Sawyer Reid - PG DMA Blog

Now it was time to animate my final few sequences! Due to the length of this final sequence (and a sudden move I had to pack and prepare for) I decided to start animating earlier than planned. That's the beauty of being over-prepared! It perfectly fit into my schedule.

My last sequence takes place after the climax of the show has wound down, with our surviving protagonists attending the school dance. Grace Chasity takes one of the bullies as her date, then lures him outside to our scene where she reopens the black book to kill him. This takes us into the reprise "Dirty Dudes Must Die," which is easily one of my favorite songs in the entire show.

This is one of the more interesting sequences, because as I worked I decided it would be easiest to work all in my main composition rather than in my individual flat layers. I ended up making my designs and my sketches separately, but to create cool moments where they interact with one another I decided it was best to put them all in my main composition. This is of course with the acception of my upmost flat, since the intricacies of the chain link fence and signage were going to be utilized for the actual animations.

The key was making sure my masks all fit the exact parameters of my flat sizes! AND NAMING MY LAYERS! Obviously it sounds so silly to point out, but you'd be surprised how many people get caught off guard by not labeling their layers properly.

Because this scene feels like a culmination of different aspects of the show, I decided to combine ALL of my knowledge leading up to this point in a way that feels relevant!

I first added my gradient fuzz to the sky for when the blacklight element turns on in this scene, to add movement alongside the synth in the song.

Then I remade my blood dripping animation from my first gym sequence and plugged it in as a mask layer for a new gradient that includes the color red to symbolize that Grace is using a new kind of magic that is all her own. While it is rooted in the magic of the Lords in Black, there is an element of her own self shining through in her desire to kill Max at the beginning of the show as well as in the show's climax. I wanted this moment to feel magical and all encompassing of what we as an audience have seen thus far.

At this point because I was DAYS ahead, I decided to give myself a break to return to it. As of writing this I may add stars to liven up the backdrop a bit and to give the colors more to mess with, but I am going to let myself take a break and touch some grass now that I've made so much progress!

After literally moving my entire life across England, I did in fact decide to add stars! My initial idea involved clouds but I couldn't get them to move in a way that felt satisfying. I followed this quick fractal noise tutorial to get some stars that I could amp up the twinkling of, then I felt pretty good with where this piece ended up!

And with that, I was (mostly) done with the animations for my project!

WORKS CITED:

I started as I usually do with my sketches, with some preliminary research!

I found a photo of the exterior of my own high school to see how American high schools can look, then I found the traditional chain link fence related imagery. I want it to be clear that they're walking through the school yard as the finale scenes are happening, and I feel like a chain link fence will add to the more sinister nature of this last scene. I also found this distant image of the signage used by the city I grew up in, and am going to use it as a general shape reference for the sign I will put outside the school.

This was the base sketch I came up with, but as I started working I felt like I needed more. So I did what I have done previously to get a sense of depth, and I opened the Sims 4.

While I am extremely aware there is probably a better 3D modeling software I could use that is not funded by the toxic funding decisions made by EA higher ups, I do not have immediate access to one of those in a way that would help me with scale at the moment so this will be the second time all year I open this game and it will be for the same short purpose as the last time... I'm going to download Paralives as soon as I can afford it at this rate.

Somehow the game has literally no chain link fence, so I grabbed a fence that was similar in height. This whole thing is purely for helping me with perspective, as it is an artistic concept that I struggle a LOT with. Depth and I do not get along.

But now that I had an idea of how to go about doing this, I realized that if I were to add the actual school in the background I wouldn't be able to design it in Illustrator because it would have to overlay into my big mask layer, and I don't have an Illustrator template that would fit that.

This version of the scaling would also make the stage fairly stage right heavy since that's where the characters enter from, so I think I'll make the actual school shorter when I design it in it's entirety. For now I will treat it like a separate Illustrator file to get the shape into After Effects.

This was my base for my upstage flat, and would easily be the most detailed part of this specific sequence.

This is my downstage flat, and while it seems the most simple I do plan on adding animated clouds that I'll build as shapes in AE.

In all of my research FRAY Studios has been a heavy hitter in the UK for video design for stage performances. One of their most recent projects was Joji's 2026 Solaris Tour, where their work was showcased in what I can only call an impressive display of animation and directorial talent.

While I sadly did not have the chance to see this tour, FRAY actually has a blog discussing some of the production decisions put into this show!

