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Case study on developing a looping video animation for Boston, MA based ad agency to be shown on the Boston University Hockey Arena Jumbotron advertising 6 of their businesses near historic Fenway Park. The Lyons Group had several bars and restaurants on Boston's famous Lansdowne street. They had the 'Send It To Lansdowne' campaign underway, but they were missing a key component.
They needed someone to create a looping promo video video, the final piece of a big marketing push heading into Q4 of 2021. They needed to showcase 5 venues featuring sports, live music, stand up comedy, gaming, food, beer, & cocktails, to a predominantly college demographic.
Piece of cake, right?
There was just one catch, though. Due to this being used on campus, I wasn't allowed to show images of Alcohol, or of college kids drinking or partying to promote the venues. How do you say "we want you to come drink here" without showing college kids partying?
Challenge accepted...
Piece of cake, right?
There was just one catch, though. Due to this being used on campus, I wasn't allowed to show images of Alcohol, or of college kids drinking or partying to promote the venues. How do you say "we want you to come drink here" without showing college kids partying?
Challenge accepted...
Not being able to directly advertise alcohol and partying, we needed to capture the vibe of each of the venues.
Showcasing the atmosphere, food, and entertainment offerings, I suggested find the most eye catching scenery shots and delicious looking food photos, and intersperse them with animated environmental items found in each location.
All the locations were within a few blocks of one another, so the overall concept was 'Barhopping.' memories of a day drinking session of gaming & baseball rolling into an evening of bar hopping with friends for music, games, dinner, & drinks would likely be a bit blurry, with a few crisp moments.
I only had 20 seconds to get it done, so, aiming to capture the vibe, I used boldly saturated images, lots of eye trace movement, and quick transitions to illustrate the personality of each venue.
I only had 20 seconds to get it done, so, aiming to capture the vibe, I used boldly saturated images, lots of eye trace movement, and quick transitions to illustrate the personality of each venue.
It was time to do some style frames!
I was provided an asset library for each venue with photography & logos. there was no consistent branding across the venues, each having it's own unique flavor. The various logos were all thematically dissimilar as well, so putting it all together was a puzzle I needed to solve.
I suggested highlighting each location in its featured frames, while opening and closing the animation on the campaign slogan:
"Send It To Lansdowne."
First, I went into Photoshop and began to prepare the designs, selecting from the assets, cutting out and cleaning up the individual components that would animate. Once the prep work was completed, I set about designing the style frames themselves in their respective PSD files. I Did 2 frames for each venue, visually demonstrating movement in each scene.
First, I went into Photoshop and began to prepare the designs, selecting from the assets, cutting out and cleaning up the individual components that would animate. Once the prep work was completed, I set about designing the style frames themselves in their respective PSD files. I Did 2 frames for each venue, visually demonstrating movement in each scene.
After a couple rounds of revisions and some feedback from the team, the static creative was given the green light, and it was time to take the .PSD files into After Effects for animation. From there it was simply a matter of animating the components I'd already prepared in Photoshop.
Whenever possible, I build my AftEr Effects files in modular fashion, so certain things happen within certain comps, keeping things un-cluttered and making them easier to edit. Initially, based on their instructions I had the venues arranged in alphabetical order, as demonstrated in the style frame grid above.
after I sent in the first animation test the team requested that I re-order the venues based on which ones they favored more in-house, and had decided they also wanted a soundtrack.
No sweat, I could handle that too!
Whenever possible, I build my AftEr Effects files in modular fashion, so certain things happen within certain comps, keeping things un-cluttered and making them easier to edit. Initially, based on their instructions I had the venues arranged in alphabetical order, as demonstrated in the style frame grid above.
after I sent in the first animation test the team requested that I re-order the venues based on which ones they favored more in-house, and had decided they also wanted a soundtrack.
No sweat, I could handle that too!
The final piece of the puzzle was adding music and synching the animation up. They didn't give a ton of direction on the audio, allowing me freedom to find sounds I Thought would appeal to their target demographic. They also didn't have much extra budget for using hi-end commercial music, so I used Audio Jungle to find three options that wouldn't cost much to license.
From there it was just a matter of pushing some keyframes around within the various comps so that the timing of the animation fit the 3 audio options, and rendering them out in the proper format to fit the provided specs.
From there it was just a matter of pushing some keyframes around within the various comps so that the timing of the animation fit the 3 audio options, and rendering them out in the proper format to fit the provided specs.
When the time came for final review, the team selected their favorite of the three, and I wrapped it all up into a tidy package and delivered the final version to them via their provided google drive link.
This was a really fun project to work on which combined to things I absolutely love: Motion Design & Music!
If you'd like to know more about the person behind the work, there's a short bio about me at that link.
If you're interested in working with me on your projects, head over to the Contact Section and get in touch!
This was a really fun project to work on which combined to things I absolutely love: Motion Design & Music!
If you'd like to know more about the person behind the work, there's a short bio about me at that link.
If you're interested in working with me on your projects, head over to the Contact Section and get in touch!
