MICROSOFT BUILD 2022 - An annual virtual conference
that shares information on new products/features for existing products
Role: Art direction and Design
Software: Adobe After Effects, Adobe Illustrator
Transitions - These are example transitions to be utilized when presenting
About The Client
Microsoft is a multinational technology company that specializes in consumer electronics, computer software, and online services.
Microsoft's Mission: To empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.
The Challenge
Create a 30 second opener for a virtual tech conference that expresses the purpose and feel of emerging technology.
Timeline: 6 weeks = 12 meetings
Target Demographic: Developers and techies with an intense passion and brand loyalty.
How Was The Design Problem Solved
My concept came about just talking with my dad about my project one night and talked about having the logo animate by launching. That was the moment when I thought: "Hey, a rocket parallels with Microsoft's mission and branding. It's clean, easy to use/straight forward, while inspirational."
Concept: "Power at your fingertips at the push of a button"
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BEHIND THE SCENES
Animatics
An animatic is showing rough animation to gain a sense of timing
Initial Animatic
Second Pass
Revisions made based on meeting with the client and my art director
Audio Mixing
What Are The Four T's?
Tuning - What should the audio sound like?
Timbre - What type of instruments do we need to be hearing?
Timing - How should the pacing of the audio be?
Intensity - When should the audio pick up? Become louder or softer?
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How Did This Apply To My Piece?
Tuning - Wonder, exploration, joy, humanity, hope, vast, innovation, technology
Timbre - Blend of acoustic instrumentation (orch/chamber), synthesizer/hybrid instruments
Timing - 112bpm - simplistic, easy, straightforward- determined, rocket story arc
Intensity - Driving, crescendo and ‘lift off/launch’ at keypress ~ :06. Booming, another crescendo and drop before ending logo (we might be in outer space and suspended there prior to the final impact of the logo landing).
The pictures above and to the right are from mixing the final Audio in the Audio Suite in collaboration with Kelly Warner. The breakdown of our sessions were as follows: (credits to Kelly for the audio editing)
Meeting 01 - Introduce the project/Walk through the four T's
Meeting 02 - Bringing different tracks from royalty free site that sound appropriate according to the four T's to listen and start mixing.
Meeting 03 - Feedback/Check-In
Meeting 04 - Revising Track according to client (condensing it down to 15 seconds)
Meeting 05 - Final Audio look-over/Final Finessing
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Challenges Faced
I struggled to come up with visuals in the beginning phases of this project, but through more research, meeting with Kelly to figure out audio, and communicating with my art director I had a better direction to branch off from. I've also faced technical challenges. I started out with executing in 3D to stay on brand and through my research, however, I had to pivot to cater to my strengths due to the the given deadline in order to make this project meet the deadline. Communication and deep research has been a key theme to help overcome these challenges.
Result
In conclusion, I was able to conceptually create a virtual conference opener for Microsoft along with accompanying transitions and a full mock up.
This project was a great opportunity to work with Microsoft and explore in depth how to analyze a brand and pivot to still make something unique while still aligning with the brand.
Transitions - These are example transitions to be utilized when presenting
Meeting With The Client
I was given the opportunity to meet with one of the art directors of Microsoft, Alexis Copeland, who gave feedback and information in regards to Microsoft's aesthetic.
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"Major Pivot Point: After meeting with the client, I had to condense what initially was 30 seconds of animation down to 15 seconds. "