Gross Video References
These clips selected from our work show a wide stylistic range for discussion.
Theatre Camera Move
This is from a show we pitched a few years back - photocollage mixed with drawn and painted elements, comped in After Effects for parallax. There’s a vestigial dip to black partway through, please ignore.
Factory
Scanned etchings, strong tint, plenty of parallax: here’s a more graphic alternative to the photographic look of Theatre Camera Move above. Could also work as a background look for the scenes with Milty and Joey, like we’re in the inner workings of the theatre with them.
Small Things
More parallax, this time with geometric characters and a fully illustrated world. Good method for going into a side-story, like the Let there be Light scene, with the 19th Century British farmhouse family.
Photosynthesis
A set piece from the documentary Carbon: the Unauthorised Biography. It’s a two-and-a-half-D romp, we suited for Life Gets Big cell division and the like.
Cell Division
Another approach, more hand-drawn with FX, suited for Life Gets Big cell division and the like.
Jurassic Park
From the documentary Hunt for the Oldest DNA, this set piece could be inspiration for the second half of Life Gets Big (dinosaurs etc) or for
NFL FIlms Presents
A strong stylistic move, this look speaks to pop culture and a more aggressive moment in the script, like, say, Famous People on Television. The mix of collage and objects lends itself well to perspectival shifts liek the Chairman being larger than skyscrapers.
Pop-Up NYC
This dynamic collage/origami set piece was part of our Emmy-winning kids series Jam Van; picture it applied to storytelling like Growth, with giant paper thrunging engines and paper figures toiling away.
PayPal
A collage spot for PayPal, mixing photos, paintings, camera motion, and type. It’s a crazy flexible technique that works really well for unusual storytelling. Could work for the Magician’s First Trick, or the GDP Movie.
Kensington Market
This Heritage Minute mixes 2D and 3D, with loads of paint and photo texture. It’s an expensive method because it’s super labour-intensive, but it’s very rich. Maybe suited to major moments, like the ending Tables and Chairs song, for a BIG FINISH.
Rough Stage
One of the first jobs we did, for MuchMusic identity, Mounties uses rough cutouts in a totally homespun technique. This kind of blocky naiveté could work well for the Magician’s First Trick, or anything that calls for something rough and ready.
Surreal Stage
Loose cartoon approach to the Stage, this one for MTV. Suitable for more surreal scenes, this technique’s quite labour intensive, but it brings a lot of energy and intensity to the right moment.
Born Again
From Hunt for the Oldest DNA, this epiphany moment for the scientist is a good model for moments of wonder in Gross: the big camera move, teh transition in the eye, the beautiful pulsing background… could even be useful in a moment like the Chairperson’s intro to the GDP Movie - “I’m going to let you in on a secret: that is why you are here, no?” - camera pushes in on him closer and closer as he delivers his lines, then whip-trucks out as the air around him fills with numbers.
Kinetic Type
OK, a pizza ad is pretty far from a documentary… but the aggressive dynamic motion with decorative augmentations in paint and comp make for a pretty startling bit of showmanship. Could work for the later bits of the GDP Movie, with numbers and names and planes and bombs and all the rest flying through frame: it’s a great way to take straight storytelling and punch it WAY up at the right point.
Character A
Here’s a graphic approach to character and storytelling, from Hunt for the Oldest DNA. As reference for character design, this kind of figure has some nice economy of line and colour, it can be really expressive, and it’s got clarity. As for the non-character elements, there’s not a ton of motion in individual elements, it’s more in comp. That makes it cheaper to execute, and the method handles information delivery really well. The GDP Movie could work with this clean look.
Character B
This Kia ad features a fully rigged character made in Harmony (industry standard TV series software). It’s got texture, detail, lots of expressive character indicators. It’s a super robust way to go about animating characters with lots of dialogue and acting. She’s nothing like the Chairman, but the method, styled to BE the Chairman, would work really well.
Character C
Here’s Smirnoff ad inspired by Lichtenstein (!). The style, like Character B above, is fully rigged in Harmony, so it’s got all the robust expressive strength we need (although this example was deliberately animated in a more puppet-like, less fluid way than B). The look is more Adult Swim or Scooby Doo, with flat colour and strong outlines. It’s a classic cartoon look, less textural than B, more flexible for motion than A.
Hello!
A simpler approach from a promo video we made, featuring Bruce when he had a beard. This is puppeted semi-rigged animation created in After Effects. As you can see, there’s charcater and gesture, but it’s not as expressive or loose as some of the other techniques. Still, it’s got style.