BricsCAD videos
Last week Bricsys published some beautifully animated introduction videos that explain the BricsCAD family of software products. This week I spoke with the illo.tv team -- the people that created the videos -- to explore their design process. If you've ever wanted to know what goes into making an animated video, keep reading. There are a lot more people involved than you might think!
I interviewed the team at illo.tv to give you a high-level overview of the video design process. Here's what they shared with me.
What was the design process?
Whenever we work on a project the first step is to set the guidelines to be followed throughout the whole design process: we start by arranging a mood board of useful references and produce a bunch of style frames based on the style that's been agreed on. Once approved by the clients, we proceed with creating the rest of the digital assets. In this particular case we aimed at creating an interaction between three-dimensional elements and small characters and added some abstract scenes with geometric shapes to explain hi-level concepts.
Who worked on the videos, what did they do?
This project has seen the work of eight people: Ilenia as Creative Director and Luca as Copywriter worked on the script and direction of the video from the very first day. Once the script got approved, the design team -- Arianna and Anya -- joined in, creating the storyboard at first and then all the illustrations, with periodic reviews of the CD. Meanwhile, Ani took care of selecting the voiceover artist who would record all the scripts. The project comprehended 5 videos and we worked over a period of a couple of months to bring them upon completion.
Once the design phase is completed, we move to the animatic phase and arrange all the illustrations into a sequence of still images in sync with the voice over and with a music bed; no animation is involved yet. The animatic is useful to have an overview of the timing of each scene.
After that the animation team, Laurentiu and Dave, gathers all the vectors and starts to animate them by adding transitions in between different scenes.
At the very end, when all is animated and approved, Carla, our sound designer, puts the icing on the cake: she finalizes the video by custom editing the music track and adding sounds and effects.
What inspired you?
In this specific case we tried to evolve and improve the style that has already been developed in the past for the product.
Reference: Carabanchel 24 by Rafael Cañizares Torquemada -- Madrid
Two of the main design features were tiny characters (somewhat similar to what we did in our last Airbnb project) and dealing with three-dimensionality but with a slightly 2D approach.
We did some research in the architectural, mechanical, and aerospatial fields to better understand what it would be an interesting output achieved with the Bricsys software.
Also collaborating with Joachim [that's me] was super useful to gather some other inputs.
What kind of videos does your studio normally create, how does it compare?
We usually help companies explaining their cutting-edge technology, mostly through motion design and set design. We aim for a colorful and abstract style, we like to play with shapes and bold contrasts and always try to set the bar higher by using interesting visual metaphors, still keeping the storytelling super clear.
What software did you use?
The design team mostly works in Adobe Illustrator, while the animation team relies on Adobe After Effects, which is the most used software in motion design. The final editing, with Sound Design, is made in Adobe Premiere.
Where can I see some of your other creations?
You can have a look at our website or follow us on Instagram, Dribbble, and Behance as @illotv 🙂