Author Archives: jessbressler

VMWare Save Our Home

VMWare: Save Our Home Without Leaving Yours

Informational Earth Day Video

creative direction & production, design & motion

Save Our Home – Without Leaving Yours
VMWare, In The Flicker
Animation

There are easy steps we can all take to protect our ecosystem; How do you teach people about sustainability while engaging them and without preaching (to glazed over eyes)?

“VMware has a long-held belief that environmental stewardship is our responsibility and duty as a global corporate citizen.”  This statement is part of the brand and to take advantage of Earth Day, VMware wanted to create a video that brought people through simple steps they could easily adopt in their own life to stave off environmental disaster. Of course, we also wanted to avoid words like ‘disaster’….

In 2021 many more people were working from home than ever before so VMWare decided to use that jumping off point. By creating graphics in house and also incorporating videos taken by employees at their homes, we created a video focusing on recycling, energy efficiency, and food best practices. We were given the voice over, home movies, and the graphics. We worked together and came up with how best to animate what was on screen to match and entertain during the voice over, as well as how to incorporate the home videos which have a drastically different look to make an informative well-paced cohesive video that was both on brand and on message.

It feels good to do good. 

2021

Chase Business Leaders Outlook 2022

Informational Video

creative direction & production, design & motion, video editing

Business Leaders Outlook 2022 Survey Results Video
Chase for Business, AHA, In The Flicker
Animator, Editor, Post-Production

How do you get an audience to pay attention to statistic after statistic without eyes glazing over?

Every year chase surveys small business owners to track trends. In 2022 they also decided to produce a video explaining what they found. Unsurprisingly, flexibity was high on the list in 2022 due to Covid.

This project started with brainstorming and testing some quite out there ideas for such an established brand language as Chase for Business and while we didn’t end up going in that direction, it was a blast to explore. As the animator and editor I was given the designs as Illustrator files and together with the designer we established how those graphics moved, making sure they remained as legible and understandable as entertaining. I spent many hours looking for the right stock footage and going through hours of previously filmed footage of the featured small businesses; each clip needed to relate to the data & motion on top of it without distracting the audience, while also maintaining the high energy upbeat feel of the piece as a whole. The colors and composition of the footage was as important as the content to enable it to act in a supporting role and not compete for attention.  
In the end, our team was able to produce an informative, interesting, cohesive, and aesthetically pleasing piece that remained within the boundaries of Chase as an established brand language.  

PSA: Invisible Toxic Paint

Personal Project

PSA

creative direction & production, design & motion, sculpt & build, illustration

-warning: language-

With so much talk of “flattening the curve” but seemingly so little understanding of why, or even what that actually meant, I decided to make an explanation video PSA of my own. My mom suffers with athsma so it was/is particularly personal. It was also a welcomed distraction as the world around me shut down and fear ramped up, not to mention very important information for everyone to understand.

I made a mistake, cut a corner, that I will never do again. The original plan was to use the white clay so I could easily color it in post to portray a whole rainbow of skin tones. I was so eager to get it out while it was still relevant and it had taken me longer than planned, and I skipped the step of toning the faces in the large graph section. By doing so, I made a statement I definitely did not intend and excluded people I meant wholeheartedly to include. It might have been something I was proud of, as a quick piece, but instead it just makes me cringe. 

2020

LifeEnergy

LifeEnergy.guide

Explanation Videos

creative direction & production, design & motion, illustration

LifeEnergy.guide is dedicated to educating, tracking, and enhancing well-being. The creator, who I had worked for in her role at another company, wanted engaging videos explaining the research on well-being as well as how to use her site. The client wanted a floral, upbeat, and new-age feel. I illustrated icons for the 7 domains of wellbeing, around which the site was based, inspired by a tree illustration provided by the client.

For the videos on the landing page, I focused on giving enough information to intrigue the viewer to learn more about the research as well as offer a glimpse of what the site offered for them personally. With an upbeat and soothing VO, color palette, and illustrations, the simple steps to a happier life the site offers are illuminated.

2015

 

Digital Promise

Digital Promise

Motivation & Self-Determination Theory Educational Video

creative direction & production, design & motion

 

Digital Promise is a non-profit dedicated to accelerating technology in education and using it to further education for all. This project aimed to educate their audience about the latest research on the different motivations for learning as well as give some tips to better engage students.

Employing a semi-narrative story about students learning, we were able to incorporate a lot of information into an entertaining animation. The client wanted a simple style so with a short schedule and a tight budget, I focused largely on visualizing all of the facts and theories in situations both students and educators would recognize while moving the viewer through the information visually.

The client was “very happy” with the final video and it is still currently one of the most viewed videos on their Youtube channel.

2016

House Special, Cedar Fair

Lead Lighter
House Special 2015
Rugarou

Lighting for entire spot, along with this one and another that was pulled in post. Supervision for lighting of this one.

This project was one of my favorite lighting challenges to date. The dark and edgy feeling, coupled with a willingness (perhaps eagerness even!) to stray from light’s real-world limitations in order to set the mood and tone, allowed for a truly creative collaboration between the director, the art department, the compositor, and myself.

Lead Lighter
House Special, 2015
Wonderland

Lighting and layout revisions.

StartupPhenomenon Women 2013

Van Heyst Group

Poster for the Startup Phenomenon Women portion of Startup Phenomenon 2013.

creative direction & production, design & motion

Startup Phenomenon 2013 flyer

Startup Phenomenon 2013 flyer

 

The Van Heyst Group is a public relations and communications company in Boulder, CO. They hosted a special conference for entrepreneurial women and needed a poster for marketing purposes that embodied female empowerment. Further, they wanted a poster reminiscent of revolution, while still obviously feminine, to distinguish this event from their separate but related co-ed Startup Phenomenon conference happening the following weekend. Turnout exceeded expectation.

Project Enye

The Just Media Fund

Project Enye Explanation Video

creative direction & production, design & motion

 

The Just Media Fund is an organization using media to support social justice and education. To launch Project Enye, they needed to educate the audience about the project, including defining the word enye for those unfamiliar. They wanted a looping video to feature prominently on the site.

Taking advantage of the circle in their logo I was able to use it as a graphical theme linking the globe, the project, and the idea of interpersonal connection so important to the project.

2014