Chess Motion Graphic

the ABBA musical about chess

Creative Process

Concept

The goal for this piece was a high-contrast motion graphic with visually distinct outlines, smooth transitions and a limit of 2-3 colors visible onscreen. Palette limited to a few saturated and intense colors to function as Chess and Cold War motifs and convey story elements. Aimed to be concise but intelligible.

Animatic & Storyboards

After sketching out initial concepts, I organized my ideas into a more linear set of storyboards. Once I had conceptualized a semblance of a sequence, I used Photoshop's timeline to create a rough animatic of my motion graphic.

Assets

All assets were vectors created in Photoshop and Illustrator using the established color palette. Assets were then imported into After Effects compositions and animated with keyframes.

Hand Rotoscope & Mocha

For the hand rotoscope, Initial concepts used After Effect's pen tool. This was far too sketchy for the visual style I had established, so I opted to learn Mocha AE and utilize filmed references.

Final Motion Graphic

Overall this was an immensely fun project to work on and experiment within the parameters of a new visual style!