FRAY has the fascinating position of being able to design for artists with extremely unique sounds. From Foals, to Pierce the Veil, to Glass Animals, it seems they are capable of transforming artists with eldritch energy into visually stunning performances that mirror the vibes of the artist. Joji is not exempt from that concept, with his stylings ranging from using synth to strings and his vocals haunting every track in his discography.

The show used a series of massive LED screens that cascade downstage, each one carrying various visual identities throughout the show. The design centers around Notch, Touch Designer, and various animation stylings that are responsive to the music in some way.

The visuals are spectral in nature, fitting Joji's vocal stylings while also carrying the energy of the music forward. Bright colors and constant stimulation create a full sensory experience, as I imagine feeling the music's presence physically alongside seeing such vivid and imaginative visuals would take an audience away into the music itself.

The blog about the performance from FRAY details the intricacies of molding the iMag (real time camera movement) into the folds of the video design process (FRAY 2026). In my mind this highlights how intricately collaborative this field is. While in theater the focus can be on working with the lighting designers, in other cases like live music you have to work with the camera director.

Not only is FRAY at the forefront in terms of industry practices, but their wide scope over live music and live theater makes them a pillar in the industry.

In terms of the relevance of this performance to my project, the Solaris tour has me mindful of how collaborative this would really be if I was truly working in the field with it. It also has me realizing how important learning about the other elements of live performance are. While I am familiar with theater for my own project, the workflow of live music is foreign to me and would have to be something I had at least a vague understanding of if I was to work on a show of this scale and scope. To better collaborate with others I need to have at least a minimal understanding of what they are doing and what programs they are using so I can be an effective team member.

WORKS CITED:

The Broadway production Maybe Happy Ending is a 2025 musical about two robots who want to discover whether or not it is possible for them to fall in love. It takes place in a near distant future, with the two main characters being assistant robots based outside of Seoul, Korea. The show is actively still being performed and is selling tickets as far out as 2027!

The design of the set is inspired by modern cell phone and hand held device movements, incorporating concepts of motion already engrained into societal sub-consciousness. This choice connects the show to technology in the present day and the futuristic setting of the show's plot itself. It feels familiar to audiences in the way the iris based framing of the sets swipe and zoom at speeds similar to the way one would interface with their phone.

The show utilizes Cinema 4D and Disguise, two programs I am looking to become more and more proficient in! Both were used in the pre-production process in a way that functioned like they were shooting a movie rather than producing a musical, which seems to be the case in most complex set design like this one.

While for parts of the production it seems like most of the stage isn't visible, the set design is extremely complicated in that there are MANY moving parts. Not only are there the irises that provide interesting scenic transitions, but there are also rotating sets behind the "curtain" the irises create. The audience's attention stays on the irises' movement as the show progresses, allowing for the moments with more stage visibility to carry more space (literally) in the scene.

The main reason this show is at the forefront of my field, and my main takeaway takeaway from this production is the importance of pre-production. This show utilized detailed storyboards in it's production process, and while for my own thesis project I certainly sketched out ideas, I did not storyboard in the traditional sense. In fact in hindsight it seems like I certainly should have, as in a real working setting it would help convince a director of my skills and vision in a way that would create confidence in my skills as an artist before they let me start designing something they dislike.

The video production utilized in this performance has reshaped the way the stage can be played with in terms of visuals, utilizing old obscuring techniques from traditional theatrical productions while utilizing modern technology to enhance the audience's experience.

WORKS CITED:

Part of the reason I am so excited to leap into this industry is because of my deep founded adoration for live music. I see at least two concerts every year with my family, and this summer was no exception. My dad surprised my siblings and I to Tyler Childers' Wrigley field show during his Snipe Hunt tour.

One of the important things that I have become aware of since wanting to enter this field, is that I tend to gravitate more towards projects with content that I explicitly like. This was an exception, purely because Tyler Childers' is not an artist I would listen to in my free time. While he was fun live, his sound is not my absolute favorite. Regardless of my preferences, I can still appreciate the actual performance and the content he had onstage. In fact my complete lack of knowledge of his music made it even easier for me to focus on how his performance interacted with the visuals.

The content for this performance was creatively directed by Olivia Sebesky, who has also designed shows for artists like Shakira, Katy Perry, and Universal Studios (Sebesky, 2026).

The most important thing I took away from the video design in Chidlers' performance is how specifically in concerts styles can vary from song to song. While other shows I have seen maintain specific style similarities between all of their songs in any given album, this show primarily focused on the visuals behind the song "Bitin' List," shown on the right above.

