Music Video Combines 2D and 3D to Create Cardboard Cutout Look

Director Dael Oates of Animal Logic explains the process of creating the animated music video for Under the Cherry Tree by Australian band Telemetry Orchestra.
Sydney digital production company Animal Logic has created a stylized world for Australian band Telemetry Orchestra’s latest music video, "Under the Cherry Tree."

Watch the video…

…and then listen to the Director's Commentary.

The video clip is a four-minute allegory that explores the obstacles of love. Two characters travel on two different trains in parallel worlds; the boy from a dirty city, and the girl from a beautiful cherry tree orchard. They end up crossing into each other’s worlds and desperately try to stop their trains so they can be together, but end where the other began.

The concept for the video involved a team of 3D and 2D artists at Animal Logic. Illustrator Matt Boug came on board to collaborate with Dael on the storyboard and design illustrations of the characters and environments.

The digital environments were constructed and lit as if it were a cardboard model. 2D camera moves were used to move through the spaces inhabited by the characters and to link the two worlds. The animation was created primarily with Maya 7, supplemented by the MayaMan plug-in and Animal Logic wrote some custom scripts to automate part of the modeling pipeline. Adobe After Effects 6.5 was used for all the compositing and the final grade was done in Autodesk Flame. All the textures were done in Adobe PhotoShop.

CREDITS:

Client: Telemetry Orchestra / Undercover Music
Prod Co: Animal Logic
Producer: Victoria Taplin
Director: Dael Oates
Illustrator: Matt Boug

3D Lead: Feargal Stewart

Compositors AfterFx: Dael Oates, Peter Jeffs

Compositor Flame: Nick Ponzoni