january 21st, 2012: check out my new google tv ads motion project. client.     google director.     david bryant writer.     david bryant producer.     christine allen art direction.     alex varanese animation.     alex varanese sound design.     alex varanese To give Google's targeted, metrics-driven advertising technology a memorable introduction to the world of TV, director/writer David Bryant wanted to contrast the profound evolution that television has undergone in the last half century with the sluggish pace at which TV advertising has advanced. As such, the first half of the piece is a tour of televisions themselves, from the clunky wooden boxes of the 40's and 50's to the sleek flat panels of today. Along the way, brief motion graphics pieces capture the essence of each era, starting with the infamous indian head test card, moving into the colorful but ham-fisted world of animation in the 60's and 70's, careening through the laser grids and neon pink script of the 80's, and finally settling on the obnoxious excess of modern-day cable news packaging. We then zoom out to reveal a patchwork of televisions arranged as a single video wall, at which point narration and animated infographics take over. I approached the animation in three basic phases. First was the tactile environment of the video wall itself, built haphazardly from a collection of original TV models created to summarize their respective decades. The second phase introduced the motion graphics pieces housed within each TV. Video from each period was studied to capture the quirky styles of yesteryear and, ideally, capture that spirit in an authentic way. Finally, the VO was used to guide a modern-day infographic treatment seen through the fractured window of the video wall. The Google brand drove the look of this section, with its primary colors and flat, vector-style iconography. The last step was sound design. David collected period-appropriate music to hilariously bring each era to life while I laid down effects, atmosphere and a subtle layer of digital bleepiness. As a final step, I handled requests to "edit" the video wall's music by producing a full-fledged remix; what began as an unnecessarily epic rave anthem was re-imagined as tighter, more focused electro with a new bassline and stompier, clearer beat. The result played better beneath the VO while maintaining an energetic but conversational vibe. copyright © 2008-2012 alex varanese. all rights reserved.