The song itself is about being so frustrated with somebody that you fantasize about one day contracting rabies and them being on the list of people you would bite. There is a really fun comedic energy in the actual sound of the song, with an extremely catchy and attention grabbing chorus.

In terms of how the visuals portray these varying vibes, it sticks with the motif of the dog, which appears in the count down for the show's start on the left. This dog in the countdown is used to symbolize a huntin' dog used in the "snipe hunt," the name of the tour that also playfully leans into these themes of appalacian whimsey. A "snipe hunt" is a prank (as seen in the film UP), and a lot of Childer's music seems to carry this playful energy.

Another way the visuals carry this energy is by fluxuating between hyper realism and a more motion graphic based cartoon style. The cartoon style is specifically used during songs of a more playful nature, while the semi-realism is utilized more for the numbers with more emotionally driven undertones.

It takes me back to our Semester A writing assignments about the use of realism! I hadn't thought about how the choice of whether or not to use realism would carry through creative choices.

Another important element for me to consider with projects like this is the use of the live camera. While my initial final project was intended to use a live camera input, the direction of that project changed. But with Childers' performance I was able to start thinking about how that camera interfaces with the rest of the show. Certain moments, like the one above on the left, seemed staged in a way that did not show the background visuals behind Childers as he performed. While other moments were intentionally more psychedelic in their visual style, with the camera adding to the ongoing trippy nature of the visuals themselves like the picture shown above on the right.

This performance has taught me that drastic changes in visual styles are acceptable during live performances, but they need to be extremely intentional. The visuals can't be random. I feel I have known this rule without ever being shown it, but this is one of the first shows I've seen that didn't seem to follow any strict rules about how its visuals presented themselves onstage.

WORKS CITED:

Childers, T. (2026) ‘Tyler Childers’ Snipe Hunt Tour’. Chicago: Wrigley Field, July.

In order to understand the full capacity of what is possible in my field, I decided to look into projects promoted by Disguise, a software company that is vital to video and projection design's success as an industry.

The Disguise website was where I found Redwood, a musical staring Idina Menzel that ran in the spring of 2025. It is about a grieving mother who flees the buzzing city of New York to retreat into the forests of North Carolina and learns how to navigate the passing of her adult son.

Redwood utilizes multiple LED screens onstage to give the audience an illusion of dimension that wouldn't be possible without the actual curve of the LED screens. This allowed for a level of depth in both the visuals and the storytelling that required the team to actually purchase these screens rather than rent them, which turned out to be a worthwhile endeavor.

The way the actors interact with the giant tree setpiece is familiar to the art of silk dancing, where most of the movement and engagement from the piece never even touches the floor.

Hana Sooyeon Kim led a mostly female team, which I am learning is highly uncommon in this industry. I have yet to personally meet any women who do video design, so to see that this show was designed by a Korean woman gives me hope that there is diversity in the field. I know my not meeting them doesn't mean they don't exist, but it is extremely interesting to me that I haven't met anyone beyond the demographics of white men. I think my background in women's and gender studies makes me more finely tuned to the amount of diversity in any given space. While it's certainly not a bad thing, I am interested in discovering whether or not the lack of diversity is due to the size of the industry, or just the spaces I have entered.

Redwood is relevant to my project in the way it's making me think through how I can maintain both visual interest AND narrative intrigue. It is important that I am not purely being literal for certain scenes, similarly to the dreamy flashback sequences that happen in the show. I am also learning more and more as I research that the type of tech involved in a production severely impacts the amount of design. Not only does it matter on a technical level, but the visuals are only made possible by the capacity of the technology in the way this show maintains visual depth through it's use of curved LED screens.

WORKS CITED:

This is the only sequence that won't have an illustration portion, purely because it utilizes the previous gym scene! This one is where our surviving characters come back to the gym to summon the "Lords in Black" that will help them re-kill Max.

I started by copying in my bases from my Gym sequence. Then I went in and changed the timing of the outlines coming in, as well as added a part at the end that turns the scenery dark and gloomy so it could spring into bright technicolor when the Lords in Black arrive.

I added in flickers and wobbles to the outline to add to the intensity of the summoning itself, and to add an otherworldly quality to it. This was inspired by the house's transformation in Beetlejuice when outlines start wobbling during the house's moments of instability! It adds to the "magic" of it all (even if that magic is slightly freaky in vibes).

I split this entire sequence into two separate parts, the first called "Invoking" and the second called "Summoning," to match the name of the song that I am animating part of. Due to the repetitive and lengthy nature of the song I do not intend on animating the whole thing, but rather I'm going to animate the more high energy moments towards the beginning.

