All-American Weekend Official Teaser

IN A WORLD...

All American Weekend is American University’s fall festival for parents and alumni to come to campus for events and activities. I was tasked with creating an over the top movie teaser, but with the specified AU branding integrated in.

The main issue was the copy. Up until the final render, the text had to be dynamic because it hadn’t been locked down yet. As such instead of using a dedicated 3D package like Cinema 4D, I decided to use Video Copilot’s Element 3D. With a combination of material reflectances and colored lights, I created the final extruded look. Add in another layer of Element triangles from the branding and Particular stars and circles and the project made itself.

I was also responsible for keying out Clawed (AU’s Mascot), and giving him his sparkler. We shot outside to make lighing easier, and to give his eyes a complicated reflection. For safety reasons we didn’t have sparklers on set, so he was actually holding a coffee stirrer. The tip of the stirrer was difficult to track and in the end had to be hand tracked. The sparkler look was created by randomizing stock photos flashing and fading out with an additional particular layer for motion. Another challenge was getting the sparklers to appear on the white background. An additive blending mode wasn’t going to cut it. Even before the shadows were added to mimic a studio environment, It was a fun challenge to overcome.

All in all, this was a fun and interesting project to work on.