com. Original logo created by Plumtv.com

Tools used: Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, AfterEffects and Flash.

Music credit: audio track is "Fresh Delivery" off the Plumtv audiosocket library. The authors are Captain Planet off the Bastard Jazz Sync Disc 2.

Plumtv

Here are some AfterEffect stills from the Plum spot I have been working on this week. Not going to post animation just yet as I am working with the client now to wrap final details and notes. I'm also trying to find the appropriate music today. I want some thing electronica with a world beat vibe and some thing that I won't have copyright issues with. It's a tough one. It's truly shaping up nicely. I can't wait to share!

Plumtv.com: Think of all the possibilities

Oh Friday and I'm all over the place. I just had to post some thing that was NOT purple! I am wrapping up a week of creating artwork for the Plum spot. While scanning artwork, cleaning up images and silhouetting, I am beginning to experiment with my ideas for animation in AfterEffects. Also starting to think about what kind of music would best suit this piece. hmmmmmm. Suggestions?

Every thing is coming up purple!

Quickly scanned in some watercolor washes I've been working on today.







There are six of these quick washes that represent the various blooms of fashion, culture and destinations for the Plum brand. I'll work on refining these more tomorrow, I want to bring these watercolor washes back into the commercial world. I don't want this piece to start looking too soft or washed out (ha ha ha). I'm already thinking about how to contrast these with some harder vector lines and tweak these a little bit for an edgier look, but for today I quite like these raw scans. Tomorrow, I also want to resolve the technique that I will use to animate these as part of a blooming flower on a tree.

Plumtv.com Tuesday April 6

I started creating and inking the flower bloom for the very beginning of the storyboard. There are 18 of these drawings in all and I do love getting back to using India ink. I also like switching it up and being away from the computer for a while.

Just some testing in AE with the tree illustration to begin visualizing the shot that pans through the middle of the storyboard. Thinking about how many of the branches really need the detailed texture pattern.

I started to build up the tree illustration for the background. Now, I know I could have used the live trace option but it did not give me enough of the refined look I was going for. I would have spent more time cleaning it up to my liking. Also, I wanted to build the tree in specific sections for 3d layering in AfterEffects.

Plumtv.com 10 second animation spot

The challenge is to "Create a mood that brands Plum as THE on-air and online destination for an “insider’s guide” to our markets, in some of the most extraordinary and beautiful locations in the country." -Plumtv.com creative brief

That said, I want to give the viewer the idea that while these beautiful plum blossoms are blooming and splattering in paint all over the tree, a few of the flowers begin to morph into a fashion figure, people playing sports, or the silhouette of exotic destinations.

The biggest challenge for me this week is going to be tackling the production side of this piece, creating the backgrounds, the illustrator artwork, hand-drawn art and watercolor washes. I need to be diligent each day to stay on track so I am going to do my best to post my progress here each day to keep me going!

Through out the week I will be creating all new artwork for the 10 second spot I am designing and animating. One of the things that stood out for me in the creative brief was a tie into the seasons, which right now is going to be spring. While pondering spring themes and upon further investigation, I learned a little bit about how the plum grows on small trees and actually has really beautiful blooms each season in the early spring. In keeping with ideas listed in the Plum creative, my concept quickly became all about "Blooming", "Spring" and "Spring renewal" and "living life to the fullest... bloom". In my storyboard everything is blooming: culture, the arts and out door sports.

click image to enlarge

The first frame starts with a close up of a plum flower bud blooming into a beautiful plum flower. The camera zooms back quickly to show other flowers blooming and the branches of a tree start to draw themselves onto the screen. Some of the flowers that bloom are represented by a quick splattering of paint onto the screen. The camera continues to pull back but then quickly starts to pan left to right. While the camera is panning and the flowers are blooming suddenly several of the flowers begin to morphing into different elements that represent the Plum brand, fashion, outdoor sports, and beautiful locations. As they pass by on the screen they go into full bloom showcasing each element of Plum and then morph back into smaller blooms on the tree. In the end, the blooms fly away from the tree leaving one plum that the camera quickly zooms into as it rotates to reveal the final Plumtv logo.