The World is a Steam Engine

high res quicktime file (34 mb)

Synopsis

A steam locomotive takes us on a journey through a steam filled environment. As the train chugs to the beat of the music, a sudden shift in time and space shows this ethereal world in all of its glory. The work as a whole is often viewed as a metaphor to ones passing life. We emerge from the fog, pass through its beauty, and end up somewhere unexpected.

About this Work
The World is a Steam Engine was originally a song I wrote in 2006. I removed the lyrics and turned the song into a short musical animation. The project served as my thesis for New York University's Center for Advanced Digital Application graduate degree program. It took 2 semesters to complete, one semester for previs and the other for production.

I am extremely grateful for this experience and for all of the support from my family, friends, classmates, and professors. This project really was an exercise in troubleshooting, and now that I have it under my belt I look forward to working on more ambitious projects like this in the future.

Blue Thermos - 2006

Blue Thermos is a song I wrote about investing your artistic time and energy for a greater cause. The music video was rotoscoped by hand frame by frame over live video footage. I used a Wacom Tablet to trace over a series of stills in Photoshop. It was a tedious effort that took about a month to do while finishing up my last semester at Seton Hall University.

I feel it was all worth it in the end. It landed me my first job at a small multimedia firm called Thingee Digital. The piece also got me into New York University's Center for Advanced Digital Applications (CADA) where I will produce even greater works.