Preludes Mixed Media Animation by Matthew Rankin

Preludes Mixed Media Animation by Matthew Rankin is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2020 Mubairo weSimbi we A' Design Award in Firimu, Vhidhiyo neAnimesheni Competition Category.

SimbiFirimu· 2020

Preludes Mixed Media Animation

by Matthew Rankin

Client: Matthew Rankin

Mubairo weSimbi we A' Design Award Winner in Firimu Category

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Colors

The Design

About Preludes Mixed Media Animation

Preludes ianimeshoni pfupi ye mixed media inobva pandima ine zita rakafanana yakanyorwa naT.S. Eliot. Bhaisikopo iri rinotora minitsi imwe nemasekondi masere uye rinosanganisa mifananidzo yaEliot nemimhanzi yakagadzirwa patsva. Zvakaitika zvinobatanidzwa nedingindira uye nemutinhimira zvichisiyana neyakangwara mumwe basa remaonero. Basa iri rinosanganisa 2D ne3D animeshoni, yakagadzirwa muCinema 4D, ikagadzirwa neRedshift uye ikabatanidzwa muAfter Effects. Maonero ekudenga anochinja kuenda kunzvimbo dzemumugwagwa, apo vanhu vanopfuura vamwe vari seri kwezvidzitiro. Animeshoni iyi inofungisisa nezveupenyu hwemazuva ano ichishandisa rugwaro rwekare.

The Recognition

About the Mubairo weSimbi we A' Design Award

Mubairo weSimbi we A' Design Award wakahwinwa ne Preludes Mixed Media Animation, rukudzo runokudzwa runopiwa kumadhizaini akanaka anozadzisa zvinodiwa zvehunyanzvi neyeindasitiri zvinotarisirwa kuzvigadzirwa zvakagadzirwa zvakanaka. Vakunda veSimbi vanoratidza unyanzvi hukuru, hunyanzvi hwakakwirira, kunzwisisa kwevakachenjera uye kugona kwekugadzira kwevagadziri vavo. Preludes Mixed Media Animation inotarisirwa kuva chigadzirwa chinokudzwa zvakanyanya, chinoremekedzwa uye chinodiwa, chinoshanda uye chine zvitsva. Dhizaini iyi yakahwina Mubairo weSimbi we A' Design Award inosanganisa maitiro akanakisa eindasitiri uye ine hunhu hwetekinoroji hwakakwana hwakabatana neruzivo nehunyanzvi. Nekushanda kwayo zvakanaka, Preludes Mixed Media Animation inoremekedzwa uye yakagadzirirwa kupa kuvandudzwa kwehupenyu kunobatsira kuita kuti nyika ive nzvimbo iri nani.

Behind the Design

Press Kit

Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.

Unique Properties: Preludes is a mixed media collaborative animation based on a poem by T.S. Eliot. The process involved the poem being chosen by the producer, who then invited a musician to compose a one-minute piece which was handed off to me to provide to create visuals on both the the words of Eliot and the music.
Dimensions & Packaging: Duration: 1-minute, 08-seconds
Tags: poetry, animation, motion graphics, 2D, 3D, after effects
Production Technology: Preludes utilizes both 2D and 3D animation all composited in After Effects. The scenes with 3D were done in Cinema 4D and rendered using Redshift. It also uses several After Effects plugins such as Video Copilot's Sabre, Rowbyte's Plexus, and Red Giant's Particular and Form.
Design Challenge: The challenge became putting the many ways this manifests into only one-minute and matching those visuals to an already created musical composition. And that's how an aerial view helps to alienate us from the tracking signals on the street and we are suddenly shifted to street level view to see faceless people bumping into one another with screens blocking the vision.
Research: For this project the research fairly straightforward. It started with a cursory reading of the poem, Preludes by T.S. Eliot, and listening to the soundtrack created by Angus Macrae. I listened to the audio repeatedly to let it sink into my memory and to help with visualizing general concepts. This was followed by seeking out deeper analysis of the poem so that I better understood the themes, ideas, and symbols. While I could certainly have skipped this step it was profoundly important as I went along and was searching for visual fragments to add to the density of the piece.
Inspiration: Preludes is based on T.S. Eliot's poem of the same name and a one-minute musical soundscape provided to me and composed by Angus Macrae. The whole project was organized by a group called Campfire Poetry that uses poetry as away to promote collaborations between musicians and animators.
Project Duration: The project was started 20 December 2019 in New York City and completed in February 2020.
Operation Flow: I was immediately drawn into Eliot's non-narrative and slightly abstract form, even though he was describing a very defined and concrete world. I took that as an opportunity to create scenes that were thematically, but not necessarily aesthetically, connected. Instead, I chose to let Macra's soundtrack be the connective tissue weaving together Eliot’s view with my own as I explore how our modern world looks and feels in the context of Eliot’s ideas.
Team Members: Director/Animator: Matthew Rankin
Producer: Max Rothman
Music/Sound: Angus Macrae