Ali Ali Thinks : My delicious thoughts!

RAF 2009 Addy Awards Intro from Dumbwaiter Design on Vimeo.

When a client approaches you and asks for an animation that is inspired by an existing one, things can get a bit tricky. When the RAF commissioned Dumbwaiter Design to create a show opener for the Rochester Advertising Awards of 2009 they had a particular theme in mind, Mad Men. Its a TV show about advertising in the early sixties and Imaginary Forces have created a signature title sequence for this TV show which won many awards for its originality and unique production value.

So I had much to think about in terms of keeping the originality of our work in mind while providing the client with a piece that matches their needs. The brainstorming session was held with Luke Alessi, a talented animator and designer who is fresh out of RIT. We came up with few different story-lines and ideas. People getting sucked out of the streets, floating objects, men and women falling off buildings and much more. Nothing clicked!

Then Luke brought up a great point. He mentioned that Mad Men was mostly critical of that era and how sexist, racist and homophobic it was. Mad Men explored the negativity of that time and our opener was really about a positive event that showcase the work of talented individuals and companies from the Rochester area. That might sound like a problem but as we kept talking about it we realized that it was a brilliant solution to our challenge.

We knew that creating the piece in a different graphic style was not enough to make it unique on its own. So the solution was to put a positive spin on it. Instead of a falling man we have a man falling then rising. Rising again to shine with energy and power that is much needed for these hard times. It all makes sense now. So we moved on with the idea and after a round of sketches and some photoshop compsitions later on, we were ready for animation. The end result was a unique piece that had its own deep positive thought and still managed to meet the client’s needs. Enjoy!

Tags: Addy Awards, Dumbwaiter Design, motion graphics, RAF

This entry was posted on Friday, May 8th, 2009 at 12:06 pm and is filed under Professional Work. You can follow any comments to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.