The goal was to make something surreal but also something that could be shot in a studio.
Each camera animation has a constant velocity, always pushing the momentum forward and keeping the pace going. With each shot I try to find interesting shapes and symmetry then contrast the motion of the camera with the motion of the light. I really liked the look of each moving on different axes to each other or in opposite directions.
With each shot I also wanted to build mystery and slowly reveal more of the structure. I like the idea of seeing the details before the larger shot is revealed.
To make it look as if the energy from the light was warping, distorting and ramping the colour of the title, a combination of Sapphire DistortChroma, TexturePlasma and RackDefocus were animated in After Effects.
The ring is a mix of glass and emission. The emissive colour is driven by a colour ramp to add some realism to the florescent tube. The absence of light is also driven by a separate black and white ramp and a gradient texture feeds into them which is animated on the Z axis using a mapping node.
The audio was a combination of atmospheric bass rumbling as room tone, higher pitched gleams mixed with a warmer bass to represent the energy of the light. Those 2 tracks are both panned left to right to intergrade the audio with the visuals.
I wanted to music to really integrate into the animation and not only convey the mysterious tone but also match each camera cut, build on the closer shots, and finally resolve on the final wide shot. After watching the animation on a loop and blasting through my music library I found a small section of a track from Mr Robot that did just that.