It took me some time to go in and extend the length of all of my compositions to fit this sequence, but I thought it would be easier to stretch my already present effects within one composition rather than attempting to replicate/recreate them as separate ones.

I made a moving gradient out of wiggling circles, then did what I did for the blood scene before and made them wiggle and glow in the transparency of the outlines. It is SO COOL to see my vision for these scenes come together, as I will admit I was definitely the most excited for this one in particular and I think it turned out great!!

I made my text into lyrics and dialogue from the Lords in Black to add to the strange distorted version of the real world, then inverted some elements of each layer to add to the feeling of being transported to another dimension!

The entire sequence is intense and fun, and uses the colors associated with each of the Lords that we see on stage!

After surviving one of the worst ear infections of my life, I finally returned to my regularly scheduled program. Thankfully I had worked very far ahead in my planning, which meant I was still on a good track as long as I kept up the hard work!

I started by shading as I had been, adding my gritty textures I've come to love so much. I make adjustment layers that sync to the audio, and then make sure those layers all change at the same time for each flat.

In my upstage flat I had to move some assets around in the initial illustration to make sure the things I wanted to do later were doable. This involved changing my colored illustrator files into photoshop files so I could edit individual sections of my layers, and mixing up which elements used the illustrator layers vs the photoshop ones. It allowed me to do more masking and resizing than I would have been able to do with just Illustrator, and allows me to incorporate my effects for all of my sequences in the gym.

For my downstage flat I basically had to reconstruct the entire board in order to get the effect I wanted, but thankfully it wasn't too complicated. That's the glory of utilizing mostly flat colors for most of my work!

Next up for Max's entrance, I made my adjustment layers darker to prepare the audience for the drastic change that is coming! I wanted poor Richie's impending doom to really set in as the gym goes dark.

Then BOOM! Blacklight! I leaned further into the purples I had already been using, then made the outlines white in an effort to give that special UV effect. My goal is to accentuate the spookier parts of the set like the signs, and to make the next change into the reveal of Max being "alive" more interesting visually!

I made the neon red glow ooze in like blood for Richie's death scene, and also made it reveal the acronym for the show's namesake song "NPMD"!

With the gym, the first decision I made was to include my MidFlat from my Hallway scenes. I feel like keeping it known to the audience that we are still in the school is helpful, and I think that adding more of my spooky text will allow for some interesting moments in the scenes themselves.

Next I did some more research into the setting. I've been in plenty of high school gymnasiums in my time, so I already have a small frame of reference. But delving into it will hopefully help me add some serious details!

I found these photos from two of my high school's MANY gyms, and decided to use them as references for the downstage and upstage flats! I really liked the thought of the scoreboard being something I could play with in my animations because of how stylistic and versatile they are.

I loved the idea of making Max's number on his varsity jacket the number on the foul scoreboard, and giving Richie as the "Home" team 1 foul and ticking Max's "Visitor" team foul count up when he kills Richie. I won't be actually animating that out, but I will animate the numbers changing from "000" to "DIE" when Max appears in the gym.

I wanted the back walls to be a brick pattern overlay to add to the gym look, and then for the upflat to have those matts that make sure no one runs into any walls too hard haha. I wanted a lot of strong outlines for me to play with in the various scenes, and the brick effect really adds to that.

I followed this tutorial about how to make a seamless brick pattern in Illustrator, and adjusted it to fit my needs.

As a non-european citizen, the Eurovision Song Contest is a totally new production in my life. I was lucky enough to be hanging out with some video designers while it was going on, and hearing them speak on it was really insightful!

I figured for one of my forefront posts I should talk about the production itself. It being a HUGE mix of departments and efforts from various countries means it exists as a glimpse into the current sphere of production quality that is available.

The essence of the video design came into the LED floor/wall screen that showed a variety of animations in tandem with the performers, setting the mood and tone for each production to a striking point. Some were bright and colorful, and others were somber and dark. These visuals really supported the performers in their numbers!

I watched this documentary about the behind the scenes of the production itself to learn more about the video design. One of the main things I feel like I've learned is just how much goes into lighting design in itself. I know they are two separate industries, but they really both have a heavy amount of technology involved in their planning. Especially when they act in tandem like they do in Eurovision.

