Fresh From The Field — Auckland Art Gallery membership promo video – By Pixelpush
Fresh from the Field is a weekly article series sharing the fresh and inspiring work of our Design Assembly community.
From quirky geometric characters to impressionistic views of the Gallery’s space, Pixelpush take us behind their work creating a series of short videos centred around the list of membership benefits at the Auckland Art Gallery.
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Not many are familiar with the cool perks of being a member at the Auckland Art Gallery (not even us), so it was an honour to get the chance to work closely with them to create a promotional video for their membership program.
Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki is the principal public gallery in Auckland. It has the most extensive collection of national and international art in New Zealand and frequently hosts travelling international exhibitions. (from wikipedia)
The Brief
The team was tasked to create a series of short videos centred around the list of membership benefits that people can enjoy. Each video illustrates a key perk of being a member, designed to both inform and entice viewers to join the program. Moreover, a big part of this task was to make the Gallery’s image more appealing to a wider age range, so we took the responsibility to create a much more welcoming feel.
The Design Response
The Art Gallery’s space has plenty of instantly recognisable, defining features that we love, ranging from the modern, triangular roof canopy, to the historic cornices that surround the building. Taking inspiration from the building’s architectural character, the team built the animated video’s backgrounds around an impressionistic view of the Gallery’s space. We placed emphasis on the depth and spaciousness of the rooms by rendering light rays and keeping details minimal, which gave us plenty of breathing room to insert upbeat, animated texts for effective messaging. The grainy texture used was inspired by the stone texture present throughout the building, and the addition of fine, hand-drawn lines add a touch of sophistication.
We also designed a set of quirky characters that were based off geometric, sculptural pieces and the various personas of gallery-goers. The expanded colour palette makes the characters pop from the primarily monochromatic, minimal background, and the scribbled patterns add a fun, human touch. Watch as they navigate through the Gallery space, take a break in the Members Lounge, have a drink at the Café, and buy souvenirs at the Shop. This allowed us to string up the individual clips to portray a day in the life of a Gallery regular, although the clips can still work individually even without sound.
Despite this, we think animation and music go hand in hand in its ability to convey emotions where still images fall short on. For this project, we were lucky enough to be able to work with local singer-songwriter extraordinaire Jake Love, whose custom made music added a whole new dimension to the animated video. Our favourite addition has to be the unintelligible noises that he added, which truly brought the characters to life (we love you Jake!)
With a few more finishing touches like additional camera movements, colour tweaks, and effect filters, the final video is a fun introduction to the Toi o Tāmaki’s more than value-for-money membership deal.
But wait, there’s more! If you keep your eyes peeled on your next visit to the gallery, you’ll see the design has been adapted into cards, table talkers, and various printed collaterals.
Watch the full video here:
The Design Team
Creative & Art Director: Siew Wee H’ng
Illustrator: William Kusuma, Siew Wee H’ng
Animator: William Kusuma
Sound designer: Jake Love
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The Client Team
Client: Auckland Art Gallery | Hedda ten Holder, Maya Love
Client details
@aucklandartgallery
https://www.aucklandartgallery.com
