Backdoor Records Promo

We had the opportunity worked with a local client 'Backdoor Records', a record store in Johnson City, TN, to create a promotional video that they could use to advertise their store through thier social media pages. I worked as the Motion Graphics Artist for this project. Background Music Courtesy goes to Demon Waffle's " Undertow". Huge thanks the ETSU Digital Media faculty and peers, especially Professor Jacy Richardson, with their guidance and feedback for making this project a success.

Our group managed to win four American Advertising Awards(ADDY) from Northeast Tennessee region, which included one silver and two gold, as well as “best of show” in the student category.

Team Members and Roles

Weston Hooper: Concept Artist, Storyboard Artist, and Graphic Designer;
Stephen Overton: Modeling, Retopology, Texturing, Env. Set Up;
Jarrett McGill: Animation, Technical Art, Lighting & Rendering, Scene Support;
Maheen Pulak: Motion Graphics, VFX, Color Grading and Final Editing;

Here is breakdown of the whole project:

Motion Graphics:

I worked on the all 2D motion graphics sequences. We planned to keep the 80's retro VHS style. I tried to incorporate some of the effects throughout the sequence. Added Halftone texture to the background. Added Chromatic Aberration, grain and dust overlay to mimic the old CRT screen look. Here is a quick breakdown for thr fx and overlays I used, which in combination created the retro style we were going for.

The Intro starts with a Old TV turning on effect, I used Fractal noise to make that. I decided to animate a record player multiple ways throughout the intro and visualize all the promotional informations. In addition to that, I used audio visualizer and shape animations to follow the beats of the background music.

To achieve the transitioning from the intro to the 3D character animation sequence, we thought it would be cool to make the transition to make it like a portal. The intro ends with the Record shop logo, so the plan was to morph that frame to the character holding a vinyl cover. To achieve this look, I masked and scaled down the final frame to match the shape of vinyl cover. Additionally, I added Chromatic Aberration and created the lens distortion to mimic the portal like transition.

When the character turns on the record player, I wanted to add a visual feedback on response to that action. Therefore, I created a shockwave effect and split the RGB channels. Then, I rotoscoped the hand and placed the fx layer in between. The 3D animated renders were a bit over exposed. So, I color-correct the sequence to match other sequences.

Weston worked on the branding graphics and concept arts. He designed album cover arts, stickers, and wall graffities. You can find more of his work in his Artstation page.

3D Models & Textures:

Stephen was in charge of modelling the 3D environment and assets. He took multiple pictures of record store and created a 3D replica of it. Then, filled it up with crates and shelves full of albums. Software used: Autodesk Maya & Substance Painter.

Jarrett and Stephen worked together on texturing the 3D assets and environment. Jarrett was in charge of lighting the scenes in Autodesk Maya. Final render was done in Arnold. Please, visit their Artstation pages for more work.

3D Character Animation:

Weston created an animated storyboard to visualize the scenes. With the help of that, Jarrett shot a reference video using Go Pro. It was planned from the beginning to start it with a 1st person animated sequence. Here are all the sequences:

This project is very special for me as our group managed to win American Advertising Awards (ADDY) in 4 different catagories for students; including the 'Best of Show'. Big thanks to our professor Jacy Richardson, ETSU Digital Media Dept and the whole MFA lab. Special gratitude to Back Door Records for allowing us to work with them.