A few weeks ago the team over at JUST challenged us with another Alliance Tournament reward. Create a trailer for the upcoming AT. The thing about being a part of the platform since the beginning is that often you will see the same rewards pop up over time. The last time this reward popped up I ended up winning first place in the reward for this trailer. Nothing wrong with that trailer, it uses captured video from various sources, mostly FC's previous trailers. It is well edited and I really like the music. But what could I do this year to top myself?
I did consider just not participating. But I really enjoy the Alliance Tournament, even when I'm not playing in it myself. And last year I was fortunate to be asked to create videos for each of the teams in the final rounds - which was a tremendous honor and I really enjoyed working on that project. You can see those at this link. Including a behind-the-scenes look at how I managed to build them all.
So what could I do to top myself?
In cases like this I tend to start by watching the masters. I spent a few hours watching award-winning title sequences from the very best motion graphics people and teams. Including a lot of Saul Bass and the various people who worked on David Fincher's films - always among my all-time favorites. Eventually an idea started to form and the genesis of it came from my own work.
I did a couple of art pieces based on the Mekubal and the Khizriel that you can still find over on my Etsy Store for purchase. These two pieces were done in a new style that I really enjoyed working with, a more graphical based style than my usual. What would that style look like animated?
I sketched out a few rough storyboard ideas in my notebook and got started. For a project like this I wanted to edit directly over a powerful soundtrack. And my only real option these days is Suno. But in this case I had to work harder to create what I wanted. In order to get the track I wanted I ended up creating over 20 tracks and editing them myself in Adobe Audition. This way I could organize the drum tracks, choir, and the big hits exactly where and when I wanted them. While I am no fan of AI, sadly there is literally no where else to accomplish something like this without spending thousands of dollars I don't have.
After that I spent almost two weeks creating the art and designing the animations. I used Adobe Illustrator for the art and created the animations in After Effects. I really went hard at this project and it occupied a large part of my time and energy. I think you can see the influences in the final product, but I also believe it is uniquely a Rixx project. Who else would even consider doing something like this? I dunno.
ChatGPT is always telling me that I need to be more like other people if I want to grow my YouTube channel. I need to formalize my thumbnails and create the kind of content that other creators create. I suppose my feed needs to be full of slack-jawed expressions of surprise. But I refuse. I'm not like other creators and there are no other creators like me. And I refuse to conform. If people like my content then so much the better, I feel like we are building a very strong community together. And I won't stop doing weird and unusual pieces that I want to do, that get me excited, and that I believe that community would enjoy.
This is one. And I hope everyone enjoys it. But ultimately, I do. And that is what really matters. The rest is out of my control.
Onward & Upward my friends.