DIRECTOR / ANIMATOR / ART

For this project, I was just given the narration with no instructions other than to do something quick and easy, possibly "a tour through a house". As I started conceptualizing it and fooling around with developing art for it, I started liking the idea of just keeping it around the exterior of the house. At some point I started fixating on the idea of "checking in on pets" as being a potentially interesting visual gag (what exactly would pets be up to?). This led to the idea of the dog helping himself to some fine spirits and before I knew it, I had drawn a little party hat on him and spent an inordinate amount of time animating an olive that falls out of his martini glass (that no one I've shown it to has ever noticed). 

I had pretty much everything in place, but was enjoying adding in random details so I built up a 3D bird rig out of primitive objects (circles, cones, etc.) just for a little more visual interest early on. Since I didn't want him to be on screen for only a few seconds, I was trying to think what else I could do with him. This progressed into him essentially provoking the early camera moves. His flight down to the roof seems almost to beckon the camera to push in, which sets up the appearance of the thief. He shuffles and then flies to the right, motivating the camera move up to the burning attic. 

Random Notes:

• I didn't cast or preside over the voice-over talent for this video, but I was in charge of finding appropriate music for it. I remember thinking, yeah, this should probably just be one of those cliched "explainer video" songs with a ukulele and hand-claps. The song I found to license was called "Clapping Ukulele". Perfect.