ALEX DA CORTE for TIERRA WHACK
Graphic Design + 2D Animation + Motion Graphics + Compositing - 2020I designed and executed animations used in several scenes for the music video for “DORA” by Tierra Whack.
Directed by conceptual artist Alex Da Corte.
Produced by Scott Ross.
Below I break down the scenes.
Check out the full video here.
Shadow Puppet Scene:
For this scene I animated a group of lip synced shadow puppets to Tierra’s lyrics.
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/cc87091225146427d045ee5096098fe58180cd77efd650a790a32d7243a5c002/animals.jpg)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/339753167d0dd5cc9fbebc12cc82d82140478bfbc25601a0ceedc6c8d5c12458/AE.png)
But it wasn’t that simple. In order to give the shadow animations realistic movement I filmed some reference videos of the shadow puppets using a projector IRL. These videos came in handy as reference for the 3D artist who would later be overlaying animations of Tierra’s hands.
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/bde53092915f7b268aa850fabc5e67ac8f08cd5784fcdae2dcd25ceb7667c174/doggo1.jpg)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/669585b7482ce5f72ae1354f5b8dc70835f6e9a3420259d57c72d5fa1ab94ced/elephant.jpg)
Here’s what the final composited shot with 3D animation overlay looks like.
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/3b9c0905c8a5a1ce540eb190540cdf42f95f790ed4c72c3b5d47b6992c800df7/tierra1-copy.png)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/7e474e2940db222430be33cc24cc721b86ff0a169e3a75f65ce6da94b651c481/tierra2.jpg)
For this scene I animated and composited the mouths of inanimate Garfield cats. I also animated the green money characters.
First I designed enough phoenetic mouth positions to articulate the lyrics. Next, I mapped out corresponding frames to mouth positions.
Here’s a look at the composited frames, which actually live inside of a wooden pumpkin.
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/11454b5055bfadd512f61cb633f524da5140e44a1c3a267202f9086b97663c01/garf.jpg)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b2085b57ef8645537a0962be16a1a4f1c7a67f808a00616a6ffc95b000cd20a4/IMG_4529.jpg)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/d796ec372f5a74bacfdd902fb4fbe39dd3ae828869341e36b26ea136591f61b1/garf2.jpg)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/f005f9bbf653cc0c70c9f7efb45670ae6a841bf46ce0be2472a22a33b46415bd/Jump-12.png)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/1dacfa9d7814390d6932d3fd340ce3022a5fc0be4eebef391a6384e6cccd7827/Untitled_Artwork-15.png)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/fa6326a9e1f6f629333f6b4f8b3a9d81eee87f5a2294019c933f9024cb9289a1/Untitled_Artwork-10.png)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/6703977a02b92731265237e4a1777d7db8f53b138b7664fe99760ef59662f853/money.gif)
For this scene I designed the text in Procreate. I then completed the text animation in both Procreate & After Effects. Using a combination of hand drawn frames and smooth keyframing in AE I was able to achieve the desired feel and match the timing of the lyrics.
I also animated the owl’s beak with photo manipulation in Photoshop on the frames where it was visible.
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/1ccd4539ebbaeeb13bf4f01619c2c64a12061aae102033f2e75d0789bdb2a10f/Screen-Shot-2020-10-16-at-12.18.01.jpg)