How do you visually explain the superposition principle without going the route of an old school filmstrip? For our video for Young The Giant’s “Superposition”—a song partly inspired by quantum physics—we went with optical illusions and tricks of the eye: band members multiply and converge back into one, rocks spin on their own, day and night are blurred. And because you can’t really demonstrate superposition without waves, we set it all on the coast, giving the Pacific Ocean a costarring role.

Artist: Young The Giant
Song: Superposition
Label: Elektra
Director: Drew Tyndell
Producer: Rhiannon Leifheit Tyndell

“Can’t look back, can’t look too far ahead” sings Hayley Williams in Paramore’s song “Caught in the Middle,” echoing the all-too familiar feeling of being stuck somewhere between past and future selves and not quite knowing where to go next. In our video for the song, we put Hayley, Taylor, and Zac into animated worlds that go from ‘80s nostalgia one moment to futuristic sci-fi the next. The band runs from one world to another, never able to stay in one place, always being chased by one particularly relentless giant orange.

Artist: Paramore
Album: After Laughter
Label: Fueled By Ramen
Director: Drew Tyndell
Producer: Rhiannon Leifheit Tyndell

Indie rock legend (and fellow Portlander) Stephen Malkmus and his band the Jicks launched their new album Sparkle Hard along with a short documentary film and a series of music video vignettes directed by Brook Linder. In them we see Malkmus at the tennis court, on horseback, and, in this short piece we collaborated on, being ambushed by colorful animation.

Artist: Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks
Album: Sparkle Hard
Label: Domino
Director: Brook Linder

In addition to making music videos for bands and artists we also sometimes design t-shirts. Here are a few of our favorites from the last few years.

Labels: Warner/Elektra/Atlantic/Wagram

Graphic artist Jimmy Turrell, visuals designer behind Beck's upcoming album Colors, approached us to make some animations to collage into his lyric video for "Dear Life." We took inspiration from his album artwork, incorporating bold geometric shapes in bright colors to be juxtaposed against cinematic scenes: sometimes dark, sometimes strange, sometimes cryptic. The result, like the song's lyrics, is a mashup of imagery and meaning. Rotoscoped ants and burning cars.

Artist: Beck
Song: Dear Life
Album: Colors
Label: Capitol
Directors: Jimmy Turrell, Brook Linder, and Laura Gorun
Animation: Computer Team

Washed Out (Ernest Greene) just released an audio/visual album called Mister Mellow, and we're excited to be a part of it. Our video for "Floating By" is as much inspired by the song's lyrics (all apathy, boredom, and escape ) as by its collaged together, trippy sound. Like the song, our video is a mashup of parts that flow together, starting out very methodical, illustrating the theme of boredom and the feeling of just going through the motions. Eventually it gets weirder and weirder—bright colors take over and the video goes from routine to daydreaming to escape the everyday grind.

*2017 winner of The Motion Awards short form/music video category

Artist: Washed Out
Album: Mister Mellow
Label: Stones Throw
Management: Constant Artists
Director: Drew Tyndell
Producer: Rhiannon Leifheit Tyndell

Noah Kahan's upbringing on a tree farm in rural Vermont inspires his songwriting, and it definitely inspired us when we were making a video for his song "Young Blood." To give the video a rustic, almost handmade feel, we printed out every frame of footage, adding animation in watercolor to create an ever-changing natural environment influenced by Noah's lyrics. A world that at times can be beautiful, threatening, lonely, and, ultimately, exciting.

Artist: Noah Kahan
Label: Republic Records
Management: Foundations Music
Director: Drew Tyndell
Producer: Rhiannon Leifheit Tyndell

UK singer Arlissa and producer Jonas Blue's remake of the artist's song "Hearts Ain't Gonna Lie" takes what was a soft, acoustic breakup song and transforms it into an upbeat, danceable breakup song. So it was only fitting that it would have a colorful, buoyant video for its debut. Director Alexandra Gavillet approached us to add some subtle animation and flashes of color to play up the song's vibrant energy.
 

Artist: Arlissa/Jonas Blue
Director: Alexandra Gavillet
Animation: Computer Team

Paramore's new single "Hard Times" is upbeat and '80s-inspired, so when JOFFCO approached us to add some spice to the song's music video, we went full steam ahead, channeling early MTV favorites with lots of hand-drawn animation, rotoscoping, and stop motion.

Artist: Paramore
Album: After Laughter
Label: Fueled By Ramen
Director: Andrew Joffe
Animation: Computer Team

Adidas' NMD line mixes the old with the new, taking classic shapes and styles from the archives and updating them with new technology. We went the same route when making an animation for its latest urban exploration-themed social media campaign. Incorporating a modern street photo, we manipulated it using technology both old and new, distorting the photo on a scanner, and then bringing it back around with animation.

