Client: MTHRBORD records
Work: Visual album
Skills: Motion graphic design, 3D animation, CRT rescanning, VFX editing
For the release of “Lonely Streets” by w u s o 命 under MTHRBORD Records, I crafted 41 minutes of captivating visuals that blend original 3D animation, motion graphics, and footage rescanned from my CRT TVs. These visuals were designed to complement and enhance the atmospheric and evocative soundscapes of the album, providing a mesmerizing visual journey for the audience.
In addition to the full-length visual album, I created promotional trailers tailored for social media, formatted in both 16:9 and 9:16 aspect ratios to suit different platforms. These trailers served as teasers, generating excitement and anticipation for the premiere event on the Ryan Celsius YouTube channel. The trailers captured the essence of the project, offering a glimpse into the unique visual style and immersive experience that awaited viewers.
The motion design and animation for the my Lonely Streets visuals were heavily inspired by the cassette cover art designed by Estudio:Kevlar. These graphics served as a visual foundation, setting the aesthetic tone and atmosphere for the animated visuals. To accurately capture the essence of the original artwork, I used the image of the cassette cover as a reference layer in Blender. This allowed me to model elements in 3D, ensuring that it aligned perfectly with the distinctive style of the album art.
By leveraging the design language established by Kevlar Estudio, I was able to extend the visual identity of the cover into a dynamic, animated format that complemented the music and added depth to the overall project. This process not only paid homage to the original artwork but also expanded upon it, bringing new dimensions to the visual storytelling.
This project made extensive use of my custom CRT rescanning setup to capture the distinctive phosphor glow emitted by a CRT TVs. This glow, a characteristic of analog video technology, adds a unique, nostalgic quality to the visuals, evoking the tactile, retro aesthetic often sought in vaporwave and synthwave genres.
Rescanning involves re-recording the output from the CRT screen using a camera, allowing for the use of my full range of custom, circuit-bent equipment to manipulate the analog video signal. This process enables the creation of unique visual effects by shifting, distorting, and bending the signal in real-time. The result is a mesmerizing array of visual distortions, such as glitched lines, color shifts, and temporal artifacts, that add a dynamic and organic feel to the animation. This technique not only enhances the overall visual experience but also aligns with the project’s themes of nostalgia and digital decay, providing a perfect complement to the atmospheric music of w u s o 命.