ECD Brian McCauley and the design and motion team at Flavor employ the concept of “nature as canvas” to visually unite the 2023 AICP Show, AICP Next Awards, and AICP Post Awards for The Association of Independent Commercial Producers.

Brian McCauley: “We were drawn to the idea of nature as canvas, where the beauty of the natural world can be molded and changed to create something new. So we set out to create flowers in 3D and use their surfaces as a moving canvas to create something familiar but unique; a new perspective.

“To set each show apart, we focused on bold, bright, pop gradients for The AICP Show, on paint and pastels for The AICP Post Awards, and on a more graphical, techy look for The AICP Next Awards.
 

“We were drawn to the idea of nature as canvas, where the beauty of the natural world can be molded and changed to create something new.”

 
“After widely researching flowers, models were gathered and optimized for 15, for which custom UV Maps were created. The RE:Map UV plugin allowed designers to previsualize textures which were passed on to compositing after approval.

“For us to hit our deadline, it was critical that RE:Map work perfectly – and it did. We rendered our textures at 4k and were able to style each flower in After Effects in unique ways for each show. In the end, we hand-painted 100 paint textures, scanned them into Photoshop, and animated each one.

“Our list of deliverables for this project was daunting: show-specific opening title and end credits sequences; long and short sponsor reels for screenings at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA); show-specific lower thirds and interstitials; and show-specific winners’ credits.”
 
 

 
Client: AICP

Production: Flavor
Managing Director: Neal Cohen
EP: Kate Smith
Producer: Brittany Maddock
ECD: Brian McCauley
Associate Creative Director: Brad Backofen, Colby Capes
AD: Mack Neaton
Motion Designer: Adam Kohr, Anastasiya Bulavkina, Dean Mosier, Erica Kim, Marly Koven, Matt Trudell
CGI Artist: Emily Berveiler, Thuc Nguyen
Finish Artist: Ryan Esboldt

Editorial: Cutters
EP: Heather Richardson
Producer: Brittany Maddock
Editor: Tom Brassil
Editor (Sponsor Reel): Nick Chiou
Assistant Editors: Ashley Smith, Leah Fishwick

Music/Sound Design/Mix: Another Country
Managing Director: Tim Konn
EP: Louise Rider
Producers: Josh Hunnicutt, Darcy Diplacido
CD, Composer: Joe Philips
Audio Post Manager, Sound Design: Jeremy Schemm
Mixer: Jordan Stalling & Logan Vines
Audio Assistant: Nora Strickstein