Research and Graduate Studies Intro Video

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Research and Graduate Studies Video

The Team:

Art Director: Joe Bautista

Project Lead: Spencer Foster

Graphic Designers: Austin Lasater, Spencer Foster

Motion Graphics Artist: Spencer Foster

Video Editor / Compositor: Spencer Foster
Audio: Spencer Foster

Concept Designer: Austin Lasater
Videographers: Norris Duckett lll, Ricardo Monterosa, Assisted by Spencer Foster

Voice Actress: Rose Rioux

Script Writer: Perry Grundman

The Office of Research and Graduate Studies at CSUN (California State University, Northridge) requested us to assemble a video for them that explains what they do and how they help faculty and graduate students at CSUN with things such as grants and advisement.

Behind the Scenes:
Motion Graphics / Video Editing

Our awesome script-writer, Perry, had the video starting off with our magnificent voice actress, Rose, saying "sometimes the most amazing discoveries can be found right in your own backyard." Our first idea to emulate this was the literal action of a backyard being entered through the the typical picket fence, that which would lead the viewer to a vector version of the University Hall building which is where the RGS offices are located. The University Hall building was put together by Austin Lasater where Spencer later animated it. As if it were "an amazing discovery" found in your own backyard, is actually your school's campus. Austin then designed the fence and Spencer turned it 3D. It's motive was to hook the viewer into the video with engaging motion graphics along with a custom vectored background map of the San Fernando Valley, where Northridge is located.

To keep the video interesting and contemporary for the viewers, there was a triangular "riser" transition added to cut between specific shots. These "risers" are emulating CSUN's "risers" which are used frequently for several different designs across campus. The purpose of these are to show the "continual rise" of CSUN's students.

The "One Destination, Dozens of Services" scene was located in the same hall that the RGS offices are located. We first started with a rather outgoing font choice to show the text leading up to the RGS logo. But after review, the team decided it would be best to stick with the Serifs font to increase legibility among viewers throughout the video.

Our idea of diving into technology began with the idea of using a phone that would "search for RGS help." But due to the size of a phone in comparison to an iPad, we soon concluded that the iPad was much more optimal for what we were trying to accomplish. The day we gained the "faculty" version shots, no one on the team was carrying an iPad at the time so we had to rent one from CSUN's Oviatt Library. For security reasons, they cover all of their stuff on the back with 3 separate stickers, so Spencer rotoscoped them out of the shot. Creating the desired pan and focus in production was challenging due to the tripod so Spencer took care of it in post.

The client chose one of our pitch boards that resembled a "drawn-on text" look and feel, so Spencer created stroke transitions resembling a paint brush drawing on the text in the schools colors of white and red. The team left out the color black because it began to drain the "excitement" of the scenes. For a more dazzling look to captivate the viewer, Spencer then added a sparkle trail beneath the text that coincided with the songs use of chimes (I think that's what they're called.) The text choice here was given to us by the designer Jonathan.

Norris, Ricky and Spencer went onto the campus to capture the footage for the project to satisfy the client and the director's requests. An idea sparked up in conversation and they decided to use VISCOM's skateboard to create awesome pan shots. They soon realized the immense amount of wiggles in each shot that were being generated by the skateboards uneven roll. They kept the wiggles to a minimum, and the rest was fixed by Spencer in post.

To recreate the iPad RGS App simulation, the film team placed lime green tape along with pink post-it notes to enable motion trackers to later be placed in post. The concept wants the viewer to feel merged into the video with the iPad screen composition becoming full screen.

For the "student" motion tracked shot, Spencer flipped the footage so it contrasted the first motion tracked shot, as requested by the director, to show the viewer that it is a different set of services, in separate offices, that are both within RGS.

The awesome graphic designer Austin Lasater composed these UI/UX layouts in less than 24 hours. These compositions encompassed the RGS "GPS Road Map" theme, showing the students can find what they are looking for with the help of RGS. To not make an overthrow in graphics, Spencer kept the animations relatively simple.

When faced with the challenge of presenting 7 separate bullet points simultaneously on the screen at once, we focused predominantly on the font choice. Since it was ATC Overlook within the iPad, and a custom hand drawn font in the previous "scene", we viewed each of them and presented both to the client. They chose the ATC Overlook font. The white line burst was added to spice up the scenes and get the viewer to focus on each of the "services" while they were being revealed.

Austin constructed the design of the contact box layout for the outro to the video. Spencer kept the animations simple and engaging. The initial background was an off-white color, but Spencer tested the gradient look and that's what they decided to go with.