“INT. OFFICE BUILDING – DAY
Sitting behind a desk is ALEC, a mid 30s man, wearing a casual but stylish light-blue shirt. He’s focussed on his laptop. There’s no-one else besides him working in the office this early. Behind him, through the large office windows, we see buildings slowly light up as the sun rises. Long shadows are cast inside.
*A pop-up appears*
CUT TO:…”
Short one-minute explainer videos require the same thought and passion as long productions.
Tackling a complex project requires a good plan. A step-by-step guide to keep you on track toward a satisfying result. Things like a short screenplay, detailed concept sketches of objects, color tests, etc. All help add credibility to the world that tells your story and strengthens the message you want to convey. Rydoo is a business expense platform that helps modern companies to manage their business and travel expenses on the go and in real time.
A basic idea was in place. Now the locations and events had to be described as accurately as possible.
Turning ideas and words into visuals. How is it going to look? How will it move? Explaining a travel expense app required our main character to travel to multiple locations. Inside an office building, drinking coffee in a European cafe, and checking into a hotel.
Often the most fun part of a project. Just let your creativity run free. For the Rydoo short, I drew everything from office chairs to trains. As well as airport terminals, cars, coffee cups, fountains, etc.
The shape of the animation begins to take form here. We added colors based on Rydoo’s existing color pallet to create a more bright and more modern look. While Rydoo’s original illustrations sometimes felt cold and sterile, we wanted the movie to have a more warm and human feeling.
This was by no means a solo project. Its successful outcome was the result of a collaboration of several talented individuals. I took care of most concept work, storyboarding, and style frames. While 3D modeling, music creation, and animation were done by some fantastic colleagues, Sacha Krinstinsky, Alec D’Hondt, Su Ekin Demir, and Joren Brosens.
