I'm working on an animated/live action video for Jesca Hoop. It's a very cool track called "MONEY". The images below show a little bit of my working process, although I'm still in the very early stages. I have got a decent start in after effects, but should probably not show too much yet. Here is the rundown on a music video: First my agent sends me the track, then I have to come up with an idea/proposal, usually in a couple of days at the most. This is all done "on spec", which is normal in the animation world I'm told, so I usually can't spend days and days on one. This is written out in a one page typed document called a "treatment". I also include a "style sheet", which is screen grabs of other animations I've done, and maybe some loose sketches. Most times I don't get the gig, but when it does come through there is usually a conference call with the record label, the musician, agents and me. We then talk about the treatment and put together a production schedule.

Once I listen to the track and get the lyrics, I approach the project very much like I do with illustration... doing very rough sketches and doodles, which eventually become a storyline. The sketches (chicken scratchings) here are just for me to use as a storyboard and start to put it together in after effects to create an "animatic" (animated storyboard, like a simple slide show).

I then start to break down the song into segments and find some type of organization. Here I have printed that out (after effects timeline) on a large sheet and started writing / drawing on that sheet, which I will use as a guide to go further. You can see that I have color coded the chorus in yellow, which helps me start to get a feeling of pattern/pace in the timeline. There is probably a better way to do this but this is what I've figured out on my own. The final project is due in mid December... in the meantime check out some of the animations on my site (http://www.richardborge.com) and you will start to get the idea. Also keep an eye out for Jesca Hoop (http://www.myspace.com/jescahoop). You can hear the track "MONEY" on her myspace page. She was the nanny for Tom Waits' kids, which is ironic as I did a Tom Waits video for my promo reel and always wondered if he ever saw it. These projects are tons of work (as I post this at 3:00am the night before Thanksgiving) but are really fun and I'm thrilled to have the opportunity. For me it is a logical offshoot from illustration..... More to come later.

to see more go to the animation section: http://www.richardborge.com/ OR here are a couple of the same on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tw-u2X5EaGY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIPV_1ZCoDU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pR6HXaWN8Vg