DESIGN / ANIMATION / EDITING / SOUND DESIGN

PBS Digital Studios Promo

Overview

PBS Digital Studios is the online content division of PBS. They curate producers and content creators to build a fascinating lineup of high-quality shows on science, art, politics, culture, finance, and much more.

The PBSDS team reached out to me to update and freshen up their existing overview sizzle video, which plays at the top of their YouTube channel and other social media accounts, plus live events and fundraisers.

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Brief

Keeping the overall concept and script the same, my task was to incorporate new show content, new on-screen talent, and to develop a new graphic style. The direction given for revamping the style was a mixture of "sleek tech meets science" In other words, circuits, galaxies, physics—a combination of elements to tie in with the wide range of topics represented in their show lineup.

I definitely wanted to add a healthy dose of fun and quirkiness into the overall feel of the graphics, as that was a common trait I discovered while digging into the various PBSDS shows. This was primarily achieved through a vibrant color palette and abstracted graphic elements.

No.01  Early styleframe for talent graphic setting.

No.02  Unused styleframe for PBSDS logo end screen.

Approach

My main goal in this project was to create a cohesive graphic world for the talent to live in. The previous sizzle didn’t have this feature, and I thought this would elevate the overall impact of the piece and strengthen the PBSDS branding.

One of my main challenges was to take the digital/high-tech direction and marry that with the rough-around-the-edges, handmade qualities of the PBSDS branding. 

No.03  Style frame for a space-themed graphics world for on-screen talent.

No.04  A frame from final video demonstrating the various layers that make up the final composite.

Results

With lots of little data bits, glitches, and image pixellations—the resulting look is a blend of high tech slickness mixed with an endearing lo-fi quality as well. 

I had a great time working on this project. I got to watch lots of really interesting shows as part of gathering footage and sound bites for the edit, the the style is super fun, and the folks on the client side were very pleased as well.

I ended up creating 2 minute, 60 second, and 15 second versions for the PBSDS team to use in various promotional ways.

No.05  Final scene from the video showing the graphics layering in.

No.06  Style frame for a money-themed graphic environment for the show talent.

Thanks for reading!