I also haven't quite wrapped my head around the fact that my field is extremely technological. I have been so rooted in the creative elements while subconsciously learning all of the ins and outs of the more intense technology that gets used in massive productions like this one. While I don't think I will personally be interacting with the technology rooted in lighting, I still think seeing the absolute extreme intensity show is important for my understanding of how all of the elements of a production intertwine. I have a good grasp on the basics of rigging because of my experience in stage managing and stage setup, but seeing it done to this extreme adds to my insight and understanding.

One of the other elements that I had not even considered was in the live streamed elements of the show. They had to match the video wall with the shutter cameras used to capture the performance. This wouldn't have even popped into my head as a potential issue, but Creative Technology (who did the video design for the show) maintained extremely high quality footage while also keeping the quality of the LED screen in tact.

I really think having an understanding of how intense the variations of a show can be is HIGHLY important. Eurovision is obviously a special case in its extravagance, but it also is still a job that requires a specific skillset to maintain.

While I do think the technological advancements are impressive, it is also important to note that the production itself did not include the exclusion of Isreal despite its horrific actions against the Palestinian people over the past few years. I personally find it hard to grapple with my morals like that, but I also understand that as an artist sometimes it's either be on your high horse or starve. Many countries withdrew from the competition entirely in the face of the genocide, so involving oneself in the actual production process is questionable to me personally. I think the nuance in this situation is part of what has me conflicted about the performance entirely. From a video design and production standpoint it is extremely impressive from my perspective, but from a general moral standpoint I do not think I would be proud to have been a part of this production fully knowing that one of the most involved countries is actively committing a genocide and not facing any backlash other than some boycotts from the show entirely. I really think this will have me evaluating what I decide to involve myself in and how going forward as I navigate this career.

WORKS CITED:

Creative Technology (2026) Official technical supplier for the Eurovision Song Contest 2026. Available at: https://ct-group.com/de/en/projects/eurovision-song-contest-2026/ (Accessed: 06 July 2026).

I started right away by adding my typical texturing embellishments in After effects! Shape layers fit to each shape with the roughen edges effect under a gaussian blur, and this grit gets added to my scenes.

Next up I looked at the big moments. The scene starts with the cast walking offstage to act as if them walking back onstage is them entering the house, accompanied by a door creaking and all.

I added an adjustment layer to make each flat darker before they enter and to have it slowly fade in to be bright when they open the door.

Next was the lightning flash! I used that same adjustment layer to time brightness alongside the sound of the storm, and then made shape layers that matched the shape of the windows to really make that lightning CRACK.

I also made the tarps, which were meant to act as an omage to the original set, slowly wave warped as if pushed by a breeze. I wanted to really enhance that abandoned building look with them.

I was SO excited to work on this scene! The Old Waylon Place is your typical haunted house that our main cast of characters decides to prank their high school bully, Max Jagerman. But things go awry and Max ends up falling out of the highly unstable building and falling two stories to his death, where he swears that "Nerdy Prudes Must Die!"

I will only be designing the interior of the Old Waylon Place, and luckily for me it's really a short sequence that would loop in the scene.

I started in my favorite spot, a mood board!

In my inspiration, the main inspiration I found was actually Scooby Doo! Something about it's silly nature and the time period of it reminds me a LOT of this show, and I found this helpful article that details how the team behind the recent Scooby Doo iteration (Scoob!) worked on transporting the world from a 2D to 3D space. They discuss the use of colors, and even in the photos they use in their analysis of the specific scenes I can't help but draw comparisons to the tone of the scenes in NPMD. They even add to the Scooby Doo vibes by having the actors walk offstage as if they are entering the house via the porch.

I looked at more Scooby Doo art from the different variations, like Cartoon Network's Mystery Incorporated show. I found the background painter for that show, Stephen Nicodemus, and dove even deeper into the haunted house vibes before I started my sketches.

The other artist I found that inspired me was Aaron Becker, who worked on Monster House production shots. I really am drawn towards the feeling of scale of the house in contrast to the characters, especially since the scene is supposed to be very impactful to the central conflict.

The other inspiration I want to take is from the book House of Leaves, which I recently read and had a horrible time reading! Truthfully, I am a weenie in terms of how scared I can be of horror. Specifically in visuals. I tend to read a LOT of it, since it is only as scary as my mind allows it to be. But House of Leaves gave me nightmares just from reading it... there is something about a house that carries that uncanny feeling that I wanted to capture when thinking about this design, since the house in House of Leaves acts as a force throughout the plot.

In my sketching, I knew I wanted to incorporate a staircase with an older banister, some torn paintings, and COBWEBS GALORE!

