Aimed at showcasing the best in creative and technology from Australia and all over the world, Pause Fest is the country’s biggest digital event. Every year, Pause Fest tells a story through a unique theme and in 2015 it was ‘Pure’.

Jumbla was lucky enough to produce an animation around this theme, which Creative Director Callan Woolcock decided to interpret with his usual unconventional awesomeness.

Thinking outside the box

What do you think when you hear the word ‘Pure’? The colour white, angels in heaven, maybe even doves gracefully gliding through the sky?

Well, Cal went in a completely different direction with his thought process, putting one-foot way outside of the box by choosing the word ‘heroin’ as his inspiration.

Yes, you read that right. Callan wanted the animation to show the rush that heroin has on a pure body.

He was also handpicked to speak at the event, rubbing shoulders with other thought leaders and industry experts. For his talk, Callan described the creative process and techniques implemented for his pure interpretation called ‘Erupt’.

The inside scoop on ‘Erupt’

If you weren’t lucky enough to attend Pause Fest, here is a little insight into Cal’s creative musings and extensive technical knowledge. Once he had settled on a concept, it was time to get to work…

To kick things off, a team comprising of Cal, Frankie Lee, and Kane Rowlingson needed to find inspiration and develop a mood board. Essentially, this involved heaps of hard pinning on Pinterest.

Akin to all of Jumbla’s commercial creative briefs, the team commenced straight into style frames. This was followed by the preliminary storyboard, which was a mixture of white 3D assets with 2D colour animation.

Then came the fun part - developing assets and animating. This particular project was sponsored by the Foundry, so the lungs, heart, and brain assets were designed using its 3D software Modo.  

As for the 2D animation, this was a rather rigorous process of refinement, where the flat animation needed texturing and highlighting.

But when all the assets were designed and ready to go, Cal pulled everything together in After Effects - his speciality program.

And there you have it. One extraordinary animation, which was anything but “pure and simple.”