Licensing original and pre- cleared music for film, television and interactive media. Universal Production Music (UPM), formerly known as Killer Tracks, is a company that produces and licenses production music for use in film, television, advertising and interactive media. The company was founded in Hollywood, California, in 1989 with an original catalog of 30 CDs. Today, the UPM's catalog contains over 2,000 CDs of music from 21 global libraries including Atmosphere, Killer Tracks, Koka, Match, and Network Music.
Design Challenge
To create an abstract visualization of one of the new musical releases from the Universal Production Music studio. The animation visually interprets the music while introducing the name of the release. The project required both an animation and album cover for the release of the music.
Research
When I started this brief, I had time in my schedule for the project to meet with Kelly Warner our on-Campus Music Producer. We discussed our views on the music options and how we perceived them, how they made us feel and respond. Later that week, I selected my music and had my first official meeting with universal productions music.
After selecting the track, my thought process was to ask other students, members of faculty, my own family, and some friends outside of college what they thought about when they heard the music and how it made them feel. Interestingly I heard similar messages, and everyone got similar “Vibes” from the music.
After the music/song was selected, I did research on the artists and the style of music (a “energetic UK Jungle beat”). Jungle beats were from Britain and showing up in the underground scene and in city parties. Combining the fast pace of the beats and the city scapes, with concert visual lights is how I came to the concept I decided to animate for this project. Overall based on the research I decided that making sure the animation was abstract; while using a nighttime, city vibe was the focus of the concept.
Design Idea 1- Neon Race
Neon Race: Animate a race between 2 or more cars in downtown city with lights and en emphasis on movement and high speed.
Escape to the future: Animate a futuristic Roller Coaster where each beat lights up buildings, signs, and street elements in neon colors. The entire coaster could move rhythmically, creating the sensation that the city is alive and pulsing with the music.
Reference
Abstract Color Waves: Imagine waves of vibrant colors, like sheets of silk or flowing water, moving and morphing in rhythm. Each beat triggers a new pulse of color that spreads, changes, or combines with others, creating a dynamic, visually rich flow of hues that paint the space around them.
Reference
Reference for Design
Reference
Design Idea 2- Escape to the future
Design Idea 3- Abstract Waves
Design 1 - Photorealism
Characteristics: Photorealistic 3D renders with added stylization to emphasized the music.
Why it Works: To appeal to the audience that the animation is hitting.
Design Elements
Color
Glowing Neon Colors to showcase this bright vibrant city that aligns with the vibe of the music, and the goal of the brief
Styleframes
Selected Design Photorealism
2nd Pass
After requesting to make this more abstract, several scenes were changed to achieve this “Abstract vision.
4th Pass
1st Pass
An Initial pass with barely any scenes rendered, mainly used to showcase my initial plan for the motion
3rd Pass
More effects added to the animation to represent sounds better, i.e. the change in color to represent the voice.
Almost a complete render used to showcase the scenes with more lighting and depth.
Technical Execution
This project was completed primarily in Cinema4D, and I will explain the process on how each part of this animation was created. To summarize, I created the race track in Cinema4D, then utilizing greyscale gorilla’s city assets, I was able to build the rest of the environment in cinema4D. I took the renders straight from Cinema into NukeX, where I added the “shake effect” to make it feel like a car chase to match the intensity of the music. With some final adjustments and post processing in AE, I was able to create a very visually appealing way to showcase the “Miami street & club feel”
Learning and outcomes
This project taught me how to render efficiently while working on scenes, how to appropriately use color, how to mix, combine and “create” sound within animation to make it feel like it fits together naturally. After struggling to get a solid plan, I decided to relax a little, embrace the assignment and just experiment to see what felt right. This means spending hours testing with color, composition, type, all to create a project that feels right for the brief. This new perspective helped me realize how important it is to just try new things, to be open and original, and not be so literal with Ideas. It has allowed me to see everything, not just motion design, in a new light.
