Apple + Zedd, Maren Morris, BEAUZ
“Make You Say” Music Video
Having been deep in “Made On iPad” territory in 2021 with Olivia Rodrigo’s Brutal, we were raring to go as soon as Apple reached out for a brand-new music video - this time for the dynamic duo of Zedd and Maren Morris. Our lovely collaborators at Apple had a new assignment for us this time, using the FlipAClip app to create dynamic, surrealist, emotive animations on top of a live-action video directed by Colin Read. From collaborating on-set to creating inventive concepts, style frames, and full-sequence animation, we were delighted every step of the way to bring this wild thing to life. Our team of talented cel animators drew frame-by-frame over three and a half minutes of footage to capture Maren’s emotional journey throughout the piece, building the energy and emotion to a crescendo in the third act of fully-cel-animated, explosively fantastical motion.
“This project was an exciting challenge in terms of workflow, timeline, and creative conceptual thinking. Our goal was to capture Maren’s emotional journey from grief, to anger, to peace with only our animated additions, carrying the viewer through each identical loop of footage with a new evolution of metaphorical visuals. Through countless rounds of conceptualizing, visualizing, and honing in on the most effective emotive concepts, we brought Maren’s journey to life in a vibrant swirl of visual metaphor.”
“It was an absolute dream when Zedd asked us to design the cover art to accompany the release. In the video, Maren goes through 3 stages of dealing with a breakup - grief, anger, and peace - and each of these stages has its own theme - water, fire, and flowers. In the cover art, we represented each stage through Maren's head and how she eventually rises from a place of sorrow to inner peace.”
Made on iPad
Process
“Working exclusively on iPad for animation is always a challenge, but one we were uniquely equipped to take on. Our team used the FlipAClip app on iPad to animate every frame of this piece from beginning to end, exporting image sequences to our compositor to pull the final piece together. Honing our workflow throughout the experimental process, we truly poured our hearts and souls into this piece both technically and creatively.”
Design & Animation: Scholar
Creative Director: Will Johnson
Art Director: Danni Fisher-Shin
Lead: Irma Hasanic
Chapter Leads: Madison Ellis, Zach Herdman, Amy Wallace
Managing Executive Producer: Kirsten Noll
Executive Producer: Antonio Hardy
Head of Production: Nicole Smarsh
Sr Producer: Christina Yiallouris
Associate Producer: Nicole Gutzmann
Designers / Cel Animators: Alex Bernas, Jessica Buck, Kiron Robinson, Geo Barnett, Barbara Benas, Dennie Bright, Gerald Ding, Taik Lee, Aivy Nguyen, Lana Simanenkova, Tahj Stover, Camille Vincent, Khylin Woodrow
Flame Artist: Dae Kang
Teaser Editor: Dannette Mehalik
Telecine: Company 3
Music Video Editorial: Whitehouse Post
Producer: Annie Maldonado
Editor: Charlie Harvey
Assistant Editor: Taylor Schwartz
Production Company: Pulse Films
Director: Colin Read
Client: Apple
Music:
Artist & Track Name: Zedd & Maren Morris “Make You Say”
