6. The Gravel Institute
‘‘
2020
Adobe After Effects
Following my work on the presidential campaign, I became involved with The Gravel Institute as they concepted, produced and launched. As the cornerstone of each video would be animations helping to break down and bolster complex topics, the job was not only important but exciting and creatively stimulating.
The first project, above, was the launch video. As this video was intended to introduce the internet to the Institute, it carried a lot of creative weight. I was given freedom to create my own concept and direct myself, and I elected to go for a video in a tone that was both surreal and forboding, to reflect what I felt about public and political discourse in the current moment. We also reached out to H. Jon Benjamin, who agreed to provide us a voiceover track. It was very thrilling to be able to animate to such a recognizable voice. The whole thing was concepted and produced in about two weeks (I would have loved more time, but it is what it is.)
The launch video racked up over 3 million views on Twitter and nearly a million more on other websites.
Since then, I have produced animations for multiple videos from start to finish - performing all concepting, design and execution. Each video reliably reaches hundreds of thousands of viewers through multiple online platforms. It has been up to me to determine what design aesthetic permeates these early videos, and I developed a style that I hoped would be modern, simple to produce, enjoyable to watch, and distinctive, as we worked to establish a voice in the crowded field of online media.