StephenMooreMotion 2020 - 3D Motion Graphics

ENJOY THE RIDE!

Hey there! My name is Stephen.

I am a Designer/Animator from Naples, Florida that loves to explore 3D animation and visual effects. When I’m not working on projects, I am geeking out over all things science fiction and doing my best to stay active.

As I continue my journey to becoming a better motion designer, I enjoy seeing the variety of projects I have had the chance to work on, and I love looking back and seeing how far I have grown as an artist .

AMBITION

“a strong desire to do or to achieve something, typically requiring determination and hard work.”

The Goal

The motion design thesis at Ringling has a three-part structure, those of which being Explore, Evoke, and Educate. For my thesis, I set out on a mission to try a style that I had never done before. I wanted to create something out of my comfort zone, and see if I could implement the style into a message that might connect with its viewers. Evoking emotion can be a powerful thing and this project’s goal is just that. What kind of connection can we create with those that watch? Is there a way that we can evoke an emotional response with the use of a single idea? 

As a style, I wanted to explore what I could create in 3D space, with only the use of flat shapes. At first I chose this as a creative limitation to put on myself so I would be forced to come up with some things I had never thought of before. It then evolved into a stronger connection that held some meaning within the story. Towards the beginning of the project, the flat panels symbolized the barriers we have to break through to get the career we want, but later down the road it was shifted more into the journey that we take to decide what is right for us. So starting off, I chose one career and created a mini spot. The purpose of this spot was to test out different techniques so I can find out what to use in my main piece.

Conclusion

I think the biggest struggle I had with this project was the design itself. It progressed tremendously over time, but the limitation of using flat objects in a 3D program was hard for me at first. I realized that the frames didn’t have to be so complex in order to work, and that led to the simplification of my objects which got better after every revision. As an overview of the project, I think creating these limitations for myself and trying a style I wasn’t comfortable with, helped me out tremendously. I struggled of course, but in the end I think I learned so much from it. I encourage everyone to try putting their own limitations on their projects, and see what they can create! You never know what might come out of it!

Movie Theater Mayhem - Sarasota Film Society

Don't you just hate those pesky cell-phone users? They are always so annoying and they ruin the movie atmosphere! This was a fun collaboration for Sarasota Film Society that I worked on with a colleague named Jackson Dunson. We wanted to create something that felt cinematic and throw in a surprise to convince movie-goers to keep their cell phones put away. It was a great experience overall and we wanted to incorporate some humor to the piece. Hope you like it! And remember... enjoy the movies!

My roles in this project included all of the scene creation, helicopter modeling and animation, overall compositing, and post production effects!

My partner's focus was the robot and the 2D characters that are shown in the movie theater.

Monster Ad

Using Cinema 4D, Octane, and Nuke, I set out to create a moody advertisement for the Monster Energy Drink Brand. My goal was to create something that was dark and ominous in order to connect the idea of a monster being trapped in a cage, as well as maintaining the idea of high energy and power that comes when you drink a Monster energy drink.

Tampa Bay Lightning - Screen Graphics

Hockey is such a fun and exhilarating sport, and what makes it even better is experiencing the atmosphere that is created when going to a live game. The crowd needs to be pumped up and energized and the experience is always a blast. Being able to work on screen graphics for the Tampa Bay Lightning that added to the game was super fun and it was a great challenge to animate visuals that would fit the different aspect ratios for the different screens in the stadiums! Go Bolts!

Bit Odyssey - Snap Lens

This was a super cool project to work on! Diving into the world of AR (Augmented Reality), I learned about the limitations and capabilities of Snap Lens Studio and how it lends itself to 3D animation. For this project, I wanted to explore bringing back the nostalgia of 8-bit video games like Galaga. Using this as my inspiration, I created a Snapchat lens that allows users to look like two brand new types of 8-bit aliens, as well as firing their own ship at their theoretical enemies! It was a super cool process and I enjoyed seeing what AR was capable of!

Food Network - Idents

This mini set of Food Network ID's explores three separate shows from the channel, and showcases a different aspect from each. The shows include Chopped, Cake Wars, and Guy's Grocery Games. It was a fun challenge to create something that communicated each show effectively in just three short seconds. I enjoyed modeling the different objects that I incorporated into each scene and it was interesting diving into branding and how important it is to make something feel like it relates to a specific brand/company.

The goal of this project was to create three separate idents for different shows that were aired on the network that we chose. After selecting Food Network as my focus, it was important that I created imagery that would feel apart of their brand, as well as look appealing and realistic.

Shake Shack - Screen Display

Special thanks to Kelly Warner for creating some great audio for most of these projects!

THANKS FOR TAKING A LOOK THROUGH MY JOURNEY!