Universal Production Music
Universal Production Music
Visualization
My design challenge was to create an animated visualization of one of the new soundtracks of Universal Production Music studio.
The animation should visually interpret the music while introducing the name of the release.
Music Selection
Universal Production Music studio is looking to expand their audience from 40-50-year-old males to gender-balanced younger generations in their 20s.
The track I chose has exciting fast beats and smooth flow at the same time. I thought this unique track could represent people in the young generation like myself.
Research
Universal Production Music provides various soundtracks to passionate audiences around the world. UPM offers over 2,700 digital albums from more than 37 global libraries to the most innovative artists.
Their catalog is continuously evolving with over 100 new albums produced a year.
This direction was inspired by the image of optical fibers.
Much like optical fibers seamlessly connect the world, Universal Production Music seamlessly connects users’ ideas with the perfect soundtracks.
With UPM’s vast library of music, users can effortlessly find the right composition to enhance their content.
Concept Development
I. Luminous Connections
After having a conversation with my art director, we decided to go with I. Luminous Conncetions.
However, I had to focus more on how to communicate better with the audience showing the idea of “connections”.
BBC Production Music was born out of a partnership between BBC Studios and Universal Production Music.
They have various soundtracks to the best BBC documentaries and dramas. From renowned nature programs to emotive period pieces, this label showcases the work of the world's foremost public broadcaster.
This direction interprets the track as a scene of lights exploring various moving patterns.
The idea of moving patterns was inspired by meteor showers and sea waves.
This track describes a flow of endless waves, and beams of light with melodies that ripple through your soul.
In this direction, we can interpret the dancing patterns as UPM’s sound library, and the lights as young creative artists exploring the website.
III. Dancing Patterns
Also, the images were not very appealing yet. They were chaotic, flat, lacking in design.
Therefore, I had to work more on 3D lighting and texturing to visualize the story better.
This direction interprets the beats of the track into “particles”.
Imagine the world of music as a vast universe, filled with endless possibilities.
In this universe, each note, each rhythm, and each melody is like a tiny particle, waiting to collide and create something extraordinary.
This track could show Universal Production Music as the cosmic force that brings the particles together and ignites explosive compositions that resonate with emotion and energy.
II. Explosive Potential
Storyboard
1st & 2nd Pass
After working with my art director, for the next pass, I decided to have more variations in the visuals. They were too similar looking so far. So I had to Include a variety of sizes for the assets and add more depth of field to the camera.
In addition, the camera distance was too far so I had to bring it closer to emphasize the impact on the screen.
I also had to make the frames appear more filled by using additional glows, or haze since there was too much negative space (black background).
The art director suggested me to have "gradual exploration" and "progression" between scenes in terms of the narrative now the story progresses too quickly, and it feels like everything is happening all at once.
Revision
Based on the critique from the previous passes, I made the logo smaller, and added more animations to the “meeting point” shots.
For the next pass, I had to bring colors and textures to all of the shots I’d animated.