Because of some spacial unawareness in relation to the staircase, I decided to use the best building simulation I had at my disposal to make a reference for myself...

While I have been actively boycotting the Sims 4 due to some very unfavorable decisions the higher ups in the game are making, this was the best way for me to get a sense of realistic scale in relation to my actual work.

And then I realizes there was an issue with it... Max has to fall down at least one flight in order to fall to his death. So I opted to scratch the staircase entirely in favor of setting the mood in terms of creepy atmosphere. At risk of contradicting the continuity of the show by adding stairs, I decided to find other ways to set the scene! This made my updating the Sims 4 truly pointless, but regardless getting that specific perspective is helpful for my progress moving forward.

I wanted to go for an older wallpaper, which would also let me play around with endless patterns.

I took this photo of a peace hybrid tea rose, and wanted to incorporate it into my wallpaper because of how beautiful it is.

This rose was planted and cared for by a man who grew into his 90s alone because of the pressures of coming out as a gay man in an era of war and scrutiny. The generations before mine have not been kind to the queer community, and the toll that took on him led him to what I could only describe as an extremely lonely life. Something about seeing where he lived made me sit back and feel a lot of mixed emotions. Gratitude. Grief. Heartache. There is still a world where people cannot live authentically, and it breaks my heart.

I took this photo just before his passing as I accompanied one of his cleaners to the property, and sometimes as an artist you just have those moments where something calls to you and begs to be made into art. I think that feeling is exactly why I felt inclined to take this photo. The incorporation of this rose will act as my omage to him, as the show's content pertains to both death and the consequences of repressing your own desires.

For my UpFlat I learned how to make a repeating pattern in Illustrator and ended up with a wallpaper that screamed 1910! I decided to do more detailed shading in AE for this one.

For the MidFlat, I wanted to focus on the age of the space by adding cobwebs that resemble the ones from Scooby Doo! I was also inspired by the ceiling from Beetlejuice, when the indents are animated to wiggle and warp as the world around the actors turns into Betelgeuse's playplace. I wanted there to be some windows so I can flash some lightning through them as the cast approaches the stage to "enter the house." Since the house is described as being abandoned after being built in 1910, I definitely wanted to go for an older look.

And the finally the UpFlat! I decided to just make it a very high ceiling with the intention of adding some crooked wall details and a creepy chandelier with tarps hanging from the wall in reference to the original set choices.

Now that all my flats were designed, it's time to animate them!

WORKS CITED:

Becker, A. (2013) Aaron Becker » monster house, Aaron Becker. Available at: https://www.storybreathing.com/monster-house/ (Accessed: 25 June 2026).

De Wit, A.D. (2020) How to create a ‘scooby-doo’ haunted house: Step-by-step with ‘scoob!’ production designer Michael Kurinsky, Cartoon Brew. Available at: https://www.cartoonbrew.com/how-to/how-to-create-a-scooby-doo-haunted-house-step-by-step-with-scoob-production-designer-michael-kurinsky-192777.html (Accessed: 25 June 2026).

Nicodemus, S. (2012) Stephen Nicodemus: More scooby doo mystery inc background art ‘shrieking madness’, Stephen Nicodemus Animation Background Art. Available at: http://stephennicodemus.blogspot.com/2012/08/more-scooby-doo-mystery-inc-background.html (Accessed: 25 June 2026).

After deciding the base of my scene, I went into After Effects to add movement and effects.

I started by animating the tiles changing colors. I wanted the switch into Grace's fantasy to be a bit more obvious than it actually is in the show, so I leaned into some dreamy pink fractal noise effects with the tile trim and grout and changed the bathroom to be a much more vibrant purple color. The trim moves kind of like a lava lamp, which I really love for the tones of the song! I wanted to make sure there was movement in it to make sure I was still doing video design rather than still illustrations. The next step was to add the bubbles floating in.

I had a couple options, but at the end of the day I decided I wanted to play around with the foam simulation in AE. I've worked with particles before, but I wanted to play around with the feel of this song and a simulation was the best way to do that. After messing around with it on my upmost bathroom flat, I decided that it would look better if the bubbles acted on all of the flats rather than cutting off at one. So I made the foam effect apply to a layer that had visibility aligned with the flats in my "BathroomFULL" composition.

Next it was time to work on the mid flat. First I found and played around with the glass effect on my stained glass to add some depth. Then I decided to make the daisies spin in my stained glass only when a specific synth played, as to not make the stage too busy. I wanted to create a momentum of the chorus, since that's also when the bubbles show up, and it felt right to put that momentum in the rotations of the daisies.