Agency: Roundhouse
Project Coordinator: Joe Packer
Photographer: Will Nichols
Producer: Rita Badalamenti

When we created an animated screen for the TED17 conference in Vancouver we had no idea we'd be designing a background for the Pope. Our animation for session four was inspired by its theme of Health, Life, Love, and set the scene for compelling talks by the likes of Serena Williams, Atul Gawande, and His Holiness himself, Pope Francis.

Client: TED
Creative Producer: Emily Pidgeon
Photo Credits: 1. Bret Hartman/TED;  2. Emily Pidgeon/TED;  3.Ryan Lash/TED;  4. Bret Hartman/TED

While making the music video for Young the Giant's song "Something to Believe in," the first official radio single off of Home of the Strange, we took inspiration from the album title to really go weird. We also took inspiration from the lyrics, animating all the members of the band into a dark and sometimes eerie natural world that becomes more and more dreamlike as the song goes on.

Artist: Young The Giant
Album: Home of the Strange
Label: Fueled By Ramen
Director: Drew Tyndell
Producer: Rhiannon Tyndell
Rep: Jen Herrera at Las Bandas Be Brave

© 2016 ATLANTIC RECORDING CORP.

We had lots of fun working with General Elektriks (the music project of keyboard extraordinaire Hervé Salters) to make a video for "Angle Boogie," an upbeat (and really danceable) song with a bit of an edge. Going along with the geometry theme, we added in sinister shapes, graphic backdrops, and colorful numbers. Also, a lot of dancing.

Artist: General Elektriks
Album: To Be a Stranger
Label: Wagram Music
Director: Drew Tyndell
Producer: Rhiannon Tyndell

We're proud to have had animated the teaser page for XOXO 2016, Portland's beloved art/tech festival that is on hiatus for now (but hopefully not forever). Also fun: creating a layout for the page incorporating Moniker's new XOXO brand identity. 

Client: XOXO
Identity design: Moniker
Programmer: Paolo Pereira

California Inspires Me is a series of animated videos made in collaboration by Google Play and The California Sunday Magazine, featuring famous natives and newcomers telling their stories in their own words. Animating musician/comedian/actor/late night show bandleader phenom Reggie Watts' words led us on a weird and wild California trip, filled with muppets, breakdancing, and even some yoga.

Clients: Google Play and The California Sunday Magazine
Animation: Drew Tyndell
Music: Shannon Ferguson
Sound Production: Mooj Zadie
Special Thanks to Kevin Ferguson

An ongoing personal project of animated gifs. 

Sure, we love the Yule Log when it's broadcast on TV in December, but Daniel Savage's annual Yule Log 2.0 is a lot more fun. Here's our bit of holiday cheer from 2015.

The footage in Adult Swim's cult favorite show Off the Air is loosely bound together by a theme, so when we made the opening loop for "Shapes" we kept it simple and geometric. You can watch the entire episode here. (Much weirdness will follow)

Client: Adult Swim/Cartoon Network
Show Creator/Producer: Dave Hughes
Animation: Drew Tyndell

If you ever find yourself awake at 4 AM (and aren't prone to nightmares), you might want to turn on the TV and watch Adult Swim's Off the Air. Each episode's theme is reflected in the title, but that's about as much explanation as you'll get in this show that's made up of hallucinatory animations, bizarre footage. and viral videos. Here's our loop for "Holes."

Watch the full episode here. 

Client: Adult Swim/Cartoon Network
Show Creator/Producer: Dave Hughes
Animation: Drew Tyndell

In celebration of its 50th year, Dolby Laboratories opened up a massive new headquarters building in San Francisco that's filled with art. Sculptures, installations, interactive pieces--each of them in their own way reflecting the rich technological history of Dolby. For our piece, we created a mural inspired by old jazz recordings. It's freeform and organic, with a nod to Dolby's midcentury beginnings.

Client: Dolby Laboratories
Curator: Kevin Byrd
Art director: Drew Tyndell

Our biggest project (literally) had to have been the time our animations were projected onto the iconic Sydney Opera House, when we were one of over 20 international studios chosen to create a short animation for Vivid Sydney 2015. Each participant was given a word to use as a theme, and ours was FILL. You can see our section, starting at 0:58.

Client: Universal Everything
Event: Vivid Sydney
Art direction: Drew Tyndell

Abstract looping animation inspired by Drew's favorite childhood videogame, NBA JAM (1994)

We were approached by Financial Management, CIMA's online magazine, to make a GIF for an article on thinking and diversification risk. Which we thought would be perfectly illustrated by an animated loop, constantly in motion, with shapes going every which way, sometimes coming together and sometimes breaking apart. Because it's complicated.

Client: CIMA
Agency: Dutch Uncle
Animation: Drew Tyndell

A personal project: a hand-painted animation exploration.

Pitch boards for the opening sequence of The Last Man On Earth. Drew was commissioned by Alma Mater in Los Angles.