MOTION & GRAPHIC DESIGN / COMPOSITING / ADVERTISING / FILMING / EDITING / 3D MODELING
In our consumerist culture, we prioritize our waking hours over rest. The Stars with Clara is a fictional late-night broadcast set in a dystopic world that explores a culture hooked on Vim: a miracle drug that erases the short-term effects of sleep deprivation. Through satirical dialogue and an abundance of advertisements, it critiques a world actively trading long-term health for just a few more hours.
Role: director - RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL ASPECTS (EXCLUDING ACTING AND MUSIC)
Software: nUKE, bLENDER, aFTER eFFECTS, PREMIERE pRO, pHOTOSHOP, iLLUSTRATOR, dAVINCI rESOLVE, PowerPoint
DeliverableS: short film, audiovisual identity, bumpers, advertisements, Compositing Breakdowns, Title Treatment, PITCH DECK
Core Narrative
CLARA, a disillusioned yet beloved late-night show host promotes Vim in exchange for her platform. As corporate mandated advertisements depict Vim as a way to gain back your free time, the guest-star, DEAN, enthusiastically reveals that all it does is make people work longer hours. Each conversation alludes to a reality where if you’re not staying up with Vim, you’re slowing the rest of society down.
Always progressing. Always consuming. Always awake.
Walk Cycle for Final Ad
The Stars with Clara Demo
This demo showcases the first Vim advertisement, "What if you didn't have to sleep?", followed by a bumper for the Network of Tomorrow (NTW), that leads into the start of an episode of The Stars with Clara. It is complete with a composited screen-test of CLARA (Sally Boatright), and serves as both a culmination of work and the start of something bigger.
"What if you didn't have to sleep?", takes inspiration visually and sonically from The Twilight Zone (1959), in addition to the final sequence of EPCOT's Spaceship Earth. It is the audience's first introduction to not only the film, but also the concept of Vim. For this reason, the advertisement should feel out of touch - "too good to be true", a nod to the origin of retro-futuristic aesthetics and the false promise of "tomorrow".
Composer: Erik Barber / Voice Acting: Logan Glaze / Clara: Sally Boatright
Bumpers, Logos, INTROS!
PANACEA: The mysterious yet alluring pharmaceutical company behind Vim. They're always watching you, the logomark representing a keen eye.
THE NETWORK OF TOMORROW (NTW): Now showing The Stars with Clara in vivid technicolor! NTW is an escape from a monotonous world, drawing audiovisual inspiration from 1956 NBC Peacock bumpers.
VIM: Energy, enthusiasm, everything you've ever wanted! Clocks don't stop ticking, the earth doesn't stop spinning, and planets don't stop orbiting - why should Vim? Why should you? The animated logo reinforces a static Vim logo meant to depict a "balanced" life. Never-ending, simple, snappy.
The Pharmaceutical Company
The Television Network
The Pill
The Stars with Clara Intro
THE STARS WITH CLARA: It's time to follow the stars! This cultural phenomenon airs promptly at 2 AM every night, serving as the bridge between stars and everyday people.
The audiovisual identity of the intro takes inspiration from iconic American late night shows spanning from the 1940s to the 1990s, primarily The Ed Sullivan Show and The Johnny Carson Show, long before streaming "killed" late night television.
Additional visual inspiration is taken heavily from Saul Bass' design work and UPA's mid century modern aesthetic.
Motion Design Compilation
Music: Aeronautics - Erik Barber
Creating Vim's Mascot: Vivian
Vim's rubberhose mascot, Vivian, is the child entry point for the pill. She is charming, tenacious, and persuasive.
A figmentation of the pill itself, Vivian is built up of crescent moons - from her mouth to the twinkle in her eyes.
Similar to the Tooth Fairy and Santa, some kids swear they've met her, and claim she can create Vim out of thin air!
Base A-Pose created in Illustrator and rigged using Duik Ángela in After Effects.
building the green screen set
What do you do when you can't afford your own set? You build your own, of course! I wasn't allowed to paint on the floor, plus it ran the risk of dulling over time from walking and chairs, so my professor bought me wood panels and chroma key paint to extend the green screen out. Easy to store, easy to set-up, and durable enough for future students to use years after I graduate.
Enjoy some silly time-lapses of the process. Special thanks to my friend, Will Rule, for helping me paint!
Painting wood panels to extend green screen floor
Setting up for filming
Green square painting time lapse!!!
Look at all those green squares
Using a laser level to place tracking markers
Compositing Breakdowns
The green screen in action. It's especially rewarding to see everything start to come together after months of pre-production, casting, and compositing research. As someone that has worked primarily in 2D/3D animated film pipelines throughout my college career, the most ambitious part of this project was my decision to delve head first into live-action filmmaking. From creating the CRT effect from scratch in After Effects, to self-directing an independent study to learn Nuke, I never take the chance to learn new things for granted.
The Stars with Clara Intro Breakdown
Idylin Ad Breakdown (Sneak Peak!)
Title Treatment
Final Title Treatment
Colors
Signature
Atomic Star
Staggered Type
Primary inspirations for The Stars with Clara logo include the Ed Sullivan Show, The Johnny Carson Show, The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025), and Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe in Tomorrowland.
The purple backdrop is not only a signature shape used in mid-century modern designs, but also a television screen that slots in seamlessly with the animated intro. It's complete with a shooting atomic star, a popular visual cue for retro-futuristic designs.
Ensuring there's a silhouette
Early Color & Star Exploration
Early Title Treatment
PResentation & pitch decks
I want every project I make to tell a story. To feel lived in. That's why I always design my presentations from scratch, even if only used in a classroom context, to maintain a sense of cohesion across the entire project. I enjoy figuring out how I'm going to "sell" my project: my goals, my accomplishments, even my shortcomings.
Each slide is made in Illustrator and compiled in Microsoft PowerPoint.
Fall Final Deck
Spring Midterm Deck
