Final Design
Press play to watch the video.
(And please note that we wrote this song in middle school).
Design Challenge
Problem
Creating growth around our new single with limited budget, and without access to promotion via live shows.
Our 6-feet-apart rehearsal space.
Solution
Developing an animated music video, with the help of fans across the world.
Video incorporating fan artwork.
Project Overview
Brief
How can we promote the band's new single, while in lockdown?
Band members: Noah Rozansky (Bass), Brady Ward (Drums), Oli Litner (Guitar/Vox) and Julien Silvas (Guitar/Vox)
My Role
Creative director of the band:
01. Developed concept for this campaign.
02. Directed video creation process, coordinating with fans and band members, and leading strategy.
03. Acted as director, lead animator, producer and video editor.
02. Directed video creation process, coordinating with fans and band members, and leading strategy.
03. Acted as director, lead animator, producer and video editor.
Client
My high school band — Pushing Veronica.
(Logo design by Brian Steele Medina).
Goals
Developing a sense of connection with fans, against the background of quarantine isolation.
Challenges
Running a band and a social media account can be very expensive.
In the past we’d worked with professional music video directors, and found that these looked great, but didn’t speak to fans on an emotional level — thus they didn’t move the needle.
It’s critical to create content that’s low-budget, and as
stretchable for growth as possible.
stretchable for growth as possible.
Covid-19 severely limited our options.
We were unable to produce a video in all conventional ways—
with sets, actors, etc.
with sets, actors, etc.
Research
Findings
The punk genre relies on cult followings, and personal connections with fans.
Punk rock is niche.
Building an audience depends on building a personal connection with this group of self-perceived outsiders.
Punk rock often does not make it into the top charts in America.
Successful bands have a core of evangelist fans.
These fans feel heard and personally invested in the growth and success of the band. They feel the band speaks for them and cares about them.
Touring is how we connected with fans in the first place, but now this is not possible.
Inspiration
Process
Music videos from PUP made us feel special as fans.
Videos can showcase that a band cares about their fans.
The focus on storytelling — how PUP went from living in a fan to playing festivals — takes viewers on a journey and makes them feel personally invested in the success of the band.
"Dark Days" by PUP
Their use of fan-generated content was inventive, and fans were delighted to participate.
Each fan provided an entirely different take on the song and its genre — our fans are likely just as creative, individual, and inspiring.
PUP asks fans to submit covers of their song, despite them never having heard it before.
Development
Process
We utilized online communities and platforms to connect with existing and new fans.
Strategies for generating content included: Instagram, YouTube, Discord, and Twitch Coordination
Findings
Fans loved having a direct conversation with us through our livestreams.
Fans deepened their sense of community, sending artwork back and forth, and ideating together on how to create this video.
The request for artwork galvanized existing, and new, fans to demonstrate their support in ways we never expected.
Strangers we’d never met were excited to take part in this project.
Development
Overview
We were thrilled at the creative license of fan submissions.
Findings
Our fans were incredibly creative, prolific, and showed a deep sense of connection.
We were so inspired at the level of detail and originality in each piece of artwork.
Challenges
The images lacked an engaging and connected throughline.
All the content felt fun and creative on its own, but disparate and disjointed when seen together.
This must be true to PV's brand.
Counter-culture, playful, youthful, unabashedly fun.
Development
Findings
Rotoscoped live performance would allow us to tie the rest of the imagery together.
This provides a bridge between animation and live-action imagery.
Incorporating frame-by-frame animation provides a humanist and personal touch.
This arduous process proved rewarding in fostering a feeling of human connectedness.
Rotoscoping by bassist Noah Rozansky
Findings
Adding motion to still images further enhances the personal touch.
Goals
To make the art contributors feel even more valued and connected to the process.
Animating these still images highlights our genuine appreciation and reverence for the detailed contributions we received.
To create moments of transition within the video.
I felt that these photographs could be a great transition point, as the camera could zoom through them and join into the next scene.
Drawing people into the world of the video.
The added detail in every frame contributes to a feeling that this world of inanimate drawings comes to life.
Story
Overview
We refined the story to be uplifting and emotional.
Next Steps
We must revise initial story ideas felt hollow, and uninspired.
These early ideas related to a sense of angst and loneliness in the song. However, they felt incongruent with the joy of developing this video with fans all over the world.
This video must be about celebrating our relationships, and how music unites people.
We created an uplifting storyline, where we learn to value the connections we have with each other as bandmates, and the journey we've taken with our fans.
Art by co-vocalist Julien Silvås
This story requires us to build a world the audience can inhabit.
The placement of customized 3d models in this environment makes the environment feel lived-in. Utilizing After Effects and Cinema 4d, I believe that the world-building here creates a feeling like this is a real place with real history, even if it's all made up of drawings and digital assets.
Next Steps
We can provide the video with a sense of momentum and a destination.
Our idea to journey towards 'Planet Love' allowed us to create this space motif, and add our personal touch to the universal hero's journey.
Development
Goal
Creating tension and release.
This moment of tension will lead to a satisfying ending. We created anxiety with techniques, like speeding up the frame rate as images pop onto the screen, flashing colors, and shaking the camera in post.
Reflection
This moment is one of my proudest.
During this climactic section, the spaceship system breaks down. It starts to spit out images from our history as a band, since middle school.
I feel that this moment somehow is quite emotional and resonant, and makes the madcap energy of the rest of the video feel poignant — we're celebrating our history together.
I feel that this moment somehow is quite emotional and resonant, and makes the madcap energy of the rest of the video feel poignant — we're celebrating our history together.
Reflection
Learnings
Story is unbelievably important. Next time, we must plan the emotional arc immediately.
It's critical to plan a scope ahead of time, and focus on quick wins, as some of our efforts here were quite arduous. Though I do feel that all effort was paid off in the end.
It's critical to plan a scope ahead of time, and focus on quick wins, as some of our efforts here were quite arduous. Though I do feel that all effort was paid off in the end.
Successes
Strengthened community around the band.
Connected people across the world.
Received more art submissions than expected.
Grew our audience with new evangelists, proud to have been involved in this.
Kept fans coming back to future shows and releases.