Captivating an audience is never easy. Nor is investing in one's future. To accompany a redesigned web presence, Rockbridge sought a medium which could share their story and promote their services with a wide base of prospective and current clients. An animated video was the perfect match.
Based in Syracuse, NY, Rockbridge Investment Management provides over 650 families with sound financial advice. In 2013, with a redesigned brand identity, website, and social media presence underway, Rockbridge reached out with a simple request: create a short promotional video which would help share their small-town sensibilities and people-first mantra with an increasingly decentralized audience.
Working from the company's set of core values, a script was created and the resulting animated video shortly followed. This promotional video helped set the tone of Rockbridge's reimagined brand identity, acting as a sharable promotional asset and key landing content for their redesigned website.
Freelance Project
2014
The first challenge was creating an informative, entertaining, and succinct script. Fortunately, this task was made simple through a few workshop sessions with the team to better understand their values and needs. With a final script drafted, the next challenge was creating a visual translation.
With a pad and pen, I began to play with various connecting sequences that would allow a smooth segway from one scene to the next. As the scenes and transitions fell into place (some easier than others), a visual tone and style formed.
Next up was generation of visual assets. Using my hand drawn sketches, I began to illustrate the settings and elements of each scene using Adobe Illustrator. This made it easy and efficient to quickly import and, later, adjust the visuals without much effort after bringing them into Adobe After Effects.
Once the animation was complete, the movie was shuttled over to Adobe Premiere Pro where additional touch ups, music, and narration were added. The final movie was rendered and the job was complete! I learned tons in the process about motion graphics and directing and, best of all, had a chance to help a fantastic client achieve their goals.
