Self-Recording Explainer Video

Client: Jewish United Fund (JUF)
Script, Storyboards, Additional Illustration, Character Rigging, Animation, and Audio Editing/Mixing: Scott Fairchild
Character Design, Room Design, and random other assets: Getty Images
Voice Over Artist: Julie Granata- Hunicutt
Software Used: After Effects: Character Animator, Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere Pro, Audition

I was very excited to work on this project as it was my first opportunity to take a leadership role in every aspect of the project from kickoff to delivery.

FULL project breakdown

PHASE 1

Brief: Create a motion graphics video that anyone can use to record themselves at home and get the best recording possible for use in events and promotional videos.

When the pandemic hit the production team could not go out anymore to record interviews, so a lot of people had to start recording themselves. Since not everyone is that experienced with self-recording, we thought it would be a good idea to make an explainer video that showed them how.

I was tasked with writing a script, storyboarding the animations, and animating it to send out to clients to film themselves. I sat down and thought through the important steps needed to get quality videos and started laying them out. Once I had my script written up I worked with my supervisor, Daniel Vitale, to add any missing details. Once he approved the script I sketched out some storyboards.

PHASE 2

I went with a 2D flat vector look with shadows for the look. So I started to make my style frames in Illustrator.

PHASE 3

When it came to animation most of it was done using After Effects but Character Animator was used for any rigging/lip-syncing animations seen on the phone screen. This was my first time using Character Animator and it was a good learning experience as I had to learn to adapt my character to be rigged and animated within the program.

Once we were happy with the animation, I then moved on to Premiere for sound, any remaining editing, and final export. I had the voiceover work done by Julie Granata-Hunicutt, a professional voiceover artist. I fixed any small issues in Audition, sent it back to Premiere to fix any remaining pacing issues, and chose music that I thought worked with the flow of the project.