Sarasota Orchestra

The Oxenfree Film & Motion team tapped me and a few colleagues to create a fundraising explainer video for Sarasota Orchestra's new concert hall. Our mission was to show how sound transforms between a conference hall and a dedicated performing arts space, with an emphasis on engaging younger audiences.

The challenge was to visualize sound’s movement—something inherently invisible. The client provided data visualizations that guided my setup with X-Particles. As a longtime Trapcode Particular user, switching to X-Particles required some R&D, but it allowed greater control over the 3D particle flow and interactivity, which would’ve been nearly impossible in After Effects alone.

Like any project, this one had its challenges, especially with C4D’s Sketch and Toon renderer, which often resulted in glitchy or inconsistent linework. After troubleshooting with Sketch Style tags, I found a balance using a mixture of transparency, visibility, and alpha adjustments to achieve the right look across scenes.

A favorite scene was the “Take Your Breath Away” shot, where text disintegrates into dust, creating a strong visual metaphor. By combining a Time Effector with a Voronoi fracture, I had flexibility to refine the look based on client feedback.

Our design lead, Andrea Uruburok, drove the art direction, using a Vox-inspired mixed-media style to represent sound visually, which translated beautifully to animation. Animator Mitch Centers also helped bring our instruments to life in reusable loops, keeping the process modular and efficient.

It was rewarding to push new tools and techniques to tell a compelling story, especially when the client and team were thrilled with the final video’s impact.