I led a team creating the open and graphics package for the 2017 SXSW Gaming Awards. We started with gaming hardware, added a big slice of NASA space photography, a dash of retro sci-fi book covers, and pinch of Kubrick's 2001. We combined them together into an opening that transports the audience into the world of the SXSW Gaming Awards

Coming back to this project for the 3rd year, my goal was to not just iterate on what we'd done before, but come up with something entirely new. Gaming hardware became a perfect jumping off point, as it is such an iconic part of the gaming experience. We all remember exactly what the controller from our first console looked like, and with it comes a tidal wave of nostalgia.

I'd also been looking at space photography, especially imagery from the Rosetta mission, which intercepted and landed on a comet.

Sometime recently I had watched the Futurama episode in which Bender is floating through deep space, alone forever, until he becomes the god of a miniature civilization that has evolved on his body.

Mash these together and you get:

We created the majority of the sequence in Cinema 4D and rendered with the Physical Renderer. Texturing was done in Substance Painter, and everything composited in Nuke with additional 2D elements animated in After Effects.

The characters were primarily rigged and animated using Mixamo, an online tool to automatically rig and apply motion captured actions to CG characters.

Creative Director: Jeremy Cox

Art Director: Max Strizich

Executive Producer: Jon Hassell 
Head of Production: Aleen Kim

Designers: Jeremy Cox, Max Strizich, Amy Wallace 
3D Animators: Jeremy Cox, Max Strizich, Hogan Williams, Henry Chang, Paolo Cogliati 
2D Animators: Nathan Goodell, Isabell Hacker, Daniel Blanco 
Editor: Rachel Ambelang 
Audio: Nacwin