The Nest That Sailed The Sky (2nd version – Finished)

This is the completed video I’ve done for Peter Gabriel – you can see the original test animation here.

I was asked to develop the ‘story’ further, and got some visual ideas from looking through photos from the original OVO album shoot.  I got three extra visual ideas from this – single cells, an empty nest, trails of red berries.

I developed 6 animation sequences using this imagery, all showing different stages of birth, life, transcendence, decay etc.

1. single cells growing on ends of stems, with dark underwater shading , I also added concentric ripples which emanated from the growing vines.

2. empty nests with trails of red berries being left behind where ever the stems grow from, against subdued morning sky shading.

3. the boy in the nest appears, against sunset shaded background.

4. boy in nest against brighter blue sky shading.

5. ‘star child’ luminous effect on dark background.

6. single cells again, without stems, dark watery shading.

I rendered out each sequence for the entirety of the song’s duration.  The shapes of the vines and positions of the sprites are exact for each sequence, this allowed me to dissolve each sequence at any point from one into another and maintain a natural looking transition.   In post production, through simple dissolves, I could experiment with and craft together a visual narrative that changed with musical cues in the song.

I’ve also improved the code in my animation system (programmed in Processing) to smooth out the jarring motion of the stems as they grow out/in – it now eases in/out nicely.