I gave both flats the same adjustment layer to make sure the hue/saturation changes stayed consistent, and paired with the bubbles it turned out to be a scene that I'm really proud of! I also gave those rough edges to the walls to give it more depth, and those details are starting to become a consistent part of my style! They're just shape layers with similar colors to the original flat layer with a gaussian blur set HIGH and a roughen edges effect. It adds texture and depth in a way that appeals to the tone I'm going for, and is starting to become a consistent part of my style!

I went in for the whole song with this one just to demonstrate the subtle differences happening as the song goes on. When it's just Max singing the chorus the bubbles start small, but as Grace joins him the bubbles become bigger!

I have to admit, there is something quite silly about me presenting such vulgar content as my masters thesis project. But truthfully in this line of work the odds are high that I will have to work with all kinds of different content, and in the more playful sexual nature of this moment in the show it let's me enhance those feelings in a way that isn't too invasive, but also adds to the feeling an audience would get upon viewing it.

This week has been pleasantly slow in terms of my workload! I have family in town visiting, so I spaced out the amount of work I would be doing in the weeks of traveling and exploring this beautiful country.

But despite my peaceful break, I did my best to stay on track! And that involved focusing on the illustrations for my bathroom scene.

I wanted to use a lot of purples and blues so that pinks and reds could be added during the animation portions, and I knew I wanted the back flat to involve some purple tiles.

In researching 90s style American bathrooms, I found some interesting additions I could throw into the other flats as well!

A google search led me to find a photo that includes stained class windows, which I think could be made really interesting with additional animations and would fit the vibes of Grace Chastity and her family very well.

I did make the decision to not include the most downstage flat in the scenery. A bathroom is supposed to be a more confined space, and I felt that only using the midstage and upstage flats would support that feeling. Then when she starts singing, the top flat will be incorporated in the animations as they begin to add to the surrealism of her daydreams.

While working on my sketches, I found this photo of stained glass that really stuck with me. Not only do daisies represent innocence and purity, but the shape involved are a bit yonic, or representative of feminine divinity and sexuality. Grace Chastity as a character is a young woman who is severely repressed in almost all ways, and truthfully the entire conflict of the show is spurred on by how her sexual temptations become misplaced. Rather than admit that she is attracted to Max Jagerman, she pushes those feelings down because of her religion and then thinks that hiding his accidental death will work just as well as hiding her accidental attraction for him. Without this character device, the plot doesn't move forward. That's why there is some irony in the subtle yonic symbology being scattered around the bathroom as she sings Dirty Girl, and it also coincides with the theme of repression not being an effective method of making something go away.

These are the sketches I ended up with for the Chastity bathroom scene. I plan on cutting the tiles off and leaving the wall around the stained glass windows a plain cream color to allow for more interesting lighting effects. I also plan on not really adding detailed hand drawn shading to this one, since the illustrator files will be more efficient in my vision than any hand drawn shading effects.

This was the stained glass panel I decided on! I opted for multiple small ones rather than one long one to maintain simplicity and because a family like the Chastity's is not likely to have one massive stained glass piece in a bathroom. I imagine these are little stickers on their bathroom windows, honestly, but they probably pretend that they're original glass pieces.

After a few days I ended up adding shading to the tiles in After Effects to make it easier to manipulate, then kept the initial Illustrator files in tact so I could edit each of them separately as the sequence went on.

Since my focus and attention has shifted to video and projection design for the stage, I had the absolute pleasure of shadowing Peter Nigrini in his work on the West End production of Beetlejuice. After just two short days, I understood what feels like infinitely more about the industry than I did beforehand. I know I've got so much to learn, but sitting behind such an experienced team was really enlightening for me and my career aspirations. Not only was the team amazing, but I felt like I really opened a door for myself by wandering into this awesome opportunity!!

After seeing a bit of the behind the scenes, I had the pleasure of being able to see the full show! And I was AMAZED.

The way the sets worked was that the physical set would come out in unison with a pre-designed projection meant to enhance the space. From adding glowing sketch patterns, to fully fledged animations that completely transformed the space, the projections were meant to enhance the visuals to the nth degree. The first full minute of the show even involves an animation sketching in the ominous Nightmare Before Christmas inspired scenery.

This show is easily in the forefront of projection design, since very few scenes from its 2.5 hour long run time didn't include some sort of projections. If I hadn't sat behind the team while they worked on them, I wouldn't have even known that most of them weren't a part of the physical set!

