Final result

Initial feedback was that this idea was a bit similar to work I had produced already, so I thought it would be sensible to change direction and try something new. In hindsight, I think this original idea would have been too ambitious and I may have had too many different elements to deal with. I am pleased with the initial work that I produced for it, both the modelling of the environment in Blender and the research.

My new idea for my FMP was to produce an animated music video. I had been listening to Lyn Lapid on TikTok for a while and she initially released a pretty rough version of Producer Man that was only 30 seconds long. I started storyboarding my ideas using Procreate because I really liked the song and had lots of ideas of how to make an animation work.

I started creating the characters in Blender which I find works well for me as my brain works much quicker than most modelling programs. I’ve taken my inspiration from a mix of the Monopoly man, Pringles man, any business man and I’m pretty pleased with how he looks. He’s well-presented and appears to be rich. He was created from simple shapes and I particularly wanted a head that was spherical in shape, so some of the close-up scenes would look good with symmetry in the design.

I created a survey asking my friends about my ideas and designs. The results showed that they thought I’d got his character about right, which is good.

I’m pleased with the falling money scenes that were originally inspired by Ariana Grande’s animated music video for 7 Rings. I think the lighting here works well and gives him a menacing appearance as the girl character is free falling amongst his money. I think it is quite a powerful image when you think about the power some producers have over their artists.

I hadn’t realised how much Disney and Pixar have influenced me over the years. Scenes that I haven’t seen for many years just pop into my head as I’m animating. This was the case with the signing scene and how his eyes become bright lights, as well as hers. It’s an influence taken from the Princess and the Frog and the animated song ‘Friends on the other side’. I love the way Doctor Facilier’s eyes turn, like he’s possessed. I think this works well with Producer Man as well.

I am quite pleased with the way the mirror imaging scenes have turned out. I really liked the way Taki Ikari used this technique in his opening animation in the Flight Attendant. I’ve brought the imagery in during the second chorus which I think gives more impact. I think it would work well to have the imagery split further almost like a kaleidoscope in the next chorus. This would have the visual impact of being more caught up inside his world and almost confusing, mocking imagery.

I’m also pleased with the addition of the diamond scenes. These work well next to the money ones and are a natural progression. Perhaps the final one should have included gold bars spinning around.

I’ve had a few challenges whilst creating this animation. I really wanted to include a plane transition during the second verse and tried a number of ways to make it work, but it just didn’t look good. The effect I needed would have cost a lot of money to purchase and there really wasn’t a way to get it to work at a lower resolution. It just was too pixelated and poor quality. I settled for a moving image in the background. It hints at the storyline of the song, but doesn’t detract from the main imagery, so although not what I was aiming for, I think it is a compromise that works.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have enough time to create scenes for the whole length of the song, which is frustrating. One scene that I haven’t managed to include in the final version, but have partly animated is with mirrors. I was animating the lyrics ‘too late now, caught herself with no way out’. I wanted her to appear completely trapped. This scene would blend brilliantly into the kaleidoscope imagery in the chorus. I have created the animation for the mirrors and it looks pretty good.

Overall, I’m really pleased with the way the animated imagery works well with the lyrics and general vibe of the song. I think it’s a successful partnership.