The goal of this project is to create an engaging motion graphic teaser/advertisement for social media, primarily Instagram. The ad should captivate both current and potential new members of the Rituals Community, encouraging them to pre-order access to the upcoming course.

The motion graphic should be informative whilst visually alluring, making the viewer stop scrolling and engage with the content. We want viewers to be intrigued enough to watch until the end, feel excited about the new course, and be motivated to sign up or learn more.

The course is called “Transformation” and is centred around using creativity in a transformative way. The animation should represent this transformation in a visual style that clearly represents creativity, with symbols of spirituality. The advertisement should be aspirational to the viewers, hopefully inspiring a financial commitment to the program. It should feel energetic and relatable whilst being an escape from the viewers usual reality.

Below is a profile of the average Rituals community member. Summarised to gain a more specific target audience for the final animation.

‘Bridie’

Age  35
Pronouns  She/Her
Family  Married with 2 children
Education  High School
Work  Part-time
(has access to disposable income)

Interests  Creativity through crafting, cooking, homemaking. An interest or desire for a healthy life including work life balance, being more present and available in their personal life, finding a hobby that may connect them all.
Goals  A desire to connect more to self, possibly through spirituality (meditaion, yoga, mindfulness. Lower stress. Live mindfully for themselves and the world, being more sustainabe in a reasonable manner.
Community  Strong connection to family and a few community groups that they are passionate about.
Online Habits  Enjoys posting to Instagram. Although she has deleted it several times in the past. Bridie has committed to herself that she will only use social media if it supports and promotes her living a balanced and motivated life. No longer will she doom scroll aspirational creators which usually leave her feeling less than and with materialistic goals that are not her own.

When ‘Bridie’ is viewing the animation the goal would be for her to be excited about the program. We would want her to be interested in the new course but still have her wanting more, resulting in her following the call to action and following the prompted links.

Rituals – Is an instructional book series by the creator Cyrus, think of Cyrus like a Martha Stewart for spiritual seekers. The book series has accompanying journals/workbooks and a robust online community. The Ritual series enhances everyday home life by introducing mindfulness, spiritual intent, connection to self, and creativity – thus creating the Ritual. The Rituals vary from everyday moments made mindful to full-blown life celebrations.

Example
Book  Rituals: Ceremonious Celebrations
Chapter  Birthday Blessings
Exercise/Project  Bunting
Blurb  Use treasured garments and bedding from your loved one’s life they no longer use or need and transform them into an eco-friendly birthday decoration you can use and add to for years to come.

Technical Observations This animation is smooth, deliberate and slow. The main technical observation I took away was that although the focus of the video remains in the central square of the screen (if it were divided into a 9 grid) would be of staging. In the opening scene you will see the lines used to represent rays of light from a central energy, these travel out of shot creating movement and travel. But sets up the viewer to focus on the central point. Nearly the entire video is designed for your focus to stay here, but the techniques used to animate the graphics give the viewer a sense of movement, making you feel centred but also travelling through space. 

Mood Observations calming, peaceful, intentional. The tone of voice and pacing are major contributors to the overall effectiveness of the video. If the same video were to be produced with an AI voice it would not have the same centering, mindful, present energy that this animation gives the viewer.

Aesthetic Observations The animation uses a very simple colour palette which organic and earthy, using gold and shimmery elements to invoke a sense of mysticism. The colours stay very consistent through out, but at the 6 minute mark a very gentle pink hue is brought in, this moment seems to be the climax of the video and this pink hue indicates a change in the message, it stays until the conclusion. 

The general art style is very simple, a lot of line art, but effective use of slow/simple movement, repetition and rotation creatives a feeling of travelling through space. 

Very obvious symbols of religion, sacred geometry and mandalas really reinforce the new age spiritual theme of the animation.

 Technical Observations As the clouds unfold at the beginning of the animation you feel a sense of journeying into a new world. The movement through the scenes is calm and slow this is achieved though smooth timing, maintaining a central focus and adding depth to the elements through shadow and parallax.
Mood Observations  A sense of child-like wonder is evoked by the music . The graphic  style and muted but colourful palette chosen is also quite innocent, really setting the mood of the animation. 
Aesthetic Observations The aesthetic choice I enjoyed the most was the depth created through layering so many moving elements, it creates a rich world, one that you can’t see everything going on all at once, informing the viewer that there is more going on here, it definitely left me intrigued. I found the use of logo flying in as the camera focus changed to be quite effective in getting the viewer to have a clear and lasting impression of the branding elements. 

Technical Observations The way the first few elements are introduced, you are already immersed in the “new world” of the animation and meet the main character. Nothing is still in this world and as new elements are brought in with squash and stretch, anticipation and some parralax effects it remains fun and vibrant. The staging of the animation is is quite effective, although the collage style is maximalist and busy, the eye is clearly drawn to the element that they want you to look at.

Mood Observations Groovy. Funky. Cool.  The music and animation give real LSD vibes. Although out there and unreal, it is still an art style that many could enjoy

Aesthetic Observations In the first two seconds we are introduced to blank black space, the world is built with earth elements in brown tones  and the main character travelling through this world. From here the colourful flower elements are introduced with rapid succession to even more elements flooding the screen – all within 3 seconds. This animation very quickly world builds whilst making you ask whats next? and being excited for the next scene.  The fact that it is a teaser makes sense, as there isn’t a clear ending, the end feels like it is actually the set up for the next “scene” of the film clip. I would be excited to see more, but I think the teaser could have ended in a different way, rather than the feeling that it was just chopped from a longer clip.

The promotional clip is intended to be 20-30 seconds long and posted on Instagram. Variations may later be made for other social media platforms, a large majority of the intended audience are primarily Instagram users. The clip is to be posted and pinned on the Rituals main Instagram account and also used for targeted ads. Although Instagram is primarily for personal photography and video content this is where majority of the Rituals Community spend their active social media time.

The style should represent the process of creative skill development through the evolution of the visual style in the animation. To start the design and elements should be simple line art,  textured by using real paper textures and graphite/pencil line drawings. The next step would see the style transition into a more developed drawing style, less straight lines, more movement in the elements, some more colours introduced. The third stage of the process would be a very colourful, fully realised version of the original line art illustrations, hand made art elements in a collage style to re enforce the hand made and creative aspect of the course.

Simple line >

Movement >

As the animation progresses the colour palette is added to.
Starting in Sepia tones and evolving into a colourful but muted palette

Sepia >

Minimal >

Simple in design, not too perfect, hand drawn. Still some refinement to do to deliver a more hand drawn look. Stars are symbolic of magic, spirituality, ethereal other worlds, light and hope. Stars are thematic throughout the brand, but this one is only used for brand recognition.

starting with a simple, elegant typeface, evolving into a joyful/casual/hand-drawn
and creative typeface.

Naomi Elegant >

 The main textures that will be used for the animation will be aged paper to re-enforce the art/creativity side of the course. Where the spiritual side of the animation will be representedis through Aura light rays and shimmering glitter over transitions and fly ins.  

The style of music is chosen to be reminiscent of holy celebrations of eastern religions – vibrant and light hearted with a spiritual message throughout. The gong is to be put at the end of the video to give the video a clear end point and also hold time for the final call to action of the video.

For moments in the video that need audio emphasis, cow bells and chimes will be used.

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