“Unofficial” is a passion project by Petrick Animation Studio that celebrates music and animation. The project founders invite directors to create a short music video for a musician whose music they love, allowing each director to showcase their unique style and vision. Each episode is a reflection of the director's creative vision, from the story and script to the design of the animated character.
This is an exaggerated and familiar “friendzone” story: she keeps them around only to boost her self-esteem. Such stories never end well and we wanted to show characters switch roles between being the victim and the tormentor. Just like in real life.
Character of Aurora
Ruslana Mirzaalieva, art director:
I was inspired by Diaghilev’s Russian Seasons and the singer’s image in the “Cure for me” music video. IN the story simps see her as a “queen”. That’s why we gave her a cloak that reaembles a royal robe and a red sofa, which gives her an even more aristocratic look.
The Aurora puppet exists in 4 different sizes for different angles and has ten interchangeable beaks. Her multiple dresses enhance the perspective on general shots with their bottoms.
Bug design
Ruslana Mirzaalieva, art director:
While we had been designing the bugs, we were looking for proportions and attributes that would show them as funny, awkward, and uncool. It was a lot of fun researching and finding the answer: how to convey that the bug is a simp by means of design?
Jock
I came up with a genius solution for the jock: it’s assembled like a stacking toy, but the pieces look like abs cubes. They reflect the essence of the jock’s coolness and his puppetry at the same time.
Scene design
Olga Fedorova, scene designer:
It was a fairly standard task for me: finding materials, working on scene design. The only new thing was working with a film crew.
Shooting
Gleb Kurochkin, director of photography:
It was important to choose the camera and optics in such a way that the cinematic quality of the picture was not lost, but at the same time there was a sense of fairy-tale character of what was washing, given that we were shooting small objects.
Puppet animation
Anna Pozdeeva, Animator:
The process is nothing like the 3D animation I’m used to. Yes, On the one hand, it’s easier, because the result is visible immediately. but On the other hand, it’s more complicated because you have to think fast, in those few seconds of action, and if one element fails, you need a new take.
