🎬 Our 2024 demo reel was a huge leap out of our comfort zone, and we learned two valuable lessons along the way!
💡 1. When you're investing time into something, make sure you love it. ❤️
No shade to other creators but we noticed that many reels tend to look alike. Usually a title on a black screen, then right into it. These totally work, but we really wanted ours to stand out. So, we asked ourselves, "yo, how can this be dope AND fun to work on?" 🧐
This led us to choose Persona 5—an amazing JRPG that we absolutely love—as our inspiration. It's got wacky, slick, and unique graphic design, plus a groovy soundtrack. That style was ✨PERFECT✨ for the vibe we wanted to create. When you love something, it shows in your work, and that's why we chose to emulate Persona 5's IP. Which is good because geez this thing took a LOT of time and effort to pull together.
As creators, it's essential for us to keep pushing boundaries and trying new things.
Which leads us to the second biggest lesson learned...
🎨 2. Use pet projects as a way to develop new skills.
Chris might be a professional editor/motion designer, but that doesn't mean he's an expert illustrator. This project required a ton of sketches and designs to bring it to life.
We relied heavily on Midjourney to brainstorm ideas, characters, and layouts. The cat 🐈 featured in the video was born out of many variations until we finally captured the personality we envisioned. (PS--Real world inspiration by our sweet black cat Luna)
Chris spent countless hours on Procreate, refining each opening scene and crafting every character in the video.
Of course, if we had promised a fully hand-drawn video for a client with a 2-week turnaround, we'd be in trouble. There was so much learning during this journey, which extended our initial timeline for finishing the reel. The takeaway? We're a better studio now than we were then, but the learning curve for hand-drawn animation is REAL. ✏️
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Ultimately, this demo reel was an opportunity for us to have fun, showcase our favorite projects and the amazing people we've worked with, and pay homage to a game we adore. 💖
#persona5 #motiongraphics #videoproduction
🔐 Unlock the fun with Lucky Whisker and our new reel! 🎉
This year, we ventured a bit outside-the-box to create something uniquely enjoyable.
Every year, we get the opportunity to work with incredible intellectual properties like Disney and Marvel. One of our standout abilities is capturing a brand's essence and bringing it to life through motion graphics animation.
Persona 5 isn't just a fantastic JRPG; it boasts a downright groovy soundtrack and the most mesmerizing graphic design via presentation, menus, and transitions. Leveraging our core strength in IP emulation, we've crafted a reel in the vein of P5 that's fun, fast, and furiously highlights some of our favorite projects from the past year. This video is rich with detail and sprinkled with a few easter eggs if you look for them!
📢 Huge shoutout to all of the amazing, creative, and playful people we worked with last year, who help make Lucky Whisker a reality.
#videoproduction #motiongraphics #atlus #persona5
Head of Platform @First Momentum Ventures // Supporting tech startups to create the future // Ex-Author & Founder
1moI am so happy to see this come to life 🙌