I couldn't take pictures during the actual show, but I will do my best to point out the kinds of work the projections did for the actual performance.

In this scene if you look to the back wall, there are physical indents made to look as though the wall has been warped and folded. While those indents are there and are real, the blacklight/purple streaks enhancing each of those folds are a part of an intricate series of projection designs. The glowing trim along the door frames are also a part of that projection design, and for this scene in particular sitting and watching them line up the pieces of the projection to the door itself was a fascinating process.

Every iteration of the set (there are 3) had dozens of alterations made depending on the context. Even in the scene above, what isn't shown is that on one of the upper parts of the back wall in a blank space there were animations of the silhouettes of furniture being sucked out the door to add to the intensity of the sandworm entering the house.

The projections were extremely useful when Beetlejuice started manipulating the world around him. There was clearly a choice made to go heavy on the projections when he was around causing chaos, since it added to the surreal and chaotic nature he brought to the scenes. There were other moments where the indents in the ceiling grew teeth and started biting, and characters "drew" lines of chalk on the wall to create doors to the netherworld. All of these decisions were intended to create an immersive space where the audience could see the effects of the underworld AND of Beetlejuice as an agent of chaos to both the characters and the scenery, and after seeing it myself I can confirm that the intended effects were successful!

WORKS CITED:

On June 12, 2026, I had the pleasure of attending the Harry Styles TOGETHER TOGETHER tour. While it may seem a bit silly to blog about a concert, I have the privilege of using opportunities like this to actually treat it as research in real time.

As the show went on, the music brought me in and the video design made sure my attention stayed. The video design was done by Silent Partners Studio in Montreal! They've worked with Harry before in his last tour called Harry's House, and they specialize in various projects within the music and entertainment industry. Their projects have moved from artists like Katy Perry to productions like SNL, even to marketing campaigns for various Google products (Silent Partners Studio, 2026).

In terms of the work for TOGETHER TOGETHER, I found it fitting my interests far more than most of their other projects.

For starters, they managed to incorporate the actual stage into the designs themselves. A large square catwalk that wrapped around Wembley stadium displayed visuals that would mirror what was shown on the jumbotron, which allowed for a certain amount of cohesion and "vibe setting" for the music.

WARNING: BELOW VIDEO CONTAINS FLASHING LIGHTS

As seen in the video above, both the big screens and the stage screen maintained specific visual motifs throughout each of Harry's songs. As they would play out in unison, moments would allow for the singer to take center stage as real time tracking allowed for Harry to stick out against the flashy effects.

Those effects included motion graphics, filters, and various real videos that I can only assume were taken by Styles' when planning for the show to take place. The use of mixed media for this performance really gave it a patchwork feel, which fits with Harry's younger audience in their preference for upcycling and his playful energy.

The ability to incorporate artists into the video design in real time seems like a compromise between the world of theater in the world of music, in knowing that while most things are rehearsed, the artist wants to put on a show that can be as unique as a set list can be. This choice allowed for specific beats in the music to really let the visuals shine, while others played alongside Harry in an effort to add intensity and energy to the performance.

On the otherhand, it's clear that due to the timing of these moments alongside the songs, they are all stretched out to various timecodes to allow for them to carry moments of music without giving the artist much freedom at all. While this makes perfect sense in terms of how a venue needs to make sure the artist only performs for a specific time slot, it does potentially restrict that performer to those moments. Again there are certainly pros and cons, the pros mostly relating to really interesting visuals being possible with planning and planning alone.

In the choice to incorporate the stage itself into the video design, Silent Partners Studio actually managed to maintain multitudes within the performance. There was always something interesting to look at even beyond the big screens, and the audience could certainly tell that Harry and his crew had fun running around the massive playground of a stage they'd been given. Giving the part of the audience that sat higher up their own additions to the show that the floor viewers most definitely couldn't see felt like a nod to those of us in the nosebleeds, and the amount of thought that went into that choice really gave the audience added excitement.

While I am extremely lucky to have been able to attend this concert for the quality of Styles' performance alone, the addition of video design into his performance at Wembley stadium had me looking more toward the future than attending any other show ever has. It is easy to say with a record breaking 12 shows in London for this tour that is nearly sold out, that Styles has brought video design for the stage to the forfront of his performances in a very vibrant way.

WORKS CITED

Styles, H. (2026) ‘Harry Styles TOGETHER TOGETHER Tour’. London: Wembley Stadium, 12 June.