Homework.
Friday Night football games.
Your annual team fundraiser.
Yeah, remember that?
You were practically a selling machine.
From candy bar boxes to fire extinguishers, you and your classmates came together
for the greater good of your respective marching band careers and cheerleading squads.
Some of us remember the brochures that sold all types of products, and promised
some pretty cool rewards if we managed to do some outstanding sales. We hit up
our parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents, their coworkers, their coworkers neighbors,
and everyone in between.
If we were to dig a little deeper into those memories of selling frozen pizzas and summer sausages, chances are we'd come across a familiar name: Century Resources.
They've been helping students raise money for their programs since 1978. This summer, Super77 teamed up with them to make three videos that would help representatives get their message across to kids and teenagers in need of a fundraising push. We sent over a talking head test (we're talkin' dragon puppies, not the band), some style frames – and we were off!
While we were reminiscing on those campy videos we were forced to watch during class, we decided to go with a texture that would trigger
that blast-from-the-past vibe. We mixed that in with a comic/graphic style
that could appeal to each kid's imagination. The textures and line art were
pulled back for the final product - but we had a blast imagining the possibilities in the meantime.
So what's going on here? The idea is centralized around how a kid wants to participate in a fundraiser for his group - but in the back of his head, he's thinking... "is it worth it?
I've been through this before...". The goal was to convince this Inner Voice otherwise.
After Super77 hired super-friend writer Scott to kick off our script, we wrapped up our
casting decisions. Storyboards followed shortly after to make the shoot (filmed in-house!)
a little easier. Here's a few sketch frames and a BTS still:
The project relied heavily on character animation made in Flash/Adobe Animate CC – but it wasn't quite complete without some After Effects flair.
Not to mention five pounds of gummy bears. The first two videos are for student eyes only – but we did squeeze out a few moments in GIF form!
We thought we'd rock the end of our post with the rockstar finale video;
tuned up to be a final burst of inspiration for the students nearing the end of their fundraiser week.
Thanks for lookin’!
The Super77 Junior High All Star Marching Animation Band:
Drum Major – Tiffany Jenkins (Marketing Director, Century Resources)
Conductor – Sean Conner (creative director)
Woodwinds – Sarah Schmidt (lead animator / illustrator)
Brass – Karl Fekete (animator)
Drum Corps – Andrew Mark, Chavilah Bennett, Tom Hoying, Marco Cardenas (contributing animators)
Majorette – Sara Santillan (project manager / producer)
Bass Drum solo – Mark Burson (director / dp / editor)
Cymbals – Jon Fintel, Robin Gulcher (original music, audio)
Official Mascot, Scooter the Fightin’ Scribbler – J. Scott Mylin (copy writer)
Auxiliary – Jonas Amoss (director of production)
Band Director – Rainer Ziehm (managing partner)
Rodney – Mark Antony Howard
Michelle – Julia Long
Voice Over – Jeff Rechner
And a special thanks to Ample Power & Lighting, Susan Gulcher, Heyman Talent,
PCG Talent Agency, and the Pride of Grandview Heights High School Marching Band!
