musingT

If you’ve downloaded Firefox 4 you’ve probably seen the 60 second feature overview video that was showcased on the First Run and What’s New pages.  Historically, we had done these types of videos in a more straightforward screencast style (imagine a talking head, screenshots of the browser, slow pace, etc)… which resulted in videos that were effective but ultimately felt a bit dry.  So, our goal here was to apply a few creative twists and produce a feature video that communicated the key information in a more interesting way.  Keeping the messages more high-level and abstract vs. digging into into the many details.

To produce this video we worked with the creative agency JESS3.  Given the accelerated nature of the project and a hard deadline to meet for the Firefox 4 launch, we had to move pretty quickly through the various stages in the process (style frames, script, storyboards, music composition, VO, animation, final rendering, etc) while hurdling a variety of unique challenges along the way.  Echoing the hand-made aspect of the browser, the concept we chose was based on a blend of contemporary and classic paper cut techniques.  But since our resources were limited, we relied on advanced digital-animation tools to simulate real handmade paper-craft production.  You’ll also notice that familiar websites were abstracted and reconstructed with a more artful touch.

To give you a better sense of the evolution of this piece, I’ve compiled snapshots of the various elements (mood boards, key frames, concept sketches, playblast, etc) into an album to share with you.  Unveiling a bit of the “behind the scenes”, which I hope to do more of (soon) with regard to some of our other video projects.

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 17th, 2011 at 9:37 pm and is filed under Design, Planet Mozilla. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.